A patient suspected of having the Ebola virus has tested negative, Public Health Scotland has confirmed. A unit in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was said to have been locked down after the person was admitted.
They were understood to have presented at the hospital around 6am on Tuesday, June 30, and the Acute Receiving Unit was quickly sealed off to members of the public.
The Glasgow Times reports the patient recently arrived back in the city from a country affected by Ebola and went to the hospital after developing concerning symptoms.
However, Public Health Scotland confirmed on Tuesday night that the person had tested negative.
Glasgow has not had a confirmed case of the Ebola virus in a decade. Nurse Pauline Cafferkey was diagnosed with the virus at Gartnavel in Glasgow in 2014, after returning from working at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone.
In 2016, she was treated at the QEUH after the virus resurfaced but she made a full recovery.
View 2 ImagesPauline Cafferkey(Image: Lisa Ferguson/Scotland on Sunday/PA Wire)
A spokesperson for PHS told the Record: “We are aware that an individual in Scotland was tested for Ebola as a precautionary measure. The test result has now been received and is negative.”
They continued: “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.
“It is rare for Ebola cases to occur in returning travellers, but NHS Scotland has safe procedures in place for detecting and managing any such cases. As such, the risk to the general public remains low.
“The UKHSA Returning Workers Scheme (RWS) which aims to protect and monitor the health of those who may travel from the UK to affected areas for their work, has been activated. Organisations deploying workers to affected areas where they may be exposed to Ebola through their work, should register those workers with the scheme.
“There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland.”
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