How Deadly Ebola Has Spread Across The Globe: Health Officials Try To Trace 30,000 Linked To Death Of US Victim - As Nigerian Film Star Sparks Outrage By Fleeing Africa First-Class In An Ebola Mask

• Hong Kong woman quarantined when she fell ill after returning from Kenya 
• Expert claims panic over death of U.S. man in Nigeria is ‘justified’
• He warned the spread of Ebola could become a global pandemic
• Health campaigners petition U.S. drug authorities to fast-track potential cure
• Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond declares disease is ‘very serious threat’
• He will chair an emergency meeting on how to boost defences
• British airlines are also on ‘red alert’ for cases of the deadly virus
• Man with ‘feverish’ symptoms tested for deadly Ebola at Birmingham hospital
• He had travelled into Midlands from Benin, Nigeria via France when he fell ill
• Charing Cross Hospital staff also feared man had Ebola symptoms this week
• No cases have been confirmed in UK but 672 people have died in West Africa
• Warning issued to GPs, A&E departments and all NHS trusts across the UK
• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and damage to the nervous system
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• Daily Mail

By LIZZIE PARRY and EMMA GLANFIELD and MARIO LEDWITH

PUBLISHED: 20:12 EST, 29 July 2014 | UPDATED: 13:16 EST, 30 July 2014

Fears of a global Ebola pandemic are ‘justified’ an expert has said as Nigerian health officials try to trace 30,000 people at risk of contracting the deadly disease following the death of Patrick Sawyer.

The U.S. citizen boarded a flight in Liberia carrying the disease to Nigeria, potentially infecting ‘anyone on the same plane’.

It comes as Nigerian actor Jim Iyke sparked outrage, posting a picture of himself wearing an Ebola mask while sitting in a first class airport lounge as he fled Liberia.

The ‘Nollywood’ star posted a message on his Instagram page saying he had cut short a business trip to Monrovia in Liberia -  where at least 600 people have already died from the disease.

The death toll for this, the worst outbreak recorded since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, stands at 672, while more than 1,200 people have been infected.

Meanwhile two suspected patients in the UK have also tested negative.

But the panic sparked by Mr Sawyer’s death is ‘justified’ says Dr Derek Gatherer of the University of Lancaster, claiming the virus is as infectious as flu.

He warned each person infected with the disease could spread the virus to at least two other people.

‘Anyone on the same plane could have become infected because Ebola is easy to catch,’ he said.

‘It can be passed on through vomiting, diarrhoea or even from simply saliva or sweat – as well as being sexually transmitted.

‘That is why there is such alarm over Mr Sawyer because he became ill on the flight so anyone else sharing the plane could have been infected by his vomit or other bodily fluids.’

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) echoed the concerns, warning the crisis gripping West Africa will only get worse, adding it is impossible to rule out the disease spreading to other countries.

Bart Janssens, MSF’s director of operations, warned there was no overarching vision of how to tackle the outbreak, in an interview with La Libre Belgique newspaper.

‘This epidemic is unprecedented, absolutely out of control and the situation can only get worse, because it is still spreading, above all in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in some very important hotspots,’ he said.

‘We are extremely worried by the turn of events, particularly in these two countries where there is a lack of visibility on the epidemic.

‘If the situation does not improve fairly quickly, there is a real risk of new countries being affected.
‘That is certainly not ruled out, but it is difficult to predict, because we have never known such an epidemic.’

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