US Health Worker Contracts Ebola in Sierra Leone, Receiving Treatment at NIH
An American worker who has been volunteering at an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with the deadly virus, Slate reports.
The unidentified man arrived in the United States on Friday and was admitted to a high-security containment facility at the Maryland-based National Institutes of Health. According to U.S. health officials, a second American volunteer who had "potential exposure" to the patient but had not tested positive for Ebola was also being flown back to the Atlanta area to be near Emory University Hospital.
The NIH has yet to release any details on the patient, other than his being in "serious condition." Partners in Health, the aid group the clinician was working for in Sierra Leone, said their colleague "remains in good spirits," Reuters reports.
This marks the 11th time a person will be treated for Ebola in the U.S.
A British health care worker who worked in the West African country also tested positive for Ebola. However, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said there is currently no evidence that the British and U.S. cases are related.
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(Photo: Bao Dandan/Xinhua Press/Corbis)
