EBOLA: Italian Nurse Test Positive For Ebola After Returning From Sierra Leone

An Italian nurse who returned to Italy last week after working in Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola, the health ministry said on Tuesday.



The Italian Air Force on Wednesday said an Italian nurse who tested positive for the Ebola virus after returning from Sierra Leone has been transferred to Spallanzani Hospital in Rome.

The man began to feel unwell on Sunday evening and was taken to a local hospital in Sardinia, two days after coming back from the west African state where he had been treating patients for the often deadly disease.

He will shortly be transferred to Rome's main hospital for infectious diseases, the ministry said.

Italy's only other Ebola patient, who had also been working in Sierra Leone, recovered and was released from hospital in January.

The Force said the transfer of the 27-year-old from Sardinia was organised after his blood sample tested positive on Tuesday for
the virus.

The Italian Health Ministry also said in a statement that the man, who worked in Sierra Leone as a volunteer for the Emergency
Medical Charity, flew back to Italy on May 8 and felt the first symptom of the disease two days later.

It said the hospital was expected to issue a statement about the nurse’s condition.

The ministry added that it was the second Ebola case treated in Italy.

It noted that another emergency staff who served in Sierra Leone, Dr. Fabrizio Pulvirenti from Sicily was hospitalised at the Spallanzani hospital in November and declared cured after 39 days.

More than 11,000 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone and neighbors Guinea and Liberia since an outbreak began in December 2013, according to the WHO.