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466 postsEbola is a disease caused by an ebolavirus. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Victims bleed both within the body and externally. From 1976 through 2013, the World Health Organization reported a total of 1,716 cases. In 2013 an outbreak started in Guinea, spreading to neighboring African countries and infectied doctors, some of who were transported back to the US for treatment. The virus continues to claim victims as it spreads to more countries.
An inmate at Cobb County Jail in Atlanta is being tested for the virus. The person was arrested for a DUI overnight and told officials he had recently traveled to Africa after he developed a fever while in custody.
The D.C. Department of Health says there are no confirmed Ebola cases in D.C. It is working with the CDC and Howard University Hospital to monitor ‘any patients displaying symptoms associated with the Ebola virus.’
Mukpo’s father confirms that he will be transported to the isolation unit at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Sunday, the same facility where Rick Sacra was treated. His mother, Diana Mukpo:
[He is] very, very frightened, but his spirits are relatively good. We intend to go wherever he ends up.
A person who traveled to the U.S. from Nigeria is hospitalized at Howard University Hospital in Washington with possible Ebola symptoms. Hospital spokesperson:
We can confirm that a patient has been admitted to Howard University Hospital in stable condition, following travel to Nigeria and presenting with symptoms that could be associated with Ebola. In an abundance of caution, we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient. Our medical team continues to evaluate and monitor progress in close collaboration with the CDC and the Department of Health.
The hospital is unable to reveal more due to privacy reasons.
A Hazmat team from the private company Cleaning Guys arrives at the apartment where Duncan was staying. Louise Troh, her son Timothy Wayne, 13, nephew Oliver Smallwood, 21, and his friend Jeffrey Cole, are among 10 people legally ordered to stay inside. The team plans to dispose of bedsheets, a mattress, and clothes that Duncan brought from Liberia to prevent his bodily fluids from contacting other people in the apartment. Dallas County Fire Marshall Robert De Los Santos:
The family is in good spirits and they are being closely monitored. Our ultimate aim is to move those people out of this apartment but we don’t know when
Health officials say it’s likely more people will travel to the U.S. carrying Ebola. Georgetown University Medical Center infectious disease specialist Jesse L. Goodman:
I would expect that so long as there is such a widespread epidemic in Africa, that even with good screening at the airports, etc., it’s possible there will be additional cases. This is a global public health emergency, and I think this indicates that.
The man identified as the first Ebola patient in the U.S. was incubating the disease when he traveled from Liberia to Dallas on Sept. 19-20, but he showed no symptoms while he was traveling, so his fellow travelers are not at risk.
United is contacting passengers who flew in and out of Dulles with Duncan and telling them how to contact health officials. United officials decline to say how many passengers were on the flights. The Brussels-to-Dulles flight used a Boeing 777 with 266 seats and the flight to Dallas used an Airbus A320 with 138 seats. United did a routine overnight ‘thorough cleaning’ after the flights:
Including cleaning of lavatories and galleys with heavy-duty all-purpose cleaners and wiping tray tables and armrests with disinfectant … We continue to clean and route the planes throughout our network as usual.
The number of people being screened in Dallas increases to around 100. CDC Director Frieden says only a ‘handful’ of people who had contact with Duncan have been identified. Most of the 100 people haven’t been ordered to stay home however officials say they ordered four of Duncan’s family members to remain in their home as the family disobeyed their request to stay there. The family was examined Thursday and hadn’t developed symptoms. A law enforcement official is stationed outside their apartment to make sure they don’t leave.
Liberia will prosecute Duncan for allegedly lying on an airport questionnaire about not having any contact with an infected person. He filled out a series of questions about his health and activities on Sept. 19, answering no to all of them. The form asked whether he had cared for an Ebola patient or touched the body of anyone who had died in an area affected by Ebola.Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the board of directors of the Liberia Airport Authority in Monrovia:
We expect people to do the honorable thing.
The agency obtained permission from the Ministry of Justice to pursue the matter.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci tells CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper that Texas Health Presbyterian made a mistake by releasing Duncan:
A travel history was taken, but it wasn’t communicated to the people who were making the decision. … It was a mistake. They dropped the ball. You don’t want to pile on them, but hopefully this will never happen again. … The CDC has been vigorously emphasizing the need for a travel history.
The CDC has issued a nationwide alert to hospitals updating them on how to appropriately respond to possible Ebola cases after Duncan was sent home after contracting the virus. CDC director Frieden:
It’s a teachable moment.
