British Ebola patient treated with ZMapp

The first British Ebola patient, a 29-year-old male nurse named as William Pooley, has been treated with the experimental drug ZMapp in a London hospital.

“We have had the opportunity to give him the ZMapp treatment that I am sure you are aware of,” Dr Michael Jacobs, clinical leader in infectious diseases at Royal Free Hospital, told Sky News. “It is an experimental medicine, we made that absolutely clear in our discussions with him.”

He added: “What has become apparent to us is that he is clearly a rather resilient and remarkable young man.”

The patient was evacuated back to London Sunday night, after he had been diagnosed with the Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, where he volunteered to care for Ebola patients. Pooley has begun his treatment at the high level isolation unit (HLIU) after arriving at the hospital.

There are various facilities in the HLIU, including a specific entrance for the patient, autoclaves which decontaminate waste and a dedicated laboratory for carrying out tests. All the air leaving the unit is cleaned so there is no risk to anyone at the hospital, according to the hospital.

ZMapp has been used on two American Ebola patients, who have already recovered and discharged from hospital. Experts, however, warned that it’s still unclear if their recovery is due to the ZMapp treatment.

According to the World Health Organization, so far there have been 2, 615 cases and 1,427 deaths reported in West Africa.