Authorities in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar have isolated a man suspected of carrying the deadly Ebola virus.

The report, coming out of the former capital of Yangon, describes how a 22-year-old man returned from working in Guinea and Liberia via Bangkok was found to be suffering from a fever upon arrival at Yangon International Airport. Acting on concerns for as of yet unknown nature of the malady, officials moved a man to an isolation ward on the outskirts of the airport. 

Like Us on Facebook

"He arrived with at the airport with a fever and had lost conscious while he was travelling," said Dr. Toe Thiri Zaw, assistant director of diseases control at the Ministry of Health, to reporters of The Myanmar Times.

"Now he and four people other people he was travelling with have been put into isolation and are receiving treatment," she said.

If the case proves to be Ebola, it will be Asia's first instance stemming from the west African viral outbreak that began on February. First appearing in the country of Guinea, the virus rapidly spread to the surrounding nations of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nigeria reported its first cases in late July among medical workers returning from afflicted regions. With kill-rates as high as 90%, the virulence of the 2014 outbreak quickly overwhelmed care facilities in the underdeveloped regions. Up to 1229 death attributed to virus have been reported thus far, and health officials on the ground admit the epidemic is out of control.

Zaw says the Myanmar Ministry of Health has placed digital thermal sensors at Yangon international airport, as well as at seaports and 14 terrestrial border crossings, to scan for people showing signs of Ebola's tell-tale fever. Because Myanmar lacks the necessary labs to conduct blood tests for infection, all samples are sent to World Health Organization facilities in India. 

The results of those test are expected within three days, Zaw said.

Authorities in Bangkok, a regional transportation hub, are also on alert. On August 6, health workers in Thailand began monitoring 21 tourists for the virus. The Ebola virus has an incubation period of up to a month. 

TagsEbola outbreak, Ebola Virus, Yangon, Myanmar