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| Patient to get 'rabies' results | |
| (about 18 hours later) | |
| The results of tests on a woman suspected of having contracted rabies will be known later. | |
| The Eastern Health Board said it expected the results of tests at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital would be known on Monday afternoon. | |
| Initial tests were positive. The patient had been abroad but began to feel unwell after they had been home for several months. | Initial tests were positive. The patient had been abroad but began to feel unwell after they had been home for several months. |
| The disease is extremely rare. The last case in Northern Ireland was in 1938. | |
| The Eastern Health Board said it was leading a multi-agency investigation but stressed the risk to the wider community was "negligible". | |
| Communicable disease consultant Dr Maureen McCartney said it was "highly likely" that it was a case of rabies. | |
| "It is an infectious disease in that it's a viral illness. However, you don't catch it from other people but from animals, most commonly rabid dogs. | |
| "We do see the occasional case in the UK brought in from countries where there is rabies or, vary rarely, from bat bites." | |
| The board and its partner agencies are taking advice from the Health Protection Agency and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. | The board and its partner agencies are taking advice from the Health Protection Agency and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. |