Tanzania Summons WHO Official for Talks After Ebola Complaints

(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania summoned the World Health Organization’s country representative for talks after the global body said authorities were giving incomplete information about possible Ebola cases.

The official, Tigest Ketsela Mengestu, said WHO doesn’t have evidence of Ebola in the East African nation and that the organization will continue to cooperate with the state, Tanzanian government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on Twitter.

The WHO said on Saturday that it was made aware of at least one case that tested positive for the deadly hemorrhagic fever in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. It got to know of two other suspected cases days later. Tanzanian health authorities officially informed the organization they had carried out tests and the nation didn’t have any Ebola patients.

“However, to date, clinical data, results of the investigations, possible contacts and potential laboratory tests performed for differential diagnosis of those patients have not been communicated to WHO,” it said on its website. “This information is required for WHO to be able to fully assess of the potential risk posed by this event.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, Pauline Bax

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