Killer Virus Ebola Hits Britain- How Did It Happen?

Following the closure of a portion of an Essex hospital due to concerns that a patient may have the virus, Britain experienced an Ebola scare.

Due to an unidentified “infection control concern,” Colchester Hospital administrators temporarily closed a portion of the hospital.

It was later discovered that this was the result of a patient who had recently returned from an area affected by the fatal virus and displayed telltale indications of the illness.

The only other nation now dealing with an active outbreak in Uganda.

Since it started in mid-September, there have been about 55 recorded deaths. Numerous additional people have contracted the infection.

The unnamed patient had recently returned from Uganda, but officials would not explicitly state this.

According to information provided to MailOnline, the hospital’s area fully reopened at 7 a.m. today, and operations are reportedly “functioning normally.”

Although two individuals with Ebola from West Africa were treated in the UK in 2014, the disease has never been reported in the nation.

Only outbreaks in Africa have ever been recorded.

People with symptoms who have traveled from particular countries are frequently tested, even if their symptoms are only mild, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which spoke to MailOnline.

“They are tested based on what the symptoms are and the circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “But we very frequently do panels of tests on people with very very minor symptoms like a fever or fatigue.”

‘Those coming off a long flight would often have these symptoms. So the testing is as a matter of routine.’

Ebola is one of 11 viral haemorrhagic fevers. The unwell patient is being tested for a number of these viruses, with results expected in the next few days.

“Individuals who have traveled recently and report illness are routinely checked by NHS professionals for a number of infectious diseases,” said Dr. Meera Chand, UKHSA director of clinical and emerging infection.

Less than two weeks have passed since the extension of Covid-style lockdowns in Uganda.

On October 15, authorities ordered a three-week lockdown in Mubende and the nearby Kassanda.

Early November was the deadline for restrictions to end, but officials decided to keep them in place for an additional three weeks.

It meant that more than 400,000 people received orders not to travel for pleasure or to spend the night away from home. Churches, markets, and bars were all shut.

Symptoms of Ebola include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea, a rash, and in some cases bleeding from the gums, or blood in the stools, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The heads of the WHO have urged neighboring nations to improve their readiness since there is a strong danger that Ebola will spread further.

Uganda hadn’t found the circulating Sudan strain since 2012, and neither medications nor vaccines have been shown to be effective against it.

Ten doctors volunteered right once to work in an isolation unit at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital when Ebola first appeared in Uganda in September, but just three remain now.

One of the remaining doctors, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media, claimed that staff are unwilling to work in the unit out of fear of contracting the fatal hemorrhagic fever as well as fatigue and unpaid overtime.

Two health workers at the hospital in western Uganda have died from Ebola in this outbreak. Nationwide, 15 health workers have tested positive and six have died.

Virologist Dr Jonathan Latham — a former researcher at the University of Wisconsin — and journalist Sam Husseini say there are a number of inconsistencies in the official timeline of the 2014 West African epidemic.

They assert that a facility in Kenema, Sierra Leone, which at the time was getting funds from the US government for its studies on Lassa fever, is where the virus most likely developed during “regular research activity.”

The lab specialized in hemorrhagic viruses like Ebola, though it’s not known if it ever handled the disease that caused the epidemic.

The majority of experts continue to hold the view that Guinea, which is about 175 miles from the lab, was the natural source from which Ebola spread.

Researchers found Ebola-carrying bats in the village where the first official patient was diagnosed, but they were unable to locate the original animal host.

Uganda has one of the world’s lowest doctor-to-patient ratios, with one doctor for every 25,000 people, versus the one-to-1,000 ratio recommended by WHO.

Ebola is a frequently lethal viral hemorrhagic fever that was first identified in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The virus is primarily spread by contact with bodily fluids, and the primary symptoms include fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhea.

It can also be spread by eating uncooked “bushmeat,” which is naturally present in fruit bats, monkeys, and porcupines dwelling in the rainforest.

Ebola epidemics are challenging to control, particularly in urban settings.

Infected individuals do not become contagious until symptoms start to manifest, which can take anywhere between two and 21 days.