A UN convoy of soldiers passes a screen displaying a message on Ebola on a street in Abidjan in Ivory Coast. Photo: ReutersA UN convoy of soldiers passes a screen displaying a message on Ebola on a street in Abidjan in Ivory Coast. Photo: Reuters

A British healthcare worker who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone – the first Briton to catch the deadly virus – was flown home for treatment yesterday, as the World Health Organisation confirmed another foreign medic had caught the disease.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond authorised the repatriation of the male medical worker – whose identity has not been disclosed – after he was analysed by doctors from Britain and Sierra Leone.

The worst ever outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever has so far killed at least 1,427 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia, neighbouring Guinea and Ivory Coast. Five deaths have been reported in Nigeria.

Britain’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer John Watson said final approval for the evacuation was given on the ground in Sierra Leone by a team of physicians who had arrived on a specially equipped Royal Air Force cargo plane.

The Boeing C-17 left the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown bound for Britain at around 1250 GMT.

“We understand that this patient, during the course of the work that he was carrying out, was exposed about a week ago and became unwell two or three days ago,” Watson told Sky News.

“The patient is not currently seriously unwell,” the UK Department of Health said in a statement.

Upon arrival at the RAF Northolt air base in Britain, he will be transported to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London, the department said.

The hospital has the only high-level isolation unit for treatment of infectious diseases in Britain and has a team of specially trained staff.

“Protective measures will be strictly maintained to minimise the risk of transmission to staff transporting the patient to the UK and healthcare workers treating the individual,” Paul Cosford, director for health protection at state body Public Health England, said in a statement.

Two US doctors, who contracted Ebola in Liberia and were evacuated to the US, left hospital last week after receiving treatment with an experimental drug, ZMapp. It was not clear what role the pharmaceutical played in their recovery.

Three African healthcare workers have also improved since receiving ZMapp in Liberia. Its US-based manufacturer, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has said limited supplies of the drug have already been exhausted.

The World Health Organisation said one of its healthcare workers had tested positive for Ebola for the first time in Sierra Leone. The WHO said it was working to ensure that the foreign worker, who it did not identify, was receiving the best possible care, including the option of medical evacuation.

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