The first nurse to be diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is reported to be in fair condition and being treated at a specialised isolation unit near Washington.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Nina Pham’s condition is stable and that she is resting comfortably.
Ms Pham arrived this morning at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
She is being treated by staff specialising in infectious disease and critical care.
President Barack Obama has asked former White House adviser Ron Klain to coordinate US efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak, an administration official said today, after criticism the government's response to the virus has been slow and inadequate.
Mr Klain, a lawyer and businessman, was a senior White House aide to Obama and chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden. Earlier, he served as chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore, and also for former US Attorney General Janet Reno. He will report to homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and national security adviser Susan Rice, the official said.
Meanwhile, Brussels Airport, a hub for flights coming from Africa, said today it had hired a specialised firm to check baggage coming from Ebola-hit regions, after a union told its members to no longer handle such items.
The company will screen luggage from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and destroy any it suspects may be contaminated.
Belgium’s socialist union on Wednesday had called on its members at Brussels Airport to no longer handle baggage from infected areas.
The airport said in a statement it was “taking such concerns seriously.”