A doctor exposed to Ebola while working at a treatment center in Sierra Leone arrived for treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda on Sunday.
NIH released little information about the patient. The doctor was admitted to the NIH Clinical Center’s special clinical studies unit. The unit is equipped with high-level isolation capabilities and staffed by infectious disease specialists.
NIH said in a statement that it “is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff, and the public. This situation presents minimal risk to any of them.”
In August NIH announced it would be speeding up its research into an Ebola vaccine at the clinical center, but this is the first time the Bethesda center announced it would treat someone who was exposed to the deadly virus since the outbreak in Western Africa began in December 2013.
The doctor was flown into the United States on a plane that landed in Frederick on Sunday, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The patient is the fifth American aid worker exposed to the disease. Three others have recovered after being treated at hospitals in Georgia and Nebraska, while one other remains hospitalized, the AP reported.
The patient arrived at NIH around 4 p.m. Sunday. NIH said in its statement that Ebola patients can be safely cared for at any hospital that follows the Center for Disease Control’s infection control recommendations.
Since the Ebola outbreak began the World Health Organization estimates that more than 3,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have died from the virus, including 211 healthcare workers. Symptoms of the virus include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, which can be followed by impaired kidney and liver function, as well as external and internal bleeding. Once infected, the fatality rate is around 50 percent.