American Who Contracted Ebola in Africa in Critical Condition

An American who contracted Ebola while working in West Africa is now in critical condition at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C., authorities said today.

The patient's status was changed from serious to critical, according to a statement made by the agency earlier today. The patient was flown in isolation from Sierra Leone on a chartered plane last week back to the states, authorities said.

The patient's name has not been released but the patient is known to have been a person working with Partners in Health, a Boston nonprofit group.

An additional 12 individuals transported from West Africa are being monitored for the Ebola virus, officials said.

Three of the other returned health care workers are also near the NIH clinical center in Bethesda, Maryland, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four of the returned workers are in Atlanta near Emory University Hospital and another five arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the deadliest in history. Though it has slowed down since its peak last year, there have been nearly 25,000 confirmed cases and more than 10,000 deaths, according to the latest numbers from the CDC.