Nigeria, Nov. 5 -- A British national has tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UK government has confirmed.

According to the BBC, the British man tested positive for the virus while in the DRC. Reuters subsequently reported that he would be medically evacuated to the UK for specialist treatment. However, the exact time of the evacuation was not immediately known.

This marks the first confirmed case of a British national contracting the virus during the ongoing outbreak in the DRC, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

Ebola is a viral disease that can cause severe illness and spreads mainly through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person.

Symptoms include fe...