[ 2014-12-30 ]

Ebola in UK: Second patient tested in Scotland
A second patient is being tested for Ebola in
Scotland after returning from West Africa,
following the first confirmed case of the virus in
the UK.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the new
possible case involves another healthcare worker
who had recently returned from the region.

It is understood they had been staying at a youth
hostel in the Highlands and was being transferred
to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

However, Ms Sturgeon described the case as "low
risk", they had "no known contact" with the virus
and was not connected to the first confirmed
case.

It comes as another potential Ebola patient, who
had also recently returned from a country affected
by an outbreak of the virus, is tested in
isolation at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, near
Truro.

The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola on UK
soil was moved to specialist facilities in London
on Tuesday morning.

The patient, who has not yet been named, was
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.

She had been working in Sierra Leone with Save the
Children and was admitted to hospital early on
Monday after feeling feverish and was placed into
isolation.

It is understood the second Scottish patient who
is being tested had been staying at a youth hostel
in the Highlands and was being transferred to
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: "I should stress
that, although this is another returning
healthcare worker from West Africa, the patient
here, as far as we are aware, has had no direct
contact with people infected with Ebola, so it is
a case that is being described as low
probability.

"But we are operating, given the seriousness of
Ebola, on a highly precautionary basis and that's
why this patient over the course of today will be
transferred for tests."

Source - The Telegraph

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