Ebola in the US News 2014: American Being Monitored for Symptoms at Atlanta, Georgia Hospital
A U.S. healthcare worker who may have been exposed to Ebola in West Africa is currently being monitored at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
The patient, who has not been identified, arrived from a West African country early on Thursday for testing and observation, the hospital said.
"As anticipated, an American health care worker from West Africa who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus has been transferred to Emory University Hospital's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit for testing and observation to see if an infection has been acquired," the hospital said in a statement, according to USA Today.
The hospital said the patient was flown in on a specially equipped Phoenix Air jet, but it declined to provide further details "out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with the patient's wishes."
Four of the 10 Ebola patients treated in the U.S. in 2014 have been admitted to Emory's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit, including the Christian missionary workers who contracted Ebola while working in West Africa.
Besides Emory, U.S. health officials also announced that 34 other hospitals have been designated as Ebola treatment centers, reports Reuters.
Last month, a Maryland doctor died from Ebola two days after arriving in a Nebraska hospital for treatment. The general surgeon contracted the disease at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
While working in Freetown, Dr. Martin Salia was diagnosed with the deadly virus and flown to the United States for treatment on Saturday, Nov. 15, reports NBC Washington. The 44-year-old surgeon was treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, said Sierra Leone's chief medical officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo, according to The Associated Press. However, Salia died on Monday, Nov. 17.
Although Salia was a Sierra Leone citizen, he was a permanent U.S. resident, who lived in Maryland.
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