Ebola scare at UK hospital as patient tested for disease

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A patient was taken to a Glasgow hospital with suspected Ebola but their tests have reportedly come back negative.

They were admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday, with tests to be carried out to ascertain whether they have contracted the disease.

The test has since come back negative, according to the BBC.

A Public Health Scotland spokesperson said there are “no confirmed cases of Ebola” in Scotland right now, but continued: “Public Health Scotland is working closely with UKHSA, to assess routes by which travellers may enter the UK from affected countries.

“The risk from people arriving in the UK from affected areas is low and the NHS has safe procedures in place for detecting and managing any such cases.

“PHS and NHS boards across Scotland have well established protocols for assessing and testing travellers arriving in the UK from areas affected by Ebola where necessary.

“Where required, contact tracing will occur and contacts may undergo clinical assessment and precautionary testing.”

There have been almost 700 confirmed cases of bundibugyo Ebola virus, the majority of which are in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an outbreak last month.

Some 138 people have died, including two in neighbouring Uganda.

The outbreak in the DRC was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UK has committed up to £21m to support the local response to Ebola in DRC, helping to protect frontline workers and vulnerable communities.

Officials have stressed that diseases “are not restricted by borders” and it is “vital” the UK works with international partners to protect global health.

The experts from the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team include seven specialists from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Four are to be based in the eastern DRC to support World Health Organisation (WHO) field operations, while one will join the WHO country office in the capital Kinshasa.

An epidemiologist will also be sent to the Republic of Congo to support the wider response in the region.

Dr Edmund Newman, director of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team at UKHSA, said: “This deployment will help strengthen the existing response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and across the region, with experts in epidemiology, risk communications and community engagement, infection prevention and control and data modelling now on the ground to support.

“We know infectious diseases are not restricted by borders, which is why it’s vital we continue to work collaboratively with the World Health Organisation and other international partners, as well as national and local response organisations, to protect global health security.”

A UK Public Health Rapid Support Team was developed during the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014/15.