American doctor with Ebola back in US for treatment

Washington, Aug 3: One of two American doctors who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Liberia was brought back to the US for treatment Saturday, the aid group he worked for said.

A private plane equipped with a special containment unit for doctor Kent Brantly arrived at Dobbins Air Force Base in Atlanta Saturday morning, North Carolina-based Christian organisation Samaritan's Purse said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

The patient was then transported to Emory University Hospital where has an isolation unit set up in collaboration with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases.

A second American, missionary Nancy Writebol, who was also infected with Ebola in Liberia, is expected to arrive in Atlanta within the next few days, it said.

"They are alive and now have access to the best care in the world," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "We are extremely thankful for the help we have received."

Earlier, the aid group said both patients are "in serious but stable condition".

The facility at Emory is one of only four in the country set up to deal with certain serious infectious disease.

"It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinary high level of clinical isolation," the university said in a statement .

On Thursday, the US government issued a warning against nonessential travel to West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, saying it reflects the "worsening" Ebola outbreak in this region.

The haemorrhagic virus can kill up to 90 percent of those who become infected, and the fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60 percent.

The outbreak, by far the largest in the nearly 40-year history of the disease, has killed 729 people and affected more than 1,300 this year, according to the World Health Organisation.

IANS