Ebola patient heads for US

An Ebola patient was expected to arrive in Atlanta, Georgia, later on Tuesday after an air ambulance transport from West Africa. The patient would receive treatment at the same hospital where two US aid workers successfully recovered from the disease.

Emory University Hospital (pictured above) on Monday confirmed that it was expecting a new patient but cited confidentiality in not releasing personal information.

"The patient is being transported by air ambulance from West Africa. The patient is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. We do not know exactly what time the patient will arrive," the hospital said in a statement.

Although the patient's identity was not confirmed, the World Health Organization (WHO) had said on Monday that one of its doctors working in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone had tested positive for the disease and would be evacuated. The State Department said that individual was from the US.

Past cases

Last month, Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly recovered from Ebola at Emory. A third patient to return to the US, Dr. Rick Sacra, is being treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha instead. Federal officials had asked the hospital to take Sacra in order to prepare other isolation units to take more patients if necessary. The 51-year-old was in a stable condition late on Monday, apparently better tolerating his experimental treatment, but his recovery remained uncertain.

Sacra, a doctor from Massachusetts working with the charity SIM, spent 15 years at the Liberian hospital where he fell ill. Writebol was also working for SIM in the Ebola-hit region, while Brantly worked for another missionary group, Samaritan's Purse. Writebol and Brantly both received an experimental treatment, ZMapp, at the Atlanta hospital, but medical officials have said they do not know if the drug was behind the patients' recoveries.

According to WHO figures, the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed more than 2,000 lives, from almost 4,000 confirmed cases. The WHO on Monday warned of a possible surge in cases in badly-hit Liberia. Patients have also tested positive for the disease in Guinea, where the outbreak is believed to have started, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Extra funds for medical research

Meanwhile, the White House on Monday said that Obama pledged more US aid to combat Ebola in a phone conversation with the UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. Obama had said in the past that the US military would help set up isolation units and equipment in West Africa and provide security for public health workers. In Washington, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers on Monday said that he was reviewing a request for additional government funds for Ebola.

"There will be extra money for the Ebola," Rogers said. "We're looking at the numbers now." The Obama administration had requested an addition $88 million (68.4 million euros), including $58 million to speed production of the experimental drug used in Atlanta and two potential Ebola vaccine candidates. Rogers said he expected the legislation to be introduced on Tuesday, ready for a vote in the House this week.

msh/dr (AFP, AP)