A third American doctor that contracted the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia is ready to head back to the West African country after he’s totally cured of the disease. This revelation was made by his wife, Debra Sacra, while fielding questions from reporters from Nebraska. Dr. Rick Sacra had come down with Ebola in Liberia and flown to the US for treatment, and according to his medical team, he is much stabilized and recovering fast after being treated with an experimental drug and two blood serum transfusions from a donor, Dr. Kent Brantly.
Dr. Rick Sacra did not really treat Ebola patients in Liberia, he only attended to pregnant women but soon discovered that he had high fever. He dosed himself on rehydration drink until a few days later when he went to be tested for Ebola – and to his utmost nightmare, he had the disease. He was flown to the US and treated within a bio-containment unit at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where doctors said they are “treating him with everything we have.” And according to Dr. Phil Smith, “we just administered everything we had access to, basically.”
Dr. Kent Brantly, who had recently been cured of the Ebola virus, had flown in to Nebraska to donate blood serum for treating Rick Sacra because he now had immunity, and together with the blood serum transfusions and an experimental drug which doctors would not name because it is still experimental – Rick Sacra had recorded improved conditions. His team of doctors has expressed delight at his quick recovery, and they are hoping he’d be discharged soon.
According to his doctors, “I think we were hoping it jump-started his immunity. He has received an experimental drug every night. We don’t know whether this drug had any impact at all.”
And according to the patient’s wife, “I know he would hate all this attention, but if he can use it to make sure that resources are well used in Liberia and in Sierra Leone and Guinea to help lick this thing, and build up the healthcare system so they are not at risk of this kind of disaster again…then he would say ‘this is not about me.’ This is about getting the job done. Besides that, now he’ll have immunity. I am sure that when he gets his strength back he’ll be ready to go back. He loves the Liberian people, he loves Liberia.”
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