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Ebola Infected Doctor Arrives in U.S.; Emory Univ. Hospital Prepares for Dr. Kent Brantly
Aired August 02, 2014 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. This breaking news, the first American patient with Ebola virus has now landed in the U.S. In fact, in Atlanta at the Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
His airplane there landing here. This is the first ever and he will be transported to Emory University Hospital where he will receive treatment. That, too, is a first time ever for that hospital. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with us now.
You have intimate experience with this Ebola virus, having been in West Africa and seeing firsthand the kind of contact that the medical community has with those patients and now, we're talking about someone who was one of two humanitarian workers.
He was in West Africa, who contracted the disease and now, he is the first to receive treatment here.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the first ever. First in Atlanta, first in the United States. This particular patient though, there's a lot of concerns about a medical evacuation like this, would the patient be stable enough, healthy enough, if you will, for the travel.
Would they be able to protect the workers and also doing the transport and then figuring out where he was going to go? They figured he would come here to Atlanta and go to Emory University. We are hearing that there are no incidents on the plane, the patient stayed stable throughout, again, a major concern.
As far as protecting everyone else, it's quite extraordinary, really, Fred, to look at some of the technology here. You're looking at the plane where Dr. Kent Brantly is located. But if you take a look at some of the images inside the plane, you get an idea of the type of technology involved.
Sort of almost a bubble within the plane. A series of tents that protects the patient, protects the workers from having any bodily fluid whatsoever get on them because this is how this particular infection, this particular virus, is transmitted. Not through the air, but through bodily fluid. Fred, this is something that I as a doctor, I have not seen something like this. It's not something often used. We are talking certainly about a medical first in the United States with this patient.
WHITFIELD: So then, we're trying to envision, you've got this plastic tent in the cargo of this plane. And it would seem then the patient along with that plastic tent would have to be removed and then put into whatever other transport vehicle to take to Emory, but we don't know if that's how they're doing it, do we?
GUPTA: We don't know exactly how they're doing it. Even what that vehicle is, an ambulance, a helicopter, a portion of that tent. Is it going to be the entire tent? The goal is to basically continue to protect the patient from the other patients and --
WHITFIELD: So we're told these are the live pictures of the ambulance, which indeed, you know, by ground is transporting him. So, clearly, that tent wouldn't have fit inside the ambulance.
GUPTA: Some version of the tent. My guess is they're very, very stringent infection protocol in the back of that ambulance over there as well. You know, I think one of the reasons they hadn't told us about whether it was going to be an ambulance or helicopter because they didn't want to create a fuss.
This is Ebola now traveling through the city of Atlanta. I think the risk to the citizens of Atlanta is small. But you know, just again, historically almost from a medical standpoint, that's a first.
WHITFIELD: Yes, what about from the medical team, those who are driving the ambulance, those who are flying the plane. What kind of precautions would have to be taken to protect them?
GUPTA: Well, the big precaution is trying to isolate the patient within that you know, again, we call it a tent, a bubble, whatever it is. That you want to call it. I don't know if the pilots for example of the plane were in bio-contamination suits or just the health care workers.
WHITFIELD: That's something that you wore when you were in West Africa and we saw images of that.
GUPTA: That's right. When I was there, I wore that same sort of bio suit and basically, the goal is to cover every square inch of your body. No skin showing. No way that any droplets of fluid could get on your skin because the thing is, we all have breaks in our skin.
That's one of the things about Ebola. If it lands even on your hand, it could potentially cause an infection, a small amount of fluid, which is why the extraordinary amounts of precaution are taken for the health care workers, the transporters, everyone involved here.
WHITFIELD: And what's extraordinary about this disease that we have learned through your reporting as well as information coming from the World Health Organization is that incubation period of more than 20 days, so you as a medical worker, could have it for a period of time before any real symptoms are exhibited.
GUPTA: That's right. Up to 21 days between exposure and symptoms, but it's important to keep in mind though, you are not going to be spreading the virus during that time. It's not until you become sick yourself and people who are sick with this are in bed typically in a hospital.
They're not up walking around, shaking hands with people in an airport. That's why the understandable concern is there that scientifically, it's so unlikely this turns into an outbreak or any concern like that.
WHITFIELD: We know that the distance between the Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Emory University Hospital could be about roughly 20 to 30 minutes depending on who's driving. They have an escort, it may be shorter and our Nick Valencia is actually at the Emory University Hospital.
And I wonder, Nick, what kind of precautions or what signs are you seeing there at the hospital that this arrival is imminent and what kind of protections are being put in place?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just a short time ago, we heard from one of the doctors that's going to be part of the team that treats this American who's been, who's contracted the Ebola virus and he was saying that he urges the public for as many concerns as there may be.
