NSW health worker undergoes Ebola testing

A health care worker who recently returned to NSW from West Africa is undergoing tests for Ebola after showing flu-like symptoms.

NSW Health confirmed on Saturday the health care worker developed symptoms of a influenza-like illness after their recent trip.

The worker is undergoing routine testing at Westmead Hospital as a precaution.

Facts about Ebola

-Ebola can only be transmitted from human-to-human via direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids like saliva, vomit, faeces, sweat, urine and semen.
-It cannot be transmitted by coughing or sneezing, but relies on the bodily fluids touching another person's eyes, nose, mouth or an open cut.
-Ebola patients are not infectious until they develop symptoms, which include fever, muscle pain, headaches and sore throats.
-Advanced symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.
-Ebola is a highly deadly disease, with a fatality rate ranging from 25 to 90 percent, depending on the strain contracted and speed of treatment.
-The disease has spread in west Africa so quickly because of ritual preparation for burial, which involves close contact with infected bodies.
-Countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia have seen a higher rate of infection because of a lack of education about the disease and little access to health care.