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CDC confirms first case of Ebola in the U.S. As Ebola confirmed in U.S., CDC vows: ‘We’re stopping it in its tracks’
(35 minutes later)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Tuesday the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States. Months after the Ebola epidemic began ravaging West African countries, it was diagnosed for the first time in the United States, bringing home a crisis that has already killed thousands and infected thousands more.
"An individual traveling from Liberia has been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States," Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon. A man who had flown from Liberia to Dallas earlier this month was diagnosed Tuesday with the disease, health officials announced, even as they stressed that they are confident they will control this case and keep it from spreading as widely in the U.S. as it has in other countries.
State and federal health officials announcing the confirmed case repeatedly stressed the difficulties of contracting Ebola, which can be spread through bodily fluids or infected animals but not through the air or by water. "We're stopping it in its tracks in this country," Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, declared during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
This person who is infected left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. the following day to visit family in this country. The person, who was not identified, had no symptoms at the time and began showing symptoms about four days after arriving in the U.S. The man who is infected, who was not identified, left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. the following day to visit family members. Health officials are working to identify everyone who may have been exposed to this man. Frieden said this covered just a "handful" of people, a group that will be watched for three weeks to see if any symptoms emerge.
"The bottom line here is that I have no doubt that we will control this importation, or this case of Ebola, so that it does not spread widely in this country," he said. "It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here." "The bottom line here is that I have no doubt that we will control this importation, or this case of Ebola, so that it does not spread widely in this country," Frieden said. "It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here."
This is the first time Ebola has been diagnosed in the U.S. and the first time someone was diagnosed with this particular strain outside of Africa, he said. Still, health officials expressed optimism going forward. There were more than 6,500 reported cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as of Tuesday, and the crisis has been blamed for more than 3,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola was first identified in 1976, and the current outbreak in West Africa is considered the largest and most complex in the history of the virus, with more cases and deaths than every other outbreak combined.
"We're stopping it in its tracks in this country," Frieden said. Until now, the only known cases of Ebola in the U.S. involved American doctors and aid workers who were infected and returned to the country for treatment. One of them, Richard Sacra, was discharged last week from a Nebraska hospital. Days later, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda admitted an American physician who was exposed to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. There were reports of possible Ebola patients in New York, California, New Mexico and Miami, but all of them tested negative for the virus.
The patient with Ebola is being treated in intensive care, according to Edward Goodman, the hospital epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas The unidentified person with Ebola is being treated in intensive care at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, according to Edward Goodman, the hospital's epidemiologist.
The man sought medical care on Sept. 26, but was sent home. He was admitted to the hospital two days later and placed into isolation. People who traveled on the same plane as this man are not in danger because he had his temperature checked before the flight and was not symptomatic at the time, Frieden said. Ebola is only contagious if the person has symptoms, and can be spread through bodily fluids or infected animals but not through the air.
Health officials are going to work to identify everyone who may have been exposed to this patient, Frieden said. This group, described as a "handful" of people by Frieden, will be watched for three weeks to see if any symptoms emerge. "There is zero risk of transmission on the flight," Frieden said.
People who traveled on the flight with this man are not in danger because the patient was not symptomatic at the time. Frieden said the man's temperature was checked before departing on the plane. Still, the fact that the disease has been confirmed on American soil immediately sparked fears in the U.S., turning a public health crisis from a faraway news story to something that makes people reach for Purell and facemasks. But experts said it was impossible to imagine that Ebola, which a CDC estimate projects could infect up to half a million people by January, would remain completely outside the country's borders.
"There is zero risk of transmission on the flight," Frieden said. “It was inevitable once the outbreak exploded,” said Thomas Geisbert, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, who has researched the Ebola virus for decades. “Unless you were going to shut down to shut down airports and keep people from leaving [West Africa], it’s hard to stop somebody from getting on a plane.”
Frieden declined to say if the person with Ebola is a U.S. citizen. This man was visiting and staying with family members, he said. He is not believed to have been involved in the Ebola response, Frieden said. But Geisbert quickly underscored how unlikely the virus is to spread in the United States. For starters, he said, officials placed the sick man in quarantine quickly in order to isolate him from potentially infecting others. In addition, health workers are already contacting and monitoring any other people he might have had contact with in recent days.
