It is important for health care providers to stay informed about Ebola, to make sure they have the right information, and to strictly follow all relevant protocols, said President Barack Obama in brief comments to the press on Oct. 6.
CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith
In his Oct. 6 comments, President Obama said the chances of an Ebola virus epidemic in the United States are “extraordinarily low,” because “we know what has to be done, and we’ve got the medical infrastructure to do it.”
The importance of such diligence was further highlighted the same day when a Spanish nurse who was caring for an Ebola patient tested positive for Ebola in Madrid, marking the first case of Ebola virus transmission outside of West Africa.
Meanwhile, Thomas Eric Duncan, the 42-year-old Liberian man who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus in Texas Sept. 30, began receiving the investigational drug brincidofovir on Oct. 4, according to a statement from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where he’s in an isolation unit. He is still in critical but stable condition. Brincidofovir is an oral antiviral drug that works by keeping viruses from creating additional copies of themselves, according to its maker, Chimerix.
Federal and Texas officials continue to closely monitor 10 people who have had contact with Mr. Duncan. Another 38 individuals also are being monitored for fever. No one has showed any signs or symptoms so far.
Since the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, there have been more than 7,400 cases and 3,400 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, according to the CDC.
Meanwhile, there are examples of a successful fight against the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization recently highlighted the example of a Guinean district that stopped the spread of Ebola. Guinea has had more than 1,200 cases of Ebola so far and more than 700 deaths.
“Ebola represents a pressing global health crisis, but more are certain to follow,” wrote Dr. Andrew S. Boozary and his colleagues in a commentary in JAMA.
“The outcomes of the next several months will reveal the capacity to forge effective partnerships across borders and disciplines, and the extent of the commitment to value all human lives equally,” they wrote.
In another perspective, policy experts at the Kaiser Family Foundation expressed their concern with the growth of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
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“Unfortunately, the story these estimates and projections tell is an exceedingly grim one, and should create an even greater incentive for the world as a whole to respond to this still-growing crisis,” they wrote. “The numbers are stark enough, but they only hint at the full weight of the massive and growing toll that Ebola has inflicted on the people in affected countries and communities.”
In his Oct. 6 comments, President Obama said the chances of an epidemic in the United States are “extraordinarily low,” because “we know what has to be done, and we’ve got the medical infrastructure to do it.”
He said that protocols are in the works to do additional passenger screening at the source (affected West African countries) and in the United States, adding that he looked forward to the collaboration from other countries in stopping the epidemic in West Africa.
“Let’s keep in mind that as we speak there are children on the streets dying. Thousands of them,” he said. “Obviously, my first job is to make sure that we’re taking care of the American people, but we have a larger role than that. We also have an obligation that those children and their families are safe as well, because ultimately the best thing we can do for our public health is also to extend the kind of empathy, compassion, and effort so that folks in those countries as well can get rid of this disease.”
Helpful links:
Information for health care workers
Latest outbreak information in West Africa
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
American College of Emergency Physicians
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