Locked down Glasgow hospital reopens after suspected Ebola case tests negative
A Glasgow hospital that was on lockdown after a suspected Ebola case was identified there has reopened after the patient tested negative to the deadly virus.
Earlier in the day the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was quarantined as a precaution when a patient was admitted after having arrived back in the city following travel to an Ebola-affected country.
After being assessed, the patient was immediately confined for testing, treatment and further examination. A subsequent test cleared the patient of the virus.
A hospital source told the National: “The person came to the acute receiving unit, where people are sent by their GP or the health board’s 101 number to avoid having to present at accident and emergency. This was quickly shut down and sealed off from the rest of the hospital.”
A second told the Glasgow Times: “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.
“The mere mention of the word Ebola strikes panic into people. You think of it as a disease that happens elsewhere.”
It follows outbreaks of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Last week, a doctor in France tested positive after returning from a humanitarian mission in the DRC, which is struggling to contain a major outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever.
Known cases surpassed 1000 this week. At least 267 people, including 18 healthcare workers, have died.
If the Glasgow case had have been confirmed as Ebola, it would have been the first case in Britain since three health workers contracted the disease while treating victims in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.
A spokesman for Public Health Scotland said: “PHS is working closely with UKHSA [the UK Health Security Agency] 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.
“PHS and NHS boards across Scotland have well established protocols for assessing and testing travellers arriving in the UK from areas affected by Ebola where necessary. Where required, contact tracing will occur and contacts may undergo clinical assessment and precautionary testing.”
A public health surveillance programme, called the UKHSA returning workers scheme, which monitors the health of those who travel to virus-affected areas for work, was activated.
PHS added: “There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland, and the risk to the general public remains low”.
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