--- title: American Rick Sacra Infected With Ebola in Liberia Returning to U.S. description: An American missionary doctor infected with Ebola is due to arrive for treatment in Omaha on Friday canonical: https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-04T21:41:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:45.527Z article:section: Health og:title: Third American Infected With Ebola Returning to U.S. og:description: Dr. Rick Sacra is due to arrive at the The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Friday og:url: https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96aa40ba9a708ea2/6986a224169ab00a8327b07c/ebola-americans-massa_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Rick Sacra og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Third American Infected With Ebola Returning to U.S. twitter:description: Dr. Rick Sacra is due to arrive at the The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Friday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96aa40ba9a708ea2/6986a224169ab00a8327b07c/ebola-americans-massa_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Third American Infected With Ebola Returning to U.S. > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Ebola Patient: Wife Overwhelmed by Well Wishes [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Patient: Wife Overwhelmed by Well Wishes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UjCKwrik.m3u8) (0:19)  _Published 2014-09-05. Wife of Ebola patient Rick Sacra says she is overwhelmed by well wishes for her husband._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 4, 2014 9:41 PM UTC  This undated family photo shows Dr. Richard Sacra in Liberia. This undated family photo shows Dr. Richard Sacra in Liberia. Doug Sacra—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 4, 2014 9:41 PM UTC A third American missionary infected with Ebola in Liberia is being evacuated back to the United States for treatment, the organization he was working with [said](http://www.simusa.org/content/latest-news/4596/sim%5Fmissionary%5Fdoctor%5Frick%5Fsacra%5Fon%5Fway%5Fto%5Fthe%5Fnebraska%5Fmedical%5Fcenter%5Fin%5Fomaha) on Thursday. Dr. Rick Sacra is expected to arrive at the The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Friday morning. “Rick was receiving excellent care from our SIM/ELWA staff in Liberia at our Ebola 2 Care Center. They all love and admire him deeply,” SIM USA President Bruce Johnson said in a statement. “However, The Nebraska Medical Center provides advanced monitoring equipment and wider availability of treatment options.” There is no cure for Ebola, but infected patients are more likely to receive better care and monitoring stateside than in West Africa. Dr. Sacra is the second American health care worker with SIM USA who has been infected with the virus in West Africa, where officials say the world’s deadliest outbreak on record has left more than 1,900 people dead. Nancy Writebol was declared virus-free last month after being evacuated from Liberia and treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Another missionary from a separate organization, Dr. Kent Brantly, recovered from the disease with similar care. _Wife of Ebola Dr. Rick Sacra says she is overwhelmed by well wishes for her husband._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/"},"headline":"Third American Infected With Ebola Returning to U.S.","datePublished":"2014-09-04T21:41:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:45.527Z","description":"Missionary doctor is due to arrive for treatment in Omaha on Friday","url":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","ebola","Liberia","Ebola outbreak"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96aa40ba9a708ea2/6986a224169ab00a8327b07c/ebola-americans-massa_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96aa40ba9a708ea2/6986a224169ab00a8327b07c/ebola-americans-massa_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rick Sacra","caption":"Rick Sacra","creditText":"Doug Sacra—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/","name":"Third American Infected With Ebola Returning to U.S."}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ebola Patient: Wife Overwhelmed by Well Wishes","description":"Wife of Ebola patient Rick Sacra says she is overwhelmed by well wishes for her husband.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UjCKwrik/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-05T07:00:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UjCKwrik.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/","duration":"PT19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3270851/ebola-disease-rick-sacra-sim-usa-liberia/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```