Italy to receive Ebola patient from Sierra Leone

Italy is on the way to welcome its first Ebola patient after authorities in Sierra Leone confirmed on Monday that an Italian doctor in the country had contracted the virus and is being flown back to Rome for treatment. 

Sierra Leone’s Health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin said in a statement that the doctor, the first Italian to contract the disease, would arrive in Rome late Monday or early Tuesday and be hospitalised at the Lazzaro Spallanzani national institute for infectious disease.

He said: “We can reassure his family that the doctor is feeling well. He did not have a fever or other symptoms during the night and this morning he had his breakfast”.

NGO Emergency, the organization said the doctor was working for, said he had developed some unspecified Ebola symptoms but was in a “good general condition”.

The organization said in a statement: 

However no healthcare in such a serious epidemic can be considered completely risk-free

The situation in Sierra Leone is alarming: the epidemic is still widening with 100 new cases a day. According to the World Health Organisation there are more than 5,000 people with Ebola in the country but the real figures could be much higher.