The person in charge at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) delivered news that’s going to incite further panic and confirm what many Americans feared most: The Ebola virus is likely spreading despite extensive precautions and preventative measures.
Nearly 50 people in Dallas could test positive for the deadly Ebola virus in the coming days, said Tom Frieden of the CDC, according to TheBlaze.com. At last count, at least 48 people (and perhaps more) came in contact wit the now deceased Liberian resident Thomas Eric Duncan who snuck into the United States to visit relatives and attend his son’s high school graduation.
Duncan died from the fatal disease that he contracted while living in Liberia in West Africa, then lied to Liberian government officials when asked if he had come in contact with individuals who had contracted Ebola. It was later determined that Duncan had helped a pregnant neighbor who tested positive for Ebola to catch a cab in Liberia and get to the hospital. She later died, the media confirmed.
The CDC reported a Dallas nurse who had extensive contact with Duncan while he was hospitalized at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital — despite the fact she was wearing protective gear. The CDC says there were “breeches in protocol” that enabled the virulent disease to transmit from Duncan to the nurse, TheBlaze.com said.
Both agencies have denied that Ebola can travel airborne, but only from close intimate contact from one human to another.
“We’re very concerned,” Frieden said at a news briefing at CDC headquarters in Atlanta. ”Our thoughts are with the health care worker.”
Frieden said they caught the virus in the Dallas nurse at its earliest stages.
“Unfortunately, it is possible in the coming days we will see additional cases of Ebola,” Frieden said. “The risk is in the 48 people who are being monitored, all of whom have been tested daily, none of whom so far have developed symptoms or fever,”
Others who cared for Duncan could be most at risk. Some of these workers could have had a breach in contamination control similar to the one that led to the nurse being infected, Frieden added.
“But at some point there was a breach in protocol and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection.”
“It appears at this time that there is only one (person) who may have had contact with her,” Frieden said. “That individual is under active monitoring.” Frieden said the CDC has sent additional staff to Dallas to assist with the response. “The care of Ebola can be done safely, but it is hard to do it safely,” Frieden said. “It requires meticulous and scrupulous attention to infection control and even a single innocent, inadvertent slip can result in contamination.
“The key to stopping the spread of the disease is to “break the chains of transmission,” he said.”This involves promptly diagnosing anyone who has symptoms of the disease, isolating that individual, identifying everyone this person came in contact with and actively monitor those people over a 21-day period. If any of these contacts comes down with Ebola symptoms, then the same process starts over again.
“That’s how we have stopped every Ebola outbreak in history, except the one in West Africa,” Frieden said.
“That’s how we stopped it in Lagos, Nigeria. That’s how we will stop it in Dallas.” added David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“I firmly believe we will stop it,” Lakey said. “Our hearts really do go out to this individual and to the family,” he added. “She was a health care worker who was willing to compassionately care for Mr. Duncan. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
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