The first of two American aid workers infected with the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa has arrived in the United States, where he will be treated at a special isolated unit.
It is believed to be the first time a patient infected with Ebola has been treated anywhere in the US.
Dr Kent Brantly, 33, contracted Ebola while helping to respond to the outbreak on behalf of US-based Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse.
The second Samaritan’s Purse staff member, missionary Nancy Writebol, 59, is due to be transported on a later flight, as the plane is only equipped to carry one patient at a time.
Both Dr Brantly and Ms Writebol are in a serious but stable condition and will be treated at a special care isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The facility, located near the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is one of only four in the country set up to deal with such cases.
“It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation,” Emory Healthcare said in a statement.
Health officials say bringing the sickened aid workers into the country would not put the public at risk.
“We have highly trained personnel who know how to safely enter the room of a patient who requires this form of isolation,” Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said.
Mr Ribner says he hopes the medical support available at Emory will improve the chances of survival from that seen on the ground in West Africa.
The latest outbreak of Ebola has killed 729 people in the region since March.
The World Health Organisation says the outbreak is moving more quickly than the efforts to control it and could spread to other countries.
There is no cure for Ebola, which causes diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.
The virus can kill up to 90 per cent of those who become infected, and the fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60 per cent.
Timeline: worst Ebola outbreak
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