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1st LD Writethru: Ebola-infected American admitted to NIH hospital, more evaluated

Xinhua, March 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

An American healthcare worker who contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone was admitted to a hospital near Washington, D.C. Friday, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated potential exposure of several other fellow citizens to the same cause.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services, said in a statement that a private charter medevac transferred the infected worker to its clinical center early Friday from Sierra Leone, where the person tested positive for the deadly virus while volunteering services in an Ebola treatment unit.

The NIH, with headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, gave no other details except that the patient's condition is still being evaluated.

The CDC, however, said in a statement that it's "conducting contact tracing of individuals in Sierra Leone, including several other American citizens, who may have had potential exposure to this index patient."

"At this time, none of these individuals have tested positive for Ebola. These individuals are volunteers in the Ebola response and are currently being monitored in Sierra Leone," it said.

The CDC said the U.S. State Department is developing " contingency plans" for returning those Americans with potential exposure to the U.S. by non-commercial air transport.

One such person has been identified and "is currently being transported via charter to the Atlanta area to be close to Emory University Hospital," where several Ebola patients have been successfully treated, the agency said.

"The individual has not shown symptoms of Ebola and has not been diagnosed with Ebola. Upon arrival in Atlanta, the individual will voluntarily self-isolate and be under direct active monitoring for the 21-day incubation period," the CDC noted. Endite