To have someone like that here in their own backyard, which thought to be the first case of an American being treated here in the United States who's contracted the Ebola virus.
He really urged compassion, Fredricka. He said this is someone's husband, son, child and really, what better place to treat this person than here at Emory University Hospital. As we've been reporting as Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been reporting as well.
This is one of four facilities with this type of isolation unit. They feel they're prepared here to deal with the case of the Americans who have contracted the Ebola virus. There is mixed emotion.
We've talked to students all morning and while some are very excited about the prospects of this being an historic moment, it's very deadly virus, others are a little scared about what they don't know about the Ebola virus.
But as we've been reporting, this is a highly infection disease, it is not contagious though. It's not airborne. This isn't sort of like the flu where you sit next to somebody and have a high likelihood of catching that.
From the doctors here, they want to emphasize that to the public, to students here on campus and really, the general community in and around Atlanta -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Nick, I imagine that patients or family members who are there at Emory because their loved ones or themselves are getting treatment at the hospital, might have a lot of questions about the arrival of this patient. Is there anything that you know that the hospital is telling people about their personal safety or about the isolation of this patient?
VALENCIA: Well, this is a highly sophisticated unit, only four of its kind in the United States. Also equipped with an air filtration system. Dr. Gupta took a tour of one of these facilities yesterday and we got a better sense of what we're going to expect this patient to be dealing with here as they're treated by these doctors.
But really just a short time ago, that doctor came out and was very emphatic that there isn't a risk to the general public. We spoke to the CDC director yesterday and tried to get them to go on the record about there being 100 percent certainty about not being a risk to the public and while they wouldn't say that, they said the likelihood is very small.
As I mentioned, very infectious disease, but not that contagious and they keep emphasizing that point, that there isn't an imminent risk to the public and their shouldn't be concerns and fears shouldn't outweigh the compassion they should have for this American, these two Americans returning to the United States -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Right and that's a great point, Nick. Highly infectious, but not contagious and I think when people hear those two words, they think they're one of the same. Infectious meaning the droplets from a patient, any kind of bodily fluids, coming into contact with somebody else in the opening of their bodies or a crack in their skin.
That's what makes this highly infectious, but it's not contagious by way of airborne transmission. That is not something that takes place here. Again, we're looking at live pictures of the ambulance, which inside is Dr. Kent Brantly, one of two U.S. humanitarian workers who contracted the Ebola virus while doing work in West Africa.
And he has been transported by air and a very special plastic tent- like bubble within the cargo of an airplane to the United States. This is the first time that the United States has received for treatment an Ebola victim, patient.
And the reason why this plane has landed in Atlanta is because now, this patient via ambulance is on route to the Emory University Hospital, which Nick has been explaining has one of four containment facilities in the U.S.
And because of the Emory University Hospital's proximity to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, medical specialists feel highly confident that this is the right location for this patient to receive this kind of medical care.
Now, Nick, what more can you tell us about this containment area at the Emory University Hospital? And by the way, you're going to be receiving some company, Nick, momentarily because Dr. Gupta left the studio here. He'll be heading over to Emory and joining you on the reporting. Our public also probably knows or maybe many don't know, that Emory University Hospital is also a hospital in which our Dr. Gupta is part of a neurosurgery team at that hospital, so he has many contacts within Emory.
So Nick, what more can you tell us about the containment facility, this isolation facility at Emory?
VALENCIA: We know it's separated from the general population and the patients that are already in Emory University Hospital. We know also that it has its own air filtration system as well as that team. I mentioned that I spoke to one of those doctors that's part of the team.
We know they will be wearing hazmat suits, sort of moon suits, if you will, covered from head to toe. Every inch of their body covered so as to limit the risk of infection of this Ebola virus, which has roughly a 90 percent rate of death for those who contract it.
And perhaps, these fears, Fred, we should talk about West Africa and perhaps the fears stemming from this deadly outbreak, one of the biggest of its kind being seen in city centers in downtowns and capitals. That has really shaken the nerves of a lot of those in the medical field, those observers watching this case of Ebola virus.
The first case coming to the United States and in the western hemisphere, really, and part of the concern at least in West Africa. We've heard them raise their concern about these Ebola viruses being seen in rural areas, country side areas.
But this being one of the first times we've seen them cases coming up in the city centers, places like Konokery in Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria that has stemmed concern on social media. Everything from conspiracy they are theorists to others who really find it odd these parents.
These two Americans would be brought back to the United States. We should mention this decision, this benefit analysis of bringing these two Americans back to the United States was a decision that was made by Samaritan's purse, these two Americans that were, that came down with the Ebola virus.
They were affiliated with Samaritan's Purse, this non-profit charity organization doing work on Ebola patients in West Africa and they're the ones who made the call to bring them back. That was endorsed by the Center for Disease Control.
