The Ebola outbreak sparked paranoia worldwide. Every time people see individuals from West Africa, they would brand them as infectious. In Spain, a Nigerian man collapsed and had seizures in the Madrid-Barajas airport. He was aboard a flight from Istanbul. No one came to his aid because staff as well as passengers thought he had Ebola Virus Disease.
The man, who was not named, is apparently a drug mule wherein he swallowed bags of cocaine. The bags of the drug burst inside his stomach causing chains of reaction and overdose. Spain's El Mundo newspaper said that the man landed on a flight from Istanbul on October 18, 2014.
The man died 90 minutes after he had massive drug overdose. At first, the security guard positioned him on his side. After scanning through his documents and confirming he was Nigerian, staff and airport officials were afraid to touch him. They branded it as a case of Ebola, a very deadly disease that has killed more than 4,800 people in West Africa and 377 of those died in the last five days.
The companion revealed to the police that the man was never in Nigeria for the past four years. He was from Madrid on October 14 and flew to Istanbul. He came back on October 18, when he died in the airport upon arrival.
Health officials are yet to release an official statement on the incident and the growing paranoia and scare associated with the infectious disease. The airport management has not yet released a response to what transpired in their airport.
Ebola Virus Disease has created widespread fear not only in areas affected, but also to other countries. Meanwhile, updates on the vaccines and treatment plans on the said disease is yet to be released by the World Health Organization (WHO). Ebola outbreak has not yet been controlled as of the moment.