British doctor with Ebola returns to UK for treatment

A British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has returned to the UK for treatment.

The male doctor is being cared for in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London, the Department of Health said.

Dr Renu Bindra, from the UK Health Security Agency, said there were "robust infection prevention and control protocols to limit the risk of onward transmission, and the risk to the wider public remains low".

The medical doctor was brought to the UK on a medical evacuation flight, in a joint effort between the governments of the UK and DR Congo.

The high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital where the doctor is being treated is run by a dedicated team of doctors, nurses and laboratory staff. Access to the unit is restricted.

It includes a special tent with controlled ventilation that still allows care to be provided by NHS staff, with all the air leaving the unit cleaned so there is no risk to anyone inside or outside of the hospital.

Adult patients with Lassa fever, Ebola and Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever have been treated there in the past.

Several Europeans have previously been infected, but this is the first case involving a British national linked to the current outbreak - the world's second-largest ever.

Only four cases of the virus, which has a high fatality rate, have been confirmed in the UK since 1976, according to the ⁠UK Health Security Agency.

Three of those cases involved health workers who responded to the outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.

Last month, Switzerland evacuated an ‌Ebola patient from Nigeria for treatment.

In June, France reported that a doctor returning from a humanitarian mission in DR Congo had contracted the virus.

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Data released last week shows the death toll for the current outbreak has surpassed 5,000, with over 10,000 people thought to be infected.

Ebola ​is thought to be fatal in about half of cases on average, though ​mortality rates vary between outbreaks.

There are ​currently no approved treatments or vaccines to combat ⁠the rare Bundibugyo disease, which has triggered the ongoing outbreak.

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