Shropshire patient in Ebola hospital scare
An Ebola scare was sparked at one of Shropshire's acute hospitals when a patient attended an accident and emergency unit with symptoms of the deadly disease, it has been revealed.
Doctors feared the patient had contracted the virus, which has killed more than 5,000 people worldwide. But further investigations showed the patient did not have disease.
It has not been revealed whether the patient attended the A&E unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or Telford's Princess Royal, or when the patient was treated.
The revelation was made by Sarah Bloomfield, director of nursing and quality at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, during a meeting of Montgomeryshire Community Health Council yesterday.
It comes after a patient at Hereford County Hospital tested negative for Ebola earlier this week.
Mrs Bloomfield said the trust was prepared to deal with any patient medical staff fear could have contracted the disease.
The current outbreak of the Ebola virus mainly affects three countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Around 14,413 cases and 5,177 deaths have been reported by the World Health Organisation.
