An American healthcare worker sickened with Ebola while working in Sierra Leone arrived at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., early this morning, as a flurry of potentially exposed US and UK health workers were flown home for observation.
The US health worker infected with Ebola is in serious condition, the NIH said today in a statement. It said the patient arrived by private charter medevac in isolation and that no other details about him or her would be shared at this time.
Others flown to US, UK
In a related development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that it is tracing a number of people who may have had contact with the patient, including several other American citizens, and is monitoring them in Sierra Leone. So far, none have tested positive for Ebola.
As an extra caution, the CDC said it is developing plans to return Americans with potential exposure by noncommercial air transport.
One of the potentially exposed Americans is being transported by charter to the Atlanta area to be close to Emory University Hospital, which has a specialized biocontainment unit and has treated patients infected with Ebola. The CDC added that the individual has not shown any symptoms or been diagnosed with the disease. After arrival, the patient will voluntarily self-quarantine and be under active monitoring during the 21-day incubation period.
Similarly, British health officials said today that four contacts of a British military health worker recently infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone and undergoing treatment in London have arrived back in the United Kingdom.
Three of the contacts have already been evaluated and discharged to monitoring based on standard protocols, according to a statement from Public Health England (PHE). One is still at Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
Also yesterday, related to a separate incident, a sixth British healthcare worker serving in Sierra Leone arrived in Britain for evaluation at the Royal Free Hospital after a needle-stick injury.
More cases, deaths
In other Ebola developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the number of confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola infections in the three most affected West African countries has increased to 24,509, with the number of deaths rising to 10,096.
The new numbers represent an increase of 159 cases and 92 deaths since yesterday's WHO update. They include data from Guinea and Sierra Leone as of Mar 11 and Liberia as of Mar 12 and reflect 1 additional day's worth of data from Guinea and Sierra Leone and 7 days' worth of data from Liberia.
See also:
Mar 13 NIH statement
Mar 13 CDC statement
Mar 13 PHE statement
Mar 13 WHO update
