According to CNN, the two American humanitarian aid workers infected with the deadly Ebola virus will be transported back home for treatment. One of the pair will be taken to Atlanta at the Emory University Hospital, the hospital spokeswoman confirmed to Buzzfeed. Once the patient arrives, the patient will be secured immediately and kept in an isolation chamber in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control.
In a statement, Emory assures the public of its top-notch facilities to ensure that the patient is contained. It read, "Emory University Hospital has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases. It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation. It is one of only four such facilities in the country."
Dr Sanjay Gupta of Emory tweeted that a business jet with an isolation chamber has left the US on Thursday to pick up the first patient. His first tweet read, "a long range business jet with isolation pod left Georgia shortly after 5p, headed to Liberia to evac American with #Ebola infection."
"The @emory isolation unit is physically separate from other patient areas. Abt to receive patient with #Ebola. 1st time in US history," the other read.
There is no clue yet as to when the other patients will be transported back home, and if whether Emory would be admitting the second patient.
Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly gained international attention when they were confirmed to have contracted the virus, which has already killed around 729 people in West Africa. Sierra Leone has already issued a state of emergency to address the situation. CDC has also issued a travel advisory to caution Americans to avoid non-essential traveling to affected areas, particularly to Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
