Two nurses who contracted Ebola have been moved to specialized units

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials will be sent out

Once these spots run out, patients will be treated where they are

The US only has space for nine Ebola patients at specialized hospitals

The US has space for just nine Ebola patients at specialized hospitals, according to officials.

Once these spots run out, patients who contract the deadly virus will be treated where they are.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be sent to help care for them and ensure precautions are taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

The US has space for just nine Ebola patients at specialized hospitals, according to officials

Amber Vinson (left) and Nina Pham (right) both cared for Thomas Eric Duncan and both have been diagnosed with Ebola - they have been moved to specialized hospitals with biocontainment units in the past few days

The US has four hospitals that have specially-designed bio-containment units, with a total of about a dozen places for highly-infectious or dangerous cases, USA Today reported.

Once those spaces are filled, any new Ebola patients would have to be treated in regular hospitals, which help from CDC specialists.

The virus has killed more than 4,000 people, almost all of them in West Africa, but infections are increasing in the West.

Thomas Eric Duncan died on October 8, a week after he became the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the US, and two weeks since he first sought treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Two nurses involved in his care – Nina Pham, 26, and Amber Vinson, 29 – have since been diagnosed with the virus, raising serious questions about the hospital's procedures.

Ms Vinson, in a yellow hazmat suit, boarded a plane bound for Emory on Wednesday

Ms Vinson was then seen being loaded into an ambulance (pictured) to be taken to Emory University Hospital, which has three beds in its biocontainment unit

HOW TO AVOID GETTING EBOLA Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids Wear goggles to protect eyes Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months Advertisement

The two nurses have been moved from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to specialized hospitals with biocontainment units in the past few days.

Dallas nurse Ms Pham was diagnosed with Ebola on Sunday and is expected to be moved to the Special Clinical Studies Unit of the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, which has two specialized beds.

Ms Vinson, the other Dallas nurse to contract Ebola from Duncan, was diagnosed with Ebola on Wednesday and moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, later that night. Emory has one or two beds in its biocontainment unit.

Freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo is currently being treated at Nebraska Medical Center, which has 10 specialized beds. But hospital officials told ABC News that it has the capacity to handle only two or three patients at a time.

The final hospital with a specialized biocontainment unit is St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana, which has the capacity to handle three patients. At present it is not treating any Ebola patients.

US President Barack Obama is considering appointing an Ebola 'czar' to help tackle the deadly virus

CDC Director Thomas Frieden faced hard questions from members of Congress yesterday about how the nurses became infected while caring for Duncan.

He has since admitted he should have sent a bigger team to Dallas after the initial diagnosis.

This was despite him making a prediction in August that major hospitals would be equipped to tackle the disease.

He also confessed it was a mistake to allow Ms Vinson to board a commercial flight despite her alarmingly high temperature.

US President Barack Obama has said the risk of Americans getting the virus is 'extremely low', although he has ordered a 'much more aggressive response'.