Ebola outbreak: Scotland confirms its 1st case

A health-care worker has been diagnosed with Ebola and is receiving treatment in Glasgow, the Scottish government confirmed on Monday.

In a news release, the government said that "the risk to others is considered extremely low" because the patient was diagnosed in the very early stages of the illness. Officials are investigating everyone who possibly had contact with the patient and will monitor those deemed to be at risk.

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"NHS Scotland infectious diseases procedures have now been put into effect and the patient has been isolated and is receiving treatment in the specialist Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel Hospital campus," reads the news release. 

​ The patient is an aid worker who was helping to combat Ebola in West Africa, according to a Scottish government news release. The patient returned to Scotland Sunday night from Sierra Leone and was admitted to hospital after feeling unwell.

The patient had travelled via Casablanca and London's Heathrow Airport, arriving at the Glasgow airport on a British Airways flight at about 11:30 p.m. local time.

It is the first case of Ebola identified in Scotland, according to the BBC.

Patient to be sent to London hospital

The patient will soon be transferred to a high level isolation unit at a London hospital, in accordance with U.K. and Scottish protocol for anyone diagnosed with Ebola.

"Scotland’s NHS has proved it is well able to cope with infectious diseases in the past, such as swine flu, and I am confident we will be able to respond effectively again," said Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, in the release. 

In August, another British health-care worker, William Pooley, contracted the disease while working in Sierra Leone. He was discharged after receiving treatment in London and returned to Sierra Leone's capital city, Freetown, to continue work at an Ebola isolation unit.

The World Health Organization said Monday that there have been more than 20,000 people with Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — the three countries worst affected by the outbreak — with more than 7,842 deaths during the epidemic so far.