Must be terrible for the medical staff at the Texas Health Presbytarian Hosital indeed. Ducan arrived in Texas on 20th September, and he went to the Emergency Service from that hospital on the 24th, clearly stating that he came from West Africa. Although he had multiple ebola symptoms, he was sent home with antibiotica only. Only after he collapsed on 28th September, he finally was hospitalized.airazurxtror wrote:Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient hospitalized in Dallas, is "fighting for his life," a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, a day after the man's condition worsened from serious to critical. "The man in Dallas is the only patient to develop Ebola in the United States," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, told CNN's State of the Union. Frieden said in the affected parts of West Africa, where Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people, the disease is spreading so rapidly it is difficult for health officials to keep up.
Anyway - for those who still believe that CNN's medical adviser Dr. Sanjay Gupta knows more about ebola then the ebola task force from the World Health Organization, here is some copy/paste from Dr. Gupta's statements on CNN.com:
Are the people who were on his flights at risk?
No. The Ebola virus spreads only when someone is exhibiting symptoms. This patient arrived in the United States on September 20, according to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention), and didn't get sick until several days later. So he wasn't contagious on the flight. He was put in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 28 and will not be released until he is free of the virus.
How can they be sure he wasn't sick earlier?
That's a fair question. They can't be 100% sure. But the first sign of Ebola is generally a high fever. And everyone leaving Liberia has their temperature checked before they're allowed to board a plane. Plus, health experts have said that anyone who is sick enough to be contagious probably doesn't feel well enough to travel in the first place.