British doctor with Ebola evacuated from Congo to London hospital

A British doctor who was working on the Ebola epidemic in Congo was evacuated Thursday to a London hospital for treatment for the virus, the U.K. government said.

The man is the first British patient evacuated from the current outbreak of the deadly virus, and the third person to have tested positive to return to Europe.

The doctor was flown to the U.K. on a medical evacuation arranged by the governments of Britain and Congo, and their international health partners.

He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London, which has a high level isolation unit that was used to treat patients from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.

Official response

Dr. Renu Bindra, of the U.K. Health Security Agency, said robust infection prevention and control protocols are in place and the risk to the public is low.

Dr. Renu Bindra, the deputy director for all-hazards public health response at the UK Health Security Agency, said: "UKHSA and the NHS have well-established and robust infection prevention and control protocols to limit the risk of onward transmission, and the risk to the wider public remains low."

The outbreak

The current outbreak, declared in May by DR Congo’s health ministry, has surpassed 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths. It has spread to Kenya and Uganda in east Africa, and last month Nigeria confirmed a case in its capital, Abuja.

Ebola is a highly contagious, severe and often fatal illness spread through direct contact with body fluids such as the blood or vomit of infected people, or dead bodies.

People with the disease tend to fall ill two to 21 days after contact with an orthoebolavirus. Initial symptoms include fever, aches, pains, and fatigue, but can then progress to diarrhoea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding.

Previous UK cases

There have only been four confirmed cases of the virus in the UK previously. A case in 1976 was from a laboratory needle incident, and the three others involved health workers who were responding to an outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.

Why it matters

This is the first case involving a British national contracting Ebola in the current outbreak. The patient is being cared for in a specialised high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, north London.

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Sources

• apnews.com: British doctor with Ebola evacuated to London from Congo | AP News
• theguardian.com: British Ebola patient evacuated from DR Congo arrives at London hospital | Ebola | The Guardian
• 2news.com: British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in Congo is evacuated to London hospital | National News | 2news.com
• newspressnow.com: British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in Congo is evacuated to London hospital | News | newspressnow.com
• corsicanadailysun.com: British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in Congo is evacuated to London hospital | Nation and World | corsicanadailysun.com
• guardonline.com: British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in Congo is evacuated to London hospital | World | guardonline.com

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.