The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first case of the Ebola virus in the nation, but top health officials vow “we will stop it here.”
According to ABC News, the unnamed patient left Liberia on Sept. 10 and arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20. The patient, after experiencing symptoms, sought medical attention on Sept. 27 and was placed in isolation on Sept. 28.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the director for the CDC stresses the patient was not infected during departure from West Africa or arriving stateside and insists the disease can only be contracted by someone exhibiting symptoms. Frieden did not identify the patient who’s being treated in a Dallas, TX, hospital, but later told the media the patient is a male who was traveling to the United States to visit family. Frieden continued by saying health officials are contacting the relatives to make sure the virus they aren’t infected.
While Frieden maintains Ebola is a scary virus–it’s killed 2,917 people and infected 3,346 others since the outbreak began in March–he added that “we are stopping it in its tracks in this country.”
Frieden says this is the worst Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976, more people have died from this Ebola outbreak in March than in any other outbreak to date combined. However, the CDC maintains if proper prevention is not maintained, the virus can kill up to 1.4 million people. But if 70 percent of Ebola patients are treated in secure and isolated treatment centers, the outbreak could be nearly over by January.