Update – March 13, 8:40 a.m. – The healthcare worker who has tested positive for Ebola arrived at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda early Friday morning.
NIH said the patient arrived at 4:44 a.m. and was admitted to a special isolation unit on the research center's campus.
The research center announced Thursday evening it would admit the American healthcare worker. The person was transported in isolation on a chartered aircraft from Sierra Leone. The individual was volunteering in an Ebola treatment unit in the West African nation, according to NIH. The research center said no additional details about the patient will be shared at this time.
NIH admitted the patient into the Clinical Center’s Special Clinical Studies Unit, which “is specifically designed to provide high-level isolation capabilities and is staffed by infectious disease and critical care specialists.”
“NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff, and the public,” NIH said.
The patient will be the second person who has tested positive for the virus to be admitted to the isolation unit at the research center. Texas nurse Nina Pham was admitted in October after being infected with the virus while treating an Ebola patient at a Texas hospital. Pham was cured of the virus and released about 10 days after being admitted to NIH.