Health officials here as well as the State Department, who have been part of this process the whole time. On that plane, we should also mention there was a Gulf Stream jet, it was specifically outfitted to deal with a situation like this, for somebody who has a highly infectious disease.
There was a portable tent in the plane specifically designed for a situation like this. I'm not able to see those pictures you're showing at the airport of this plane landing, but I'm sure that that was clear from the health officials surrounding that plane.
They've been very careful and in fact, a point to be made here as I talk to people in an around this campus at Emory, a place that's very proud of its reputation as a prestigious public health school.
They say what better place than to treat a historic moment like this to treat two people who have come down with the Ebola virus at Emory unit. People very confident in the abilities of the doctors and physicians here and the team here all together that will no doubt have their hands full in the coming days and weeks.
WHITFIELD: Nick, thank you so much. So, just to bring some folks up to date who just are joining us. You're looking at live pictures of an ambulance inside is Dr. Kent Brantly. He is one of two U.S. humanitarian workers who got the Ebola virus while doing work in West Africa.
The other aid worker was Nancy Writebol, she continues to be overseas, but Dr. Brantly is now the first American to come to the U.S. with Ebola virus and receive treatment in the U.S. This is Atlanta, Georgia, where you're seeing that ambulance.
It's made its way from the Dobbins Air Reserve Base and now making its way via ground presumably in a protective containment, but now making its way to Emory University Hospital. As you heard Nick in his reporting, it is a hospital that has one of four isolation facilities in the U.S.
And that's why the medical community feels very confident that this is the right place where he will receive treatment. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on his way over to Emory and Sanjay is on the line with us right now.
So, Sanjay, why, I think many people still want to know. Even though there are four isolation facilities, Emory University Hospital has one of them, but I think many would naturally presume that say the naval hospital in Maryland might be a location where a patient like this would receive the best health care. Why Emory?
GUPTA (via telephone): Yes, there's no question there are several probably places in the country that could take care of a patient like this. Keep in mind again, this is not something transmitted through the air. So there's no specific airborne containment unit that was necessary.
Most hospitals have isolation units like this. Part of why Emory I think has to do with the Centers for Disease Control. Originally, it was set up to basically be able to take care of for example a CDC field worker who came back with some sort of unusual infection. How would you care for that person?
This isolation unit was set up. It's been used for things like SARS, bird virus, patients like that, but this will be a first with regard to Ebola. This has not been done before. We had a chance to talk to the leader of the medical team who is waiting for the patient to arrive. They feel very equipped to be able to handle this because they take care of infectious diseases like this all the time. Ebola is a different infectious disease, but their protocols are very much the same.
WHITFIELD: So, Sanjay, is there a way to determine how the decision was made? Dr. Kent Brantly first or Nancy Writebol first. Is it an issue of who was worst case scenario with the infection or you choose the one who has a greater survivability by receiving treatment in the U.S. How was the determination made that he would be first?
GUPTA: Yes, it's a great question. We heard both patients had stabilized their condition. So I'm not sure how much of it ended up being a true medical decision, but there's lots of different factors that weigh in.
One of the big ones is the medical stability that's anticipated during the transport. That's a big deal. You don't have as many resources up there on a plane for example as you would on the ground.
And you want to make sure that the patient is going to be able to simply tolerate if you will, that flight, but we don't know. We may get more details on that as time goes on. It could have been just a decision that the patients made themselves. You go first. We just don't know.
WHITFIELD: OK and just as we look at these shots of that ambulance, I think I'm recognizing the general vicinity, maybe about 5 or so minutes away from Emory as this vehicle's transporting. It seems like it has been an easy drive, so clearly, they have opened the roadways for this ambulance to endure no obstacles.
What about at Emory itself? It is a very popular teaching hospital. Any day of the week. How will they ensure that this ambulance and this patient makes it into the isolation area right away without anyone or anything standing in the way?
GUPTA: The same way they take care of a lot of patients who need to get to some high level of critical care immediately. They have places where patients come in, they can go straight to an intensive care unit. We have an area where patients go straight to an operating room, a CT scanner.
It's probably going to be a similar thing here, where you just basically have a plan, where the patient is to go. My guess is that the patient goes straight to that containment unit for obvious reasons. They're not planning on stopping anywhere obtaining any scans or testing, or anything like that.
I think they go straight to the isolation unit and that process can take just minutes after you arrive at the hospital. Could be a special elevator that's on standby. I don't know the exact route they're going to take, but that's a pretty typical thing for a big hospital like this.
