Former Ebola patient Dr. Rick Sacra hospitalized

Former Ebola patient Dr. Rick Sacra hospitalized. HT: Crof.

Via NBC News: Former Ebola Patient Dr. Rick Sacra Hospitalized. Click through for a video. Excerpt:

An American doctor who contracted Ebola in Liberia and was successfully treated for the deadly disease was taken to a Boston-area hospital Saturday for what health authorities suspect is pneumonia. 

Dr. Rick Sacra, who contracted Ebola while working with the relief organization SIM, is being kept in isolation at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass., as a precaution, the hospital said. 

“We think it is highly unlikely that he has Ebola. We suspect he has an upper respiratory tract infection, with symptoms of cough and conjunctivitis,” Dr. Robert Finberg, chair of medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center, said in a statement. 

Tests are expected back from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, he said. 

Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit at the Nebraska Medical Center where Sacra was treated, said three blood tests showed Sacra was virus-free. 

“Because of his recent battle with the Ebola virus, his immune system is compromised,” Smith said. “The public shouldn't be concerned that his disease has returned."