A Japanese man in his 40s was preliminarily diagnosed with malaria on Tuesday but is undergoing additional tests for Ebola after complaining of a high fever following his return to Shizuoka from Guinea, health ministry and local government officials said Wednesday.
Officials said initial results show that he has malaria. The results of the Ebola test were still unknown.
The man's blood is being tested at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Musashimurayama, western Tokyo, Shizuoka Prefectural Government officials said.
He has denied he had contact with Ebola patients in the West African country, health ministry officials said.
The man is the eighth person to be tested for Ebola in Japan since last year. All tested negative.
Highly infectious, the virus is generally transmitted through close contact with Ebola patients. The average mortality rate is 50 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
The latest outbreak has mainly affected a few West African countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.