Ebola in the UK: Woman tested negative for the disease in London hospital

The patient admitted herself to St George's Hospital in south London last night

The patient admitted herself to St George's Hospital in south London last night (GETTY)

A woman who has been tested for Ebola has been given a negative test result at a hospital in south London after she admitted herself last night with a "haemorrhagic fever".

St George's Hospital in Tooting confirmed that the unnamed patient, who is said to have a history of travelling to west Africa, was being examined in an isolated clinical infections unit this morning.

The patient underwent a series of tests, one of which was hoped to detect whether she had caught the viral disease which has claimed the lives of thousands.

There are no diagnosed Ebola cases within the UK, however Will Pooley, a 29-year-old nurse who was working in Sierra Leone and fought off the virus with help of pioneering medication at the Royal Free Hospital, is the only British national so far to have contracted the disease.

"We have advised all front line medical practitioners and NHS call handlers to be alert to signs and symptoms of Ebola in those returning from affected areas and following such advice we would expect to see an increase in testing," the PHE spokesman continued.

The disease is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person - such as blood, vomit or faeces - and an infected person would suffer symptoms such as fever, headaches, intense muscle weakness, diarrhoea, vomiting, and impaired kidney and liver function.

Ebola virus kills 50 to 90 per cent of sufferers before they bleed from the ears, eyes, nose or mouth.

Almost 5,000 people have died from Ebola in west African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in the widest outbreak known of the virus with almost 10,000 cases in total, according to figures from the Disasters Emergency Committee.