Ebola
Stay up to date on the latest Ebola news around the globe.
by dana.ford
Thomas Eric Duncan is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola while inside the United States. The development is the latest in an outbreak that has racked West Africa. Here's what we know:
- Because the early symptoms of Ebola can include abdominal pain, fever and vomiting -- ailments that also come with other illnesses -- there are concerns about how to distinguish between Ebola and, say, the flu.
- Health officials are reaching out to people who may have had contact with Duncan.
- The patient is in serious condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
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NBC cameraman has Ebola
The American freelancer will return to the United States for treatment.
He was hired Tuesday and came down with symptoms on Wednesday, NBC News reports. The network said is was withholding his name at his family's request.
Read the story here. -
CNN's Sanjay Gupta: 'Brand new world'
"We were so used to thinking about Ebola as being relegated to these remotes forests in Central Africa, never really making its way out, and that has clearly changed. It is a brand new world now with regard to Ebola," CNN's chief medical correspondent said.
He predicted the disease would travel all over the world.
However, Gupta said: "The root cause is still in West Africa and that’s where, you know, they got to really flood the zone."
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Dallas Mayor: 'It was a matter of time'
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke to CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday night.
"It was a matter of time before we had a case (of Ebola) in the United States. I’m sorry it was in Dallas, but we’re working hard to make it happen," he said.
"What is necessary right now is that we contain this as much as possible, get a big net on this, and make sure that if anything happens in the future that we contain it and focus on the safety," the mayor said. -
Airline contacting passengers
According to an airline source, United Airlines is voluntarily reaching out to passengers on Thomas Eric Duncan's United flights. Duncan traveled on two United Airlines flights: United Airlines Flight 951, from Brussels to Washington Dulles, and United Airlines Flight 822, from Washington Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth. -
A silver lining?
CNN's John Sutter writes about a possible upside to the news that an Ebola case has been discovered in Dallas: It might catalyze the world to help stop the crisis.
Read his story here. -
#Ebola cannot be spread through air, water, or food in the U.S.
Learn more and get the facts: http://t.co/Cn45X01hMf http://t.co/8owDJhPEcp
Oct. 1, 2014- Reply
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No 'Ebola czar'
The White House is defending the sprawling U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak amid complaints that it's not clear who's in charge of the effort.
Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas told BuzzFeed that lawmakers are struggling to identify who's leading the response to the crisis and who can answer questions about funding for those efforts.He said the Obama administration needs to tap a single leader for those efforts. "I don't think there is a person in charge," Moran said. But the White House said there's no need for an Ebola czar.
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Ebola patient's leaving Liberia was 'unpardonable,' its President says
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told Canadian public broadcaster CBC that she would consult with lawyers to decide what to do with Thomas Eric Duncan when he returns home.
"The fact that he knew (he was exposed to the virus) and he left the country is unpardonable, quite frankly," Johnson Sirleaf told CBC. "I just hope that nobody else gets infected."
"With the U.S. doing so much to help us fight Ebola, and again one of our compatriots didn't take due care, and so, he's gone there and ... put some Americans in a state of fear, and put them at some risk, and so I feel very saddened by that and very angry with him, to tell you the truth."
Read the full story here. -
Throwback
Though Thomas Eric Duncan is the first person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil, other people have been diagnosed with the disease in West Africa and then brought to the United States for treatment. One such person is Nancy Writebol, who recounts her experience and some offers advice here: -
CDC director on borders
"We cannot make the (Ebola) risk zero until the outbreak is controlled in West Africa," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. He went on to say that isolating those countries completely through travel restrictions would make it more difficult to assist in controlling the outbreak, and would eventually put the United States at greater risk.We do not shut our borders to countries affected by #Ebola; didn’t w/ SARS or pandemic H1N1 flu. #CDCChat
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrFriedenCDC) October 2, 2014 -
Extra cleaning at schools
Custodians are stepping up cleanup work at Dallas schools attended by the five students who may have been in contact with a man diagnosed with Ebola.
"We don't think there's any virus at any of those buildings, but we'll take that off the table, so we're doing extra cleaning and disinfecting," said Mike Miles, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District.
Attendance at the schools Thursday was down to about 86%, Miles said. -
Ebola victim's half-brother speaks
Wilfred Smallwood, who says he's a half-brother of U.S. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, said Thursday that he doesn't believe Duncan knew he had Ebola when he left Liberia for the United States. "(It's) what we do in Liberia -- our tradition is to help somebody who needs help," he said when asked about Duncan's contact with Ebola patients.
Smallwood said that when Duncan first visited Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, neither Duncan nor the hospital knew then that he had Ebola. -
Did Ebola patient lie on airport questionnaire?
The health questionnaire contains questions about the passenger's recent contact with Ebola patients. Passengers also are asked whether they've experienced any symptoms consistent with Ebola, such as vomiting, diarrhea or joint pain, in the past couple of days.
See the questionnaire here.
If it's determined that U.S. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan lied on his health screening questionnaire before leaving West Africa, the Liberia Airport Authority "will seek to prosecute," board chairman Binyah Kesselly told CNN on Thursday.
Liberian community leader Tugbeh Chieh Tugbeh has said Duncan was caring for an
Ebola-infected patient at a residence in Paynesville City, just outside
of Monrovia.
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Good afternoon
Thanks for joining us as we talk about Ebola. Here's a great graphic to get us started. It's from the CDC and shows how so-called contact tracing can help stop the disease.Oct. 2, 2014- Reply
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