Ebola Virus Outbreak: Atlanta Hospital To Treat Third Ebola Patient
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is set to receive its third Ebola patient on Thursday, weeks after successfully treating two American aid workers who had contracted the virus that is running rampant in West Africa.
The patient, who has not yet been named, landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday and is expected to be admitted to the hospital later in the day., Fox News reported. The patient will be treated in the hospital's isolation unit.
News reports claim that the patient is an American doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone. The previous two patients treated at Emory got the virus while working in Liberia, which has been the country hardest hit with the disease.
The World Health Organization said Monday that the doctor was in stable condition in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, prior to the evacuation to Atlanta.
Treatment for Ebola is tricky because no direct cure exists. Hospitals have been using a variety of experimental drugs to varying degrees of success. None of the patients that have been returned to the U.S. have died from Ebola.
Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were treated last month at Emory and both recovered and were released from the hospital. A third American, Dr. Rick Sacra, is receiving treatment at a Nebraska hospital and is in stable condition.
"He hasn't been able to eat much since he got here, but he had some toast and apple sauce," Sacra's wife said. "He also tolerated the research drug well - better than he had the previous doses he was given."
But the situation in West Africa is more dire. Since the outbreak began in Guinea in March, nearly 4,000 people have contracted Ebola, making it the disease's worst outbreak in history, according to a report from USA Today. More than half of those who have contracted the virus have died.
In West Africa, a lack of health workers and an inability to isolate the infected has hindered efforts to stop the spread of Ebola.
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