This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ebola-first-case-of-deadly-virus-diagnosed-in-us-9766084.html

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Ebola: First case of deadly virus diagnosed in US Ebola: First case of deadly virus diagnosed in US
(about 1 hour later)
The first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in the United States, health authorities confirmed last night. A patient has been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus on US soil for the first time, according to federal health officials in Texas. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the case on Tuesday afternoon, a day after the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas announced that it was testing a patient for Ebola.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas officials said that an unnamed patient was being tested for Ebola and had been placed in “strict isolation” due to the patient's symptoms and recent travel history. The unnamed man is thought to have been infected in Liberia before travelling to the US, where he first exhibited symptoms of the virus a few days later. He is being kept in isolation. Several American doctors and aid workers who were infected while tackling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa have recently returned home to be treated at US hospitals.
The World Health Organisation has confirmed more than 3,000 Ebola-related deaths in West Africa during the current outbreak, which has spread to five countries: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The first was Fort Worth physician Dr Kent Brantly, who became infected while working in Liberia, and recovered after being moved to a hospital in Atlanta. President Barack Obama said last month that the US would offer military and medical help to combat the disease.
Fort Worth physician Dr Kent Brantly, who became infected while working in Liberia, recovered after being moved to a hospital in Atlanta. President Barack Obama said last month that the US would offer military and medical help to combat the disease. In what is the world’s worst ever outbreak of the virus, the World Health Organisation estimates that Ebola has killed 3,091 people and infected more than 6,500 since a two-year-old boy became the first to die in Guinea last December. The virus then spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. A single case was confirmed in Senegal in August, though the infected patient survived.
Several other U.S. hospitals have previously raised alerts in connection with patients who presented Ebola-like symptoms, but all those cases tested negative for the virus. CDC officials announced on Tuesday that the virus has now been successfully contained in Nigeria, where eight people have died of Ebola since July. Thanks to its quick, efficient response to the outbreak, Nigeria has a cure rate of 60 per cent, with 11 of its 19 confirmed Ebola patients surviving. There have been no new cases in the country since 5 September.
Twelve other people in the US have been tested for Ebola in recent months, but each tested negative. Health officials in Texas have said the chances of an outbreak of the virus in Dallas are extremely slim. Dr Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, said at a press conference on Tuesday evening, “I have no doubt that we will control this importation of this case of Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country.”