Health worker in ACT cleared of Ebola

ACT Health has deemed a Canberra health care worker free of Ebola after a second test for the disease returned a negative result.

A female health worker from the ACT has been officially deemed free of Ebola after a second test returned a negative result for the deadly disease.

Chief Health Officer for ACT Health, Dr Paul Kelly, said this was excellent news for the unnamed patient.

"We did believe that an Ebola diagnosis was unlikely but it was very important and necessary to react in the way that we did by not taking any chances," he said in a statement.

The woman, who returned to Australia on April 5 after working at an Ebola treatment centre in Liberia, spent the weekend in strict isolation in Canberra Hospital after coming down with a fever and stomach upset on Friday afternoon.

Doctors said on Friday evening an Ebola diagnosis was unlikely as the woman had not treated any Ebola patients during her time in West Africa.

Dr Kelly said doctors would continue to monitor the woman's health for the next two weeks, according to the agreed national approach for health care workers returning from west Africa.

He praised her for following the appropriate protocols in rapidly informing ACT Health of her symptoms.

"This incident again shows that ACT Health is well prepared for handling conditions like Ebola," he said.


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