WHITFIELD: And Sanjay, while Dr. Kent Brantly is in that ambulance on his way to that isolation unit there at Emory University Hospital, we understand that Nancy Writebol, the other humanitarian worker is next. She is overseas, but we have images of that same plane, that same Gulfstream jet that was fashioned for Dr. Brantly that arrived at the Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
We also have images of that plane taking off because apparently, it would be bound for Cartersville, Georgia, where it will be prepped for that next patient before arriving in West Africa to pick up Miss Nancy Writebol, presumably, she's still in Liberia.
And then she will be transported in the same method we understand and she, too, is it your understanding, she, too, will end up at Emory University Hospital?
GUPTA: Yes, that's what we're hearing as well, Fred. We found this out yesterday from Dr. Ribner, who is the team leader for these stations. In fact, just moments before we spoke to him in the afternoon yesterday, he received that confirmation as well.
Up until that point, that's when they were taking one patient, they didn't know if both patients were going to be coming, but they confirmed that was the plan. Obviously, these plans can change based on obligations are doing. How stable they are for flight, but one patient at a time was what we heard and both patients coming to Emory.
WHITFIELD: OK. And this isolation location, that would mean if they had family members who wanted to see them or visit them, they would not be able to have contact in any way, correct, or would it be they would be suited up just like the medical community would be before any kind of contact from family members?
GUPTA: Well, my understanding is that they're not going to allow the family members to wear the suits and go into the room because of safety concerns. They only want health care providers to be in the rooms, but just imagine a big glass box and that's what the isolation area sort of looks like.
So they can look in through glass windows into the patient room. There's an intercom system in the room, there are telephones in the room, so there are ways to communicate, see each other. Ways to even get close, but always separated by that glass.
WHITFIELD: Sure. Just moments away now from this ambulance, it's on the Emory University campus now making its way to the hospital. You see of course a lot of live TV trucks right there, satellite trucks. This is the kind of greeting this ambulance is receiving with Dr. Kent Brantly on board.
The first American with the Ebola virus who is receiving treatment in the United States at the Emory University Hospital there where they have special containment facilities there and our Nick Valencia is there on the ground and Sanjay Gupta also en route there to Emory.
It's taking its turn into the Emory University Hospital. So, Nick, paint a picture for us as to what you're seeing from your vantage point. VALENCIA: Well, the campus for a weekend is relatively empty compared to what it would be during the week, but there are still people here looking on to see what we believe is the ambulance carrying the American infected with the Ebola just behind me. We believe that they just arrived.
We're seeing helicopters overhead. Minutes before that, we saw a police car turn on their lights and make room for this ambulance following this caravan into the Emory University Hospital. We're seeing activity behind us here. Doctors walking towards the entrance, what appear to be doctors dressed in medical garbs here.
Lots of activity just picked up. Not sure if you can hear the helicopter, but we see a helicopter, also. It appears to be an affiliate report, affiliate helicopter watching this ambulance coming as it makes its way into Emory University, where the first American with Ebola virus will be treated here in one of those isolation chambers as Dr. Gupta was reporting.
We know that it could just take minutes before that doctor is transferred from this ambulance into the highly secured isolation chamber. Again, one of four facilities of its kind in the United States and as we've been talking about as well, why Emory University?
Well, this is a premier health institute, a premier institution of public health that has had so much experience with infectious diseases, rare types of viruses. No better prepared as any other place I've been told here by students on campus, members of the medical staff here.
There's no better place than to treat somebody with this type of illness and ailment than Emory University Hospital and we as we've been reporting and now, we understand that that ambulance and that person who has contracted Ebola virus has finally arrived here at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
WHITFIELD: And Sanjay Gupta back with us now. While this is a first, just seeing how well-oiled of a machine this transport is, it would seem as though there were some incredible rehearsals in which to make this as fluid as possible.
We understand that upon landing, that Gulfstream we're told by the officials there at the Dobbins Air Reserve Base that the flight was routine and uneventful. Quoting them now, and that that patient, Dr. Kent Brantly, was met by officials with the CDC, Emory, as well as representatives of the base.
And now, we see that transport taking place fluidly there via ambulance to Emory University Hospital where he will be in that isolation area. Sanjay, would a rehearsal have taken place or is this just something that these medical technicians are trained for and they knew how to handle it even though this was the first?
GUPTA: They talked about the rehearsals, if you will, taking place. At least going through the protocols again. You have several people involved with the isolation unit. People who that's basically their job within the hospital is to make sure they're able to staff up that isolation unit as necessary.
So, even Dr. Ribner yesterday talked about some of the training that takes place. Simple things, I find some of this fascinating, but a sort of buddy system if you will. You've seen the people gowning up and it's a pretty standard thing to gown up in one of these suits.
But you want to have a buddy to make sure they take a good look at you now to make sure you are in fact completely covered.
