A person who is suspected of being exposed to the Ebola virus is being treated at a hospital in the Sacramento area, The L.A. Times reported on Tuesday.
The unidentified patient is at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center and is being treated in a specially equipped negative pressure room, according to a statement from Dr. Stephen Parodi, an infectious diseases specialist at the hospital. The medical center is working with the Sacramento County Division of Public Health concerning the patient.
"In order to protect our patients, staff and physicians, even though infection with the virus is unconfirmed, we are taking the actions recommended by the CDC as a precaution, just as we do for other patients with a suspected infectious disease," Parodi said, according to NBC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will be testing blood samples from the patient to test for the virus. All necessary precautionary steps are being taken for the safety of staff and other patients.
It remains unknown when the patient arrived at the facility as well as when the exposure may have occured. Nothing specific about the patient, including name or gender, has been released.
There are experimental Ebola-fighting drugs currently being developed, but they are in the early stages of development and don't have the FDA stamp of approval yet. One of those drugs, ZMapp, has been administered to infected Americans at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.
The two patients are said to be improving. Dr. Kent Brantly, one of the Americans who caught the virus in Liberia, said he is recovering and hopes to be discharged soon, the New York Daily News reported.
The Ebola outbreak started in December in West Africa. Since the outbreak, at least 2,200 people have come down with the deadly virus and almost half of them have died. Survival rates are improving because people are getting checked if they fear they may have been exposed to the virus, NBC reported.
