Italy’s health ministry says a nurse infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone will be transferred to Rome’s Spallanzani infectious disease hospital. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)
A healthcare worker who returned to Italy from an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the virus.
The World Health Organization said today the patient returned from volunteering and developed symptoms on May 10, 72 hours after his return to Italy.
The nurse, who wasn’t identified to protect his privacy, worked for the non-governmental aid group Emergency in Sierra Leone.
Italy’s health ministry said he will be transferred to Rome’s Spallanzani infectious disease hospital, which last year successfully treated an Italian doctor who contracted Ebola after working in Sierra Leone.
Passengers on the flights don’t need to be traced given the length of time between the last flight and start of symptoms, the UN health agency said.
Italy’s national reference centre tested samples and confirmed Ebola virus infection yesterday.
Elsewhere, Liberia’s government and WHO declared the country free of Ebola on Saturday after 42 without a new case.
Guinea reported seven cases in the week of May 4-10 and Sierra Leone had two, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, told reporters in Geneva.
The virus has killed more than 11,000 since December 2013.
