A U.S.-contracted medical charter flight left Cartersville, Georgia, Thursday to evacuate two American charity workers in Liberia infected with Ebola hemorrhagic fever, a source told CNN.
A CNN crew saw the airplane, a long-range business jet, depart shortly after 5 p.m. ET. The plane matched the description provided by the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately known when the two Americans -- identified as Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol -- would arrive in the United States, or where the plane would land.
At least one of the two will be taken to a hospital at Emory University, near the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, hospital officials told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Brantly and Writebol are described in stable but grave condition, with both reportedly taking a turn for the worse overnight, according to statements released Thursday by the faith-based charity Samaritan's Purse.
Experimental serum
The news follows reports that an experimental serum was administered to Writebol. Only one dose of the serum was available, and Brantly asked that it be given to his colleague, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.
With word of the experimental serum, there were more questions than answers: What is it? Why was there only one dose? And why was it only made available to the American charity workers?
Samaritan's Purse said it did not have any additional detail about the serum.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the World Health Organization says is believed to have infected 1,323 people in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria between March and July 27.
Of those suspected cases, it is believed to have been fatal in at least 729 cases, according to the health organization.
It is believed to be the worst Ebola outbreak in history, and even in a best-case scenario, it could take three to six months to stem the epidemic in West Africa, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, told reporters on Thursday.
The outbreak also prompted the CDC to issue a warning against all "nonessential" travel to the countries coping with an outbreak, Frieden said.
Writebol gets 'experimental serum'
Both Brantly, a 33-year-old who last lived in Texas, and Writebol were caring for Ebola patients in Liberia, both affiliated with Samaritan's Purse.
Meanwhile, Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola, the statement said. Brantly had treated the teen, it said.
It was not immediately clear what doctors hoped the blood transfusion would do for Brantly.
While blood transfusions have been tried before, Frieden told reporters no one really knows why some people survive and some don't.
Meanwhile, Writebol's husband, David, who is with the same mission as his wife, is near her, said their son Jeremy, who spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo from the United States.
But she is isolated from him, and he has to wear head-to-toe protective clothing similar to a hazmat suit so that he does not contract a disease that starts out with similar symptoms as a strong flu but can end in internal bleeding and death.
"Mom continues in stable condition but it's very serious, and she's still fighting," her son said. "She's weak, but she's working through it."
Map: The Ebola outbreakMap: The Ebola outbreak
Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said his country could ill afford to lose health care workers like Writebol and Brantly.
"We join the families in prayers that they can come through this and become ... shining examples that, if care is taken, one can come out of this."
Another physician in West Africa was not so fortunate; Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan fell ill early last week while overseeing Ebola treatment at a Sierra Leone hospital and died days later.
Record death toll
The current death toll that is the highest on record with the World Health Organization and still growing.
"This epidemic is without precedent," said Bart Janssens, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, a group of medical workers nursing victims through the disease as it runs its course. "It's absolutely not under control, and the situation keeps worsening." |
