For Release: January 3, 2015
Contact: Taylor Wilson, 402.871.8338
Patient Exposed To Ebola Virus Coming For Observation
Scheduled To Arrive On Sunday
Omaha, Neb ? An American health care provider working in Sierra Leone who
experienced a high-risk exposure to the Ebola virus will be coming to the
Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medicine for observation and possible treatment. The
patient is scheduled to arrive Sunday at approximately 2:00 p.m. CST aboard a private
air ambulance.
?This patient has been exposed to the virus but is not ill and is not contagious,? said Phil
Smith, M.D., medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medicine.
?However, we will be taking all appropriate precautions. This patient will be under
observation in the same room used for treatment of the first three patients and will be
carefully monitored to see if Ebola disease develops.?
Dr. Smith, also a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical
Center, says the same expert team that cared for the other patients here will care for
this patient. ?This patient will be observed for development of infection during the 21-day
incubation period of the disease, both by monitoring for symptoms and through blood
tests.?
A total of three patients with Ebola have been treated at Nebraska Medicine. Dr.
Richard Sacra was treated and released in September, NBC cameraman Ashoka
Mukpo was treated and released in October and Dr, Martin Salia, who was gravely ill
upon arrival, passed away from the virus after less than two days of treatment in
November.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/35qav0d2myuo1xc/1-02 Possible Exposure.doc?dl=0