Fifth American with Ebola returns home for treatment

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua/Sun) -- The fifth American who had contracted Ebola in Liberia was flown to Omaha, Nebraska, in a specially equipped plane for treatment on Monday.

Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance cameraman working for the NBC News who became sick last week, will be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center's special isolation unit, it is reported.

Mukpo is the fifth American to return to the United States for treatment of the deadly virus, which has killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa. The Nebraska Medical Center has a biocontainment unit that was created in 2005 to handle such kind of illness.

"We are ready, willing and able to care for this patient ... We consider it our duty to give these American citizens the best possible care we can," said Phil Smith, who oversees the biocontainment unit of the Nebraska Medical Center.

In Dallas, Texas, a Liberian who recently traveled to the United States to visit relatives, was fighting for his life. This was the first confirmed patient with Ebola in the United States.

To ease public anxiety and fear about the possible spread of Ebola, U.S. officials have stressed that the United States, with well-equipped health care infrastructure, has the capability to protect the safety of its citizens from this deadly virus.

Later Monday, President Barack Obama is to convene a meeting of his national security team to get briefings on the latest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and what the United States is doing to prevent possible spread of this disease in the country.