BY BBC
The first British person to contract Ebola in the current outbreak in Africa is to return to the country where he was infected in order to help others fight the disease.
William Pooley was treated in London after being flown out of Sierra Leone.
He has made a full recovery and, having been discharged from hospital, said he is to travel back within “a few weeks”.
The 29-year-old said he was “impatient” to return and that it was likely he was now immune to the deadly illness. [eap_ad_2] Mr Pooley had been working as a volunteer nurse in Sierra Leone, which is one of the worst affected countries, when he contracted the virus.
Around half of the 3,000 people infected in the current African outbreak, which started in Guinea, have died.
“I’m quite impatient to get back doing what I know needs to done,” Mr Pooley told BBC News
“And I feel like I’ve left things undone, having left prematurely. And I know there’s a lot of work to do out there, and we need to get out there and do it.”
The nurse, from Eyke in Suffolk, was treated in a special isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital, where he was given the experimental drug ZMapp.
He said his decision to return was an easy one.
“It’s massively safer for me. I have immunity now to this strain of Ebola,” Mr Pooley said.
“We’re not sure how long that immunity lasts or whether it’s 100%, but it’s massively safer for me to work there now than it was before.”
Mr Pooley’s passport was incinerated upon his evacuation from Sierra Leone.
He said his new one was “in the post” and that his family was supportive of his plans to return to volunteer.[eap_ad_3]
