An unnamed health worker infected with the Ebola virus is now critical, according to a press statement released by the National Institutes of Health on Monday, March 16.
The critical status is actually a downgrade from serious, based on the NIH reports. The health worker arrived in the United States on Friday, March 13, and was immediately brought to one of the isolation units in Bethesda, Maryland.
The NIH has already treated an Ebola patient, nurse Nina Pham who contracted the virus after administering to the first confirmed U.S. patient.
Although no other details have been revealed about the patient, the person is believed to be a clinician and worked for Partners in Health, which had more than 1,500 employees serving in the Ebola crisis.
Currently, the hospital is trying to trace those people who have come in contact with the patient. More than 9 health workers were already flown back to the United States because of their close exposure with the patient. They are in self-isolation in other Ebola treatment facilities in the country such as in Nebraska and Emory in Georgia. One was taken to a biocontainment unit after the person showed symptoms related to the disease. It's unclear what these signs are. So far, he has not tested positive of the infection.
The infected health worker was working in one of the treatment facilities in Sierra Leone when he contracted the virus. It's unclear how the person obtained it, but the virus is spread through contact with infected body fluids such as blood, saliva, feces, and vomit.
At the height of the outbreak, more than 8,000 people died including health workers. Today, the rate of Ebola cases especially in West Africa is declining with Liberia's social life going back to normal. Schools have also opened in the country as well as in Sierra Leone and Guinea.