First U.S. Ebola case will be controlled -- official

WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (KUNA) -- The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the US will be controlled and stopped from spreading, the country's top health official "There is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," said the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Tom Frieden, speaking at a news conference late on Tuesday.
He revealed that the patient, who has been in quarantine since Sunday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and is "critically ill," is a male adult who came from Liberia to visit family in the US. Frieden did not confirm if the patient is a US citizen.
The patient left Liberia on September 19, arrived in Dallas the following day, and did not begin to develop symptoms until September 24. On September 26, he went to see a doctor, and was hospitalized two days later.
Frieden said the next steps are to provide the patient with the best care "as safely as possible," and then identify all the people who may have had contact with him "while he was infectious" and monitor them for 21 days.
He also explained that Ebola "doesn't spread before a patient gets sick, and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the plane." The disease is not transmitted through the air like the influenza virus. Instead it requires contact through bodily fluids.
According to the CDC website, Ebola is a haemorrhagic fever that "is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, feces, vomit, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola objects (like needles and syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus infected animals. Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, food. However, in Africa, Ebola may be spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats." A statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services said it is "working with the CDC, the local health department and the hospital to investigate the case and work to prevent transmission of the disease. The hospital has implemented infection control measures to help ensure the safety of patients and staff." The White House said Tuesday evening that Frieden had updated President Barack Obama on the case.
"The President and Director Frieden discussed the stringent isolation protocols under which the patient is being treated as well as ongoing efforts to trace the patient's contacts to mitigate the risk of additional cases," said the readout of the phone call.
"Dr. Frieden noted that the CDC had been prepared for an Ebola case in the United States, and that we have the infrastructure in place to respond safely and effectively." Some 3,000 Ebola patients have died in West Africa, specifically in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, where the disease has spread to more than 6,000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. (end) ys.rk