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Suspected Ebola case in Britain tests negative - hospital

LONDON (Reuters) - A woman in a British hospital suspected of having Ebola has tested negative for the disease, a hospital spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) in central England had said late on Wednesday that it had a suspected case of Ebola and was awaiting test results.

The spokeswoman said tests conducted by Public Health England "have confirmed the patient admitted to NGH last night has tested negative for Ebola".

A British nurse diagnosed with Ebola last month is being treated in hospital in London, where doctors said on Monday she was no longer in a critical condition.

Pauline Cafferkey, 39, who works at a health centre in Scotland, became the first person to be diagnosed with the disease in Britain after contracting it in Sierra Leone where she was volunteering at an Ebola clinic.

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the global death toll from the Ebola epidemic had reached 8,429 out of 21,296 reported cases.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Janet Lawrence)