Saudi Health Ministry: Suspected Ebola victim did not have virus

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry says a man who died last week after returning from Sierra Leone did not have the Ebola virus, according to initial international laboratory results.

The Health Ministry says samples submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came back negative for the Ebola virus. The ministry said Saturday that additional Ebola tests will be conducted on samples sent to a laboratory in Germany.

The 40 year-old Saudi national died Wednesday in a hospital isolation ward in the Saudi coastal city of Jiddah after showing symptoms of the viral hemorrhagic fever. He was the only suspected Ebola case in the kingdom.

Ebola, which has no proven vaccine or treatment, has killed more than 900 people this year in four countries in West Africa.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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