"The patient admitted to the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit at the Western General Hospital yesterday has tested negative for #Ebola," NHS Lothian wrote on its Twitter web page.
The patient admitted to the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit at the Western General Hospital yesterday has tested negative for #Ebola. 1/2
— NHS Lothian (@NHS_Lothian) January 16, 2015
We have robust systems in place to manage patients with suspected infectious diseases and staff follow tested national guidelines. 2/2
— NHS Lothian (@NHS_Lothian) January 16, 2015
On Thursday, the local media reported that a patient, who returned to Scotland from West Africa, was placed in the Western General Hospital's infectious diseases unit over fears of a highly possible Ebola infection case.
There has been only one confirmed case of Ebola disease in Britain so far. A Scottish nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, who had been working with the Save the Children charity in Sierra Leone, tested positive for the Ebola virus after returning from West Africa to her home in Glasgow, in late December 2014.
Ebola is a deadly disease that spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, or though contact with contaminated clothing or possessions. The current epidemic broke out in Guinea in December 2013, soon spreading to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
According to the latest Ebola Situation report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the current Ebola outbreak has already claimed the lives of 8,429 people.
Several foreign healthcare workers who have traveled to the Ebola-stricken countries to help battle the outbreak have been infected with the deadly virus.
