{"id":622936,"date":"2026-06-05T16:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622936\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T16:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:22:11","slug":"nhs-staff-told-to-prepare-for-uk-ebola-cases-following-deadly-outbreak-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622936\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS staff told to prepare for UK Ebola cases following deadly outbreak in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"NHS staff training to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone, 2014. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the current outbreak in Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.\" class=\"content-image\" data-image-catalogue-id=\"818538\" width=\"660\" height=\"370\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/818538.webp\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>    NHS staff training to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone, 2014. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the current outbreak in Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.<\/p>\n<p>Picture: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/5dduvutb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\nAlamy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"standfirst\">The NHS has been told to prepare for Ebola cases reaching the UK as a major outbreak of the deadly illness rages in African nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">An urgent public health message has been issued to all NHS and independent healthcare providers, warning staff to consider Ebola in patients who are \u201cacutely unwell with a history of fever&#8221; with recent travels to the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Uganda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the current outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, though the UK Health Security Agency (UKHAS) has assessed the risk to the UK public as low.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">The message to UK healthcare staff particularly applies to microbiology, virology or infectious disease teams, urgent care, emergency departments, acute medicine, obstetrics, paediatrics and primary care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/world-news\/two-killed-kenya-protest-over-us-ebola-quarantine-facility\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Two killed in Kenya as protest erupts over US Ebola quarantine facility<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/news\/health\/ebola-recoveries-offer-hope-cases-emerge-brazil-italy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ebola recoveries offer much-needed hope in DRC as possible cases emerge in Brazil and Italy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A medical worker putting on a protective suit in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on June 4, 2026\" class=\"content-image\" data-image-catalogue-id=\"818540\" width=\"660\" height=\"370\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/818540.webp\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>    A medical worker putting on a protective suit in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on June 4, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Picture: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alamy.com\/stock-photo-260604--735127163.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\nAlamy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Healthcare providers must ensure clinical services have pathways in place for assessment and management of Ebola cases. They must also make sure staff know how to access local infection specialist advice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, 263 cases of Ebola and 43 deaths as of 30th May were confirmed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director, Jean Kaseya.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Earlier in May, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/article\/ebola-recoveries-offer-hope-cases-emerge-brazil-italy-5HjdZxB_2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the WHO declared the outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo version of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Health officials scale up operations to contain deadly Ebola outbreak In Congo\" class=\"content-image\" data-image-catalogue-id=\"818541\" width=\"660\" height=\"370\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/818541.webp\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>    Health officials scale up operations to contain deadly Ebola outbreak In Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Picture: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/license\/2279102357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\nGetty<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">The organisation has, however, stressed it has not reached pandemic levels yet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">This outbreak, the 17th in the Congo and the third-largest since Ebola was discovered half a century ago, is outpacing response from global health officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cThe risk of regional spread is already happening,\u201d said Mr Kaseya.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Ebola is a deadly virus that can cause organ failure or internal bleeding. Symptoms of Ebola can include fever, fatigue, malaise, muscle pain, headache and sore throat and can emerge between 2 to 21 days after infection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHS staff training to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone, 2014. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-622936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}