American being monitored for Ebola at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha has been released

American being monitored for Ebola at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha has been released
World-Herald News Service

A person being monitored for potential Ebola never developed the disease and was released Saturday from the Nebraska Medical Center.

Nebraska Medicine, the system that oversees the Nebraska Medical Center, reported that the American health care worker also left Omaha on Saturday.

That worker, whose name wasn’t released, had been monitored because of possible exposure to Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Nebraska Medical Center has numerous workers trained for the situation.

“This person completed the required 21-day monitoring period and did not develop symptoms of the disease,” said Dr. Ted Cieslak, infectious diseases specialist with Nebraska Medicine. “Because this individual was symptom-free throughout the monitoring period, it was determined they did not have Ebola, and therefore were free to depart our facility and return home.”

The patient arrived in Omaha for monitoring on Dec. 29. Federal, state and county public health officials coordinated the effort at Nebraska Medical Center. The individual was monitored in a secure area not accessible by the public or any patients.

Nebraska Medical Center is home to one of the nation’s few dedicated biocontainment units.

An Ebola diagnosis would have led to the patient being transferred to the biocontainment unit where three patients with Ebola were treated in 2014In 2015, several others were monitored after exposure; none of them developed the disease.

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