Craig Spencer contracted Ebola while working in Guinea during the 2014 West African outbreak, but had already returned to the United States when he first developed symptoms. He credits the treatment he received at Bellevue Hospital in New York with helping him survive.
If Spencer, an emergency medicine physician and associate professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health, contracted the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, he would not be allowed to return to the United States for treatment or isolation, even if he had high-risk exposure to an Ebola patient.
Government officials confirmed Thursday that Americans infected with Ebola will not be brought to the United States for treatment. Instead, they will be evacuated to a yet-to-be-determined location in Europe. Officials told reporters on condition of anonymity that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department are working to identify tertiary care facilities that can accommodate Americans who need care. One such case has already occurred.
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