AN Australian nurse treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has been flown to the United Kingdom to undergo observations following an Ebola scare.

The woman was treating patients at the Australian-run Aspen Medical clinic in Sierra Leone when the breach occurred, it has been confirmed.

Aspen Medical’s marketing and communications director, Eamonn Quinn, told News Corp Australia the nurse was “not suspected of having Ebola”.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has since confirmed that an “Australian nurse will undergo observation in the United Kingdom following a low risk clinical incident at the Australian-managed Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone”.

Ms Bishop said in a statement that the nurse — who could not be named for privacy reasons — was transferred to the UK for a “21-day observation period is a precautionary step”.

“The individual ... has not been diagnosed with Ebola,” Ms Bishop said.

Last year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the UK had agreed to treat any Australian worker helping with Ebola after first expressing concern about Australians being unable to promptly “access appropriate treatment and evacuation procedures”.

Ms Bishop once again reiterated this point, saying today that the nurse had been transferred to England, “consistent with the guarantees secured by the Australian Government as a condition to establishing the treatment centre”.

The Federal Government has promised that any Australian who contracted Ebola would be treated in Europe or Sierra Leone.

“My understanding is that if they are in the very early stages of infection it is possible to medivac them back to the United Kingdom or Europe,” Mr Abbott said in November.

“If they’re in later stages of the infection they would be best treated on the spot because it’s very difficult to move very sick patients.”

According to the World Health Organisation, the Ebola outbreak has resulted in more than 8400 deaths since early last year.

In total, more than 21,000 cases have been reported.

In Sierra Leone alone, about 2700 people have been killed by Ebola out of a total of 7,786 confirmed cases.

The countries most affected by the outbreak also include Guinea (1814 deaths) and Liberia (3538 deaths).

In Guinea, there have been 42 confirmed cases reported in just under two weeks.

Last year, the Abbott government committed more than $20 million in funding for Aspen Medical to run the 100-bed clinic in Sierra Leone.

Australians would account for up to 20 per cent of the 240-strong team, which will undergo regular rotation, Aspen Managing director Glenn Keys told News Corp Australia last year.

Today’s news comes after last week’s announcement from Ms Bishop that a patient was successfully treated at the clinic for the first time.

“Today I announce that the first patient successfully treated at the Australian-funded Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone has been discharged with a clean bill of health,” she said.

The Australian-managed centre opened in December 2014, and has since admitted 57 patients, 17 of whom have been successfully treated.

A further 17 patients are currently receiving treatment, Mr Quinn confirmed.

In October last year, a Madrid nurse became the first person to catch Ebola outside West Africa after treating two elderly missionaries.

Ebola symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat in the early stages.

As it progresses, those with the disease experience vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding such as oozing from the gums or blood in stools.