Chicago has ambulance equipped to handle infectious diseases

CHICAGO (AP) - The Chicago Department now has on the street its first ambulance outfitted with a pressurized plastic tent so that it can transport patients suffering from infectious diseases.

The Chicago Sun-Times (http://bit.ly/1NH0gAd ) reports the specially-equipped ambulance that also has an air filtration system is the city's response to the worldwide Ebola scare of 2014.

The city has already ordered two more of the tents - each of which cost $3,000. Once they arrive, the department plans to equip two other ambulances and station them in different areas of the city so that firefighters can respond as quickly as possible to infectious disease emergencies anywhere in the city.

Fire department spokesman Larry Langford says the department ultimately wants to have 13 of the tents.