Five U.S. health workers confined at a medical center in Nebraska, following possible exposure to Ebola while in West Africa, have now been released after successfully accomplishing quarantine procedures.
The health workers participated in a mission in Sierra Leone and were promptly taken back to the U.S. after one of their colleagues tested positive for the virus. Fearing possible exposure, the health workers were quarantined, undergoing monitoring for 21 days.
Those who were taken to Omaha were admitted to the Nebraska Medical Center and placed close to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit - in case anyone was infected with Ebola.
Four of the health workers quarantined have already left the area, while the fifth is getting ready to do so. The last health worker suffered an unrelated cardiac event over the weekend and had to be resuscitated. However, this individual has now been discharged and will be leaving Omaha soon as well.
Three people have received treatment for Ebola at the Nebraska Medical Center. Two, Ashoka Mukpo and Dr. Richard Sacra, recovered, while one, Dr. Martin Salia, succumbed to the virus after less than two days of being treated. Salia was also already gravely ill when his treatment began in November 2014. Sacra returned to Nebraska's Biocontainment Unit on Friday to celebrate the facility's 10th anniversary.
The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit was commissioned by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a joint project involving the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Medicine and Nebraska Health and Human Services. It was made to offer first-line treatment for patients affected by extreme infections or bio terrorism. Out of all biocontainment units in the country, Nebraska's is the largest.
Early isolation is important in treating infected patients because it helps buy time for health officials to stop or contain outbreaks. As Nebraska's Biocontainment Unit is located in the same campus as the Bio-Safety Level-3 lab of the state, timely diagnosis can be made, allowing for immediate treatment to be provided.
Earlier in March, a health worker under observation developed symptoms of the disease, prompting Nebraska Medicine to confine the patient in the Biocontainment Unit. The individual did not test positive for the virus but was brought in just the same out of an abundance of caution.
Since the Ebola outbreak began last year, over 10,300 lives have been claimed in West Africa, making it the worst outbreak for the virus recorded. Infections have slowed down but Ebola remains a threat in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Photo: Ted Eytan | Flickr
