USA TODAY
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The
American physician flown back to the United States after becoming
infected with the Ebola virus in Liberia "seems to be improving," the
head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.
The
American physician flown back to the United States after becoming
infected with the Ebola virus in Liberia "seems to be improving," the
head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.
Kent Brantly was being treated in a special isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after arriving Saturday at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia. It's the first time anyone infected with the deadly virus has been brought into the country.
"We're hoping he'll continue to improve," Dr. Tom Frieden told CBS' Face the Nation. "But Ebola is such a scary disease because it's so deadly. I can't predict the future for individual patients."
A second American infected with the virus, Nancy Writebol, is scheduled to arrive in the USA within a few days. Brantly and Writebol were serving in Liberia as medical missionaries when they became infected with the virus, which has killed 729 people and sickened more than 1,300 the West African nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Frieden has said his agency received "nasty" e-mails and at least 100 calls from people questioning why the sick aid workers should be let into the USA. Physicians are confident, however, that the two Americans can be treated without putting the public in danger.
The
virus is spread through direct contact with blood, urine, saliva and
other bodily fluids from an infected person. It is not spread through
the air.
"I don't think it's in the cards that we would have widespread Ebola," Frieden said. He said the virus spreads in African hospitals where there isn't infection control and in burial rituals where people touch the bodies of Ebola victims. That won't happen here, he said.
"So it's not going to spread widely in the U.S. Could we have another person here, could we have a case or two? Not impossible," Frieden said. "We say in medicine never say never. But we know how to stop it here. But to really protect ourselves, the single most important thing we can do is stop it at the source in Africa. That's going to protect them and protect us."
Emory's infectious diseases unit was created 12 years ago to handle doctors who get sick at the CDC. It is one of about four in the country equipped with everything necessary to test, treat and contain people exposed to very dangerous viruses.
In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
In fact, the nature of Ebola — which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids and blood — means that any modern hospital using standard, rigorous, infection-control measures should be able to handle it.
On Saturday, Amber Brantly expressed her happiness in having her husband back in the USA.
"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," she said in a statement. "I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital."
Earlier this week, an Emory emergency medical team evaluated the patients in Liberia, deeming both stable enough for the trip to Atlanta, Ribner said. Officials said the Americans would travel on a Gulfstream jet fitted with a collapsible, clear tent built to transfer CDC employees exposed to contagious diseases.
Brantly,
33, of Fort Worth, had been working in Liberia for Samaritan's Purse
overseeing an Ebola treatment center. Writebol, of Charlotte, was
working at the center on behalf of the faith group Service in Mission.
Samaritan's Purse is paying for their evacuation and medical care.
There's no specific treatment for Ebola so doctors try to ease symptoms, including fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Some cases suffer severe bleeding.
Contributing: WXIA in Atlanta; Doug Stanglin; the Associated Press
Kent Brantly was being treated in a special isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after arriving Saturday at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia. It's the first time anyone infected with the deadly virus has been brought into the country.
"We're hoping he'll continue to improve," Dr. Tom Frieden told CBS' Face the Nation. "But Ebola is such a scary disease because it's so deadly. I can't predict the future for individual patients."
A second American infected with the virus, Nancy Writebol, is scheduled to arrive in the USA within a few days. Brantly and Writebol were serving in Liberia as medical missionaries when they became infected with the virus, which has killed 729 people and sickened more than 1,300 the West African nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Frieden has said his agency received "nasty" e-mails and at least 100 calls from people questioning why the sick aid workers should be let into the USA. Physicians are confident, however, that the two Americans can be treated without putting the public in danger.
"I don't think it's in the cards that we would have widespread Ebola," Frieden said. He said the virus spreads in African hospitals where there isn't infection control and in burial rituals where people touch the bodies of Ebola victims. That won't happen here, he said.
"So it's not going to spread widely in the U.S. Could we have another person here, could we have a case or two? Not impossible," Frieden said. "We say in medicine never say never. But we know how to stop it here. But to really protect ourselves, the single most important thing we can do is stop it at the source in Africa. That's going to protect them and protect us."
Emory's infectious diseases unit was created 12 years ago to handle doctors who get sick at the CDC. It is one of about four in the country equipped with everything necessary to test, treat and contain people exposed to very dangerous viruses.
In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
In fact, the nature of Ebola — which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids and blood — means that any modern hospital using standard, rigorous, infection-control measures should be able to handle it.
On Saturday, Amber Brantly expressed her happiness in having her husband back in the USA.
"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," she said in a statement. "I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital."
Earlier this week, an Emory emergency medical team evaluated the patients in Liberia, deeming both stable enough for the trip to Atlanta, Ribner said. Officials said the Americans would travel on a Gulfstream jet fitted with a collapsible, clear tent built to transfer CDC employees exposed to contagious diseases.
There's no specific treatment for Ebola so doctors try to ease symptoms, including fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Some cases suffer severe bleeding.
Contributing: WXIA in Atlanta; Doug Stanglin; the Associated Press
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