An American healthcare worker who has tested positive for Ebola was admitted early Friday morning to the National Institutes of Health's Special Clinical Studies Unit in Bethesda, Md. Doctors have determined that the patient is in serious condition.
The individual was volunteering in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, West Africa, according to the NIH, which released no further details about the patient. The worker was transported to the U.S. in isolation via a chartered aircraft, and is being treated at the special clinical studies unit, which contains a high-level biocontainment facility.
The worker is the second confirmed Ebola case to be treated at the NIH facility. Texas nurse Nina Pham, who contracted the virus while treating Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, was transferred to the facility from her hospital in mid-October. She was treated, released and deemed Ebola-free later that month.
Pham is currently suing Texas Health Resources, the parent company of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, for not adequately preparing her to treat Duncan.
Earlier in the epidemic, two other healthcare workers were admitted to the NIH facility after being exposed to the virus in West Africa, but neither was found to be infected.
Follow Adam Rubenfire on Twitter: @arubenfire
