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Tuesday 5 August 2014

BREAKING NEWS: Second American Ebola victim arrives in Atlanta and is wheeled into the isolation ward on a stretcher

EBOLANancy Writebol (pictured right), a 59-year-old missionary from North Carolina, was brought to the Atlanta hospital by a specially-converted ambulance at 1pm on Tuesday after landing on a chartered jet from Liberia. Mrs Writebol will be treated along with fellow missionary Dr Kent Brantly, 33, in a special quarantine wing at the hospital. Mrs Writebol was strapped into the stretcher today and covered from head-to-toe as she was wheeled to the hospital entrance (main image). Both medics who wheeled Mrs Writebol's stretcher into the hospital were wearing protective suits along with the ambulance driver. American medical teams were taking no chances with the disease which has no known cure and is fatal in 90 per cent of patients.
The second U.S. Ebola victim Nancy Writebol was stretchered out of an ambulance today by medics in biohazard suits at Emory University Hospital in Georgia.
The 59-year-old missionary from North Carolina was brought to the Atlanta hospital by a specially converted ambulance at 1pm on Tuesday after landing on a chartered jet.  
Mrs Writebol will be treated along with fellow missionary Dr Kent Brantly, 33, in a special quarantine wing at the hospital. 
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Nancy Writebol, an American aid worker, is transported into Emory University Hospital on Tuesday completely covered. The two medics transporting the 59-year-old Ebola patient wore protective suits and masks
Nancy Writebol, an American aid worker, is transported into Emory University Hospital on Tuesday completely covered. The two medics transporting the 59-year-old Ebola patient wore protective suits and masks
The second American suffering from the deadly Ebola virus, Nancy Writebol, was brought into the Atlanta hospital on a stretcher on Tuesday by two medics wearing hazmat suits
The second American suffering from the deadly Ebola virus, Nancy Writebol, was brought into the Atlanta hospital on a stretcher on Tuesday by two medics wearing hazmat suits
The 59-year-old missionary contracted the deadly Ebola virus while working in Liberia. She was flown back to the U.S. on Tuesday where she will be treated with an experimental drug 
The 59-year-old missionary contracted the deadly Ebola virus while working in Liberia. She was flown back to the U.S. on Tuesday where she will be treated with an experimental drug 
The second U.S. Ebola victim Nancy Writebol was stretchered out of an ambulance today at Emory University Hospital to join her colleague Dr Brantly in a special wing 
The second U.S. Ebola victim Nancy Writebol was stretchered out of an ambulance today at Emory University Hospital to join her colleague Dr Brantly in a special wing 
The driver of the ambulance carrying Mrs Writebol is pictured today completely covered in protective clothing. American medical staff are taking every precaution against Ebola for which there is no cure and kills 90 per cent of sufferers 
The driver of the ambulance carrying Mrs Writebol is pictured today completely covered in protective clothing. American medical staff are taking every precaution against Ebola for which there is no cure and kills 90 per cent of sufferers 
An ambulance transporting Ebola virus-infected American aid worker Nancy Writebol leaves Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia with a police escort on Tuesday afternoon 
An ambulance transporting Ebola virus-infected American aid worker Nancy Writebol leaves Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia with a police escort on Tuesday afternoon Dr Brantly was pictured on Saturday being helped out of a special ambulance in a hazmat suit and walking into the hospital.
Mrs Writebol was strapped into the stretcher today and covered from head-to-toe as she was wheeled to the hospital entrance. 
Both medics who wheeled Mrs Writebol's stretcher into the hospital were wearing protective suits along with the ambulance driver. American medical teams were taking no chances with the disease which has no known cure and is fatal in 90 per cent of patients.
The ambulance traveled from Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta in a convoy with four police SUVs, according to AJC.com
Emory University Hospital said in a statement today that it will not hold a press conference and instead focus on Mrs Writebol's care. 
Mrs Writebol's plane made a brief stop at Bangor International Airport in Maine at 8am on Tuesday for refueling. 
Ebola patient Nancy Writebol, a missionary from North Carolina, arrived in Atlanta today to be treated at Emory University Hospital alongside Dr Kent Brantly
Ebola patient Nancy Writebol, a missionary from North Carolina, arrived in Atlanta today to be treated at Emory University Hospital alongside Dr Kent Brantly
The specially-designed air ambulance traveled down a Georgia highway on Tuesday with a police convoy 
The specially-designed air ambulance traveled down a Georgia highway on Tuesday with a police convoy 
Other drivers took pictures as the special convoy carrying Mrs Writebol made its way to Emory. She is only the second-ever known patient with Ebola on American soil
Other drivers took pictures as the special convoy carrying Mrs Writebol made its way to Emory. She is only the second-ever known patient with Ebola on American soil
A Grady Hospital medical vehicle follows behind an ambulance transporting Ebola virus-infected American aid worker Nancy Writebol leaves Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia
A Grady Hospital medical vehicle follows behind an ambulance transporting Ebola virus-infected American aid worker Nancy Writebol leaves Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia

