A U.S. nurse who was exposed to the Ebola virus while volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa, was admitted to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland Thursday afternoon for observation and enrollment in a clinical protocol.
The unidentified patient, who traveled in isolation from an overseas location aboard a private charter medevac, arrived at the hospital at approximately 2:45 p.m. The patient had been working at an Ebola treatment facility in Sierra Leone.
As a precaution, the patient was placed in a special isolation unit staffed by specialists in infectious diseases and the provision of critical care. The unit staff is trained to prevent the spread of potentially transmissible agents like Ebola.
No additional details were available about the patient.
“NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff and the public. This situation presents minimal risk to any of them,” said a statment by the hospital.