A ward at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was placed into lockdown in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a patient arrived showing symptoms consistent with a suspected case of Ebola virus.
The individual presented at the hospital’s Acute Receiving Unit, prompting the immediate activation of infection control measures. Public Health Scotland confirmed that “well established protocols for assessing and testing travellers arriving in the UK from areas affected by Ebola” were in place and had been followed in response to the case.
The suspected case comes amid an ongoing Ebola outbreak affecting both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, two of the countries currently responding to active transmission of the virus. Health authorities in the UK maintain established surveillance and testing protocols specifically designed to identify and isolate suspected cases arriving from affected regions, given the severity of the disease and the importance of preventing onward transmission.
Further details about the patient’s condition and confirmation of test results have not yet been made public.
