BY Victor Akhidenor
Commonwealth Games officials have played down an Ebola scare in Glasgow after it emerged a Sierra Leone athlete was tested for the killer virus.
Road cyclist Moses Sesay (pictured) was admitted to a Glasgow hospital last week when he fell one day after the opening ceremony and doctors tested him for various conditions, including Ebola, blamed for 729 deaths in an outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
But the 32-year-old, whose country has declared a public health emergency, was given the all-clear and released from hospital in time to compete in the men’s individual time trial at the Games Thursday.
“I was admitted for four days and they tested me for Ebola. It came back negative but they did it again and this time sent it to London, where it was also negative,” he told the Daily Mirror.
A spokesman for Glasgow 2014 corroborated his story.
“There is no Ebola in the Athletes Village of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“We can confirm an athlete was tested for a number of things when he fell ill last week, including Ebola. The tests were negative and the athlete competed in his event on Thursday.
“We are dismayed by some of the sensational and misleading headlines to date.”
A spokesperson for Health Protection Scotland also confirmed it was an isolated incident and no other athletes were tested for the dreaded virus. “No one has tested positive for Ebola in Scotland,” she said.
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