Updated with related story

Hospitalized French Nurse Released from Hospital.  ( Scroll Below)

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LONDON, Reuters - By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent   Oct. 5, 2014

Scientists have used Ebola disease spread patterns and airline traffic data to predict a 75 percent chance the virus could be imported to France by October 24, and a 50 percent chance it could hit Britain by that date.

Those numbers are based on air traffic remaining at full capacity. Assuming an 80 percent reduction in travel to reflect that many airlines are halting flights to affected regions, France's risk is still 25 percent, and Britain's is 15 percent.

"It's really a lottery," said Derek Gatherer of Britain's Lancaster University, an expert in viruses who has been tracking the epidemic - the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

France is among countries most likely to be hit next because the worst affected countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - include French speakers and have busy travel routes back, while Britain's Heathrow airport is one of the world's biggest travel hubs.

"If this thing continues to rage on in West Africa and indeed gets worse, as some people have predicted, then it's only a matter of time before one of these cases ends up on a plane to Europe," said Gatherer.

Full Story
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/05/us-health-ebola-spread-idUSKCN0HU0C920141005

Related story: Hospitaliized French health worker released

“This woman benefited from several treatments successively,” French Health Minister Touraine said in a radio interview. “It’s hard to say if one individually or a combination worked.”

http://online.wsj.com/articles/french-nurse-who-contracted-ebola-released-from-hospital-1412449210