Nebraska medical officials say that an American health care worker, who is still unnamed, who experienced high-exposure to the potentially deadly virus has arrived in Nebraska for observation at the facility's bio-containment unit in Omaha.
The patient landed in Omaha Sunday afternoon and was unloaded by paramedics who were all wearing protective gear. The patient will be under observation for possible infection and manifestation of the disease during the 21-day quarantine and isolation. Blood tests and round-the-clock monitoring will be done.
Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the bio-containment unit said, "The patient is not ill and is not contagious." However, he reiterated that all officials will still take all appropriate precautions.
Up to date, Nebraska Medicine has already treated three patients diagnosed with Ebola. It is the clinical partner of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Two of the patients recovered while one of them died.
The World Health Organization reports that nearly 8,000 people have died from Ebola, most of them from the three worst Ebola-ravaged countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. More than 20,000 people were infected with the disease since it started over a year ago in West Africa. The virus silently killed people in far flung communities in Guinea without proper diagnosis and supportive treatment due to lack of health care systems and workers.
Ebola Viral Disease is a fatal disease that has no established treatment and vaccine yet. One year had passed since it started in West Africa, but still the death toll and infection rate rises. Health officials are hoping to curb and combat the disease by mid-2015. Most common symptoms include high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and body weakness. WHO was able to trace the origin of the disease and found out that the first patient who died of the disease was a two-year old boy who played near a tree filled with bats.