"Remember, Ebola does not spread from someone who's not infectious," said Frieden, who has visited the West African region ravaged by Ebola. "It does not spread from someone who does not have a fever or other symptoms." “The system that was put in place worked the way it was supposed to work,” Geisbert said.
David Lakey, head of the Texas Department of Health Services, said the state's laboratory in Austin, Tex., was certified last month to do Ebola testing. That laboratory received a blood sample from the patient on Tuesday morning and confirmed it was Ebola shortly after 1 p.m., he said. That doesn’t guarantee that no one else will get infected, because the sick person could have transmitted the disease to someone else before being isolated. But that approach almost certainly ensures that the United States will quickly contain the disease.
The Texas Department of Health Services said that the patient is at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history is centered in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, though there is a separate outbreak in Congo. Unlike in West Africa, where the affected countries have fragile or barely existent health care systems, where people are being turned away from treatment centers, where family members are caring directly with those sick and dying from Ebola, the U.S. is far more equipped to isolate anyone with the virus and provide the highest level of care.
The test, the Texas health department said, was conducted at the state public health laboratory in Austin and later confirmed by the CDC. For months, the CDC has been conducting briefings for hospitals and clinicians about the proper protocol for diagnosing patients suspected of having the virus, as well as the kinds of infection control measures to manage hospitalized patients known or suspected of having the disease. Many procedures involve the same types of infection control that major hospitals are already supposed to have in place.
In the statement, the health department said: Early recognition is a critical element of infection control. Symptoms include fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea and contact within 21 days before onset of symptoms with the blood or other bodily fluids or human remains of someone known or suspected of having the disease or travel to an area where transmission is active.
The CDC recommends that individuals protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are ill with Ebola. DSHS also encourages health care providers to ask patients about recent travel and consider Ebola in patients with fever and a history of travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and some parts of Nigeria within 21 days of the onset of symptoms. The CDC also has scheduled more training for U.S. workers who either plan on volunteering in West Africa or want to be prepared in the event that cases surface at their own hospitals.
The CDC recommends that individuals protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are ill with Ebola. DSHS also encourages health care providers to ask patients about recent travel and consider Ebola in patients with fever and a history of travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and some parts of Nigeria within 21 days of the onset of symptoms. Frieden said that the man who is infected did not develop symptoms until about four days after arriving in the country. This man sought medical care on Sept. 26 but was sent home. He was admitted to the hospital two days later before being placed into isolation. Frieden, who would not say if the man was a U.S. citizen, said the man is not believed to have been in the response to the Ebola outbreak.
The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history is centered in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, where it has killed more than 3,000 people and infected thousands of others. There is a separate outbreak in Congo. David Lakey, head of the Texas Department of Health Services, said the state's laboratory in Austin, Tex., received a blood sample from the patient on Tuesday morning and confirmed the presence of Ebola several hours later. This laboratory was certified to do Ebola testing last month.
No Ebola cases had been confirmed in the United States previously, although several American doctors and aid workers who were infected in West Africa have returned home for treatment. One of them, Richard Sacra, was discharged last week from a Nebraska hospital.
Days later, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda admitted an American physician who was exposed to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone.
Possible Ebola patients who were tested in New York, California, New Mexico and Miami all tested negative for the virus.
Here is a video showing how the Ebola virus works:Here is a video showing how the Ebola virus works:
And here is more on the spread:And here is more on the spread:
Sarah Larimer, Todd C. Frankel and Brady Dennis contributed to this report.Sarah Larimer, Todd C. Frankel and Brady Dennis contributed to this report.
[This post has been updated multiple times.][This post has been updated multiple times.]
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View Photo Gallery —As the overall death toll rises to more than 2,800, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus could potentially infect 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone by the end of January.View Photo Gallery —As the overall death toll rises to more than 2,800, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus could potentially infect 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone by the end of January.