Ebola Virus News: American in Critical Condition

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The condition of the unidentified health care worker who contracted the Ebola virus infection from volunteering in West Africa is now critical, said the doctors from the U.S. National Institutes of Health last Monday, March 16, according to Yahoo News.

The American health care worker returned to the U.S. last Friday, March 13, and is now being treated at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.  No new information has been released on the identity of the infected patient for the privacy and protection of the patient and the family.

The patient worked with a Boston non-profit organization, Partners in Health, a charitable global health care provider. According to their website, the group went to Liberia and Sierra Leone in November 2014 to treat Ebola patients. The Maryland patient is said to be the first clinician who worked with PIH to be diagnosed with the deadly disease.

The PIH blog says the patient was evacuated from West Africa after testing positive for Ebola last Wednesday, March 11. The 10 fellow colleagues of the clinician were also transported back to the U.S. in order to follow the protocol set by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All have not shown symptoms of the disease and have been in voluntary self- isolation in the designated U.S. Treatment Center for Ebola. They agreed to be monitored while waiting out the 21-day incubation period of the Ebola virus set by the CDC. Additionally, the CDC is conducting "contact tracing" for persons who may have had contact with the Maryland patient, according to WebMD.

Today, there are now over 11 people who have Ebola to be treated in the United States, with the Maryland patient being the latest case. In the 10 people who were treated for Ebola in the U.S., there have been two fatalities -- a visitor and a doctor -- while the eight, consisting of an aid worker, a missionary, a cameraman, nurses and doctors, all survived, notes the New York Times. 

Based on the report by the BBC News, the total fatality count for the deadly Ebola virus since March 14, 2015 has already climbed to 10,159 deaths. According to the WHO, the countries with widespread transmission in West Africa in order of least to most deaths:

Source: World Health Organization (As of March 14, 2015)

The WHO additionally states that Senegal, Spain, Nigeria, Mali, the United Kingdom and the United States have no Ebola virus cases.