Ebola Outbreak in US

Sniper · 2014-08-18T00:59:00+00:00

While Ebola is increasingly and becoming deadly in West Africa, fear of its outbreak in the U.S is on the rise too. However, health authorities have confirmed that despite people with symptoms of Ebola will inevitably spread worldwide due to the nature of global airline travel, but any outbreak in the US is not likely to be large. As of August 2014, there is already a case of a man with dual US-Liberian citizenship has died from Ebola, after becoming sick on a plane from Monrovia to Lagos and exposing as many as seven other people in Nigeria. Last month, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian finance ministry employee who was also a naturalized American citizen, brought the virus to Lagos. Sawyer had traveled to Nigeria from Liberia via Togo's capital Lome, and was visibly sick upon arrival at the international airport in Lagos on July 20. As many as seven people who had close contact with Sawyer have fallen ill with Ebola, and one has died. In 1990, Reston virus (abbreviated RESTV) was first described as a new "strain" of Ebola virus (EBOV), as a result of mutation from Ebola virus. Reston virus is named after Reston, Virginia, US, where the virus was first discovered. The incubation period can be up to three weeks. That means that any infected person who got on a plane and made it to the US (either legally via a US airport or illegally through the southern border) is carrying the virus and as soon as they become symptomatic they will be contagious and able to infect others. People who are infected but not yet symptomatic look perfectly healthy and there is no way for airport screeners to know that they are carrying the virus. One of two Americans being treated for Ebola at Emory University Hospital says he is recovering and hopes to be discharged soon. Kent Brantly, a doctor who was infected while treating Ebola patients outside Monrovia, Liberia, said, in a statement Friday, he has made progress in his treatment in a special isolation unit Emory. "I am recovering in every way," he said. Dr. Brantly, 33 years old, of Fort Worth, Texas, was working in Liberia for Samaritan's Purse, a faith-based charity that operates a hospital and campus there. He had been in Liberia since October 2013 as part of a post-residency program and began treating Ebola patients when the outbreak erupted. He developed symptoms of Ebola on July 23 and isolated himself. The second American Ebola patient at Emory, Nancy Writebol, 59, is also improving, according to a statement from her husband provided through the faith-based charity the two work for, SIM USA. "Each time I talk to her, her voice is clearer and brighter," said David Writebol. "She is getting better and stronger. She is moving in the right direction, and from everything I hear, she's making good progress." Ebola first emerged in 1976, and has killed more than 1,500 people since then. Within weeks, the death toll from this outbreak alone is expected to surpass that number. Source: google ourlives

Thread starter Sniper
Start date Aug 18, 2014

Sniper

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Ebola Outbreak in US

Sniper

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