Third American doctor Rick Sacra, who was infected with Ebola, has been discharged from the Nebraska Medical Centre, where he was receiving treatment for the disease for more than three weeks. ‘It was very gratifying for the entire team that treated Dr. Sacra to see him walk out the doors healthy again,’ Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit at the Nebraska Medical Centre, said during a press conference in Omaha Thursday.
Sacra, 51, was discharged after successive blood tests showed he was free of the virus. The physician’s release came on the same day as the announcement of the death of Spanish missionary Manuel Garcia Viejo, who became infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone and was taken to Madrid for medical treatment. The World Health Organization Thursday raised to 2,917 its tally of the number of deaths from the virus in West Africa, where 6,263 cases have been registered.
‘I am so grateful. Just so incredibly grateful to have gotten through this illness!,’ Sacra said Thursday. ‘Thanks to God and to the team here at the Nebraska Medical Centre!’ This week, the medical centre announced that Sacra was being treated with the experimental medication TKM-Ebola. Sacra also received a blood transfusion from Kent Brantly, the first US doctor with Ebola treated in the US and who also recovered from the illness.
Brantly and nurse Nancy Writebol were treated at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Another American, whose identity has not been made public, was transferred three weeks ago to Emory Hospital to receive treatment after being infected with the Ebola virus.
Here are some common myths regarding Ebola.
Myth #1: Ebola is not real
Fact: Ebola is real and is caused due to a virus.
The virus is thought to have been spread from animals to man and is capable of being contagious even before any symptoms are seen. Having killed over 700 people, the Ebola virus is known to be fatal 90% of the times. This apathy was highlighted in a news report by NEWSY, where Dr Sanjay Gupta said in an interview with CNN that people in Africa have a severe lack of knowledge regarding the virus and how it spreads. They touch the bodies of people who have died due to the infection, and get infected. This then spreads to people around them. Apart from that in a startling revelation, one person interviewed in Africa said that he did not believe that Ebola was real, while eating a piece of bush meat. As the disease continues killing, it is this belief that only makes the situation worse.
Myth #2: Ebola can only spread through blood
Fact: Ebola can spread through all body fluids including blood, sweat, semen, saliva and any other discharge.
This is mainly because of the way the virus attacks the body. Apart from affecting a person’s immune system, Ebola multiplies extremely fast and soon spreads throughout a person’s body. It then systematically infects all systems of the human body – barring the nervous system. This leads to bleeding and breakdown of all the defense mechanisms of the body. The infection becomes so severe that at a given time there can be up to 1000 viral cells in one drop of body fluid (especially blood). Read more about Ebola Facts: Top 7 myths busted
With inputs from IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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