UK Ebola patient to be discharged from Royal Free today after successful treatment
British Ebola sufferer William Pooley was discharged from the Royal Free today. Picture: Andrew Matthews - Credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images
The first Briton known to have caught the deadly Ebola virus in the current outbreak in west Africa is being discharged from the Royal Free Hospital today.
William Pooley, 29, a volunteer nurse, was flown back to the UK for treatment on August 24 after contracting the virus in Sierra Leone.
Mr Pooley, who comes from the small village of Eyke in Suffolk, was airlifted back to Britain in a specially equipped C17 RAF aircraft.
He was being cared for at a special unit at the Royal Free Hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead, but the hospital announced he was being discharged today.
Mr Pooley thanked staff at the Royal Free Hospital in London for the “world-class care” he received, saying he feels “wonderfully lucky” to have survived.
He said: “I was very lucky in several ways.”
He added the standard of care he received at the Royal Free was “a world away” from that being given to Ebola sufferers in Africa.
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The hospital said: “Following 10 days of successful treatment in the high level isolation unit – the only one in the UK – Mr Pooley is being discharged from the Royal Free Hospital today.
“He was treated with the experimental drug ZMapp. His care was led by Dr Michael Jacobs, infectious diseases consultant.”
