Ebola in UK: Two patients being tested for virus at hospitals in Cornwall and Scotland
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Version 0 of 1. Two more patients are being tested for Ebola in Scotland and Cornwall. One patient is being examined for possible symptoms at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, Cornwall, and the other - a female heath worker - at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The virus, which had its first case confirmed in the UK yesterday in Glasgow, is just one of several illnesses they could be suffering from. Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, said the Scottish woman had recently returned from West Africa but was "low risk" and had no known contact with the virus. “Although this is another returning healthcare worker from West Africa, the patient here has had no, as far as we're aware, direct contact with people infected with Ebola,” she told BBC radio. “This patient over the course of today will be transferred for tests.” Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital at which a healthcare worker has been diagnosed with Ebola A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust would not give any further details of their patient but said he or she arrived at the hospital, known locally as Treliske, in the early hours of the morning and is being treated in isolation. “It could be nothing but this patient has possibly been at risk,” he added. “We are in contact with Public Health England (PHE) but it could be 24 hours before we know.” The person is understood to have viral symptoms, which are shared by Ebola and many other illnesses including malaria, and samples are undergoing testing at PHE’s national facility. An NHS worker who has been diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone is believed to be on the way to a specialist unit in London this morning. She flew back to the UK via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving at Glasgow Airport at around 11.30pm on Sunday evening, and was admitted to hospital on Monday morning. Health officials were tracing the 71 other people who were on the woman's British Airways flight from London to Glasgow but would not confirm whether the patient being tested in Truro was on the plane. |