Second US aid worker with Ebola arrives in Atlanta for treatment

A second American aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus while responding to the outbreak in West Africa arrived in the US on Tuesday.
A specially equipped plane carrying 59-year-old Nancy Writebol took off from the airport in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, late on Monday night. The plane made a refuelling stop in Maine before arriving in Atlanta on Tuesday morning.
Writebol was wheeled from ambulance to hospital on stretcher. She will be treated at Atlanta’s Emory University in a sophisticated isolation unit along with fellow aid worker Dr Kent Brantly.
Brantly and Writebol contracted Ebola while working in Liberia for a North Carolina-based evangelical Christian group, Samaritan’s Purse.
Writebol had been working as a hygienist, decontaminating those entering and leaving the isolation ward at a hospital in Monrovia, Samaritan’s Purse said on its website.
Brantly arrived in the US over the weekend, and was taken to the Atlanta hospital’s isolation unit, which is said to be among the best in the country. On Sunday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Thomas Frieden, said Brantly’s condition had improved.
The Ebola virus has killed at least 887 people across three West African countries, in which there have been more than 1,300 reported infections. A doctor in Nigeria also contracted the virus.
There is no known cure for the virus. Brantly and Writebol, however, are being treated with an experimental drug that has never before been tested for safety in humans.

Meanwhile, doctors at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City say they are running tests on a man who had recently traveled to “a west African country where Ebola has been reported”.
“Odds are this is not Ebola,” said Dr Jeremy Boal, chief medical officer of the Mount Sinai Health System, speaking at a press conference on Monday. “It’s much more likely that it’s a much more common condition.”
On Tuesday, the hospital said in a statement that the patient’s samples have been sent to the CDC in Atlanta for testing, which typically takes 24-48 hours to complete.
“The patient, who remains in isolation, was stable overnight and in good spirits,” the statement said. “No other patients have presented with similar symptoms and travel history to West Africa. We will continue to work closely with federal, state and city health officials to address and monitor this case, keep the community informed and provide the best quality care to all of our patients.”
The man arrived at the hospital’s emergency room in the early morning hours on Monday complaining of a high fever and gastrointestinal problems, doctors said. The patients symptoms mirror those of several possible illnesses.