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 The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on
Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters. He was
admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
U.S. health officials and lawmakers have been bracing for the
eventuality that a patient would arrive on U.S. shores undetected,
testing the preparedness of the nation's healthcare system. On
Tuesday, Frieden and other health authorities said they were taking
every step possible to ensure the virus did not spread widely.
"It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this
individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden told a
news conference. "I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in
the United States."
Frieden said a handful of people, mostly family members, may have
been exposed to the patient after he fell ill and that health
authorities were tracking down anyone who might have had contact
with the man. The emergency responders who transported the man to
the hospital have been quarantined, according to a statement from
Dallas city officials.
He said there was likely no threat to any airline passengers because
the patient had no symptoms during his flight. Asked whether the
patient was a U.S. citizen, Frieden described the person as a
visitor to family in the country.
At least 3,091 people have died from Ebola in the worst outbreak on
record that has been ravaging Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in
West Africa. More than 6,500 cases have been diagnosed, and the CDC
has warned that the number of infections could rise to as many as
1.4 million people by early next year without a massive global
intervention to contain the virus.
U.S. hospitals have treated, and released, three aid workers who
were infected in Africa and flown back to the United States under
strict medical supervision in a specially outfitted airplane.
A fourth person is being treated at Emory University Hospital in
Atlanta, Georgia and a fifth person who may have been exposed to the
virus is under observation at the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Maryland.
President Barack Obama discussed the Dallas case with Frieden on
Tuesday, the White House said.
GLOBAL SECURITY ISSUE
The Ebola outbreak has overwhelmed health systems in Africa, one of
the world's poorest regions, prompting the U.S. government and other
nations to send funds, supplies and personnel to stop its spread.
The Dallas case "underscores that Ebola is a global and national
security issue and that we need to double-down on our efforts to
help West Africa get this outbreak under control,” Gerald Parker,
vice president for Public Health Preparedness and Response at Texas
A&M Health Science Center, said in an interview.
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Frieden has said U.S. hospitals are well prepared to handle Ebola
patients and has assured the public that the virus should not pose
the same threat in the United States as it does in Africa.
“Americans need to remain calm and listen to the precautionary
measures being suggested by the CDC," said Senator Chris Coons, a
Democrat from Delaware who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on African Affairs.
"It was only a matter of time before an Ebola case would emerge here
in the United States, but as we’re seeing in Dallas today, our
public health system has the resources, capabilities, and knowledge
to address and contain this virus quickly and safely."
Ebola symptoms generally appear between two and 21 days after
infection, meaning there is a significant window during which an
infected person can escape detection, allowing them to travel.
Symptoms include fever, vomiting and diarrhea.
This outbreak has killed about 50 percent of its victims. In past
outbreaks, fatality rates have been as high as 90 percent.
Frieden emphasized that Ebola cannot be spread through the air but
only through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, diarrhea and
tears.
He said that CDC and other health officials were discussing whether
to treat the Ebola patient with an experimental drug.
Stocks in Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp and other small biotechnology
companies working on Ebola therapies or vaccines rose on the news of
the U.S. Ebola patient in after-hours trading.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Sharon Begley in New
York; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Lisa
Maria Garza in Dallas; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa
Shumaker)
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