The Ebola virus, that has killed at least 670 people in West Africa in the latest outbreak, poses a threat to the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has warned.
Earlier this month, Public Health England sent a alert to doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms of the deadly virus, but no cases have yet been reported in the UK.
Hammond told BBC News:
“At the moment we don’t think any British nationals [abroad]are affected and we are fairly confident there are no cases in the UK,” he said.
“But it is a threat, it is something we need to respond to and we will be doing so through the Cobra mechanism.”
Last week, the first cases were reported in Lagos in Nigeria and Freetown in Sierra Leone, as the movement of people has brought the disease out of the sparsely populated rural areas and into some of the Africa’s largest cities.
On 28 July, Liberia closed all its land borders “with the exception of major entry points” as the country struggles to contain the spread of the virus, which has already infected over 1,000 people and has a mortality rate of up to 90%.
Several airlines have also stopped flying to Liberia and Sierra Leone after an infected American man was found to have flown from Liberia to Nigeria last week, potentially exposing other passengers to the disease.
Ebola is spread by contact with bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine and faeces, and so doctors and nurses treating those infected must wear full body suits and masks, but this has not stopped a number of medical staff already falling ill and dying from the virus.
Early symptoms of Ebola infection include a fever, headache, and sore throat. Within days the virus begins to attack the immune system causing abdominal pain, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhoea, before patients finally start bleeding from their eyes, mouth, ears, and other orifices.
