A medical expert working for the World Health Organization who was infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone has arrived in Germany for treatment. The Senegalese epidemiologist is the first Ebola patient to be treated in Germany. Health workers are at high risk of Ebola infection, and officials in Sierra Leone announced Tuesday that a high profile doctor there, Dr. Sahr Rogers, died of Ebola caught while treating patients.
The Senegalese epidemiologist arrived on a specially equipped medical jet and taken to the University Clinic in Hamburg-Eppendorf, prepared for up to six patients simultaneously at a special isolation ward for the treatment of highly infectious diseases.“The patient independently got off the plane and got into the waiting ambulance by himself,” Rico Schmidt, spokesman for Hamburg health authorities said at a news conference.
Officials at the Hamburg facility said they won't try experimental drugs just yet. “We will start with basic supportive care and are confident that we can already achieve good results,” said attending doctor Stefan Schmiedel.
The hospital had arranged in July with the World Health Organization to take in an Ebola patient, but the infected physician died before he could be brought to Germany.
“We hope that our colleague will get the best health care treatment possible,” WHO spokeswoman Fadéla Chaib told NBC News.
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-Andy Eckhardt, Mainz, Germany
