A man is being treated at Canberra hospital after displaying symptoms which could be Ebola. Source: AAP
A HEALTH worker recently back from west Africa has been admitted to a Canberra hospital after displaying symptoms which could be the deadly Ebola disease.
THE unnamed woman returned to Australia on April 5 after working in an Ebola treatment centre in Liberia.
That country hasn’t had any cases recently and she hadn’t actually treated any Ebola patients. Health officials say it’s most unlikely she has Ebola and her symptoms – a fever and stomach upset – are consistent with many other conditions. But she’s being treated in complete isolation under the hospital’s Ebola protocol. She is in a single room with doctors and nurses wearing full protective clothing. Professor Frank Bowden, chief medical administrator for ACT Health, said this was a precautionary measure with strict protocols to protect the patient, staff and the community. “We believe that this patient has an extremely low risk of having Ebola,” he told reporters. Professor Bowden said it would be 72 hours before her diagnosis was definitely known. He said the community should not be alarmed. “We are taking every precaution,” he said. “Here where the patient has an extremely low risk of Ebola, we know there is no risk to the public of Ebola.” Dr Andrew Pengilley, acting ACT chief health officer, said this could be a normal stomach bug, malaria or a viral illness which affected people in West Africa as they did in Australia. “Ebola is not a particularly transmissible infection under normal circumstances. It’s transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids so we are confident there is no risk to the wider community,” he said.