GENEVA >> Swiss authorities say a male nurse who was bitten by an Ebola patient while working in West Africa has been flown to Switzerland as a precaution.

The health ministry says the unidentified man was working for an international organization in Sierra Leone when he was bitten by a child infected with Ebola on Saturday.

The ministry says the nurse was wearing protective gear and is unlikely to have contracted the disease.

It said the man, who was flown to Switzerland by a private transport company Monday, will be kept under observation at Geneva’s University Hospital for the incubation period of three weeks.

The ministry said it was the first time an Ebola patient has been taken to Switzerland.