Today marks 21 days of quarantine since the Ebola infection spread into the US by an infected Dallas patient, who recently fled Liberia. And as none of the individuals quarantined for their close contact with the infected have developed the often fatal hemorrhagic fever, health officials are hopeful that their clean bill of health is a sign that the Ebola virus will not find a foothold here in the United States.
"I for one, am quite encouraged by the fact that 21 days have elapsed and Thomas Duncan's family have not become ill" senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School's Center for Health Security, Jennifer Nuzzo says. "It's further evidence of what public health specialists have been saying: that this virus is not easily transmitted."
The infected patient who began the US outbreak, Thomas Eric Duncan was a Liberian national who recently immigrated to the US to be with family after conditions in Liberia reached a threatening level. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) anticipated that the viral infection may be carried into the United States courtesy of an infected vector like Duncan, poor implementation in safety protocol lead to a concerning number of potential infections after Duncan was released from a Dallas, Texas emergency room even after displaying minor Ebola-related symptoms to an unknowing nurse.
Left to come in close contact with his fiancé, her children, and up to 21 individuals placed in quarantine during the virus' incubation period, the CDC has kept a close eye on the situation after local health officials dropped the ball. Not properly executing safety protocol, additional members of the health care team set to take care of Duncan in his isolated stay at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas have also been quarantined after failing to avoid infection. But the CDC is confident now with unanimous clean bills of health that their swift action and quarantine protocol has helped stop the infection in its tracks domestically.
And while the news signals a change in the tide for Americans, intensifying infections in West Africa could very easily spell disaster in terms of a global pandemic. While the CDC has proven that under strict protocol, the virus is not easily transmitted, every new infection allows the virus to mutate with the opportunity of potentially becoming more virulent; perhaps even transmittable through air. And it's something that not only the CDC, but also individual hospitals must be prepared to deal with.
"States and local governments, not just in Dallas, not just in Nebraska, not just in Bethesda, have got to be prepared for this" former Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says. "As it spreads across Africa the likelihood of it returning to the United States is high, and we need to be ready for that."
