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Associate Editor, QLD
Brisbane
AN Australian nurse is in hospital in Cairns with suspected Ebola symptoms.
Sue Ellen Kovack, 57, who has been working with the Red Cross in Sierra Leone with Ebola victims, returned home only on Tuesday and had been monitoring her health.
She developed a low grade fever this morning, contacted authorities and was admitted to hospital as a precautionary measure.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young said the nurse was not otherwise ill. But the case was being treated as suspected Ebola and is currently being assessed by disease specialists at Cairns hospital.
Blood has been taken and sent to Brisbane by plane for testing. “There is the potential there so that’s why we’re treating this so seriously,” Dr Young said.
However Dr Young added: “There is no risk to anyone in that community or any staff in that hospital.”
The nurse had been in home isolation since her return as a precaution.
“She’s done everything appropriately,” Dr Young said.
Another doctor was going through home isolation in Brisbane at present, she said.
Ms Kovack’s test results are expected back tonight or tomorrow morning, with pathologists on standby to do the testing as soon as the blood sample arrives in Brisbane.
Dr Young said the nurse had a flatmate but had not been unwell until this morning.
“Ebola virus is very difficult to transmit - it’s not like the flu or measles.” Dr Young also said there was no worry about passengers on the woman’s flights home.
“There is absolutely no concern for any passenger on any plane she’s been on because she did not have any symptoms at all when she was on those flights.”
Ms Kovacks had described her experiences in Sierra Leone in an interview with The Weekend Australian last Saturday.
Australia has investigated three suspected cases of Ebola previously.
A woman was released from quarantine at a Perth hospital on September 23 after being cleared of the disease.
The woman had attended a conference in Africa.
And a one-year-old child was cleared of any infection after being taken to a Melbourne hospital on September 19 with suspicious symptoms.
The child had returned to Australia from west Africa five days earlier.
A third suspected case on the Gold Coast was cleared by tests after a man claiming to have spent time in Africa complained of vague symptoms while in police custody
Additional reporting: AAP
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