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05/20/2024 02:10:00 pm

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British Ebola Victim Airlifted to UK From Sierra Leone

A British man infected with the Ebola virus is loaded into a Royal Air Force (RAF) ambulance after being flown home on a C17 plane from Sierra Leone

(Photo : Reuters)

The first British volunteer healthcare worker to contract the deadly Ebola virus was airlifted to the UK to receive treatment at the Royal Free Hospital, the country's only high level isolation unit, reports state.

29-year-old nurse, Willam Pooley, tested positive for the virus when he was volunteering at Sierra Leone's Kenema Government Hospital.  Less than 24 hours later, arrangements were quickly made to have him flown to the UK on a C17 Royal Air Force Jet especially equipped to handle medical emergencies. 

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Dr. Robert Garry, who worked with Pooley in the West African hospital believes that due to his colleague's youth and the fact that they caught the virus early on, Pooley stands a good chance of surviving the ordeal.   

According to reports, at the Royal Free Hospital Pooley is receiving the best treatment possible.  

Only specially trained medical personnel are permitted to enter his room in the isolation area.  His bed is surrounded by a tent with a ventilation system separate from the hospital.

Great care was taken to ensure the public's safety when Pooley was transported to the hospital and all measures have been put in place so that medical staff and other patients at the hospital do not contract the virus.

Because Ebola requires contact with bodily fluid from an infected patient, Dr. Paul Cosford, director for health protection at Public Health England, is confident that risk to the public in the UK remain "very low."

Dr. Garry, meanwhile, honors Pooley's hard work and contributions to combating the Ebola outbreak.  He said Pooley volunteered to go to Kenema Government Hospital on his own after he read about the healthcare workers who were dying from the virus when treating patients.

Pooley himself has said in an interview, "I'm not particularly experienced or skilled, but I can do the job and I am actually helping."

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