Ebola-infected US ‘samaritan’ lands in Atlanta
Dr Kent Brantly works for the North Carolina-based Christian organisation Samaritan’s Purse. A second infected member of the group, missionary Nancy Writebol, will be brought to the United States on a later flight as the medical aircraft is equipped to carry only one patient at a time.
A medical aircraft carrying Brantly landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia late on Saturday morning. Brantly then was driven by ambulance to Emory University Hospital.
Dr Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said he could not comment on a treatment plan until Brantly had been evaluated. Since there is no known cure, standard procedures are to provide hydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids, according to the World Health Organisation.
Despite concern among some in the United States over bringing Ebola patients to the US, health officials say there is no public risk.
The facility at Emory, set up with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is one of only four in the country with the facilities to deal with such cases.
Ebola is a hemorrhagic virus with a death rate of up to 90% of those who become infected. The fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60%.
Brantly is a 33-year-old father of two young children. Writebol is a 59-year-old mother of two.
The two Americans will be treated primarily by a team of four infectious disease physicians. The patients will be able to see loved ones through a plate-glass window and speak to them by phone or intercom.
