NHS 'Well Prepared' for Ebola Cases

A handful of Ebola cases are expected in the UK in the coming months, the chief medical officer has said. A healthcare worker who returned from Sierra Leone was diagnosed with the disease today after starting to feel ill after flying into Glasgow Airport last night. Dame Sally Davies said the NHS remains "well prepared'' for the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 7,000 lives across west Africa. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs in October that a number of Ebola cases were expected in the UK by Christmas as he introduced screening for the disease at some of the country's airports. But figures from Public Health England (PHE) show that 112 of the 113 tests on suspected Ebola sufferers were negative, up to December 4. British nurse William Pooley, 29, contracted the virus while working in Sierra Leone. He was given the all-clear in September following treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Dame Sally said: "The risk of the general public in this country catching Ebola remains very low. However, we still estimate that there could be a handful of cases in this country over the coming months. "The NHS is very well prepared for Ebola and the requirement for screening at selected ports of entry is being kept continually under review.'' In a freedom of information response to the Press Association last month, PHE said the ages of suspected Ebola sufferers who have been tested ranged from "under five'' to 75. Most of the people tested for Ebola had visited West Africa, PHE added. Public Health Wales (PHW) said fewer than five people had been tested for Ebola at Cardiff Hospital, the University Hospital of Wales and at Carmarthen's main hospital in Glangwilli but there had been no positive cases. All of the suspected patients were adults and those undergoing tests had visited Sierra Leone and Liberia. Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency said there had been no Ebola cases, while the Scottish Government did not respond to the Press Association. Last month a man tested negative for Ebola after he reportedly visited an NHS walk-in centre in Hereford. Meanwhile, a woman with a history of travel to West Africa tested negative for Ebola at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, after complaining of a fever. Earlier this year David Mabey, professor of communicable diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned that the UK might see a second case of Ebola as more NHS staff fly out to West Africa to help tackle the crisis. "To get infected, you have got to be in close contact with a patient,'' he said. "More people are going out there ... so we may get a case or two but they have been very well trained by the army.''