Dec. 31 (UPI) — An American doctor who was exposed to Ebola while treating patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo was transported to the United States to be monitored.
The doctor, who wasn’t identified due to privacy concerns, arrived at a medical center in Omaha, Neb., which has previously treated Ebola patients and is partnered with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the university said in a statement.
“This person may have been exposed to the virus but is not ill and is not contagious,” Ted Cieslak, M.D., infectious diseases specialist with Nebraska Medicine said. “Should any symptoms develop, the Nebraska Medicine/UNMC team is among the most qualified in the world to deal with them.”
It can take up to three weeks after contracting Ebola for an infected person to begin showing symptoms.
The 39-year-old physician was working at a missionary hospital in the Congo and treated a severely ill patient who subsequently tested positive for Ebola, Politico reported.
The physician also received the experimental Ebola vaccine a day after the exposure as a preventive measure.
Nebraska Medical Center officials said that the physician was transported to the facility from the Congo by private plane and car.
“The individual was moved safely and securely,” a State Department representative said. “The individual is isolated and under observation at a medical facility per standard medical protocol.”
