Italian Male Nurse Working With an NGO in Sierra Leone Tested Positive for Ebola

The Ebola virus that often causes a fatal illness if untreated, is transmitted to people from wild animals through close contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. The current outbreak in West Africa, first notified more than a year ago, is the largest since the deadly virus was first discovered in 1976 and has claimed over 11,000 lives by the latest count of the World Health Organization. Recently an Italian male nurse working with NGO Emergency tested positive for the Ebola virus after flying back to Italy from Sierra Leone.

The nurse will soon be transferred from the city of Sassari in Sardinia island to the the capital's Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases. The man showed the first symptoms of Ebola late on Sunday. The man used to carry out regular self-monitoring of his conditions, which enabled to act quickly to avoid possible contagion.

The NGO did not release details about the nurse's identity but reported that he was in good condition generally. He is the second Italian to contract Ebola during the current outbreak. A doctor with Emergency also contracted the virus while combating the disease in Sierra Leone last winter and was treated at the same hospital for several weeks before he was declared completely healed.

Source: Medindia