The first
case of Ebola to be diagnosed on British soil has been announced, after a
health worker in Glasgow was confirmed to have contracted the virus. The female
patient is an NHS nurse who had just returned from Sierra Leone after a spell
treating the victims of the potentially fatal disease.
The patient -
understood to have been volunteering for Save The Children - was admitted to
hospital early on Monday morning after feeling unwell
and was placed into isolation at 7.50am. She is in a stable condition.
She was later
transferred from Glasgow airport on a military-style plane in a quarantine tent
surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection suits, bound
for the Royal Free Hospital in north London.
A statement on the
hospital’s website said: “The Royal Free London can confirm that it is
expecting to receive a patient who has tested positive for Ebola.
“The patient will
be treated in the high level isolation unit (HLIU).”
The UK has
well-established and practised infection control
procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these
will be strictly followed while the patient is in transit and receiving treatment
at the Royal Free Hospital.
Alisdair
MacConachie, of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "She's being managed
in an isolation facility by staff who are comfortable managing patients in such
a situation. She herself is quite stable and is not
showing any great clinical concern at the minute."
The risk of
infection to other passengers on the flights is considered extremely low.
However, as a precaution, Public Health England is arranging for all passengers
and crew on the flight from Casablanca to Heathrow to be provided with health
information and will be contacting and following up those passengers who were
sitting in the vicinity of the affected passenger on these flights.
Health
Protection Scotland is carrying out a similar exercise for the passengers on
the Heathrow to Glasgow flight.
The 2014 Ebola epidemic
is the largest in history, affecting multiple
countries in West Africa. There were a small number of cases reported in
Nigeria and a single case reported in Senegal; however, these cases are
considered to be contained, with no further spread in these countries.
Ebola Virus
Ebola is transmitted by
direct contact with the bodily fluids – such as blood, vomit or faeces - of an
infected person while they are showing symptoms. The risk of Ebola being
passed from an individual before
they developed symptoms is extremely low.
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