New Ebola case in Glasgow, Scotland. Yahoo/AFP.

The hospital where the health worker is being treated. Yahoo/Reuters.

A recently returned healthcare worker has a confirmed case of Ebola in Glasgow, Scotland. Yahoo/AFP. The female healthcare worker was with the charity Save The Children and was on the "front lines" of the Ebola fight. She returned to the United Kingdom via Casablanca and London before arriving in Glasgow. Her contacts, including everyone on the flight she was on, are being investigated and monitored.  The threat of an outbreak is considered low since the victim was not showing symptoms while on the plane and immediately reported to a hospital after feeling ill. The government confirmed that the patient had been screened in Sierra Leone but since she had not displayed any symptoms, she was allowed to board the flight. 

My Comment:

Let's start with the good news first. The healthcare worker immediately checked into the hospital as soon as she got symptoms. I can't tell you how important that is. The longer she would have been out and about the more people that would have contact with her, leading to more contact tracing and perhaps more cases. She should be commended for that. Also, the U.K. has some experience with treating Ebola patients. Another nurse, Will Pooley has already been treated and released. 

But there is bad news too. Of course the fact that the disease is still around is bad news in itself. And there is a very small chance that someone else had contact with the nurse and got infected. It's unlikely, but possible. It is also possible that someone treating the nurse could become ill as well. Still, it is very possible that none of those things will happen. It is also likely that this nurse will survive. 

Finally, it's important to note that the Ebola outbreak is still ongoing. All the cases outside of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guiana seem to have been contained, but the disease is out of control in those countries. Even worse, Liberia, who recently have seemed to have the disease under control, has seen an uptick in new cases. This outbreak isn't over and will continue into the next year. Time will tell if we manage the outbreak.