( CNN ) An American health care provider working in Sierra Leone who had a `` high-risk exposure '' to the Ebola virus arrived at Nebraska Medicine on Sunday for `` observation and possible treatment , '' the center said . `` This patient has been exposed to the virus but is not ill and is not contagious , '' said Dr. Phil Smith , medical director of the biocontainment unit at the Omaha medical center . `` However , we will be taking all appropriate precautions . '' Nebraska Medical Center , part of Nebraska Medicine , is one of only four hospitals in the United States that has biocontainment units and has been practicing for years to treat a highly infectious disease such as Ebola . The other three hospitals are Emory University Hospital in Atlanta ; Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana ; and the National Institutes of Health in Maryland . Nebraska Medical Center has treated three patients with Ebola : . Dr. Rick Sacra , who was infected while working in Liberia , was treated and released in September . NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo , who was also working in Liberia , was treated and released in October . And Dr. Martin Salia , who was gravely ill when he arrived from Sierra Leone , died after less than two days of treatment in November , Nebraska Medicine said . Nebraska Medicine said the patient who arrived Sunday was transported in a private air ambulance . `` This patient will be under observation in the same room used for treatment of the first three patients and will be carefully monitored to see if Ebola disease develops , '' Smith said . While the United States had 10 patients with Ebola last year , the situation in West Africa remains far more dire . More than 7,500 people died from Ebola in 2014 , the World Health Organization said . The vast majority of deaths were in Liberia , Sierra Leone and Guinea .
The health care provider was in Sierra Leone , one of the sources of Ebola . The patient is not currently ill nor contagious , but had ` ` high - risk exposure '' to malaria .