African man treated in Wichita has malaria, not Ebola

An African man treated at Galichia Heart Hospital has malaria – not Ebola – hospital officials say.

A patient from Ghana in West Africa was at the Galichia emergency department Wednesday night with a fever, said Nick Adams, vice president for marketing and public relations at Wesley Medical Center.

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes that are infected with a parasite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease leads to flulike symptoms, which can appear similar to Ebola in its early stages. Ebola is spread through contact with the bodily fluids from an infected person.

Ghana is not one of the countries in West Africa that has been the center of the biggest Ebola outbreak in history. Affected countries include Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization.

So far, more than 8,000 people have been infected with the disease; nearly half have died.

Cases outside of Africa have been reported in Spain and Dallas. The patient in Dallas died after traveling to the U.S. from Liberia.