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 The first patient diagnosed with the disease on U.S. soil, Thomas
Eric Duncan, remained in critical condition in a Dallas hospital, as
Obama was briefed by agencies involved in fighting the spread of the
deadly virus.
The president said it was important to follow existing protocols
strictly.
"But we're also going to be working on protocols to do additional
passenger screening, both at the source and here in the United
States," Obama said.
However, the White House said that a ban on travel from West African
countries, which some U.S. officials have called for, would slow the
fight against Ebola.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said officials did not want to
impede transport systems used to send supplies and personnel to the
hardest-hit countries in West Africa, so a travel ban was not being
considered.
Airlines for America, a Washington-based trade group, separately
said it would meet health and safety officials on Monday to discuss
whether additional screening procedures anywhere in the world might
help improve on those already in place.
Authorities in the United States and the public are on alert
following Duncan's diagnosis just over a week ago, raising concerns
that the worst epidemic of Ebola on record could spread from West
Africa.
Duncan - who flew to the United States via Brussels and Washington
from Liberia after helping a woman who later died of Ebola - is
fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital. The Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital initially sent him away with antibiotics, only
to have him return two days later in an ambulance.
Health officials said none of the 10 people who were being monitored
after having had direct contact with Duncan are so far showing signs
of Ebola symptoms. Ebola, which can cause fever, vomiting and
diarrhea, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood
or saliva.
Concern about the virus is also high in Europe, where the first case
of Ebola being contracted outside of West Africa was reported on
Monday. Spanish health officials said a nurse who treated a priest
repatriated to Madrid with Ebola last month, and who died of the
disease, had also been infected.
Texas Health Presbyterian said on Monday has been receiving the
experimental drug brincidofovir since Saturday.
The drug was developed by Chimerix Inc, which said it has been
tested in more than 1,000 patients without raising safety concerns.
"Chimerix has brincidofovir tablets available for immediate use in
clinical trials," the company said in a statement.
People leaving Ebola-affected countries are asked to fill out a
questionnaire on whether they have symptoms such as a high fever and
whether or not they have had any contact with someone who was
diagnosed with Ebola. In Liberia, at least, they also are scanned
for fever.
Obama said on Monday that "the chances of an outbreak - of an
epidemic here are extraordinarily low." He also said some other
countries were not doing enough to fight the disease at its source
in West Africa.
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"I'll be honest with you: Although we have seen interest on the part
of the international community, we have not seen other countries
step up," the president said. "We've had some small countries that
are punching above their weight on this but we've got some large
countries that aren't doing enough.”
PASSENGER CHECKS
Several health experts and lawmakers have asked the administration
to consider enhancing U.S. airport and customs screenings, including
checking travelers using handheld fever scanners.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, announcing the formation of a state task
force on infectious diseases Monday, said that there were "mistakes"
with handling the Ebola diagnosis in Dallas, but defended the
state’s overall public health management.
"I stand by the fact that the process is working," Perry said. "We
don’t have an outbreak. We have one event that is being handled
properly.”
Perry also called for enhanced screening procedures by U.S. Customs
and Border Patrol agents, including "obtaining more information
about people who are coming from affected areas and taking
appropriate steps upon arrival."
The death toll from the disease has been rising in three
impoverished West African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Guinea. The current Ebola outbreak has killed at least 3,439 people
since it began in March, out of nearly 7,500 confirmed, probable and
suspected cases.
In addition to those three countries, the tally includes Nigeria and
Senegal, where Ebola is believed to have been contained, and the one
case in the United States.
Meanwhile, the fifth American to contract Ebola in West Africa
arrived in the United States for treatment on Monday. A private
plane carrying Ashoka Mukpo, 33, a freelance television cameraman
for NBC News, landed in Omaha from Liberia and was taken to the
Nebraska Medical Center.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Heavey and Mohammad
Zargham in Washington, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas and Lisa
Marie Garza in Dallas, Jeffrey Dastin and Sharon Begley in New York;
Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jonathan
Oatis)
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