US health care worker in WAfrica brought home for Ebola tests

A US health care worker who has been assisting efforts in west Africa has been flown to the United States to be tested for Ebola in Atlanta, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Emory University Hospital will monitor the patient to see if they have been infected, spokeswoman Holly Korschun told AFP.

"An American health care worker from West Africa who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus is being transferred to Emory University Hospital's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit for monitoring and observation to see if an infection has been acquired," the medical center said in a statement.

"We do not have a time of arrival and cannot share more details out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with the patient's wishes."

The news comes a day after federal officials said that 35 hospitals across the United States including Emory have special facilities for patients being treated for possible and actual Ebola infection.

Emory was the first US hospital to treat a patient in the United States.

The Ebola outbreak ravaging west Africa has claimed 6,070 lives, according to the latest WHO update, with the vast majority of deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

To date, 10 people have been treated for Ebola in the United States, of whom eight—all Americans—survived.

© 2014 AFP