A healthcare worker who has just returned from West Africa has been
diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in hospital in Glasgow.
The woman, who arrived from Sierra Leone on Sunday night, is in
isolation at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital.
All possible contacts with the case are being investigated, including
on flights to Scotland via Heathrow.
UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the woman would be
taken to a specialist unit in London.
She will be flown from Glasgow and taken to the Royal Free Hospital in
north London"as soon as we possibly can," Mr Hunt said.
The hospital has a specialist isolation unit and treated William
Pooley, the British nurse who contracted and recovered from Ebola.
Low risk
Mr Hunt said the government was doing "absolutely everything it needs
to be" to keep the UK safe.
He insisted NHS processes "worked well" after the woman starting
exhibiting symptoms.
The health secretary added: "We are also reviewing our procedures and
protocols for all the other NHS workers who are working at the moment
in Sierra Leone."
Charity Save the Children confirmed the woman was an NHS health worker
who was working with them at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town,
Sierra Leone.
The organisation's humanitarian director, Michael von Bertele, said:
"Save the Children is working closely with the UK government, Scottish
government and Public Health England to look into the circumstances
surrounding the case."
At a news conference in Glasgow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
stressed that the risk to the general public was very low.
She added that the patient was thought to have had contact with only
one other person since arriving in the city, but that all passengers
on the flights the woman took will be traced.
Ms Sturgeon said: "Apart from other passengers on the flights and
obviously the hospital staff since this patient's admittance to
hospital, she, the patient is thought to have had contact with only
one other person in Scotland since returning to Scotland last night
and that person will also be contacted and given appropriate
reassurance."
Glasgow Ebola case
Patient flight details - 28 December
Flight AT596from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Casablanca
Flight AT0800 from Casablanca to London Heathrow
Flight BA1478 from London Heathrow to Glasgow, arriving 23:30
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."
NHS Scotland said infectious diseases procedures had been put into
effect at the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at Gartnavel.
Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the bodily fluids - such
as blood, vomit or faeces - of an infected person.
The patient returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone late on Sunday via
Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a
British Airways flight at about 23:30.
While public health experts have emphasised that the risks are
negligible, a telephone helpline has been set up for anyone who was on
the BA 1478 Heathrow to Glasgow flight. The number is:08000 858531
The woman had been admitted to hospital early on Monday morning after
feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 07.50.
What are the symptoms?
The Ebola virus causes a range of painful and debilitating symptoms
The early symptoms are a sudden fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache
and sore throat.
This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and bleeding - both
internal and external - which can be seen in the gums, eyes, nose and
in the stools.
Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.
A British Airways spokesman said: "We are working closely with the
health authorities in England and Scotland and will offer assistance
with any information they require.
"The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top
priority and the risk to people on board that individual flight is
extremely low."
Ms Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government
Resilience Committee (SGoRR) and has also spoken to Prime Minister
David Cameron.
Mr Hunt is to chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on
Monday evening.
Ms Sturgeon said: "Our first thoughts at this time must be with the
patient diagnosed with Ebola and their friends and family. I wish them
a speedy recovery.
"Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning
of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well
prepared."
--BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment