Possible Ebola exposures coming to US for monitoring

UPDATE 3-15-15 1630

The following news release was published by Partners In Health on Saturday:

On Wednesday, March 11, a clinician working with Partners In Health’s Ebola response in Sierra Leone tested positive for the Ebola virus disease. The clinician was evacuated from West Africa and is currently receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health Special Clinical Studies Unit in Bethesda, Maryland.

Ten clinicians who came to the aid of their ailing colleague were subsequently identified as contacts of the evacuated clinician. These individuals remain asymptomatic for Ebola virus disease. Out of an abundance of caution, and in collaboration with the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, these clinicians are being transported to the United States via non-commercial aircraft. They will remain in isolation near designated U.S. Ebola treatment facilities to ensure access to rapid testing and treatment in the unlikely instance that any become symptomatic. The clinicians have agreed to be monitored, and will voluntarily self-isolate during the remainder of the 21-day incubation period, in accordance with CDC guidelines.

Read the entire release HERE

CDC continues to investigate potential Ebola exposure among individuals in Sierra Leone, including several American citizens, following the identification of an American volunteer healthcare worker in Sierra Leone who tested positive for Ebola virus.  That healthcare worker returned to the U.S. by medevac and was admitted to the NIH Clinical Center on March 13th for care and treatment.

As a result of CDC’s ongoing investigation, CDC and the State Department are facilitating the return of additional American citizens who had potential exposure to the index patient or exposures similar to those that resulted in the infection of the index patient. Currently, none of these individuals have been identified as having Ebola virus disease.

Media accounts put the number of possible exposures returning to the US at 10.

Individuals will be transported to the U.S. by non-commercial air transport and will be near the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health, or Emory University Hospital. Nebraska Medicine confirms that they will be getting four of the exposed patients.

Individuals will follow CDC’s recommended monitoring and movement guidelines, including direct active monitoring and, as appropriate, voluntary self isolation during the 21-day incubation period.  In the event an individual shows symptoms, they will be transported following protocol to an Ebola treatment center for evaluation and care.