This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Ebola patient Craig Spencer's condition upgraded to 'stable'
Sorry - this page has been removed.
(5 months later)
The condition of the only person in the US currently being treated for Ebolahas been upgraded to stable, as a Dallas nurse who recovered from the disease was reunited with her dog after a quarantine.
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
In New York City, the condition of Dr Craig Spencer, 33, who has been in an isolation unit at the city’s Bellevue hospital since 23 October, was has improved to “stable” from “serious but stable”, hospital officials said.
Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola, which has killed almost 5,000 people in west Africa, several days after returning to New York from Guinea, where he had worked with Ebola patients.
For further information, please contact:
Fears that the disease could spread in the US were highlighted by public attention to the case of nurse Nina Pham, whose dog was put into quarantine when she contracted Ebola from Thomas Duncan, a Liberian patient she was treating in a Dallas hospital.
US states and federal health officials have issued a plethora of differing protocols for those considered at risk of developing the infection.
In the latest case, an Oregon woman with a high temperature was hospitalised in an isolation unit on Friday for a possible Ebola infection after returning from West Africa, Oregon health officials said. She had not come into known contact with Ebola patients while in Africa, the officials added.
In the biggest tussle so far over Ebola measures, a Maine judge on Friday rejected a state request to quarantine non-infectious nurse Kaci Hickox, who recently returned home from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and fought a public battle against being confined for 21 days.
The judge in Maine, Charles C LaVerdiere, decried the “misconceptions, misinformation, bad science and bad information” circulating about the lethal disease in the US.
As the state police cruisers that had been posted outside Hickox’s home pulled away, she stepped outside on Friday to thank LaVerdiere and said she planned to spend a quiet night indoors watching a Halloween movie.
The Hickox case highlighted the dilemma over how to balance public health needs and personal liberty. Canada and Australia have both barred entry for citizens from three west African countries where the disease is widespread.
The most deadly outbreak of the disease on record has focused, with only a handful of exceptions, on Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
U. public health experts, the United Nations, federal officials and President Barack Obama have expressed concern that state quarantines for returning doctors and nurses could discourage potential medical volunteers from fighting the outbreak at its source in West Africa.
On Friday the Pentagon said that civilian U. defense employees returning from Ebola relief work in West Africa must undergo monitoring to ensure they are free of disease but can choose between following civil health guidelines or the stricter military regimen.
