https://youtube.com/watch?v=rplrH8TQYjY
The Center for Disease Control confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that an unidentified man at a Dallas hospital tested positive for the Ebola virus – the first-ever diagnosis of the deadly disease in the United States.
According to local news reports, the patient has been under “strict isolation” at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since September 29, when he first exhibited symptoms of the virus. Officials said he recently returned Liberia, a country ravaged by the virus.
“We all had been planning to look at what our next steps are if there is a confirmed case,” local Health and Human Services official Zachary Thompson told CBS. “Again, we have to do the public health follow up to see what contacts, where this individual has gone since they arrived here in Dallas. There are a number of things that have to be looked at.”
During a press conference at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, director Tom Frieden explained that the individual had no symptoms when traveling by air from Liberia to the United States, and remained asymptomatic immediately after his return. It wasn’t until September 23, he said, that Ebola symptoms began to present themselves. The patient was not admitted to the hospital until 5 days later, on September 28.
Frieden added that all others who came in contact with the patient while he or she was infectious have been contacted and will be closely monitored. ”I have no doubt that we will control this importation — or this case — of Ebola so it does not spread widely in this country,” he said, though he added that the “handful” of people who came in contact with the individual ”could develop Ebola in the coming weeks.”
The CDC director later described the patient’s condition as “critically ill.”
A handful of Ebola patients — largely humanitarian aid workers and health professionals – have already been treated in the United States. But they were all diagnosed in West Africa and transported to the country under strict quarantine controls. This patient has been isolated from others only since Monday night.