Following the first diagnosis of the Ebola virus in the US, health officials have come out to say that more Ebola cases is very likely within the US, and this is not unconnected with the travel of infected persons from areas of West Africa where the epidemic has been most pronounced. The unnamed infected man has been hospitalized at a Dallas hospital when he started showing signs of the Ebola virus following his visit to the hospital on arrival from Liberia.
The patient diagnosed with the first Ebola case in the US had arrived the US September 20 from Liberia, and had started showing symptoms by September 24, and he was hospitalized at the Dallas hospital on September 28 following ample evidence that he had the disease. But according to experts, he could not have infected anyone while in the plane or during his journey because the virus was still incubating within his body and the disease does not spread until there are visible symptoms. Family members that he came in contact with within September 24-28 have however been tracked and currently undergoing temperature monitoring to determine if they will show the Ebola symptoms within the next 21 days.
According to a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University Medical Center, Jesse L. Goodman, “I would expect that so long as there is such a widespread epidemic in Africa, that even with good screening at the airports, it’s possible there will be additional cases. This is a global public health emergency, and I think this indicates that. We can’t be vigilant enough about this, or be overconfident…everybody needs to stay on top of this.”
And although there have been false Ebola alarms within the US in recent times, the president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, Rich Umbdenstock states that “every hospital has plans in place to care for patients with infectious diseases, and hospitals across the nation have been and will continue to update their policies as we learn more.”
Leave a Reply