CDC: First Person to Test Positive for Ebola in U.S. Is in Dallas
Ebola has officially come to the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is attempting to contain Americans' anxieties along with the spread of the potentially deadly virus.
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Ebola has officially come to the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is attempting to contain Americans’ anxieties along with the spread of the potentially deadly virus.
On Tuesday, the CDC confirmed that a man who recently returned from Liberia to the U.S. has tested positive for Ebola and is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. As has been the case in Africa, those with whom the man came in contact, including health care professionals, may need special attention (via NBCNewYork):
The Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance crew who transported the infected man to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has been isolated to be evaluated for Ebola symptoms, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling said, NBC 5 has learned.
According to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, the patient showed no symptoms of the virus when he left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. a day later.
He didn’t begin developing symptoms of the virus until Sept. 24 and sought care on Friday. He was hospitalized the following Sunday and placed in isolation.
The CDC is also charged with the task of tracking down others who may have crossed paths with the now-quarantined patient after he became symptomatic and before he was isolated.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden reported that the patient arrived in the U.S. from Liberia on Sept. 20, started developing symptoms on Sept. 24 and was hospitalized on Sept. 28. “I have no doubt that we will control this importation or this case of the Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country,” Frieden said Tuesday, adding that there is a chance that the first patient might have infected others while claiming that “there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
— Posted by Kasia Anderson
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