Massachusetts Doctor Cured of Ebola Plans to Return to Liberia

Massachusetts doctor Rick Sacra was diagnosed with Ebola in September of 2014, one of three United States doctors to contract Ebola while working in Liberia, Africa.

After several weeks fighting the virus in a Kansas hospital, including a round of experimental medications and a blood transfusion from Doctor Kent Brantly who had previously been cured of Ebola, Sacra had recovered and was back home.

But Sacra, 51, of Holden, doesn’t plan to stay home. The doctor announced Tuesday, Dec. 16 that he will return to the country where he contracted Ebola. He will be continuing his work as a medical missionary and will spend four weeks at ELWA Hospital, the same hospital where he was exposed to the virus last year, NBC News reports.

Also read: Massachusetts Organizations Granted $1 Million to Develop Ebola Test

Despite nearly losing his life caring for pregnant patients in Liberia last year, neither Sacra nor his family fear that he’ll catch the virus again.

“They’ve [doctors] looked at individuals who survived Ebola in Africa and got re-exposed to Ebola numerous times and those people never got sick again,” Sacra told The Huffington Post.

Antibodies developed in the blood of patients who have survived Ebola essentially make survivors immune to the virus, Sacra said, which is one reason doctors have turned to blood transfusions from survivors to treat the virus.

ELWA Hospital, which stands for Eternal Love Winning Africa, has changed its protocols since Sacra’s diagnosis, according to CBS News. Sacra had been treating pregnant women who did not have Ebola at the time he contracted the virus.

The hospital now requires all medical staff to wear protective gear when dealing with a patient, whether or not that patient is suspected to have Ebola.