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NEW YORK (AP) -- An American doctor infected with the Ebola
virus is the first being flown to the U.S. for treatment and expected to
arrive Saturday in Atlanta, a missionary group said.
Two
seriously ill American aid workers will be treated at Atlanta's Emory
University Hospital. Samaritan's Purse missionary group spokesman Todd
Shearer tells The Associated Press that a plane carrying Dr. Kent
Brantly has left West Africa. Brantly works for the group that is paying
for the trip.
The private jet outfitted with a
special, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly
infectious diseases was due to arrive at Dobbins Air Force Base in
Marietta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.
From
there, the doctor will be whisked into one of the most sophisticated
hospital isolation units in the country at the hospital about 15 miles
away. The second patient will follow a few days later, the hospital has
said.
Outside Emory, a gaggle of about 20
members of the media had gathered to chronicle the arrival. There was no
noticeable police presence and all roads were open. It will be the
first time anyone infected with the disease is brought into the country.
U.S. officials are confident the patients can be treated without
putting the public in any danger.
The
specialized unit at Emory University Hospital was opened a dozen years
ago to care for federal health workers exposed to some of the world's
most dangerous germs. Health experts say a specialized isolation unit,
though, is not needed for treating an Ebola patient. The virus does not
spread through the air, so standard, rigorous infection control measures
should work at any hospital.
Now it's being
pressed into service for the two seriously ill Americans who worked at a
hospital in Liberia, one of the three West Africa countries hit by the
largest Ebola outbreak in history.
The Emory
hospital unit is located just down a hill from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. It is one of about four such units around the
country for testing and treating people infected with dangerous,
infectious germs.
The unit has its own
laboratory equipment so samples don't have to be sent to the main
hospital lab. Located on the ground floor, it's carefully separated from
other patient areas, said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor
who formerly worked at the CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola
outbreaks in Africa.
The two Americans -
Brantly and Nancy Writebol - worked for U.S. aid groups Samaritan's
Purse and SIM at a Liberian hospital that treated Ebola patients. Late
last week, the North Carolina-based Samaritan's Purse said Brantly, 33,
had been diagnosed with Ebola. Then, Writebol's infection was disclosed.
The
government is working to ensure that any Ebola-related evacuations "are
carried out safely, thereby protecting the patient and the American
public," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement
released Friday.
Ebola is considered one of
the world's deadliest diseases. The current outbreak in Liberia, Guinea
and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more
than 700 this year.
The virus is spread
through direct contact with blood, urine, saliva and other bodily fluids
from an infected person. It is not spread through the air so it is not
as infectious as a germ like the flu.
The
Americans will travel on a Gulfstream jet fitted with a collapsible,
clear tent built to transfer CDC employees exposed to contagious
diseases. The CDC said the private jet can only accommodate one patient
at a time.
An Emory emergency medical team in
Liberia has evaluated the two aid workers, and deemed both stable enough
for the trip to Atlanta, said Emory's Dr. Bruce Ribner.
"If
there's any modern therapy that can be done," such as better monitoring
of fluids, electrolytes and vital signs, workers will be able to do it
better in this safe environment, said Dr. Philip Brachman, an Emory
University public health specialist who for many years headed the CDC's
disease detectives program.
"That's all we can
do for such a patient. We can make them feel comfortable" and let the
body try to beat back the virus, he said.
There's
no specific treatment for Ebola so doctors try to ease the symptoms,
which include fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Some cases suffer
severe bleeding.
Emory's Ribner, one of the
doctors who will be seeing the Ebola patients, stressed that safety
precautions will be taken by staff.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_EBOLA_AMERICANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-02-11-09-46
"I have no
concerns about even my personal health or the health of the other
health care workers who will be working in that area," Ribner said.
