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ByMargeryA.Beck The Associated Press OMAHA,NEB. Adoctorwho became infected with Ebola while working in Liberia is sick but in stable condition and communicating with his caregivers at the Ne- braska Medical Center, of- ficials said Friday. Dr. Rick Sacra, 51, is be- ing treated at a 10-bed spe- cial isolation unit, the larg- est of the United States' four. It was built to han- dle patients with highly infectious and deadly dis- eases, according to Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of the in- fectious diseases division at the center. Sacra— the third Amer- ican aid worker sick- ened with the virus — ar- rived at 6:38 a.m. Friday at the Omaha hospital. Sa- cra was wheeled on a gur- ney off the plane at Offutt Air Force Base, transferred to an ambulance and then wheeled into the hospital, said Rosanna Morris, chief nursing officer for the med- ical center. Sacra was conscious Fri- day and was able to com- municate with medical staff, Morris said. The first two American aid workers infected by Ebola — Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol — have recovered since be- ing flown to Emory Uni- versity Hospital in Atlanta for treatment. Sacra came to Omaha instead of At- lanta because federal of- ficials asked the medical center to treat him in or- der to prepare other isola- tion units to take more eb- ola patients if needed. Sacra, a doctor from sub- urban Boston who spent 15 years working at the Libe- ria hospital where he fell ill, said he felt compelled to re- turn after hearing that two other missionaries with the North Carolina-based char- ity SIM with whom he'd worked were sick. He de- livered babies at the hospi- tal, and was not involved in the treatment of Ebola pa- tients, so it's unclear how he became infected with the virus that has killed about 1,900 people. Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the Omaha unit, has said a team of 35 doc- tors, nurses and other med- ical staffers will provide Sa- cra with basic care, includ- ing ensuring he is hydrated and keeping his vital signs stable. The team is discussing experimental treatments, including using blood se- rum from a patient who has recovered from Ebola, Smith said. There are no li- censed drugs or vaccines for the disease, but about half a dozen are in devel- opment. Rupp said he's unaware whether Brantley and Writebol have been asked about donating blood se- rum for Sacra. "These folks are friendly and know one another, and they would presumably be willing to help their com- patriots," Rupp said, add- ing a battery of tests must first be performed, includ- ing one to ensure that any blood serum is compatible with Sacra's blood type. Doctors with the Omaha hospital have repeatedly said Sacra's transfer to Omaha posed no threat to the public, noting Ebola is transmitted through close contact with an infected person. SIM president Bruce Johnson said Friday that Sacra's wife, Debbie, is mak- ing arrangements to care for their three sons and pre- paring to fly to Omaha this weekend. NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER Doctor with Ebola in stable condition NATIHARNIK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The ambulance transporting Dr. Rick Sacra, who was infected with Ebola while serving as an obstetrician in Liberia, arrives Friday at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. NIAID — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A woman, the first participant enrolled in VRC 207, receives a dose of an investigational Ebola vaccine at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Sept. 2. By Maria Cheng The Associated Press LONDON As West Africa struggles to contain the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola, some experts say an unusual but simple treat- ment might help: the blood of survivors. The evidence is mixed for using infection-fighting antibodies from survivors' blood for Ebola, but without any licensed drugs or vac- cines for the deadly disease, some say it's worth a shot. "This is something that's fairly simple to do," said Dr. Peter Piot, director of London's School of Hy- giene and Tropical Medi- cine and the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. Using blood of survivors is one of the experimental Ebola treatments under dis- cussion at a two-day meet- ing that began Thursday in Geneva. The more than 200 experts assembled by the World Health Orga- nization are looking at is- sues of safety and effective- ness and considering which treatments should be prior- itized for testing during the current outbreak. There are about a half dozen medicines and vac- cines in development. None has been tested in humans but an early trial of one vaccine began this week in the United States. Much attention has fo- cused on the unproven drug ZMapp, which was given to seven patients, two of whom died. But the limited supply is now exhausted and its developer says it will take months to make even a modest amount. In contrast, WHO's blood network, an inter- national group of blood regulators, noted recently there are thousands of sur- vivors from past Ebola out- breaks in Africa who could be tapped as a source. The group said blood from sur- vivors should be consid- ered experimental and rec- ommended that studies be done during the crisis. In another document published this week, WHO estimated the first batches of survivor blood could be available by the end of the year. The agency said it had identified several recov- ered patients as potential donors, but acknowledged "logistics of blood collec- tion are an issue." Some scientists think antibodies in the blood of Ebola survivors could help patients infected with the deadly disease. Antibodies