A Perth hospital has confirmed that precautions for the deadly virus are being taken until the patient’s illness is diagnosed
A patient is being tested for the deadly Ebola virus in a Western Australian hospital, a spokeswoman for Perth’s Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
“The hospital can confirm it has one patient who is currently being tested for Ebola and appropriate precautions are being taken until the patient’s illness is diagnosed.”
The spokeswoman said she could not give any more details about the patient for privacy reasons.
She said WA was working closely with other states and the federal government to ensure a coordinated approach to tackle the Ebola threat.
“At present, the risk of people with Ebola virus disease travelling to Australia is considered to be very low,” she said.
“Even if travellers from west Africa did develop Ebola virus disease after arrival in WA, or elsewhere in Australia, our standard of care and infection control is such that once the disease was diagnosed there would be a very low risk of transmission to other persons.”
The spokeswoman said the hospital had already seen “at least one other suspected case”, but no one had been confirmed to have the disease.
The latest case comes after a baby who had recently returned to Melbourne from west Africa was suspected of having Ebola.
A Gold Coast man was also cleared of having contracted the deadly virus earlier this month after falling ill following a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa.
The Ebola outbreak in west Africa has claimed more than 2,800 lives and has infected more than 5,800 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.