The guidance includes a poster with quick rules for evaluating returned travelers and a checklist.
American freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo tests positive for Ebola in Liberia. Mukpo, working as second cameraman for NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, will return to the U.S. for treatment. Mukpo is the fifth American diagnosed with Ebola in West Africa. NBC News President Deborah Turness’ note to NBC staff:
As you know, Dr. Nancy Snyderman and our news team are in Liberia covering the Ebola outbreak. One of the members of their crew is an American freelance cameraman who has worked in Liberia for the past three years and has recently been covering the epidemic for US media outlets. On Tuesday he began working with our team. Today, he tested positive for Ebola.
We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients. We are consulting with the CDC, Medicins Sans Frontieres and others. And we are working with Dr. Nancy on the ground in Liberia.
We are also taking all possible measures to protect our employees and the general public. The rest of the crew, including Dr. Nancy, are being closely monitored and show no symptoms or warning signs. However, in an abundance of caution, we will fly them back on a private charter flight and then they will place themselves under quarantine in the United States for 21 days – which is at the most conservative end of the spectrum of medical guidance.
We know you share our concern for our colleagues and we will continue to keep you up to date and informed. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or David Verdi with any questions.
Duncan won’t be given ZMapp, as all the dosages currently in existence have already been used. ZMapp is manufacturing more supplies, but the drug takes months to produce.
A friend who speaks with Duncan says he is ‘all right’ but hasn’t eaten in a week:
He is in pain.
Health Presbyterian says he remains in serious condition.
Medical officials say a patient is being treated at The Queens Medical Centre in Honolulu. Dr. Melissa Viray, deputy state epidemiologist:
We are early in the investigation of a patient — very, very early — who we’re investigating that might have Ebola. It’s very possible that they do and they have Ebola. I think it’s also more likely that they have another condition that presents with similar symptoms.
She says the patient could have a number of illnesses including Ebola, flu, malaria and typhoid. The public should not be concerned:
Like I said, this is a possible case we’re investigating. We don’t know if this is Ebola or a number of other conditions.
Duncan helped transport Ebola patient Marthalene Williams to hospital in Monrovia on Sept. 15, four days before traveling to the U.S. Marthalene’s family took her by taxi to a hospital with Duncan’s help after failing to get an ambulance as she was convulsing and seven months pregnant, according to her parents, Emmanuel and Amie Williams. Duncan, who was the family’s friend and tenant, rode in the taxi in the front passenger seat while Marthalene, Emmanuel and her brother, Sonny Boy, shared the back seat. A neighbour says Duncan then helped carry Ms. Williams, who was no longer able to walk, back to the family home that evening:
He was holding her by the legs, the pa was holding her arms and Sonny Boy was holding her back.
Sonny Boy developed Ebola symptoms around the same time as Duncan, and died on the way to hospital in an ambulance.
Health officials are closely monitoring a second person in Dallas County who had close contact with the first Ebola patient confirmed in the U.S. Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services:
The fact that we have one confirmed case, there may be another case that is a close associate with this particular patient. So this is real. There should be a concern, but it’s contained to the specific family members and close friends at this moment.
The WHO says that 3,338 people in West Africa have died of confirmed, suspected or probable Ebola through Sept. 28. A total of 7,178 cases have been reported. It says the situation in Guinea appears to have stabilized somewhat, but the epidemic is growing in Sierra Leone and likely also in Liberia.
Dr. Mark Gendreau of Peabody’s Lahey Medical Center says U.S. hospitals have protocols in place:
Every hospital in the commonwealth has been working on this since June. I would say that all of the hospitals in Massachusetts are very capable of handling a patient who presents with Ebola.
Doctors and nurses have been trained to ask patients with possible symptoms if they have traveled to Africa in the last 21 days. If the answer is yes, the medical staff would ‘gown up’ and the patient would be immediately isolated and tested. If the test is positive the CDC and state Department of Public Health will be notified. The patient will also be asked for the names of people he or she had been in contact with and contacts would be instructed to isolate themselves at home, check their temperature twice a day and immediately report any symptoms or fever to the local health department.
The first person to develop Ebola symptoms in the U.S. is identified as Thomas Edward Duncan. His sister, Mai Wureh, says he was treated with antibiotics but then sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian despite telling a nurse that he was visiting from Liberia. CDC Center for Global Health director Dr. Tom Kenyon:
There were no signs of any disease when the gentleman boarded the flight. This was not a failure of the screening process at the airport.