are produced by the body's immune sys- tem to fight off harmful things like viruses. Survivors' blood seen as treatment EPIDEMIC By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON The White House is asking Congress for $58 million above cur- rent levels to speed the pro- duction of promising drugs to fight Ebola and addi- tional flexibility for the De- partment of Homeland Se- curity to cope with the thousands of Central Amer- ican children still arriving at the southern border. The administration also tells lawmakers that it wants to include extending the charter of the Export- Import Bank in a must-do temporary spending bill that's required to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. The bank helps foreign buyers purchase U.S. exports. The requests are con- tained in a White House budget office document sent to Capitol Hill's Ap- propriations committees as they prepare the temporary funding measure slated for votes the next two weeks. The measure would freeze agency budgets at current levels into December.. The administration also is requesting flexibility for Customs and Border Protec- tion to spend more money dealing with the influx of unaccompanied Central American children. Con- gress failed to pass Presi- dent Barack Obama's July request for $3.7 billion to address the crisis. SOUTHERN BORDER White House seeks $58 million for Ebola drugs By Lindsey Tanner The Associated Press CHICAGO Americans' eat- ing habits have improved — except among the poor, evi- dence of a widening wealth gap when it comes to diet. Yet even among wealth- ier adults, food choices re- main far from ideal, a 12- year study found. On an index of healthy eating where a perfect score is 110, U.S. adults aver- aged just 40 points in 1999- 2000, climbing steadily to 47 points in 2009-10, the study found. Scores for low-income adults were lower than the average and barely budged during the years studied. They averaged almost four points lower than those for high-income adults at the beginning; the difference increased to more than six points in 2009-10. Higher scores mean greater intake of heart- healthy foods including veg- etables, fruits, whole grains and healthy fats, and a high score means a low risk of obesity and chronic ill- nesses including heart dis- ease, strokes and diabe- tes. Low scores mean peo- ple face greater chances for developing those ailments. The widening rich-poor diet gap is disconcert- ing and "will have impor- tant public health impli- cations," said study co-au- thor Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health. Diet-linked chronic diseases such as diabetes have become more com- mon in Americans in gen- eral, and especially in the poor, he noted. "Declining diet qual- ity over time may actually widen the gap between the poor and the rich," Hu said. Harvard School of Pub- lic Health researchers de- veloped the healthy diet in- dex used for the study. It is similar to federal dietary guidelines but features additional categories in- cluding red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages and alcohol. WEALTH GAP Eating habits improve a bit — except among the poor By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON TheNational Institutes of Health said it has uncovered a nearly cen- tury-old container of ricin and a handful of other for- gotten samples of danger- ous pathogens as it combs its laboratories for improp- erly stored hazardous ma- terials. The agency began an in- tensive investigation of all its facilities after a scientist in July found vials of small- pox dating from the 1950s, along with other conta- gious viruses and bacteria that had been stored and forgotten in one lab on the NIH's campus. Friday, the NIH said in different facilities, it found small amounts of five im- properly stored "select agents," pathogens that must be registered and kept only in certain highly regulated laboratories. All were found in sealed and intact containers, with no evidence that they posed a safety risk to anyone in the labs or surrounding areas, the agency said in a memo to employees. All have been destroyed. They included a bottle of ricin, a highly poison- ous toxin, found in a box with microbes dating from 1914 and thought to be 85 to 100 years old, the memo said. The bottle was la- beled as originally contain- ing 5 grams, although NIH doesn't know how much was left. Ricin has legitimate re- search uses, the NIH said, but was not studied in this lab. PATHOGENS Ol d ricin, other germs found in NIH labs J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A market in Washington displays a variety of healthy fruits and vegetables for sale. Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 527-2151 to find out how. Through the Newspapers in Education program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. • SHOFF ORTHODONTICS • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • HOOKER CREEK INC. • CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMPANY • LEPAGE COMPANY INC. • MODERN CLEANERS • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WALMART • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. OF ED. • JOHN WHEELER LOGGING, INC. • DUDLEY'S EXCAVATING, INC. • HINKLE ROOFING & CONST. • BRETNEY SUTTERFIELD • ETZLER FINANCIAL & INSURANCE • OLIVE CITY TAX PROFESSIONALS • PLACER TITLE COMPANY • AIRPORT AUTO REPAIR • KAY STEPHENS, MD • GREENWASTE OF TEHAMA • LOUISIANA PACIFIC CORP. • NORTH MAIN AUTOMOTIVE • QRC • RED BLUFF VISION CENTER • STEVE'S BACKHOE SERVICE • WARNER ELECTRIC • TRIPLE R GAS • SCHOOL HOUSE MARKET • McDONALD'S THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N TY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 NEWSPAPERS NIE | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014 4 B