WHITFIELD: That is right on point, Sanjay. Sorry to interrupt because I don't think you're able to see the return video, the live shot we're able to look at, but we are seeing that the ambulance, suppose that was the driver who just stepped out, is in fact wearing that projective gear.
But in near proximity is a security official who is not, but presumably, it's the ambulance driver who had closest contact with, of course, the patient inside and now, awaiting I guess the opening of the rear doors.
And we will be witnessing as long as we have this live shot extraordinary images from our affiliate, WSB, their helicopter vantage point, to see the removal of this patient, Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American patient with Ebola virus being transported from the ambulance into that containment area within the body of that hospital.
GUPTA: It is you know, one thing to keep many mind, obviously, people who have direct contact with the patient in this case, they need to be wearing this sort of, this gear, this space suits, the bio contamination gear, but not everybody. This isn't something that spreads through the air.
I know we've made this point several times, Fred, but I think it's worth making it again as you're looking at these images. The people around that you know, I don't know if there's people who are watching --
WHITFIELD: It looks as though, yes. It does appear, I don't know the rule of the five people I see, expect that three are in security guard, police uniform, but the others are not who are standing nearby, but go ahead with your point in terms of whatever potential dangers or lack thereof.
GUPTA: Right, so the people who are close by, but not directly involved with the patient are just not at risk. This is not going to spread from the patient to them just by them being close by. This is direct contact with bodily fluids and that you'll see how the patient is secure in that regard to try and prevent those from getting on anybody.
But obviously, people caring for the patient most directly want to protect themselves in every way they can, which is why you see the suits in addition to the way that the patient is being secured and contained as well.
WHITFIELD: And Sanjay, the doors have opened now. Yet another worker it appears three in all, two additional coming out of the vehicle now. We're seeing three who were inside that ambulance vehicle with those protective suits.
One stepping out very gingerly now from the rear and we're just going to watch and see, OK, the door now is closing. But it -- wait a minute, but perhaps one might be the patient being escorted in. What do you think, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Yes, I can't see the images right now. We're right outside the hospital ourselves, trying to get a better vantage point as well. It's hard to say, so I don't want to speculate.
WHITFIELD: I know, I'd be asking you to guess, but would it be realistic that a patient would be walking out of that ambulance even with the protective gear or if there would be a special gurney.
GUPTA: No.
WHITFIELD: So, no to the walking.
GUPTA: I can't imagine the patient walking. I imagine there would be some sort of way that the patient is being sort of protected, you know. I don't know if it's still a tent like structure or what it is, but there's probably going to be something around the patient or certainly the people, who are in most close proximity are going to be wearing the suits.
But keep in mind, it's worth stating again, that they go through this sort of protocol many, many times. They do training exercise. They've had other infectious disease patients, but this is a first.
This is something they've developed some of the protocols for this just over the last couple of days when they got word that the patient was going to be coming here.
WHITFIELD: So, now, we have in all, we were able to see three people with protective suits coming out of the ambulance. Two have gone into the building presumably. It's difficult to see from the vantage point when they left the frame.
And then one went back into the driver's seat of the vehicle, but the doors for the ambulance are closed, so it's anyone's guess I guess as to what's taking place, whether that patient remains inside, you did mention it would be unlikely that person would walk himself into the hospital.
But we're going to try and re-rack that imagery again so that we can, OK, so, now, we're looking at it again. This is moments ago. Trying best to describe it to you because I don't think you're able to see what I'm able to see.
So, you have one person in the suit who was assisting, almost like having to stabilize the other person as they were walking out of the rear of that vehicle and now, together, either they're holding something and carrying it in or one of the people in the protective gear was holding the arm of the other as they walked out of frame and into presumably the building. Does any of that sound --
GUPTA: Well, they may be -- and I'm on the property now, we're walking towards the site, so I can get a better idea here, we just drove from the studio where you are to the hospital. And you see there's obviously the helicopters overhead. You see a lot of television crews here.
What probably happened inside the ambulance often is some stabilizing of the patient just now you have another step, which is to get the patient from the ambulance now to the containment unit. That's another step in this whole process and you want to make sure every time the patient is moved, that you ensure that the patient is stable.
They may be IV lines, other things, you want to basically contain those as well and make sure that everything is ready to go. And also, all those people that you're describing, they all have specific roles. Sometimes, they'll go through what that role is again before the transport actually takes place.
In a trauma situation when we take care of patients who have had traumatic injuries, things move very, very fast. Time is of the essence and while certainly, they don't want to slow things down here, they do take their time to make sure that the patient is also able to completely secured, that no IV lines accidentally get pulled out.
Those things take on a greater significance because of the patient's infection. This Ebola infection. No rush. Make sure everything's under control and then start to move the patient.
WHITFIELD: OK. Sanjay, hold on for a hot second. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta here about a first.
