LONDON — A British man treated for Ebola in Congo is being evacuated to the United Kingdom, the government announced Thursday.
The man, believed to be a healthcare worker, is the first British patient evacuated from the current outbreak of the deadly virus, and the third person to have tested positive to return to Europe.
The patient is expected to be taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London, which has a high-level isolation unit that was used to treat patients from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.
The Foreign Office said Britain’s infectious disease procedures had been activated and the risk of Ebola to the public was low.
France confirmed a case in June in a doctor – since cured – returning from a humanitarian mission in Congo. A Swiss woman who is believed to have contracted the virus in Uganda was medically evacuated to Geneva for treatment last month and her husband, a diplomat, was placed in isolation in Zurich.
The disease spreading in some of Congo’s most remote provinces has infected 10,600 people, more than 5,100 of whom have died. It extends to 67 health zones across eight provinces, up from three zones when it was first declared in May.
“The infection of a British healthcare worker with Ebola is very concerning, but it is not entirely unexpected,” said Dr Damien Tully, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene. & Tropical medicine. “Healthcare workers are on the front lines of these outbreaks, often treating critically ill patients under extremely difficult conditions. Even with rigorous protective measures, accidental exposures can occur.”
Gn Health
