Woman From West Africa in Ebola Isolation at Brisbane Hospital

An 18-year-old woman from West Africa is being tested for Ebola virus in Australia. The patient is in isolation at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and is awaiting her first test result on Monday.

She arrived in Brisbane 11 days ago with eight of her family members from Guinea, who are planning to stay in Australia indefinitely.

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young told reporters that the unnamed woman had been in home quarantine since arriving in the country until she was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. As Queensland Health met the family at the airport and had arranged for their quarantine.

The patient developed fever on Saturday, and therefore was taken straight to the hospital. The rest of her family, composed of six children and two adults, remain in home quarantine but are “quite safe.”

“She didn’t have any contact with anyone that was sick with Ebola virus disease,” Young said, although adding that the patient came from an area with “reasonably large number of cases” of the deadly virus.

The patient’s fever had abated and she was “otherwise well.”

Young said that the woman poses no risk to the community as she hasn’t left her home quarantine or had any visitors since she arrived in Brisbane. There was also no risk to her fellow aeroplane passengers because she was not showing symptoms during the flight. The woman’s first test result is expected on Monday morning. She will then be undergoing a second test in three days.

Queensland Health is monitoring four families who came from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

Earlier in October, nurse Sue-Ellen Kovack was hospitalised after returning in Sierra Leone, where she worked as a Red Cross volunteer treating Ebola patients. She was cleared after her tests came back negative for the virus.