A health care worker of the military had to be immediately flown to the United Kingdom after pricking himself with a needle that he might have used on a patient with Ebola.
The unnamed individual travelled from Sierra Leone where they are augmenting the shortage of health care workers to London, England, after it's been discovered that he obtained a needle injury while treating a an infected Ebola patient.
He is then brought to the Royal Free Hospital-PHE (Public Health England) for a strict monitoring in the next 21 days, the length of time that the virus can remain incubated. He will also be taking tests to confirm if he has the virus. So far, he's not showing any symptom and he's not been diagnosed by the disease in Sierra Leone.
Before him, a military worker also needed to be flown to the United Kingdom when he suffered the same injury. Like the new health care worker, he also didn't show any symptom and was not diagnosed of the infection.
The armed forces minister Mark Francois admitted that it's unfortunate that both cases had to be happen in close intervals. However, he wanted to assure the public that these healthcare military workers had been well trained including how to wear PPE. They are also receiving the much-needed support, training, and care. They also do not pose any significant risk to public's health.
The United Kingdom has two previous confirmed cases of the Ebola virus in the recent outbreak, Will Pooley and Pauline Cafferkey, and both had been treated in the same facility in its isolation unit. There are other three health care facilities that are designated as Ebola centers around the country.
Meanwhile, a needle prick can be a cause of major concern since the virus is transmitted through contact of the infected bodily fluid such as blood. In the mid-1970s, a lab technician named Geoffrey Platt acquired the virus through a needle prick while trying to obtain a sample. He later recovered after being isolated for more than 35 days.