The American Ebola patient being treated at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington, D.C., has been downgraded from serious to critical condition, the NIH announced Monday morning.
Eleven other Americans who also were volunteering in Sierra Leone with Boston-based Partners in Health are being brought back or already are back in the U.S. because they had potential exposure to the patient or are believed to have had similar exposure to the virus.
One of four already being monitored in Omaha, Neb., has developed Ebola symptoms and has been transferred to Nebraska Medical Center's biocontainment unit for further monitoring, and care, if necessary. The individual developed symptoms Sunday evening and was brought into the unit as a precaution.
The individual has not tested positive for Ebola, and some of the symptoms that prompted the move to the unit had "resolved" Monday morning, said Dr. Phil Smith, medical director for the biocontainment unit.
Nebraska Medicine, which includes the Nebraska Medical Center, said it learned that an additional volunteer who was a part of the initial exposure would be transported to the medical campus later Monday. The hospital has treated three patients with Ebola—Dr. Richard Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who were both deemed Ebola-free, and Dr. Martin Salia, who died from the virus after less than two days of treatment.
The hospital also said it previously monitored two other people from West Africa in early 2015, before this recent event.
The U.S. healthcare volunteer listed in critical condition as of Monday morning is the second patient with Ebola to be treated at the National Institutes of Health's Special Clinical Studies Unit in Bethesda, Md.
NIH officials said they have no pending admissions of additional individuals diagnosed with Ebola or individuals believed to have been exposed to the virus.
The 11 volunteers will be under direct monitoring, and are being moved to housing near the NIH, the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which all have high-level biocontainment units capable of treating Ebola patients. It's been widely reported that four of the individuals already are under monitoring in Omaha.
An additional volunteer from the U.K. was flown from Sierra Leone to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, England, for observation. This person worked in the same facility as the latest American healthcare worker with Ebola and with the other Americans being monitored.
Follow Adam Rubenfire on Twitter: @arubenfire