An American patient who was a humanitarian worker working overseas in Liberia, contracted the Ebola virus, highly infectious disease, and has been transported, a first for an American with the Ebola virus, to be transported to the United States for treatment.
And in a special containment like a plastic tent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been describing all morning long, he was in the plastic tent within the body of a Gulfstream jet that made its way from overseas to the United States and arrived just about an hour or so ago in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia.
And then was transported via ambulance, again, likely in some sort of protected containment in an ambulance, traveled about 30 minutes via highway and city roads making its way to Emory University Hospital, which is one of about four facility, has one of four special containment facilities in the United States to help treat someone with something highly infectious like this.
Dr. Kent Brantly was that doctor, is that doctor, now being treated at Emory University Hospital and we've been trying to ascertain what we've been seeing live with this vehicle arriving at the Emory University Hospital, pulling up ever so gingerly behind one of the structures, the buildings there. And then watching three people with protective gear emerge from that vehicle, that ambulance and then two of them making their way inside what appears to be one of the hospital buildings there. But unclear whether perhaps that second person might be a patient, might be Dr. Kent Brantly or now we're looking at it again or whether it appears they may be carrying something very carefully.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us, Nick Valencia also there on the ground outside the hospital. It does appear now, and there you have in front of the camera now, it appears that perhaps those two people were carrying something and you say while time is of the essence and there may be an urgency, there's also a great responsibility to be very careful in caring and sometimes, take their time for other things.
So perhaps they may have been carrying something that pertains to this patient or to the research or treatment of this patient?
GUPTA: Maybe some medical records perhaps, some information they may have gathered even during flight. It could be something that accompanied the patient from Liberia that may be relevant to his medical care. It's unclear at this point. I'm not seeing the same thing you are, Fred, but have you seen a patient emerge? Has there been a gurney?
WHITFIELD: No. No, we haven't seen --
GUPTA: I don't know --
WHITFIELD: We're continuing to look at this live picture from our affiliate, WSB. Again, this is moments ago, that we have re-racked this video, so you are seeing what we saw moments ago with three people in protective suits emerging from the vehicle.
And now, we're looking again at the last two as they close the door and now, they do appear to be helping each other carry something inside. So, go ahead, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Yes, and I don't know what exactly their protocol is here, but there could be several people involved with this transport. There's a doctor, most likely that accompanied Dr. Brantly on the ambulance. This could be the same doctor that has accompanied Dr. Brantly all along the flight.
It's unclear if they changed staff at some point along the way. It's the same staff to establish some sort of continuity of care, take care of the patient through the journey, but it wouldn't be surprising if there are several different people involved.
Obviously with the suits on, it's harder to get an idea of what their roles are, but their mission is very clear. They want to get the patient into the containment unit. They're not going to waste a lot of time once they start moving.
They may be an elevator just standing by waiting. They want to come into as minimal contact with anybody as possible and get Dr. Brantly into this isolation area. WHITFIELD: What's remarkable, too, here, I mean, unless you are familiar with the Emory University Hospital and this medical community, you can better paint a picture, but it's not representative of one building. The medical campus there is quite sizable.
There are several different buildings and wings to the hospital and so just because we see that that vehicle has pulled up behind one building and possibly delivered something, it doesn't necessarily mean that's going to be the location this patient is unloaded, transported, because there are so many different facets of this medical facility there at Emory, right?
GUPTA: Yes. Absolutely. There are different areas. They have different responsibilities. The isolation unit that we've been talking about, we may have some pictures to show you as well. You're not going to look at it. It's not going to look like anything particularly extraordinary.
But it is an isolation unit that is separate from all other patient areas and that's an important point. As a faculty member here, we got an e-mail from our leadership basically outlining some important points including that one.
That this isolation area, which has been used in the past, is separate from all over patient areas. There are isolation units in hospitals all over the country, but this is something specific about Emory University Hospital.
Again, being designed to be able to take care of rare infectious diseases in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control, often time, workers are out in the field, could be infected with something rare. This was set up to help care for them and now, obviously, for Dr. Kent Brantly.
WHITFIELD: Yes, you mentioned that cooperation and coordination between Emory and CDC. It's very easy because there may be a half mile that separates that campus and the CDC campus. So, clearly, the proximity is advantageous.
We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we'll have more on the transport of this humanitarian worker with the Ebola virus to the United States at the Emory University Hospital right after this.
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WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and overseas. We are watching a first, an American with the Ebola virus has been transported from Liberia, West Africa, to the United States. He's in Atlanta now.
He's been transported via plane and then on the ground via ambulance just within the past hour and a half or so, making his way to Emory University Hospital, one of just four hospitals with special containment facilities here in the United States. It's a first that an Ebola patient is being treated in the U.S. These are the images just moments ago. We saw two people emerging from this ambulance, appears to be carrying something as they're transporting it into the plane.