The two Americans infected with Ebola are receiving an experimental drug so novel that it has never been tested for safety in humans.
The experimental treatment is made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical of San Diego, with funding from the government. 
The treatment is aimed at boosting the immune system’s efforts to fight off the virus. It is made from antibodies produced by lab animals exposed to parts of the Ebola virus. 
It’s unclear whether the experimental treatment played in recent improvement in the aid workers’ medical conditions. 
Mrs Writebol is reportedly in a stable condition after receiving a second dose of the drug.
Ebola has killed at least 887 people in four West African countries in the largest outbreak of the disease in history.
Mrs Writebol showed some improvement over the weekend. She can walk with assistance and asked for Liberian potato soup - her favorite meal, family and friends said.
A private plane arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base on Tuesday transporting a second American missionary, Nancy Writebol, who was stricken with Ebola while working in Liberia 
A private plane arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base on Tuesday transporting a second American missionary, Nancy Writebol, who was stricken with Ebola while working in Liberia 
Second U.S. Ebola victim Nancy Writebol's chartered plane touches down in Atlanta, Georgia shortly before midday on Tuesday 
Second U.S. Ebola victim Nancy Writebol's chartered plane touches down in Atlanta, Georgia shortly before midday on Tuesday 
However, her case remains grave. She is in serious condition with a disease that has no known cure and proves fatal for up to 90 per cent of patients.
Jeremy Writebol believes his mother can yield a greater good from her impending return to the United States amid West Africa's worst-ever outbreak of the virus.
The attention focused on her case 'might help develop a cure and resources to help those who are suffering,' Mr Writebol said. 'I am sure hopeful for that.'
 
Dr Brantly and Mrs Writebol contracted Ebola after working on the same medical mission team treating victims of the virus around Monrovia, Liberia. 
More than 1,300 people have been stricken, killing at least 729 of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. 
Dr Brantly, seen here with his wife Amber, is improving at Emory University Hospital after receiving a dose of an experimental serum
Dr Brantly, seen here with his wife Amber, is improving at Emory University Hospital after receiving a dose of an experimental serum
Nancy Writebol and her husband David were being sponsored to work in Africa by their church in Charlotte, North Carolina when she contracted the deadly virus 
Nancy Writebol and her husband David were being sponsored to work in Africa by their church in Charlotte, North Carolina when she contracted the deadly virus 

 Ebola has no vaccine or antidote. Both Dr Brantly and Mrs Writebol were given an experimental treatment last week, according to international relief group Samaritan's Purse.
The group originally said that only Mrs Writebol had received the treatment. However Dr Brantly also received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy, an Ebola survivor, who had been under his care, according to the organization.
Emory, where Brantly already is quarantined, boasts one of the nation's most sophisticated infectious disease units. Patients are sealed off from anyone not in protective gear.
Lab tests are conducted inside the unit, ensuring that viruses don't leave the quarantined area. Family members see and communicate with patients through barriers.
Mrs Writebol and her husband, David, had been in Liberia since August 2013, sent there by the Christian organization SIM USA and sponsored by their home congregation at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
At the hospital where Dr Brantly treated patients, Nancy Writebol worked as a hygienist whose role included decontaminating those entering or leaving the Ebola treatment area. Their pastor, the Reverend John Munro, said David Writebol fulfilled administrative and technical duties.
A few weeks before she was diagnosed, Jeremy Writebol said, a doctor visited the Monrovia hospital where she worked and praised the decontamination procedures as the best he'd seen.
Jeremy Writebol said she was 'really pleased by knowing that' and never thought she would be infected, despite her proximity to the virus.
David and Nancy Writebol have engaged in foreign missions for 15 years, spending five years in Ecuador and nine years in Zambia, where Munro said they worked in a home for widows and orphans. 
Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention, also in Atlanta, say they've been criticized for bringing Ebola cases to an American hospital.
But Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, emphasized again on Sunday that there is no threat to the public in the United States.
Some airlines that serve those nations have suspended flights, while international groups, including the Peace Corps, have evacuated some or all representatives in the region.
But the Writebols, their pastor predicted, won't be away from the stricken land for any longer than they have to be.
'They knew that Liberia was a tough assignment,' he said, comparing their vocation to the Bible's stories of leper colonies.
'Followers of Christ went into those colonies, knowing they would die,' Munro said.
'I certainly wouldn't judge them if they didn't go back, but I don't think this will deter them.


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