US To Evacuate Ebola Victims From Liberia

According to a statement released by the deputy spokeswoman of CDC, Marie Harf, on Friday, 1 August, 2014, informed the two Ebola victims would be taken to the USA to be cared for in strict isolation.
“The safety and security of US citizens is our paramount concern,” deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, confirming the State Department was facilitating the medical evacuation with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Every precaution is being taken to move the patients safely and securely, to provide critical care en route on a non-commercial aircraft and to maintain strict isolation upon arrival in the United States.”
“They will be taken to medical facilities with appropriate isolation and treatment capabilities,” Harf added in her statement.
It would be recalled that Samaritan’s Purse, a US charity, has said that two of its staff members, doctor Kent Brantly and another American missionary worker, Nancy Writebol, were stricken with the virus in Liberia.

* The late Patrick Sawyer and his wife

Both “are in stable but grave condition,” the group said Thursday in a statement.
However, Harf declined to identify the two patients who would be evacuated due to privacy concerns.
Meanwhile, Emory University Hospital, in southern Georgia, has also said that it is preparing to receive “a patient with Ebola virus infection to its special facility containment unit within the next several days.”
But it was not immediately clear if either Brantly or Writebol would be taken to Emory.
 
“CDC protocols and equipment are used for these kinds of medical evacuations so that they are carried out safely,” Harf added.
According to the deputy spokeswoman, this action was taken in an effort to protect “the patient and the American public, as has been done with similar medical evacuations in the past.”
It was gathered that Brantly, 33, became infected with Ebola while working with patients in the Liberian capital of Monrovia, as he helped treat victims of the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

* Health workers carrying corpse of a victim of Ebola virus 

According to the World Health Organization, WHO, the Ebola epidemic currently in West Africa could spread to other countries if not properly controlled.
The WHO raised the death toll by 57 to 729 on Thursday, announcing that 122 new cases had been detected between Thursday and Sunday last week, bringing the total to more than 1,300 since the epidemic began earlier this year.
It would be recalled that one case of the deadly Ebola virus was detected in Nigeria last week via a Liberian businessman, Patrick Sawyer, when he arrived Lagos International Airport already being infected.
The Liberian man was later declared dead by the Lagos State health authorities.