UK patient undergoing tests for Ebola

A person with a history of travel to west Africa has been admitted to a Welsh hospital to undergo tests for Ebola, doctors say.

A person suspected of carrying Ebola is taken from an ambulance

A person with a history of travel to west Africa is in a Wales hospital to undergo tests for Ebola. (AAP)

A person with a "history of travel to west Africa" is in isolation at a Welsh hospital while undergoing tests for Ebola.

The patient has been admitted to Royal Glamorgan Hospital, near Llantrisant, under the "strict protocols" for the virus.

Dr Gwen Lowe, of Public Health Wales, said the public would be made aware if Ebola is confirmed in the patient.

"Public Health Wales can confirm that an individual with a history of travel to West Africa has been admitted to Royal Glamorgan Hospital under the strict protocols for possible Ebola," Dr Lowe said on Wednesday.

"This means that all precautions in the transport and management of the patient have been adhered to and the individual is currently being cared for in strict isolation pending test results which are expected later today.

"Based on our established evidence-based risk assessment protocol, we are confident that all appropriate actions are being taken to ensure there is no risk to public health."

The news comes as British nurse Pauline Cafferkey, 39, remains critically ill with Ebola after returning from voluntary work in Sierra Leone.

Mrs Cafferkey, who was working with the charity Save the Children in Kerry Town, is currently being treated in isolation at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

The UK's screening procedures for Ebola are being reviewed after it emerged the nurse had been cleared to fly from London to Glasgow despite her temperature being checked seven times when she landed at Heathrow.

Since its outbreak the disease has claimed more than 8000 lives across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.


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Source: AAP



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