Emory Eyes Bigger Picture In Treating Ebola Patients
As Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital received its third Ebola patient Tuesday, officials said they hope their work treating the disease can be used to help combat the outbreak in West Africa.
Hospital officials still aren’t releasing any details about the patient, but photos show the person was able to walk out of the ambulance and into the hospital with some assistance.As heard on the radio
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Aneesh Mehta, one of the five doctors working in the special isolation unit set up for Ebola patients, said Emory is looking at all treatment options for its newest Ebola patient.
“We believe the supportive care – allowing the body to heal itself and supporting it through that process – is the mainstay of therapy, as is true for any infectious disease,” he said. “If we have therapeutic options, we’ll evaluate those.”
Mehta said the isolation unit at Emory is set up to comfortably treat three people, but could be expanded to accommodate more.
Last month aid workers Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were successfully treated and released from Emory.
Mehta said the staff is comfortable treating this patient and hopes their work can be used to help treat people in West Africa, where the disease has killed more than 2,000 people.
“That is one of the most important things that we would like to accomplish, is to understand what parameters that we’re able to improve upon, and see how that can be translated to what is really the front line,” Mehta said.
Another aid worker who contracted the disease is being treated in a similar isolation unit at a hospital in Nebraska.
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