The doctor, whose first name is said to be Fabrizio, and who is the first Italian to contract the Ebola
virus arrived Rome today Tuesday from Sierra Leone for specialist treatment in an infectious
diseases hospital Rome.
The doctor, a 50-year old from Sicily, was flown into the military
airport of Pratica di Mare in a specially sealed unit and taken to the Lazzaro
Spallanzani institute by ambulance.
The Italian health ministry was expected to hold a press conference
later on Tuesday with details of his condition.
The doctor, was working for the charity Emergency at a clinic for Ebola
victims when he contracted the disease. He spoke to his daughters by telephone before landing in Rome, telling
them “he was fine, not afraid, and sure he will pull through,” Italian media
reported his wife as saying. He arrive Sierra Leone on October 18 and had been due to return to Italy
on Friday 28th November according to his wife who said “he almost
made it through” without contracting the disease.
The doctor had been working with 25 other Italians -- doctors, nurses
and logicians -- living together in three houses with small rooms and shared
common spaces.
Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin was quick to reassure Italians, saying
there was no chance of the virus spreading from within the special 16-room ward
where the doctor will be treated by specialists, and the situation was “under
control”.
“The patient will not have any contact with doctors, or nurses. And
especially not with the population. The Spallanzani hospital is a centre of
excellence on a European level,” she said in an
interview with a daily.
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