WORCESTERSHIRE is at high alert to deal with the risk of Ebola spreading to the county.

After health secretary Jeremy Hunt warned it was “entirely possible” the deadly infection could reach the UK earlier this week, healthcare workers across the county have been briefed with how to deal with a patient presenting symptoms of the disease.

David Shakespeare, associate chief nurse for infection control at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – the organisation running Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital – said the risk of anyone in the county contracting Ebola was “very small”.

“However we are still on alert for cases presenting at our hospitals and have plans and procedures in place should this occur in order to minimise the risk of infection to others,” he said.

“This includes having identified holding areas in each of our three hospitals and carrying out refresher training for front line staff on mask fitting and the use of personal protective equipment.”

Despite concerns the epidemic – which has killed at least 3,800 people in west Africa since December last year – could spread to the UK, the coalition government has so far refused to introduce mandatory screening at airports.

Earlier this week the first man in the US to be diagnosed with Ebola since the start of the outbreak, Thomas Duncan, died of the disease.

A spokesman from Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, which runs the majority of community, mental health and non-urgent health services in the county, said its staff had been fully briefed about how to deal with an outbreak of the infection.

“Within the trust the only area where it realistically anticipated a case could present is the Minor Injury Units (MIUs),” he said.

“These departments were issued with interim guidance and information on this infection, the diagnosis algorithm and the precautions that they should implement if a case is suspected.”

He said each of the trust’s five MIUs in Malvern, Evesham, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster and Tenbury had access to special duckbill-style breathing masks designed to prevent infection and plans were currently being put in place to be able to isolate infected patients where necessary.

“The trust can demonstrate that it does have processes in place to promote identification and ensure isolation of a patient who presents as a possible Ebola case or indeed other infectious diseases,” he said.

But he said, due to the seriousness of the infection, it was more likely any patient with the disease would go to A&E rather than one of the county’s MIUs.

Symptoms of Ebola include a fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, sore throat and muscle weakness followed by diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach pain culminating in bleeding internally as well as from the eyes, nose and mouth. It is fatal in between 50 and 90 per cent of cases but there is currently no cure.

Anyone concerned they may have contracted the infection should stay at home and call NHS 111 or 999 for advice.