CNN) -- The fear began just after news broke Thursday that a
long-range business jet with an isolation pod left the United States for
Liberia, where it will evacuate two Americans infected with Ebola.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outfitted a Gulfstream jet with
an isolation pod designed and built by the U.S. Defense Department, the CDC and
a private company.
The pod, officially called an Aeromedical Biological
Containment System, is a portable, tentlike device that ensures the flight crew
and others on the flight remain safe from an infectious disease.
"Why are they doing this?" Robin Hunter asked in a
post on Twitter.
While U.S. officials have remained mum on the issue, a
source told CNN that a medical charter flight left from Cartersville, Georgia,
on Thursday evening.
A CNN crew saw the plane depart shortly after 5 p.m. ET. The
plane matched the description provided by the source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
It was not immediately known when the two Americans --
identified by the source as Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol -- would arrive
in the United States, or where the plane would land.
At least one of the two will be taken to a hospital at Emory
University, near the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta, hospital officials told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
With the return of Brantly and Writebol to the United
States, it will be the first time that patients diagnosed with Ebola will be
known to be in the country.
Brantly and Writebol are described as being in
stable-but-grave conditions, with both reportedly taking a turn for the worse
overnight, according to statements released Thursday by the faith-based charity
Samaritan's Purse.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the World
Health Organization says is believed to have infected 1,323 people in Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria between March and July 27.
Of those suspected cases, it is believed to have been fatal
in at least 729 cases, according to the health organization.
In the United States, the National Institutes of Health
announced it will begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine in people as
early as September.
The federal agency has been working on the vaccine over the
last few years and says they've seen positive results when they tested it on
primates.
The NIH announcement came the same day as the CDC issued a
Level 3 alert for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, warning against any
nonessential travel to the region.
As of now, the outbreak has been confined to West Africa.
But it could spread via travel, especially since people who have Ebola may not
know it; symptoms usually manifest two to 21 days.
The symptoms include fever, headaches, weakness and
vomiting, and at an advanced stage there is internal and external bleeding.
The Eboloa outbreak is believed to be the worst in history,
and even in a best-case scenario, it could take three to six months to stem the
epidemic in West Africa, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, told
reporters on Thursday.
Both Brantly, a 33-year-old who last lived in Texas, and
Writebol were caring for Ebola patients in Liberia.
An experimental serum was administered to Writebol this
week. Only one dose of the serum was available, and Brantly asked that it be
given to his colleague, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.
Samaritan's Purse said it did not have any additional detail
about the serum.
At the same time, Brantly received a unit of blood from a
14-year-old boy who survived Ebola, the statement said. Brantly had treated the
teen, it said.
It was not immediately clear what doctors hoped the blood
transfusion would do for Brantly.
While blood transfusions have been tried before, Frieden
told reporters no one really knows why some people survive and some don't.
There have been questions about the the health of Brantly's
wife and his children, who left for Texas prior to his diagnosis.
In a statement released Thursday, Amber Brantly said she and
her children "are physically fine."
"We had left Liberia prior to Kent's exposure to the
virus," she said. "I am always anxiously awaiting any news from
Liberia regarding Kent's condition."
But she is isolated from him, and he has to wear head-to-toe
protective clothing similar to a hazmat suit so that he does not contract a
disease that starts out with similar symptoms as a strong flu but can end in
internal bleeding and death.
"Mom continues in stable condition but it's very
serious, and she's still fighting," her son said. "She's weak, but
she's working through it."
Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said his country
could ill afford to lose health care workers like Writebol and Brantly.
"We join the families in prayers that they can come through
this and become ... shining examples that, if care is taken, one can come out
of this."
Another physician in West Africa was not so fortunate; Dr.
Sheik Humarr Khan fell ill early last week while overseeing Ebola treatment at
a Sierra Leone hospital and died days later.
The rate of infection has slowed in Guinea, but it has
increased in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
As infection accelerates, some aid groups are pulling out to
protect their own.
Samaritan's Purse and the missionary group Serving in
Mission have recalled all nonessential personnel from Liberia.
The Peace Corps announced Wednesday it is doing the same,
removing its 340 volunteers from the three severely affected nations.
While there are no confirmed cases, a Peace Corps
spokeswoman said two volunteers came into contact with someone who ended up
dying from the virus.
Those Americans haven't shown signs of Ebola but are being
isolated just in case. The spokeswoman said they can't return home until they
get medical clearance.
Meanwhile, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koroma both canceled trips to the United
States, and Koroma declared a state of emergency.
Koroma announced an action
plan to tear down many barriers that international medical workers say they
face while fighting disease.
Sirleaf said on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper"
that the country is in desperate need of people with expertise in treating and
dealing with Ebola.
Some residents in affected villages have accused medical
workers of bringing the disease into the country and have barricaded their
towns or otherwise blocked access to Ebola victims.
Koroma said he will deploy police and military to accompany
the aid workers.
They will search house to house for the infirm and enforce
orders designed to curb the virus' spread.
One American, 40-year-old Patrick Sawyer, died in a Nigerian
hospital earlier this month -- having come from Liberia. He was in a plane to
Lagos, when he became violently ill. He was planning to go back home to
Minnesota to celebrate his daughters' birthdays, but the disease took his life
before he could.
The Nigerian government said Thursday it has located 10 more
people who had contact with Sawyer, the first American who died in the Ebola
outbreak. Meanwhile, none of the 67 people under surveillance and the two
people in quarantine have shown symptoms of the disease, Nigerian Minister of
Information Labaran Maku said.
A naturalized American citizen who worked in Liberia, Sawyer
flew to Nigeria intending to attend a conference.
After exhibiting symptoms upon arrival July 20, he was
hospitalized and died on July 25.
Nigeria's Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu says the
government is still searching for more people that had contact with Sawyer on
his journey on a plane that stopped in Accra, Ghana and Lome, Togo, before
traveling on to Lagos.
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