Suspected Ebola case in Austria: patient returning from Uganda admitted to hospital with possible symptoms of the highly infectious virus with no vaccine

A suspected Ebola patient is being quarantined in an Austrian hospital after displaying symptoms of the deadly virus.

Austrian health officials announced that the affected individual had just returned from Uganda before displaying warning signs of the current strain of the virus, named Bundibugyo, which kills up to 50 per cent of those infected.

They said in a statement: ‘Yesterday, a person from the Urfahr-Umgebung district was admitted to the hospital for inpatient evaluation due to symptoms of illness.

‘Since the person returned from Uganda on Monday—a country currently affected by the ongoing Ebola outbreak—they were isolated and treated in accordance with medical guidelines.’ 

According to Austrian media outlet Krone, the unnamed patient returned an initial blood sample showing no signs of the virus, which has killed more than 220 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central Africa, in recent weeks.

But until a second sample is returned – to confirm they are not infected – they must remain isolated in hospital care.

Contact tracing has also been launched by officials in Austria to try and contain a potential spread of the virus if the second test comes back as positive.

It comes after the World Health Organisation’s chief warned the outbreak is spreading faster than it can be contained, fuelling fears of a potential global health crisis.

There have been more than 1,000 cases and 220 deaths from the deadly virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Central Africa in recent weeks.

Speaking earlier this week, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the response is not keeping pace with the speed of the outbreak.

Addressing the African Union to discuss the spread, he said: ‘We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us.’

The present epidemic is one of the fastest spreading since the 2014 outbreak which was linked to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths across West Africa. It has already been declared a global public health emergency. 

Among the 220 people killed in the latest outbreak are three Red Cross volunteers,  believed to have contracted the virus while handling infected bodies.

There has also been widespread disarray in affected nations, with locals protesting the virus. 

Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in the DRC has come under attack from people seeking to bury the bodies of friends and family members who have died from Ebola, according to the hospital’s medical director, Dr Richard Lokodu.

However, as burials are highly contagious they are being handled by medical teams in the area.

Some factions in the region are rebelling in the belief that Ebola is a hoax, and confronting Red Cross volunteers.

Meanwhile others in local communities have taken to villages with megaphones to encourage residents to follow official health guidance.

All flights to and from Bunia – the eastern DRC city where most cases and deaths have occurred – have been grounded, but experts believe the virus may have already spread to other nearby nations, such as South Sudan.

Dr Ghebreyesus warned other nations that they need to take immediate action to prevent further spread in his recent address to the African Union.

In previous Ebola outbreaks, the virus has killed more than half of those infected, many of whom died due to internal bleeding and organ failure.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.