Massachusetts doctor who beat Ebola heading back to Liberia

     Dr. Rick Sacra, an American doctor who contracted the Ebola virus in Africa  and his wife, Debbie Sacra, address reporters during a media availability at the University of Massachusetts Medical Schoolin September. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

    Dr. Rick Sacra, an American doctor who contracted the Ebola virus in Africa and his wife, Debbie Sacra, address reporters during a media availability at the University of Massachusetts Medical Schoolin September. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

    The Massachusetts doctor who beat the Ebola virus he contracted while working in Liberia is returning to West Africa.

    Dr. Rick Sacra, of Holden, is flying to Liberia on Thursday.

    Sacra is an assistant professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has worked frequently in West Africa as a missionary for the North Carolina-based Christian organization SIM.

    He is scheduled to hold a news conference Monday to discuss his work and the Ebola outbreak.

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    He’s not scheduled to work with Ebola patients on this trip, but will treat patients with malaria and other chronic health issues.

    Sacra spent weeks in an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital recovering from Ebola in the fall. He is now immune to the disease blamed for the deaths of thousands in West Africa.

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