A patient is being tested for suspected Ebola virus at a Glasgow hospital, triggering a lockdown of the acute receiving unit. The individual arrived back in the city from an affected Ebola country and developed symptoms, prompting them to seek medical attention at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s Acute Receiving Unit, which was sealed off at around 6am on Tuesday.
"Obviously Ebola is a deadly and contagious illness, and emergency measures had to be put in place immediately to protect both staff and any members of the public," a source told The National. "The person was assessed there and then taken elsewhere in the hospital. I believe they were put into confinement while the tests to establish if they have Ebola or something else are carried out."
“A patient at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is being tested for Ebola, prompting a unit lockdown.”
If confirmed, it would be the first case of Ebola in Scotland for a decade, and the first in the UK since the World Health Organization declared the recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern. The strain of Ebolavirus behind this outbreak, known as Bundibugyo, is rare and currently has no vaccine or treatment.
"The mere mention of the word Ebola strikes panic into people," a hospital worker told the Glasgow Times. "You think of it as a disease that happens elsewhere. The hospital has strict protocols and procedures to deal with these types of rare occurrences and everything seemed to be followed to a tee, but it is still a worry for those who were on duty at the time."
A spokesperson for Public Health Scotland said: "Public Health Scotland is working closely with UKHSA to assess routes by which travellers may enter the UK from affected countries. The risk from people arriving in the UK from affected areas is low and the NHS has safe procedures in place for detecting and managing any such cases. Where required, contact tracing will occur and contacts may undergo clinical assessment and precautionary testing."
The UK Health Security Agency’s Returning Workers Scheme has been activated to monitor the health of those who travel to affected areas for work. The development comes less than a week after a French doctor working in the Democratic Republic of Congo tested positive for Ebola after returning home. France’s health ministry said the patient had been on a humanitarian mission and is currently isolating.
Tests are now being carried out to confirm whether the Glasgow patient has contracted the virus. The outcome could determine whether Scotland faces its first domestic Ebola case in over a decade.