An American physician assistant suspected of having Lassa fever is being transported from West Africa to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment, the hospital said Friday. “The diagnosis has not yet been confirmed,” a statement from Emory said. They will be working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health to diagnose the patient. A source familiar with the situation tells CNN the individual is a high-risk patient. Lab results could come as soon as this weekend, depending on when the patient arrives.
The individual, who has been working with an unnamed missionary organization in the West African nation of Togo, will be treated at Emory’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit, where four U.S. patients were treated for Ebola in 2014. Emory said the U.S. State Department asked them to receive the patient, who will arrive via medical transport sometime this weekend. READ MORE
