This 2010 photo shows Nina Pham, 26, who became the first person to contract the disease within the United States. (Photo: AP)
Geneva:
A US nurse who caught Ebola while treating a Liberian patient who died of the disease has received a plasma transfusion donated by a doctor who beat the virus.
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that West Africa could see up to 10,000 new Ebola cases a week within two months, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, also confirming the death rate in the current outbreak has risen to 70 percent.
WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward gave the figures during a news conference in Geneva. Previously, WHO had estimated the Ebola mortality rate was at around 50 percent.
In German, a United Nations medical worker who was infected with Ebola in Liberia has died, the hospital said Tuesday.
The St. Georg hospital in Leipzig said the 56-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died overnight of the infection. It released no further details and did not answer telephone calls.
The man tested positive for Ebola on Oct. 6, prompting Liberia's UN peacekeeping mission to place 41 staff members under observation.
Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people - nearly all of them in West Africa - in an outbreak the World Health Organization has called "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times." U.S. health officials say they are ramping up training for medical workers who deal with the infected.
Nurse Nina Pham was among about 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, according to medical records. They drew his blood, put tubes down his throat and wiped up his diarrhea. They analyzed his urine and wiped saliva from his lips, even after he had lost consciousness.
The 26-year-old nurse was in his room often, from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died.
Pham and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields - and sometimes full-body suits - when caring for Duncan, but Pham became the first person to contract the disease within the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.
Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the nonprofit medical mission group Samaritan's Purse, confirmed that the plasma donation came from Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American to return to the U.S. from Liberia to be treated for Ebola. Brantly received an experimental treatment and fought off the virus, and has donated blood for transfusions for three others, including Pham.
"He's a doctor. That's what he's there to do. That's his heart," Blume said.
Brantly said in a recent speech that he also offered his blood for Duncan, but that their blood types didn't match.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden said he would not be surprised if more fall ill because Ebola patients become more contagious as the disease progresses.
Frieden has said a breach of protocol led to the nurse's infection, but officials are not sure what went wrong. Pham has not been able to point to any specific breach.
The CDC is monitoring all hospital workers who treated Duncan and planned to "double down" on training and outreach on how to safely treat Ebola patients, Frieden said. He could not provide a number of health care workers under surveillance.
Besides the workers, health officials continue to track 48 people who were in contact with Duncan before he was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation. They are monitoring one person the nurse was in contact with while she was in an infectious state.
Members of a Texas task force on Ebola have scheduled their first public hearing for next week. They'll develop recommendations and a comprehensive state plan to deal with emerging infectious diseases.
None has exhibited symptoms, Frieden said.
Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia Sept. 20, first sought medical care for fever and abdominal pain Sept. 25. He told a nurse he had traveled from Africa, but he was sent home. He returned Sept. 28 and was placed in isolation because of suspected Ebola.
Officials said there was a dog in the nurse's apartment that has been removed to an undisclosed location for monitoring and care. They do not believe the pet shows any signs of Ebola. A dog belonging to an infected Spanish nurse was euthanized, drawing thousands of complaints.
The Ebola outbreak has hit hardest in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that West Africa could see up to 10,000 new Ebola cases a week within two months, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, also confirming the death rate in the current outbreak has risen to 70 percent.
WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward gave the figures during a news conference in Geneva. Previously, WHO had estimated the Ebola mortality rate was at around 50 percent.
In German, a United Nations medical worker who was infected with Ebola in Liberia has died, the hospital said Tuesday.
The St. Georg hospital in Leipzig said the 56-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died overnight of the infection. It released no further details and did not answer telephone calls.
The man tested positive for Ebola on Oct. 6, prompting Liberia's UN peacekeeping mission to place 41 staff members under observation.
Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people - nearly all of them in West Africa - in an outbreak the World Health Organization has called "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times." U.S. health officials say they are ramping up training for medical workers who deal with the infected.
Nurse Nina Pham was among about 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, according to medical records. They drew his blood, put tubes down his throat and wiped up his diarrhea. They analyzed his urine and wiped saliva from his lips, even after he had lost consciousness.
The 26-year-old nurse was in his room often, from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died.
Pham and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields - and sometimes full-body suits - when caring for Duncan, but Pham became the first person to contract the disease within the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.
Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the nonprofit medical mission group Samaritan's Purse, confirmed that the plasma donation came from Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American to return to the U.S. from Liberia to be treated for Ebola. Brantly received an experimental treatment and fought off the virus, and has donated blood for transfusions for three others, including Pham.
"He's a doctor. That's what he's there to do. That's his heart," Blume said.
Brantly said in a recent speech that he also offered his blood for Duncan, but that their blood types didn't match.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden said he would not be surprised if more fall ill because Ebola patients become more contagious as the disease progresses.
Frieden has said a breach of protocol led to the nurse's infection, but officials are not sure what went wrong. Pham has not been able to point to any specific breach.
The CDC is monitoring all hospital workers who treated Duncan and planned to "double down" on training and outreach on how to safely treat Ebola patients, Frieden said. He could not provide a number of health care workers under surveillance.
Besides the workers, health officials continue to track 48 people who were in contact with Duncan before he was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation. They are monitoring one person the nurse was in contact with while she was in an infectious state.
Members of a Texas task force on Ebola have scheduled their first public hearing for next week. They'll develop recommendations and a comprehensive state plan to deal with emerging infectious diseases.
None has exhibited symptoms, Frieden said.
Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia Sept. 20, first sought medical care for fever and abdominal pain Sept. 25. He told a nurse he had traveled from Africa, but he was sent home. He returned Sept. 28 and was placed in isolation because of suspected Ebola.
Officials said there was a dog in the nurse's apartment that has been removed to an undisclosed location for monitoring and care. They do not believe the pet shows any signs of Ebola. A dog belonging to an infected Spanish nurse was euthanized, drawing thousands of complaints.
The Ebola outbreak has hit hardest in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
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