EBOLA-INFECTED AMERICAN MISSIONARY, NANCY WRITEBOL LEAVES LIBERIA TODAY

Nancy Writebol, with children in Liberia.

-Ebola Scare At Gatwick As Passenger Collapses and Dies Getting Off Sierra Leone Flight

Ebola-infected American missionary Nancy Writebol will be heading back to the US on Tuesday from Liberia to seek treatment at the same Atlanta hospital where Dr. Kent Brantly is in quarantine. Writebol was infected last month while working as a missionary nurse with Ebola patients in Liberia through the Serving in Mission humanitarian organization.
The 60-year-old is scheduled to leave Liberia between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown. She will be transported by medical evacuation team to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, which has an isolation center built with input from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Writebol joins her colleague Dr. Kent Brantly at the hospital, who is said to be improving after being transported there on Saturday. Dr. Brantly, like Writebol, was caring for Ebola-stricken patients at Samaritan's Purse Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia before becoming infected himself.
The deadly and contagious Ebola virus typically causes fever, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, joint pain, and other symptoms. The

Nancy and her husband

disease is transmitted by coming into contact with the bodily fluid of an infected person, or touching objects such as needles that have come into contact with infected bodily fluid. The CDC recommends proper sterilization of medical equipment, and wearing protective clothing to decrease the chances of infection.
reported that the outbreak began in southern Guinea in February, and quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. At least 729 people have been killed by the virus, and there is no cure. The mortality rate of the current outbreak is 60 percent.
Despite the inherent danger in their missions, Writebol and her husband, David, were committed to continuing their work in the area.
"We weren't telling them to come back; we were just willing to help them come back," Rev. John Munro told the Wichita Eagle. Munro serves as the Writebols pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and his congregation sponsored the couple's mission.
"They said, 'The work isn't finished, and it must continue.'"
Meanwhile, Ebola panic is spreading worldwide. A 72-year-old woman inspired fear that Ebola had spread to Britain when she reportedly began “sweating buckets and vomiting” just after landing at Gatwick airport on a flight from Sierra Leone.
Soon after disembarking from the plane, the elderly woman collapsed and was rushed to a hospital, where she died on Saturday, the Sunday Mirror reports.
Anxious airport staff briefly quarantined the aircraft — which was carrying 128 passengers — and rushed to track down everyone who had been in the woman’s proximity.
“Everyone’s just ­petrified,” a hospital worker told the Mirror. “We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”
A state of emergency was declared in the West African country after more than 200 people died from the worst outbreak of the deadly disease ever.
Given her suspicious symptoms, the woman was tested for Ebola at the hospital — and thankfully she was not harboring the often-fatal virus.
“The hospital carried out tests for Ebola and other infectious diseases as a precaution,” a spokeswoman for Gatwick airport told the Mirror. “The tests came back negative.”
The woman actually died of natural causes.
Passengers’ names were recorded and the plane was briefly held on the tarmac.
“We did not allow any crew to board the flight until we had spoken to Public Health England, who cleared the plane for its return journey,” the airport spokeswoman said.