A third American aid worker infected with Ebola while working in Liberia was evacuated back to the United States on Friday, and the hospital treating him said he was "stable, but seriously ill."
Rick Sacra, 51, who was treating obstetrics patients at a Liberian hospital when he tested positive for the deadly virus, arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Friday morning.
"He was safely brought to our biocontainment unit and is currently being cared for by our medical staff," the hospital said in a statement.
"Right now, they plan to use aggressive supportive care, fluids and electrolytes. They're also exploring options to see what experimental therapeutics are available."
According to the hospital, Sacra is being treated in its 10-bed biocontainment unit, which is specifically designed to care for patients with highly infectious diseases, and "is staffed with infectious disease experts who have prepared for years for situations like this one."
Along with the hospital's biocontainment unit, there are only three other similar facilities in the United States, including the unit at Emory University in Atlanta that successfully treated two other U.S. aid workers with Ebola last month.
"Our unit is specially designed for this type of patient. It's very safe for our health care providers and patients," said Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at the hospital.
Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, the aid group Sacra worked for, said Friday that his wife, Debbie, is making arrangements for their three sons and will arrive in Omaha this weekend to be reunited with Sacra.
Sacra apologized to his SIM colleagues in an email after he was diagnosed with the virus earlier this week, Johnson said in a statement.
"I know and accept that there is no easy solution for an evacuation, so I don't expect one," he quoted the email as saying. "With or without evacuation, I could well die from this disease. And frankly, my main concerns are for Debbie and my boys."