Qld nurse tests negative for Ebola
A far north Queensland nurse suspected of having Ebola has returned a negative blood test after fears she may have contracted the deadly disease while working in Africa.
Cairns nurse Sue-Ellen Kovack, 57, returned from Sierra Leone at the weekend after spending a month volunteering with the Red Cross.
Kovack was quarantined in hospital in Cairns on Thursday after contacting authorities that morning to report a low-grade fever of 37.6 degrees.
Queensland’s health department announced early on Friday that no Ebola had been found in Kovack’s blood stream.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said she will remain under observation for at least another 24 hours.
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“This is a necessary precaution given the patient has been to West Africa and has had a fever within the incubation period of 21 days,” she said.
“For the sake of her health and to follow due diligence, we want to be sure she is clear of Ebola virus disease as well as any other disease.”
Young said regardless of the outcome of the tests, the broader community was not at risk of contracting the disease.
Kovack also lived with a flatmate but it was unlikely she would have infected anyone else if she’d had the disease.
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Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said the negative test result was heartening but the World Health Organisation required three full days of negative tests.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the patient involved,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Earlier, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese criticised federal MP Bob Katter for saying aid workers like Kovack were putting the nation at risk and their “moral and humanitarian ambitions” came at a cost to Australia.
Katter’s remarks were concerning, Albanese said.
“I certainly am concerned about the comments Bob Katter has made that suggest that somehow the aid workers themselves are responsible for this and that they shouldn’t be providing assistance,” he told Sky News.
The Ebola virus has claimed almost 3900 lives across five west African nations.
EBOLA SCARES IN AUSTRALIA
– Cairns nurse Sue-Ellen Kovack, 57, developed a fever after returning from aid work in Sierra Leone but tested negative on Oct 10
– Perth woman released from hospital quarantine on Sept 23 after attending a conference in Africa
– A one-year-old Melbourne taken to hospital with suspicious symptoms on Sept 19 and later cleared
– 27-year-old Gold Coast man cleared by tests on Sept 11 after claiming to have spent time in Africa and having vague symptoms in custody
