Ebola: Treatment Begins for First British Patient in London

London (NAN) William Pooley, 29, the first Briton to contract the Ebola disease in Sierra Leone has started receiving treatment in London.

Pooley, a volunteer nurse was flown in a military aircraft on Sunday to the Hampstead Royal Free Hospital, where he is being treated in a specialist isolation unit for highly infectious diseases.

Pooley had worked as a volunteer providing palliative care at The Shepherd’s Hospice in Sierra Leone from March to July.

He then requested to be relocated to the Kenema Government Hospital to serve on the Ebola treatment ward, following reports that patients were being abandoned when health workers died from the virus.

Pooley has been described as a hero for his selfless service.

NAN quotes a BBC report on Gabriel Madiye, the Executive Director of The Shepherd’s Hospice, as saying, “Pooley had been aware of the risks, but was determined to work there.

“We consider him a hero, somebody who is sacrificing to provide care in very difficult circumstances – when our own health workers are running away’,” Madiye said.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Ball, a virologist at Nottingham University, said there would be immediate testing to ensure all Pooley’s organs were functioning.

“He really is in the best place and will have the best possible care,” Ball said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has put the death figure from the Ebola outbreak to over 1,500 mostly from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.