Ebola Patient in US Discharged from Hospital

Officials announced on Thursday that health volunteer who contracted the deadly Ebola virus while assigned in Sierra Leone has been released from the hospital.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) patient, who wished to remain unidentified, was a clinician and worked with Partners in Health (PIH), an international aid group. The patient was the 11th victim of the virus treated in the U.S. and is also the second Ebola virus patient to be successfully treated at the NIH.

PIH chief of Ebola Response Sheila Davis was gladdened by the good news. "We're heartened by the news that our colleague is heading home, free of Ebola and making his way toward a full recovery," she said in her statement.

According to NIH, the patient is no longer contagious and has not exhibited any signs of the virus in the blood tests. The patient contracted Ebola while working at a treatment centre in Sierra Leone and was admitted on March 13 at NIH. He suffered health deterioration but managed to recover.

Although NIH did not provide further information about the patient, news releases suggest that the patient fell into critical condition for about a week before going into recovery following treatment for almost a month.

Over 25,000 of people have been infected by Ebola virus in West African countries. More than 10,000 lives have already been claimed. However, the World Health Organization reports that the Ebola cases have been declining.

In an outbreak update from CDC, the report stated: “Cases in Guinea decreased from 57 to 21 in the week up to April 5. Sierra Leone experienced its fifth consecutive week of decreasing new cases and reported zero new cases on three days in the week up to April 5. Liberia reported no new confirmed cases in the week up to April 5.”

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