Cured Ebola patient did NOT relapse: American doctor who was re-admitted to the hospital has a respiratory infection
- Dr Rick Sacra, 51, contracted the deadly infection while working in Liberia
- He was treated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and released last month
- He was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center with a respiratory illness
- Doctors are performing checks to make sure the infection has not returned
- However staff at the facility are confident he has not relapsed
Readmitted: Dr Rick Sacra, who contracted the deadly virus while working in Liberia has returned to hospital suffering from persistant cough and chest pains
An American Ebola patient who was rushed back to the hospital with a persistent cough and fever did not relapse, doctors said today.
Dr Rick Sacra, 51, the third U.S. citizen diagnosed with the deadly disease, appears to have an upper respiratory infection and is recovering.
Dr Sacra was rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center on Saturday - two weeks after he was cleared of the disease.
He contracted Ebola while working in Liberia and was flown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for treatment last month.
Dr Robert Finberg, the infectious disease expert leading Dr Sacra's medical team, said results of an Ebola test will not be back until Monday.
However, Dr Finberg said he doesn't believe Dr Sacra's recent health problems are a relapse of the deadly virus.
Dr Sacra is eating and his condition improved today.
'People who have Ebola don’t feel like eating they feel like throwing up. The fact that he’s eating and he feels pretty good, I think is a very good sign,' Dr Finberg said at a press conference today.
At the end of September, following his release from hospital, Dr Sacra told reporters he wanted to return to the disease-ravaged areas to help fight the outbreak.
He had fallen ill while working at a hospital in Liberia, where doctors have been fighting a historic outbreak of the deadly virus.
'The odds of my ending up back there are pretty high. I don't have any specific plans, but that's where my heart is. 'It's heartbreaking for me to see Liberians suffering from Ebola and other diseases right now.'
Facility: Doctors at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcestor, Massachusetts, are conducting tests to make sure the deadly disease hasn't returned, but have claimed it is not a relapse
The world is currently experiencing its worst outbreak of Ebola in history, with the disease killing nearly 3,000 people in West Africa during the past six months. Medical experts estimate some 20,000 cases could be reported by November.
'Though my fight with Ebola is finished, unfortunately it appears that West Africa's fight with Ebola is continuing to increase in intensity and severity,' Sacra said.
Dr Sacra was the third patient in the US to be treated for Ebola. He returned to his home in Massachusetts on September 24 following three weeks of treatment.
He was kept in the special isolation unit, where he received an experimental Tekmira Pharmaceuticals drug called TKM-Ebola for a week.
Cause: Dr Sacra, pictured with his wife Debbie, said after he was released from hospital that he wanted to return to West Africa to help control the outbreak
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