It's not presumed that either one of these people may be Dr. Kent Brantly, a 33-year-old doctor from Texas who along with Nancy Writebol of North Carolina, also contracted the Ebola virus while doing humanitarian work in Liberia.
Dr. Brantly is the first to be transported. It's presumed that next week, if everything goes as planned, Nancy Writebol of North Carolina, will also be transported from Liberia and make her way to Atlanta to receive similar treatment there at the Emory University Hospital.
Thirteen hundred people in three West African nations have been sickened by this highly infectious disease, Ebola virus, 700 have been killed in West Africa. But the feeling is this Emory University facility has the best medical equipment and expertise to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and will help heightened the chances of survival and treatment for Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a faculty member of the Emory University Hospital. He's joining us as well, helping us understand how highly infectious this disease is and what a likelihood of the treatment is for these patients once they receive it there at Emory and when this treatment actually begins now that Dr. Brantly has arrived.
But we still don't know if he has actually been transported out of that ambulance into that hospital.
GUPTA: Yes. Well, a couple of points, this is a highly infectious disease and we've been making the point, there's a difference between being infectious and contagious. This is important because infectious basically means that a small amount of body fluid that contains the virus can cause an infection.
It's not that contagious. It doesn't spread easily, certainly not through the air, so this is highly infectious but not as contagious. We know that when we hear these awful mortality numbers from Western Africa, mortality rates are 60 to 90 percent. Meaning six out of ten to nine out of ten people will die if they contract this virus.
The question for a long time has been if you take those same patients and put them in a situation where you have more resources, isolation units, you can better manage fluids, give back blood products, perhaps even try experimental vaccines and medications, could you improve those survival rates.
And the doctors here, I spoke to them yesterday, I talked to the team leader, Dr. Ribner about that. He says that he believes that absolutely to be true. That the 60 to 90 percent mortality rates will be greatly improved by being here and that's part of what drove the decision.
He was working for a charitable organization known as Samaritan's Purse. It was the charitable organization that called Emory, that's called the CDC and started the wheels in motion for this whole medical evacuation to occur. I learned this yesterday, but the State Department, U.S. State Department, oversees an evacuation like this.
But this wasn't a question of obtaining approvals necessarily because Dr. Brantly is a U.S. citizen. He is allowed to return to the United States. This was more a question of logistics and where to go once he landed and Emory University is what the charitable organization chose.
WHITFIELD: And that Emory University Hospital said yes really speaks to its level of confidence then, doesn't it?
GUPTA: I think so. And you know, we asked that same question and let me tell you, I pushed and asks if there were any reservations at any level from the health care providers to the administration to really anybody within the Emory community.
One of the anecdotes, the doctor who's going to be caring for them, said, there's a whole team of people involved with the care. Two of the nurses were supposed to be on vacation this week. He said these two nurses came up to him and said we are canceling our vacation.
We want to be here to care for this patient. This is what we do. This is what we're trained to do. And that's a little bit of the sense that you get here within the medical community. They know how to do this and while Ebola has never been in the United States before certainly never in Atlanta before, the protocols, the methods by which you isolate somebody and provide care, those are the things they know really, really well.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about that again because some may just now be joining us and didn't get to hear you explain this bubble like tent, this containment area within the cargo of the plane in which Dr. Brantly was installed before it actually went airborne, meaning the plane, then making its way to the U.S. and what kind of protections are in place to transport him from the plane into the ambulance to the airport.
GUTPA: Yes, it's really excite extraordinary from a medical and technology standpoint, Fred. I don't know if you're looking at these images now --
WHITFIELD: We are.
GUPTA: We have some images inside the plane and think of this also like creating bubble, a bubble, maybe even a series of bubbles to try and protect all the health care providers, the transporters, anyone involved with this patient. Protect them from getting any bodily fluids from this patient on to them.
That's really the goal of this sort of transportation. You want to make sure the patient is medically stable enough. You want to protect everyone involved and then you want to have a destination where they're going to provide care.
But that technology is extraordinary after the plane lands, we saw the ambulance pick up the patient. You remember, Fred, we were talking about it onset, we didn't know if it was going to be a helicopter or ground ambulance. They made the decision for Dr. Brantly to go by ground along with people providing care for him.
And then arrive probably in some sort of protective bubble still or some sort of enclosure, something to keep him sort of isolated, if you will, from the people who are providing care for him. But it is, it's, you know, I've seen a doctor for a long time.
I've not seen anything quite like this, to be able to take care of a patient with this sort of disease, Ebola, in the United States with the types of resources that are here. You can see just everything that goes into making this all happen.
