Ebola outbreak: Second patient arrives in Germany
A hospital in the German city of Frankfurt-on-Main has taken in an Ebola patient after he was flown in during the night under tight security.
After arriving on a medical flight from West Africa, the man was brought to Frankfurt University Hospital where he was placed in an isolation ward.
He is a Ugandan doctor who worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.
It is Germany's second case, with a man undergoing treatment in Hamburg after arriving from West Africa in August.
In West Africa more than 3,338 people have died in the world's worst outbreak of the virus.
There have been 7,178 confirmed cases, with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea suffering the most.
The Frankfurt hospital said the patient's arrival had gone well.
"I am confident that the patient can get good treatment," Professor Rene Gottschalk told reporters.
Staff, he said, had been trained to handle Ebola patients, adding "but still, the adrenaline levels naturally go a little higher when a real patient is brought in."
Giving details of the sufferer, Hesse Minister of Social Affairs Stefan Gruettner said he had been working for an Italian aid organisation in Sierra Leone and had helped Ebola sufferers there before becoming infected himself.
Ebola virus disease (EVD)
- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
- Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no proven vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host