Ebola patient being treated in US is receiving experimental drug
Play
Washington - An American infected with the Ebola virus is receiving an experimental medication as part of his treatment at a hospital in Nebraska, his doctors said Sunday.
Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the bio containment unit at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, described the medication as "a research drug." Speaking at a news conference, Smith said he couldn't give any further details about the drug, but said it wasn't the experimental drug ZMapp that was used to treat two other Americans who recovered last month from illness caused by the Ebola virus.
There is no ZMapp available, Smith said. There currently is neither an immunisation against the Ebola virus nor an approved medicine.
The patient is Rick Sacra, a 51-year-old doctor who was working in the West African country Liberia as a missionary when he tested positive for the Ebola virus. He arrived at the university hospital in Nebraska on Friday. His doctors said they were encouraged by his progress, but said it was too early to say whether he will recover.
"He is still stable medically and the improvement that we are seeing is that he is more alert, asking questions about his course and what he's doing here and what we are doing to help him," Dr Angela Hewlett, associate medical director of the unit, said at the news conference.
DPA
