A British healthcare worker infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being medically evacuated to Britain for specialist treatment, according to an official document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, November 4. The patient is in a stable condition and is expected to arrive in Britain on Wednesday or Thursday, before being transferred by a specialist ambulance to a high-consequence infectious disease unit, the document showed.

Source: Reuters

The British government confirmed the case. "A British citizen currently in the DRC has tested positive for Ebola," a government spokesperson said. "The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated. Further information will be shared in due course as appropriate. The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low."

Source: PA Media / Sky News

It is the first case involving a British national linked to the current outbreak, although several other people from elsewhere in Europe have been infected, Reuters reported. The patient, whose identity has not been disclosed, had been sent to Congo by a humanitarian organisation to help support the response to the outbreak.

Source: Reuters

British authorities did not expect the case to have a serious public health impact in Britain, and anticipated no disruption to international travel or trade, according to the document seen by Reuters. The World Health Organization referred Reuters to the British authorities; WHO has supported several medical evacuations at the request of partners and governments during this outbreak.

Source: Reuters

Why experts say the risk at home is extremely low

Dr Damien Tully, an associate professor at the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Uganda Research Unit, said the news of the British worker's infection was "deeply concerning, but it is not entirely unexpected". "Healthcare workers are on the front line of these outbreaks, often treating severely ill patients under extremely challenging conditions. Even with rigorous protective measures, accidental exposures can occur," he said.

Source: PA Media

Dr Tully added that the risk to the British public from the planned medical evacuation is "extremely low", because Ebola is transmitted primarily through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and people are not generally infectious until they develop symptoms. The UK's two dedicated high-level isolation units — the Royal Free Hospital in London and the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle — are equipped with specialist isolation systems and staffed by highly trained infectious disease teams, and patients can be transported under carefully controlled conditions, he said. Sky News also understands those are the only two places the patient could be taken for treatment.

Source: PA Media / Sky News

The British case is not the first time this outbreak has reached a European health system. Last month, Switzerland evacuated an Ebola patient from Nigeria for treatment, Sky News reported, and in June, France reported that a doctor returning from a humanitarian mission in the DRC had contracted the virus.

Source: Sky News

The evacuation was announced on the same day the World Health Organization backed adding two vaccine candidates built specifically for the Bundibugyo virus — Oxford and Serum Institute of India's ChAdOx1 BDBV and Moderna's mRNA-1469 — to the Tumaini trial in the DRC. There is still no approved vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo disease, which is fatal in about half of cases on average.

Source: AFP / Sky News

The outbreak the worker was helping to fight passed 5,372 deaths in the three-country count reported on November 3, with no vaccine yet approved for the Bundibugyo strain. Read: Congo's Ebola deaths pass 5,372 — still no vaccine for this strain

What happens next: the patient is expected in Britain within about a day, travelling under controlled infection-prevention conditions, with arrangements in place to identify and monitor anyone who may have been exposed. The government says further information will be shared in due course. The case is a reminder of the risk carried by the health workers staffing the response in the DRC — the same response that, as of Wednesday, is still waiting for its first Bundibugyo-specific vaccine to clear trials.

Source: Reuters / PA Media