Ebola diagnosed in Glasgow health worker returning from outbreak

(Bloomberg) — A health care worker in Glasgow has been diagnosed with Ebola, the Scottish Government said.

The patient, who was fighting the outbreak in West Africa, flew to Scotland yesterday evening from Sierra Leone. After feeling unwell, the person was hospitalized and placed in isolation today, according to a statement.

The patient hasn’t been publicly identified and will be taken to an isolation unit in London’s Royal Free hospital as soon as possible, the government said. Health officials are working to find anyone the patient may have been in contact with, though the government said the risk of other infections is low since disease was at an early stage.

“Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared,” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the head of Scotland’s government, said in the statement. “Our first thoughts at this time must be with the patient diagnosed with Ebola and their friends and family. I wish them a speedy recovery.”

As of Dec. 29 there have been more than 20,000 people infected in the world’s worst-ever Ebola outbreak, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization. Of those, 7,842 have died. Medical workers in the U.S. and Spain have also been infected after caring for people who had contracted Ebola.