Britain’s first Ebola victim has been released from hospital following treatment at a London hospital.
29-year-old William Pooley, who contracted the deadly infectious disease while working as a voluntary nurse in Sierra Leone, has reportedly made a full recovery after receiving the Zmapp drug, which so far has only been given to 6 people.
Pooley was flown back to the UK late last month, after developing the early symptoms of Ebola, and was treated in a special isolation unit at London’s Royal Free Hospital, where he praised the treatment he received.
“I was very lucky in several ways; firstly in the standard of care I received, which is a world apart from what people are receiving in West Africa at the moment,” he said.
“And my symptoms never progressed to the worst stage of the disease, I’ve seen people dying horrible deaths, I had some unpleasant symptoms, but nothing compared to the worst of the disease.”
It is uncertain as to whether or not the experimental drug ‘cured’ Pooley as the disease was luckily caught early on. However his doctors have stated that the levels of Ebola in his bloodstream dropped significantly after he was given drug.
Pooley has said that his experience has made him even more dedicated to nursing, and also sung the praises of other volunteers in Sierra Leone describing them as ‘heroic’.
“It’s just heroic what they’re doing, they know what might be facing them,” he said. “In the face of quite likely a horrible death, they’re continuing to work all day, every day helping sick people, it’s amazing.”
Ebola, a disease that attacks the body’s nervous system and is passed on through contact with infected bodily fluids, has continued to spread rapidly through West Africa with over 3000 reported cases.
Last week Senegal had its first reported case, despite efforts to keep the disease out, and it is estimated that 20,000 people will contract the disease during the current outbreak.
Meanwhile several charities have criticised the lack of response to the disease in Africa describing it as ‘inadequate’.
