SCHOOLS and universities have been put on alert over potential cases of Ebola among students as Scottish soldiers prepared to depart for west Africa to help combat the deadly virus.

Around 50 troops from the Royal Scots Borderers, currently based in Northern Ireland, are set to form part of the humanitarian mission which will see 750 British military personnel, a Royal Navy medical ship and three Merlin helicopters deployed to the crisis-hit region. It is the biggest consignment of British military personnel to be sent to the region since the crisis began.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Scottish unit would provide protection to those engaged in the humanitarian effort. Its commanding officer said his troops were "queuing up" to deploy. While around 20 Scots Borderers are already stationed in Africa, a further 30 soldiers are expected to be dispatched by today.

The development came after Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of the UK Government's Cobra emergency committee and First ­Minister Alex Salmond headed a meeting of the Scottish Government's equivalent Resilience Committee. The latter was attended by infectious disease experts and the acting Chief Medical Officer.

Mr Salmond said: "It is crucial our health service is geared up to deal with any potential confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland. That was the basis of the meeting and I am confident our NHS is ready to respond."

It came on the same day that the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, died in a Texas hospital and the World Health Organisation warned that sporadic cases in Europe are "unavoidable".

Acting Chief Medical Officer Aileen Keel has written to doctors warning them of the need to be vigilant to any potential cases.

It is understood that Health Protection Scotland has also sent letters to schools and universities north of the Border, with headteachers and higher education chiefs issued with advice to help them spot cases of the virus.

The guidance warns that it is "unlikely, but not impossible" that a person with Ebola could arrive in the UK and provides a chart to assess those who become unwell. If an ambulance is required, schools and universities are told to separate the student from other people and are informed that health workers may arrive in "appropriate personal protective equipment".

Higher education establishments in particular are seen as a risk, with around 30 students from Liberia and Sierra Leone studying in Scotland, according to the most recent figures.

There are a further 2,000 students from Nigeria and 15 from Senegal, whose home countries are also hit by Ebola, attending Scottish universities.

University staff have been warned that those returning from affected regions could develop symptoms up to three weeks after arrival.

A separate document has been issued to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire. It states that while only a small number of new detainees will have arrived from West Africa within the past 21 days, a risk assessment should be carried out in relevant cases. They will be asked a series of questions, including whether they have cared for anyone with a severe illness, hunted or consumed bushmeat or attended any recent funerals. They will also be asked if they have visited any traditional healers or been admitted to hospital prior to their departure.

Authorities in Spain are dealing with the first case of the disease transmitted outside west Africa, in a hospital nurse who treated a priest flown to Madrid for treatment.

Scotland's Health Secretary Alex Neil said: "Ebola currently poses a very low risk to Scotland, and we have been working closely with Health Protection Scotland to monitor this situation since the outbreak in west Africa began. It should be emphasised that, even if a case was diagnosed, we have the expertise and facilities to ensure that this would be contained and isolated effectively."

The MoD said that around 150 British service personnel were currently deployed in the region, with a further 600 now set to arrive.

Meanwhile, the UK Government has come under pressure to introduce screening at airports and other transport hubs to prevent the disease spreading in Britain.

Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Matt Munro, of the Royal Scots Borderers, said: "This is a challenge unlike any, but the point is that we are very well prepared. This kind of operation represents, I think, the future for parts of the British Army. There are some peculiar threats to this operation clearly relating to the Ebola virus and of course there is a risk of soldiers from this battalion contracting the virus, but it is a very low risk because there are all sorts of very practical and sensible measures that my people can employ to ensure that the risk is kept to an absolute minimum. And it is worth saying also that, for the most part, my soldiers have been queuing up to deploy. There are a lot of young men in the battalion very keen to go on operations."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said £125 million had been committed to the programme in Sierra Leone.