Ebola outbreak: Second patient arrives in Germany Published duration 3 October 2014

image copyright Reuters image caption Medical staff in protective equipment attend the arrival of the Ebola patient at Frankfurt University Hospital

A hospital in the German city of Frankfurt-on-Main has taken in an Ebola patient after he was flown in during the night under tight security.

After arriving on a medical flight from West Africa, the man was brought to Frankfurt University Hospital where he was placed in an isolation ward.

He is a Ugandan doctor who worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

It is Germany's second case, with a man undergoing treatment in Hamburg after arriving from West Africa in August.

In West Africa more than 3,338 people have died in the world's worst outbreak of the virus.

There have been 7,178 confirmed cases, with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea suffering the most.

'Adrenaline rises'

The Frankfurt hospital said the patient's arrival had gone well.

"I am confident that the patient can get good treatment," Professor Rene Gottschalk told reporters.

Staff, he said, had been trained to handle Ebola patients, adding "but still, the adrenaline levels naturally go a little higher when a real patient is brought in."

Giving details of the sufferer, Hesse Minister of Social Affairs Stefan Gruettner said he had been working for an Italian aid organisation in Sierra Leone and had helped Ebola sufferers there before becoming infected himself.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

image copyright SPL

Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage

Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva

Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%

Incubation period is two to 21 days

There is no proven vaccine or cure

Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery

Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host