Quarantine lifted for Bay Area doctor treating Ebola Patients

A Stanford emergency room surgeon is back on the job after his 21-day quarantine lifted Friday.

Colin Bucks, PhD., was confined because he had spent over a month in West Africa, treating Ebola patients.

He says more volunteers are needed to prevent Ebola spread.

Bucks is now a free man after 21 days of home confinement. While quarantined, he had a high degree of confidence he would not come down with Ebola. His one concern was developing similar symptoms from eating something.

"Oh, I got diarrhea because I ate something that didn't agree with me. And now I have to go to the hospital for an evaluation and all the resources that would get pulled into that because we would have to be safe," Bucks said.

Now, it's back to work where he checked out Stanford's new simulation lab to outfit health care staff treating Ebola. He knows the protection gear was intimidating to Ebola patients in Liberia.

"Everybody's walking around in full-body suits and everything smells of chlorine. For the patients themselves, I think it was fairly terrifying," Bucks said.

He could see despair in the eyes of his patients, but there were times of joy as well when some recovered.

"We had teachers, shopkeepers, a lot of farmers because it was a rural area," Bucks said.

They were often banished from their villages because of the fear of Ebola spreading.

Bucks hopes more American doctors and nurses will go to West Africa to volunteer as he did.

"I think there's benefit to sending more and more people and having them go and have that experience, build that knowledge base and bring it back to their home institutions. It makes us stronger nationwide," Bucks said.

As he gets back into routine, Bucks expects he might be shunned because of his exposure to Ebola.

"It'll be a little sad if that's the case, but it's maybe understandable and it just requires some patience and an opportunity for education," Bucks said.

Would Bucks want to go back to West Africa to treat Ebola patients? That's not an easy question for him to answer because of the time commitment involved and the quarantine period that follows.