British Worker Tests Positive; UK Evacuation Expected

A British healthcare worker tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An evacuation flight to the UK has been arranged. The patient is reported stable and expected to arrive Wednesday or Thursday, then transfer by specialist ambulance to a high-consequence infectious disease unit. The case is the first British national linked to the current outbreak. Global cases have surpassed 10,000, with approximately 5,000 deaths. The Bundibugyo strain carries a mortality rate of up to 50 percent. There is no approved vaccine for it; clinical trials are underway. The outbreak was initially detected in May in the DRC and had spread to Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. The UK Health Security Agency records only four imported Ebola cases confirmed in Britain since 1976. In June, part of Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital closed over a suspected case that later tested negative. A London hospital separately monitored a suspected case involving a humanitarian worker exposed in the DRC. The incubation period is 8-10 days, up to 21 days. CONTESTED no contested claims found in record