British doctor who tested positive for Ebola in Congo is evacuated to London hospital

A British doctor who was working on the Ebola epidemic in Congo was evacuated Thursday to a London hospital for treatment for the virus, the U.K. government said.

The man is the first British patient evacuated from the current outbreak of the deadly virus, and the third person to have tested positive to return to Europe.

The doctor was flown to the U.K. on a medical evacuation arranged by the governments of Britain and Congo, and their international health partners.

He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London, which has a high level isolation unit that was used to treat patients from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.

Dr. Renu Bindra, of the U.K. Health Security Agency, said robust infection prevention and control protocols are in place and the risk to the public is low.

France confirmed a case in June in a doctor — since recovered — who had returned from a humanitarian mission in Congo. A Swiss woman believed to have contracted the virus in Uganda was medically evacuated to Geneva for treatment last month and her husband, a diplomat, was held in isolation in Zurich.

The disease spreading in some of Congo’s remotest provinces has infected 10,600 people, more than 5,100 of whom have died. It’s spread to 67 health zones across eight provinces, from three zones when it was first declared in May.

“The infection of a British healthcare worker with Ebola is deeply concerning, but it is not entirely unexpected,” said Dr. Damien Tully, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “Healthcare workers are on the front line of these outbreaks, often treating severely ill patients under extremely challenging conditions. Even with rigorous protective measures, accidental exposures can occur.”