PART of a Glasgow hospital was placed into lockdown after receiving a patient with suspected Ebola virus.
The person presented at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s Acute Receiving Unit around 6am on Tuesday.
The facility was quickly sealed off to members of the public before the patient tested negative.
It is understood that the person recently arrived back in Glasgow from overseas travel to an affected Ebola country and went to the hospital after developing worrying symptoms.
After being assessed, they were immediately confined for testing, treatment and further examination.
A hospital source said: “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.
“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.
“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.”
Another hospital worker told our sister paper the Glasgow Times: “The mere mention of the word Ebola strikes panic into people. 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 (PHS) said: “PHS is working closely with 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.”
Our sister paper the Glasgow Times understands the individual is also being tested for a range of other suspected diseases. Testing can take several days.
If confirmed, the case would be the first of Ebola in Glasgow for over a decade.
In 2014, Pauline Cafferkey, a public health nurse from Cambuslang, contracted the disease while working at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, as part of the medical aid effort during the West African Ebola epidemic. She returned to Glasgow via Casablanca and London Heathrow and was diagnosed with Ebola at Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow’s west end on December 29.
She was later treated at the QEUH in 2016 after a recurrence of the illness, from which she went on to make a full recovery.
The Public Health Scotland spokesperson added: “There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland and the risk to the general public remains low.”
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of symptomatic individuals or contaminated objects. Scotland has strict protocols for monitoring and controlling potential cases."
NHSGGC have been approached for comment.
