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CDC: 100 people assessed for contact with US Ebola patient
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Health officials are assessing approximately 100 individuals to determine whether they had contact with the patient diagnosed with Ebola in Texas, according to CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH.
Most of the individuals have been interviewed and only a handful of those may have had contact with the patient and will be monitored. These mostly include household contacts and health care workers, Frieden said. Currently, the CDC does not have a specific number of people who may have had contact with the patient.
Thomas Frieden
“Our approach is to cast a wide net to identify people who may have had contact,” Frieden said during a media briefing. “We remain confident that we can contain any spread of Ebola within the United States. There could be additional cases that have already been exposed, but systems are in place to prevent spread.”
Frieden also confirmed that the patient was screened for febrile illness by the CDC’s team before departing Liberia and had a normal temperature. The patient did not develop symptoms until 4 or 5 days after arriving in the United States.
According to David Lakey, MD, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, the patient is receiving care at a Dallas hospital, and there are dedicated health care workers involved in the patient’s treatment who are “being meticulous about infection control.”
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is the designated director of emergency management for the county, said the county has set up an incident comment center with assistance from the state health department and the CDC.