Ebola-exposed healthcare worker arrives in Nebraska

An American healthcare worker who experienced high-risk exposure to Ebola while working in West Africa arrived Sunday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

In a tweet, the hospital confirmed that the patient had arrived and will be tested for the deadly virus inside the hospital’s biocontainment unit.

The patient, whose name was not released by hospital officials, was exposed to Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, according to the hospital.

Although the patient hasn’t tested positive for Ebola, hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson said, out of “an abundance of caution,” personnel are taking the same precautions that were taken with patients who did have the virus.

On Saturday, Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit, said the patient “is not ill and is not contagious.”

The patient is to be observed for possible infection during the 21-day incubation period of the disease, both by monitoring for symptoms and through blood tests.

Three patients with Ebola have been treated at Nebraska Medicine, which is a clinical partner of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Since last year, the Ebola virus is believed to have killed more than 7,500 people and infected nearly 20,000 in West Africa.

Times staff writer Lauren Raab contributed to this report. The Associated Press was used in compiling this report.