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Ebola-infected US health worker may have come into contact with co-workers
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Several American volunteer healthcare workers may have come into contact with a colleague who has tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
The infected worker, who contracted the disease while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, returned to the US on Friday morning and was admitted to a National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Maryland, for treatment. NIH physicians have listed the patient’s condition as “serious”.
Related: American diagnosed with Ebola to be flown to US from Sierra Leone
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The CDC is in the process of identifying anyone who may have come into contact with the index patient. At this point, the CDC said in a statement, several of the patient’s co-workers, many of whom are also American, are being monitored in Sierra Leone. None of the patient’s co-workers has been diagnosed with Ebola.
One of the Americans who may have had contact with the patient being treated in Maryland is currently being flown by charter plane to Atlanta, near Emory University hospital, which has successfully treated several American Ebola patients, the CDC said. The American has not shown symptoms of Ebola and has not been diagnosed with the disease. Upon arrival in Atlanta, the individual will voluntarily self-isolate and submit to active monitoring by public health officials for the 21-day incubation period.
As a precautionary measure, the CDC and the US state department are working on a plan to bring all potentially exposed Americans to the US on a non-commercial flight, the public health agency said. Upon their return, the individuals will voluntarily self-isolate and remain under direct active monitoring for the 21-day incubation period.
It is not yet clear when the other Americans who may have been exposed would return to the US, and where they would undergo monitoring.
The outbreak has been raging for more than a year in west Africa, the center of the epidemic. Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been the countries most affected, with more than 24,000 confirmed and suspected cases reported.
A UK military healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone returned to Britain for treatment earlier this week. At least six healthcare workers who may have been exposed to their infected colleague have been flown back to the UK for monitoring.
Related: Nurse who contracted Ebola in Dallas to sue hospital she worked in
In recent months, the countries have made significant gains in the fight against the disease, with the overall number of new Ebola cases slowing significantly. Earlier this month, Liberia discharged its last Ebola patient. Just six months earlier, Liberia – which has recorded more than 9,000 cases of Ebola, including more than 4,000 deaths – was reporting 300 new cases a week.
But health organizations and NGOs have stepped up warnings that the public should not become complacent until the epidemic is stamped out entirely. On Thursday, WHO announced that the number of deaths from the outbreak had topped 10,000.
