Italian Ebola patient's health 'worsens slightly'
The health of an Italian doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone "worsened slightly" on Monday as he underwent a second blood transfusion from a survivor of the disease.
The patient received a second transfusion from an Ebola survivor in Germany on Monday afternoon, medics said in a statement posted on the website of Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute.
Doctors said there was no adverse reaction to the treatment but that the patient’s condition had worsened slightly.
The patient, who was flown to Italy from Sierra Leone on November 24th, still has a high fever, and was also suffering from “profound fatigue” and a “widespread rash”.
The man has not been formally identified but Emergency, the medical NGO he was working for, said he was a 50-year-old infection specialist and Italian media described him as a married father of two daughters from Sicily whose first name is Fabrizio.
The survivor of the disease in Germany, a humanitarian doctor, had received a transfusion from an Ebola survivor in Spain.
Ebola, a disease transmitted through the bodily fluids of infected people, can result in death from uncontrollable bleeding and organ failure. The current Ebola epidemic in west Africa - the worst ever recorded - has so far killed around 5,700 people.
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The patient received a second transfusion from an Ebola survivor in Germany on Monday afternoon, medics said in a statement posted on the website of Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute.
Doctors said there was no adverse reaction to the treatment but that the patient’s condition had worsened slightly.
The patient, who was flown to Italy from Sierra Leone on November 24th, still has a high fever, and was also suffering from “profound fatigue” and a “widespread rash”.
The man has not been formally identified but Emergency, the medical NGO he was working for, said he was a 50-year-old infection specialist and Italian media described him as a married father of two daughters from Sicily whose first name is Fabrizio.
The survivor of the disease in Germany, a humanitarian doctor, had received a transfusion from an Ebola survivor in Spain.
Ebola, a disease transmitted through the bodily fluids of infected people, can result in death from uncontrollable bleeding and organ failure. The current Ebola epidemic in west Africa - the worst ever recorded - has so far killed around 5,700 people.
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