Italian doctor with Ebola in Rome hospital

Fabrizio, who had been working in Sierra Leone, placed in isolation

A doctor who has become the first Italian to contract Ebola arrived in Rome yesterday from Sierra Leone for specialist treatment in an infectious diseases hospital.

The doctor, a 50- year- old from Sicily according to Italian media reports, was flown into the military airport of Pratica di Mare in a specially sealed unit and taken to the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute by ambulance.

The Italian health ministry was expected to hold a press conference to give details of his condition.

The doctor, whose first name was reported to be Fabrizio, was working for the charity Emergency at a clinic for Ebola victims when he contracted the disease.

Conversation with family

He spoke to his daughters by telephone before landing in Rome, telling them “he was fine, not afraid, and sure he will pull through”, Italian media reported his wife as saying.

He had travelled to Sierra Leone on October 18 and had been due to return to Italy on Friday, according to his wife, who told the Corriere della Sera daily that “he almost made it through” without catching the disease.

The doctor had been working with 25 other Italians — doctors, nurses and logistics staff — living together in three houses with small rooms and shared common spaces.