Missionary Infected With Ebola Virus Headed to Nebraska for Treatment

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Oliver Darcy.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina-based charity says the missionary who was infected with Ebola while serving in Liberia is being flown to a Nebraska hospital for treatment.

"The transfer will be smooth and not pose any infectious threat to the area they are driving through." - Smith #NebraskaMedEbola

— Nebraska Med Center (@NebraskaMed) September 4, 2014

A statement from SIM on Thursday says Dr. Rick Sacra is being flown to The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He is expected to arrive on Friday and begin treatment in the hospital's Biocontainment Patient Care Unit.

University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Jeffrey Gold speaks at a news conference at the Truhlsen Eye Institute in Omaha, Neb. on Sept. 4, 2014. (AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald, Matt Miller)

SIM president Bruce Johnson says Sacra was receiving excellent care from staff at a care center in Liberia, but he says the Nebraska facility provides advanced monitoring equipment and a wider availability of treatment options.

Sacra, a doctor from the Boston area, opted to head to Liberia after hearing that two other missionaries were sick. He was infected by the virus that has killed about 1,900 people.

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