Ebola-Infected Americans in West Africa to Be Flown Home

The two Americans infected with the ebola virus are being evacuated from West Africa and will be flown home soon, according to media sources.

A White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a press briefing Thursday that the U.S. was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore Medevac options for the aid workers who have contracted the disease in West Africa, reports the Los Angeles Times.

It is reported that the two patients, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, have taken a turn for the worse overnight.

The U.S. Defense Department, the CDC and a private company have built a high end fully-equipped isolation pod in a Gulf Stream Jet, which has reportedly flown to Liberia to bring the two patients, reports the CNN

The pod, an Aeromedical Biological Containment System, will ensure safety of the flight crew .

Sources reveal that Dr Brantly may be brought to Emory University near the headquarters of the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia, hospital officials told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Emory University has refused to comment on the issue.

CDC Director Tom Frieden said Thursday that the evacuation issue was complicated and it was up to the aid organizations to decide.

"There is the potential that the actual movement of the patient could do more harm than the benefit from more advanced supportive care outside the country," Frieden told reporters in a conference call, reports the LA Times. "We would certainly work with them to facilitate whatever option they pursue."

Samaritan's Purse, the charity organization, for which Dr Brantly worked, flew an experimental serum to Liberia for him Wednesday, but he insisted that Nancy Whitebrol should get it, reports the LA Times.

The deadliest ebola epidemic in West Africa has killed at least 700 people since February, according to statistics from the World Health Organization. There is no known cure for the highly contagious virus.

At least 1,201 people have contacted the virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization.  319 people have died in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone.