A 37-year-old nurse, who was working for the Italian charity Emergency in Sierra Leone has been infected with the Ebola virus while working in the West African nation. Regional health officials, police and the government's top representatives in Sardinia held an emergency summit on Friday in Sassari after the nurse's condition worsened on Thursday. As a precautionary measure, a total of 13 people, all relatives of the nurse, were held in quarantine in Italy on Friday. The three Sardinian ambulance workers who took the nurse to hospital after his return home from Sierra Leone are also being monitored.
Rome's Spalanzani hospital, where the nurse is being treated, reported that he developed significant gastrointestinal symptoms. Italy's Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said on Thursday, "The patient posed no infection risk. All the protocols were followed. He isolated himself as soon as symptoms appeared, and then he was hospitalized."
Ebola Virus Disease
Ebola is caused by a virus via direct contact with body fluids or infected blood. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola or Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported in March 2014. It has now killed over 11,000 people, five times more than all other known Ebola outbreaks combined, and over 26,720 cases have been reported.
Italian Male Nurse Working With an NGO in Sierra Leone Tested Positive for Ebola
The Italian nurse who contracted the ebola virus will be transferred to the capital's Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases.
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The Ebola virus evolved as it spread to new areas but it did not change at a faster rate than it has in past outbreaks in the west across Sierra Leone.
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