American Doctor Arrives At Nebraska Hospital For Ebola Treatment
The third American infected with the Ebola virus in Africa has arrived safely at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska to receive treatment, doctors say.
Dr. Rick Sacra, who contracted the deadly virus while working with newborns in Liberia, was transferred from West Africa to the Nebraska Medical Center on Friday, arriving in the early morning hours and being placed in the facility's special isolation unit. The hospital boasts one of the largest biocontainment systems in the country.
Dr. Phil Smith, the medical director of the Omaha hospital, told the Associated Press that he and his team of 35 doctors and medical staff are trying to find out as much information about Sacra and potential treatments as possible to offer the aid worker "world class care."
"We've been trying to collect as much information on possible treatments as we can," Smith said.
The two Americans who were treated for the Ebola virus before Sacra, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, received experimental doses of the serum ZMapp that is meant to enhance the immune system in response to the aggressive ebola virus.
Debbie Sacra, speaking at a news conference at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center this week, said that her husband was aware of the risks of Ebola while working in Liberia.
"I knew he needed to be with the Liberian people," she said. "He was so concerned about the children that were going to die from malaria without hospitalization and the women who had no place to go to deliver their babies by cesarean section. He's not someone who can stand back if there's a need he can take care of."
