A healthcare worker who returned to Glasgow from Sierra Leone last night has been confirmed as having Ebola.
The woman, thought to be a nurse, returned to Scotland via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at around 11.30pm.
The patient – understood to have been volunteering for Save The Children – was admitted to hospital early this morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 7.50am. She is in a stable condition.
She has been isolated and is receiving treatment in the specialist Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel Hospital campus, but will be taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Their infectious diseases unit is run by a dedicated team of doctors and laboratory staff and access is restricted to trained medical staff.
A specially designed tent is set up around the patient’s bed so the infection can be contained while they are treated.
Anyone who is at risk through contact with the patient in transit is to be contacted and closely monitored.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee and has also spoken to Prime Minister David Cameron.
She 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.”
She added in a news conference that the risk to other people is “extremely low to the point of negligible”.
The woman is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola while in the UK.
Anyone who was on the Heathrow to Glasgow flight last night is asked to call 08000 858531
