Cairns Ebola scare: Second negative test for nurse Sue-Ellen Kovack in far north Queensland
A nurse at the centre of an Ebola scare in far north Queensland has been discharged from Cairns Hospital after a second round of tests returned a negative result.
Sue-Ellen Kovack, 56, was hospitalised last week after returning from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone as a volunteer with the Red Cross.
A Cairns Hospital spokesman said she was discharged this morning and will spend a further eight days in home quarantine.
Ms Kovack returned home from Sierra Leone healthy, but last Thursday morning her temperature rose to 37.6 degrees Celsius.
She was assessed by an infectious diseases specialist at Cairns Base Hospital, where she works, and underwent blood tests.
The samples were sent to Brisbane to be tested for the virus on Thursday and came back negative for the disease.
Queensland Health had been awaiting the results of a second round of testing to give her the all-clear to be discharged.
Australian Red Cross spokesman Peter Walton said he was pleased safety procedures for returning aid workers were proving effective.
"It's credit to the bravery and courage of people like this that they're able to go and assist on the front line but also respect the protocols when they return so there's no chance of putting anyone at risk," he said.
"We've had several aid workers return and have gone through this process."
Mr Walton said helping to contain the Ebola outbreak in western Africa remained a critical issue.
"There's a lot of concentration on escalating fear here in Australia and we certainly understand that but the best way we can help is actually containing it where it is now," he said.
"Sue-Ellen has expressed that view also and Red Cross will be redoubling its efforts to try to do what we can to contain it in the three worst-affected countries and beyond."
He said two Australian Red Cross aid workers remained in western Africa but that one person was about to return home.
Three more people were due to head to Africa this week.
"This is rapidly becoming not just a public health issue but a much broader humanitarian crisis with so many other essential services in the west African region being cancelled or not being made available," he said.
"It’s really, really critical that we continue to send the right type of specialists to supplement local efforts."
Review launched into leaked comments
Meanwhile, an external review will be conducted into leaked comments from staff at the Cairns hospital about the care of Ms Kovack.
The Courier-Mail newspaper reported that staff were concerned people in the hospital were put at risk when Ms Kovack was placed in an isolation room in the hospital's emergency department.
Julie Hartley-Jones from the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service said it was inappropriate for staff to speak to the media.
"We have internal processes ... in which staff can make those concerns known," she said.
"It's not about gagging staff ... it's about being fair to the patient, the staff and the community and getting to the bottom of this."
Ms Hartley-Jones said Ms Kovack went straight into quarantine.
"I would like to assure the public that there was never any risk to any staff or patients," she said.
Eleven people have now been tested in Australia for Ebola with all returning negative results.
Ms Kovack is the second Australian to have a highly publicised test for the Ebola virus after a West Australian man was tested on the Gold Coast in September.
