WOMAN TESTED FOR EBOLA AT SCOTS HOSPITAL
West African shows symptoms of killer virus at detention centre
A WOMAN is in isolation in a Scottish hospital after showing symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus. The West African patient was taken from the Dungavel i mmigration detention centre in Lanarkshire for urgent medical tests.
The woman, from Sierra Leone, was last night being treated in an infectious diseases ward at a Lanarkshire hospital.
If she tests positive for the deadly virus, which has killed more than 1,145 people in West Africa, a full-scale medical action plan will be put in place.
Health officials were last night on high alert amid fears the disease has spread to the UK, only days after a Spaniard became Europe’s first victim. The woman in the Scottish case was a detainee at Dungavel, a holding unit near Strathaven, mainly for failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation.
Home Office officials have since suspended the detention or release of people from the unit while the investigation continues in an
effort to contain any possible outbreak. The latest Ebola epidemic in Africa began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
It is transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person.
Initial flu-like symptoms can be followed by external haemorrhaging from areas such as the eyes and gums, and internal bleeding leading to organ failure.
Sierra Leone has declared a public emergency, with the government ordering house-to-house searches by troops to seek out infected people.
The latest scare comes just weeks after two Sierra Leone athletes were tested for the virus during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Cyclist Moses Sesay was put in an isolation ward for four days after developing a fever and flu-like symptoms.
Table tennis player Samuel Morris, 34, also spent four days being tested in isolation.
Sierra Leone mountain bike champion Mohamed Tholley sparked alarm when he walked out of the Glasgow 2014 athletes’ village after his roommate was tested for the virus. The athletes did not have Ebola and all went on to compete.
It is understood the latest suspected case is being treated at Monklands Hospital, Airdrie. Health officials across the UK have been alerted.
A limited number of staff will have contact with the patient, who is likely to be transferred to a specialist UK unit for highly infectious diseases.
Officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) would be alerted and a UK-wide action plan implemented if Ebola were confirmed.
WHO has issued a warning about the epidemic in West Africa.
Margaret Chan, the organisation’s director general, said: ‘This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it. If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives... and a high r i sk of spread to other countries.’
British authorities are on alert for the dis- ease, with measures in place to ensure that all passengers displaying symptoms are prevented from boarding flights to the UK.
Anyone who appears ill on arrival in Britain will be held at immigration before being quarantined.
However, because it takes up to three weeks for symptoms to appear, there are fears some may slip through the net.
The first European victim was Spanish priest Miguel Pajares, who died this week only five days after being airlifted from Liberia to Madrid for expert care. Mr Pajares, a 75-year-old missionary, caught Ebola while treating patients.
His condition was described as stable on arrival in Spain and it is thought he was given ZMapp, an experimental drug credited with the ‘miraculous’ recovery of two American aid workers. His body was cremated to prevent the virus spreading.
WHO has declared it ethical to use untested drugs in an attempt to control the killer virus.
In a statement, NHS Lanarkshire said: ‘We are currently investigating a possible case of Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (Ebola). This is a precautionary measure and it would appear at this stage to be highly unlikely the patient will test positive for Ebola.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on operational matters.’