In a follow-up to a report yesterday, an American healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola virus while volunteering services in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone has arrived safely at the NIH Clinical Center for care and treatment.

Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a very-high magnification, this digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a single filamentous Ebola virus particle that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line.
Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a very-high magnification, this digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a single filamentous Ebola virus particle that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line.

The individual was transferred from Sierra Leone via private charter medevac in isolation and admitted to the NIH Clinical Center at 4:44 a.m. ET. The patient’s condition is still being evaluated.

The patient has been admitted to the NIH Clinical Center’s Special Clinical Studies Unit (SCSU) that is specifically designed to provide high-level isolation capabilities and is staffed by infectious diseases and critical care specialists.

The unit staff is trained in strict infection control practices optimized to prevent spread of potentially transmissible agents such as Ebola. NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff, and the public.

This will be the second patient with Ebola virus disease admitted to the NIH Clinical Center. An earlier patient was treated successfully and released free of disease.