An air ambulance carrying an
American doctor who became ill with the Ebola virus while treating
others afflicted in West Africa was en route to the United States and
due to land Saturday, officials said.
A spokeswoman for
Samaritan’s Purse said Dr. Kent Brantly was aboard a plane that left
Liberia overnight. A second stricken American, Nancy Writebol, fell ill
while working for SIM, a Christian aid group.
Brantly’s
arrival time at Dobbins Air Reserve base outside of Atlanta was not
released, but shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern a white vehicle with
flashing red lights could be seen driving across the tarmac from an
adjacent road.
It was not clear when Writebol would arrive in the
United States. Doctors at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where
the pair will be treated, said Friday that medical experts on the ground
in Liberia had deemed both of them in good enough condition to make the
trip in the specially outfitted air ambulance.
Once the ambulance lands, Brantly will be transferred into a
specially equipped vehicular ambulance and placed under a tent-like
enclosure inside of it to ensure the Ebola virus does not spread. The
virus is transferred through bodily fluids.
The Ebola outbreak has
killed more than 720 people in West Africa and has a mortality rate of
at least 60%. There is no cure or vaccine, but doctors at Emory say they
are “cautiously optimistic” that with proper care and close monitoring,
they can successfully treat Brantly and Writebol.
World health officials, meanwhile, have warned that the outbreak is spreading out of control in Africa
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
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