Suspected Austria Ebola: patient returning from Uganda in hospital,
A suspected Ebola patient is being quarantined in an Austrian hospital after displaying symptoms of the deadly virus.
Austrian health officials announced that the affected individual had just returned from Uganda before showing signs of the current strain of the virus, named Bundibugyo, which has no vaccine and kills up to 50 per cent of those infected.
They said in a statement: ‘Yesterday, a person from the Urfahr-Umgebung district was admitted to the hospital for inpatient evaluation due to symptoms of illness.
‘Since the person returned from Uganda on Monday—a country currently affected by the ongoing Ebola outbreak—they were isolated and treated in accordance with medical guidelines.’
According to Austrian media outlet Krone, the unnamed patient returned an initial blood sample showing no signs of the virus, which has killed more than 220 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central Africa, in recent weeks.
But until a second sample is returned – to confirm they are not infected – they must remain isolated in hospital care.
The patient’s current condition is said to be stable but they are being transported from Urfahr-Umgebung, upper Austria, to the capital city Vienna for specialist treatment. They will be taken via ‘infectious disease transport’.
Contact tracing has also been launched by officials in Austria to try and contain a potential spread of the virus if the second test comes back as positive.
A positive test would also mark the first case of the virus in Europe from the current outbreak, which has already been declared a global public health emergency.
Health workers wearing protective equipment stand during safe burial procedures outside a family home in Mongbwalu, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo on May 24, 2026
Health workers check locals’ temperature as a preventive measure against Ebola in Kanyaruchinya, near Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo on May 27, 2026
There have been more than 1,000 suspected cases and 220 deaths from the outbreak in recent weeks, which has primarily hit the DRC, though at least seven cases are believed to have been found in Uganda.
It was thought that Ebola had reached northern Italy last week when two humanitarian aid workers – a man and a woman who had also recently returned from Uganda – displayed symptoms. However, both later tested negative.
But fears remain that the virus could spread further, with airports in the US increasing screenings for potentially infected passengers after an American doctor tested positive for Ebola earlier this month following a period of working in the region.
Scientists from the University of Oxford are racing to create a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain, which has the same symptoms as other Ebola variants including a flu-like fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.
In many cases, this progresses to internal bleeding, organ failure and death.
Patients can carry the virus for up to 21 days before symptoms begin, which is when experts believe they become infectious.
A successful vaccine would likely protect patients from severe illness and death as well as limit the spread of the virus, but there is no guarantee it will be effective.
Oxford Uni scientists have also warned that it may take two-to-three months before their vaccine can be tested on humans, meaning it is unlikely patients in Africa will get the drug within the next six months.
The World Health Organisation’s chief warned this week that the outbreak is spreading faster than it can be contained, fuelling fears it could spiral into a major global health crisis.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: ‘We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us.’
The present epidemic is one of the fastest spreading since the 2014 outbreak which was linked to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths across West Africa.
Among the 220 people killed in the latest outbreak are three Red Cross volunteers, believed to have contracted the virus while handling infected bodies.
There has been widespread disarray in affected nations in recent weeks, with locals protesting against the way the outbreak is being handled.
The coffin of a person suspected of having died from Ebola is carried by health workers at a hospital in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026
A supervisor at the Kigonze camp for displaced persons urging residents to wash their hands in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 25, 2026
Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in the DRC has come under attack from people seeking to bury the bodies of friends and family members who have died from Ebola, according to the hospital’s medical director, Dr Richard Lokodu.
But as burials are highly contagious, they are being conducted by medical teams in the area.
Some factions in the region are rebelling in the belief that Ebola is a hoax, and confronting Red Cross volunteers.
Meanwhile others in local communities have taken to villages with megaphones to encourage residents to follow official health guidance.
All flights to and from Bunia – the eastern DRC city where most cases and deaths have occurred – have been grounded, but experts believe the virus may have already spread to other nearby nations, such as South Sudan.
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Dr Ghebreyesus warned other nations that they need to take immediate action to prevent further spread in his recent address to the African Union.
In previous Ebola outbreaks the virus has killed more than half of those infected, many of whom died due to internal bleeding and organ failure.
In the case of the Italian workers who developed suspected Ebola symptoms, the woman, from Lurate Caccivio, had a very high fever and mild neurological issues.
Meanwhile the man, from Bulgarograsso, displayed milder symptoms of a temperature of around 38C and gastrointestinal problems.
The American who contracted the virus, Dr Peter Stafford, was transported to Germany for treatment.
The UK has announced up to £20million to help contain the outbreak of Ebola in the eastern region of the DRC.
British health officials have also activated a Returning Workers Scheme – where healthcare workers returning from Ebola outbreak regions are monitored for signs of the disease once back in the UK.
However, experts have warned that the UK is unprepared for the Ebola outbreak, and argue that the population may be at risk.
Dr Derek Sloan, an expert in infectious diseases at St Andrew’s University, said the recent outbreak shows we must remain ‘vigilant’ and ‘preserve funding’.
‘This outbreak, along with the recent Hantavirus cases on a cruise ship and meningitis infections in the UK shows how important it is that we stay vigilant and use effective public health tools to protect our populations,’ Dr Sloan, also a spokesman for UK-Med and Healthy World, Secure Britain, said.
‘Infectious disease outbreaks such as these in our interconnected world cannot be dismissed as someone else’s problem.
‘These examples show how important it is to maintain this expertise and underline the need to preserve funding for global health and international aid.’
