Latest Briton tested for Ebola does NOT have killer virus

A BRITON who recently returned from Ebola-afflicted West Africa has tested negative for the deadly virus at a Swindon hospital, officials said.

The patient was being kept in isolation at Great Western Hospital in Swindon while tests for the killer bug were carried out as a "precautionary measure".

A spokesman for Great Western Hospitals NHS Fozundation Trust this morning said: "The test results have come back negative. The patient is continuing to stay within the hospital for treatment."

The trust said it had "robust" systems to manage patients with suspected infectious diseases and it followed national guidance for possible Ebola cases.

Staff have undergone training to deal with potential Ebola sufferers and personal protective equipment will be used, it added.

The trust said it would not provide any more details on the patient.

The patient had recently flown into the UK from South Africa, after spending time in Ebola stricken Sierra Leone, according to the Swindon Advertiser.

The scare came as Ebola sufferer Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish public health nurse who'd been volunteering in Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone, remained in a critical condition, after being diagnosed on Monday.

She is currently being treated in a quarantine tent at the Royal Free Hospital where she has agreed to be treated with an experimental drug which has not been properly proven to work.

Staff at the Great Western Hospital carried out a drill to run through their response to receiving a patient with suspected Ebola last month.

The three-hour test gave an idea of what will have taken place at the hospital over the last two days. 

Procedures in place mean the patient is taken to the hospital’s A&E department to receive tests, by health staff wearing two pairs of gloves and a full face visor.

They are then cared for in an isolated room to minimise contact with other people while the results are awaited.

Earlier this week two patients in Cornwall and Aberdeen  also tested negative for Ebola.

report and pix by sunday express uk