Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., on Sept. 25, 2014. (Nati
Harnik/Associated Press)
Richard Sacra, the third American aid worker evacuated to the United
States from West Africato be treated for Ebola, has been discharged
from the hospital.
Sacra was treated at Nebraska Medical Center after contracting the
deadly virus in Liberia while he worked to deliver babies. He was not
treating Ebola patients.
"I am so grateful," Sacra said in a statement. "Just so incredibly
grateful to have gotten through this illness. Many were praying for
me, even people I did not know personally. During the time I was here,
there was a growing confidence that God was answering those prayers,
and that I was steadily improving."
Two other Americans have been discharged after they were successfully
treated for Ebola in the United States, including another medical
doctor, Kent Brantly, who later donated a unit of blood, or
convalescent serum, to Sacra.
Brantly's blood contains anti-bodies to the virus that might have
helped Sacra's immune system fight Ebola.
Sacra was also treated with an experimental medication, TKM-Ebola,
which stops the Ebola virus from replicating.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that two
separate blood samples taken from Sacra 24 hours apart found that
there was no Ebola virus present in his bloodstream.
"When he arrived three weeks ago, he was extremely ill with a virus
the world doesn't have a lot of experience treating," said Phil Smith,
M.D., medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at The Nebraska
Medical Center. "To know that we were able to play a role in helping
his body fight off the virus so he could be reunited with his family
and continue doing the work he's so passionate about makes the years
we've spent training and preparing for somethinglike this more than
worth it."
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