WHITFIELD: And then as we continue to just rerack and look at the images, when we saw three people emerging from that emergency vehicle, two of which from the rear and for a moment, it looked as though one was assisting the other and then we highlighted an area where it started to appear like maybe instead of assisting one another.
It was something that the two of them may be carrying, so it's unclear whether the patient is Dr. Brantly, is in the ambulance still and will be you know, taken out in a stretcher or whether Dr. Brantly is one of those standing there and is also carrying something inside.
Is there any more to helping us to ascertain what we're seeing? What would be logical?
GUPTA: We did hear that Dr. Brantly's condition had stabilized in Liberia. That made him a good candidate for medical transportation a few days ago, we heard he had periods where his health had deteriorated. So it's unclear what sort of medical condition he was in during the flight other than being stable.
Stable can mean a lot of different things, but if he was able to actually assist himself getting off the ambulance, I don't know. Typically, after a long flight, a medical flight like that, people often need some sort of assistance or even to be carried in completely, but it's just unclear.
But obviously, the people who are wearing those suits that you're seeing are the people who have the most direct contact with Dr. Brantly. It could be doctor, nurses, technicians, lot of different people involved with the transport like this.
Don't know if it was the same exact team that was also on the plane that ended up coming by ground ambulance to the hospital. Those are all, it's hard to tell, obviously, in part because of those suits that everyone's wearing, but never the less, Fred, the mission and the goal is pretty clear.
We know that the isolation unit is here at the hospital. They want to get Dr. Brantly up to that isolation unit. It's not so much a question of urgency or even emergency, it's a question of doing it in a very methodical to minimize exposure to anybody else in the hospital and safely obviously, yes. WHITFIELD: Would you be able to paint picture for us what would not be in our view, once he were to arrive and go through any doors there at Emory, would he put, be put in some sort of containment bubble similar to what we saw on the plane and then wheeled to the isolation area or would the entry way take him immediately into that isolation area as it were kind of blocked off in a certain wing of the hospital facility.
GUPTA: From a scientific perspective, keep in mind because this is not an airborne virus, people who are close, but even a few feet away are really not at risk. And I know that's alarming to people. That's scary, I've seen a lot of e-mails and things on social media about the concerns for the average citizen.
They're just simply not at risk. So, if the patient is covered in some way, so no bodily fluid can come off of the patient on to anybody in the surrounding area that would not be an issue. So I don't know what that means for their specific protocol here.
I'm sure part of that may have been dependent on how he was feeling during his transport, whether they would just go ahead and usher him through closed hallways, they don't want him coming in contact with people nonessential in getting him to the isolation unit, but simply having an elevator.
In many ways, like any other patient, except for the fact there's a bio-contamination, biohazard suits being put on to protect people who are in the most direct proximity and have some sort of responsibility for patient care.
WHITFIELD: We're looking at the images shot Friday when you were able to see this containment area, or at least the protection the medical community would be enduring that at the Atlanta Emory University Hospital.
So, Dr. Gupta, Nancy Writebol of North Carolina is the other humanitarian worker, who will be making her way to the U.S. We understand that the plane, the Gulfstream jet that flew Dr. Brantly in today is now going to be in Cartersville, Georgia today.
It will be prepped, suited for her arrival. It will make its way to Liberia, pick her up and she will go through a very similar kind of transport. So, once at Emory Hospital, are we saying this containment area is going to be suitable for more than one patient in the same room or this containment area has separate rooms for these two patients?
GUPTA: There are sort of separate areas within the containment area, but we do hear that they are equipped to be able to handle at least two patients. An interesting thing, I was speaking to the doctor yesterday, I said what if there is a question of an exposure to a health care worker.
What happens at that point and what was interesting, I think, maybe obvious to you at home, but the health care provider, whether it be a doctor, nurse, they would then also be on that isolation unit as well. So while they -- until they either get confirmed to have Ebola or not, that would be then as well.
So provider, patients together on the same isolation ward and the typical protocol at that point, if there's a question of exposure, is to take someone's temperature for 21 days. That is the longest period of incubation time for Ebola. If someone doesn't develop a fever, they are given the all clear sign, but they have to make those contingencies.
You have patients who have Ebola, if there was a questionable exposure, what do you do with that person. They've got to make sure they have those resources and spaces available as well.
WHITFIELD: I have so many more questions, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Thanks so much. We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we'll talk more about the transport of this first American with the Ebola virus, transported to the United States now receiving treatment at Emory.
The hospital where Dr. Gupta is also a member of the faculty there and when we come back, I'm going to ask him about the protections for the medical community coming into contact with this patient, Dr. Kent Brantly.
Beyond the protective suits, but does it mean those doctors and medical care workers will also have to be under a similar quarantine. We'll be coming right back.
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