(CNN) -- For the first time, a patient in an American hospital has been diagnosed with Ebola.
The unidentified man, who is being treated at a Dallas hospital, didn't show symptoms until after four or five days of arriving in the United States from Liberia.
Officials are being tight-lipped about how he contracted the virus or how he's being treated, citing privacy concerns.
But shortly after the news broke Tuesday evening, more than 50,000 tweets about Ebola flew through Twitter in a one-hour period, many of them panicked responses.
Should we be concerned?
The short answer: no.
Now let's get to the long answer.
Could the patient's fellow passengers be infected?
The patient being treated in Texas flew from one of the Ebola hot zones -- Liberia -- to Dallas.
But his fellow passengers aren't thought to be at risk because you can only contract Ebola through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who's actively sick with with it.
It's not like a cold or the flu, which can be spread before symptoms show up. And it doesn't spread through the air.
"It's very unlikely that (Ebola victims) would be able to spread the disease to fellow passengers," said Stephen Monroe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What's to stop other Ebola patients getting on a flight and coming here?
The CDC has issued warnings to avoid nonessential travel toLiberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the countries grappling most with the outbreak.
And it's also working with airport officials in those nations, and in Nigeria, so every person getting on a plane is screened for fever.
"And if they have a fever, they are pulled out of the line, assessed for Ebola and don't fly unless Ebola is ruled out," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said.
Hey Murph,
ReplyDeleteThe election is just a month away. Why not invite Hurley and Cunningham to post letters outlining their accomplishments and listing their goals for the next legislative session. You could also ask them to state their positions on pension reform, retiree healthcare, abortion, and other specific issues important to the 19th ward..
Why would the government allow an infected patient into this country. Take the "humanitarian" aspect out of the equation and then justify the risk untold numbers of people are subjected to. Yesterday's news conference from the CDC did little to make me feel more secure about the air we breathe. Its more bullshit from the Obama administration. Unless you know the specific cause and the specific cure for this virus, all those infected should be isolated and quarantined from coming into the United States. And that goes for the other virus that seems to be stemmed from our unsecured southern border and brought here by those little Louie Guittierez wants to let in. Immigration Reform my ass.
ReplyDeletethe picture says it all,its a shinola,
ReplyDelete