The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa continues to infect individuals. The latest person to contract the Ebola virus is a Saudi Arabian citizen who just returned from visiting in Sierra Leone. The 40-year-old man is now in critical condition in Saudi Arabia and is showing signs of a hemorrhagic fever that is one of the hallmark symptoms of the Ebola virus in its later stages. It has not yet been determined whether or not the man has Ebola, but it does seem likely.
The Ebola virus starts with flu-like symptoms but then turns into a bleeding event both externally and internally within the human body before the individual dies. So far, nearly 900 people (at last count, 887) have been infected with the Ebola virus. In the United States, two missionaries from the group Samaritan’s Purse, one a doctor (Dr. Kent Brantly), the other a North Carolina missionary (Nancy Writebol), have contracted the Ebola virus and are now back safely in the United States. Dr. Brantly was brought back to the United States a few days ago, and was able to walk by himself into Emory University Hospital’s special isolation unit – one of only a few in the world that can treat the Ebola virus.
North Carolina missionary Nancy Writebol was brought back to the United States earlier this morning, and she will join Dr. Brantly at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, where both she and Dr. Brantly will receive treatment. Some believed that their transport to Emory University’s hospital could lead to an Ebola outbreak here in the United States, but medical officials felt that these two American citizens deserved to be treated in their own home country.
As for the effects of this first Ebola virus case in Saudi Arabia, the country will remain on the lookout for anyone showing symptoms of nausea, high fever, a cough, and others that could be the Ebola virus. If you’ve traveled to West Africa recently and are back in your fellow country with symptoms similar to the flu with a fever, cough, and general discomfort, you should visit your doctor immediately and mention that you’ve recently traveled outside of your country to West Africa. All it takes is for one person to travel from West Africa back to his or her country to start a worldwide Ebola epidemic.
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