October 06, 2014
Seven of the people officials are monitoring most closely for signs of Ebola are health workers who had close contact with a man in Dallas who is fighting for his life against the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.
The man, Thomas Eric Duncan, is in critical condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, after being downgraded from serious condition. “We understand his situation has taken a turn for the worse,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said yesterday during a conference call, and he is “fighting for his life,” Frieden said during an interview on CNN.
Duncan isn’t getting experimental drugs that some other patients in the U.S. have received, Frieden said during the call. A drug made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., ZMapp, has no more supply, and another by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. can stress some vulnerable patients, potentially making their condition worse before they get better, Frieden said.
There are 10 people health officials are watching closely, some under quarantine, who are thought to have had direct contact with Duncan while he was ill and contagious. About 40 others who are considered lower risk are also being monitored.
Officials said they briefly lost track of one man, who is homeless, in the lower-risk group. “The man has been found and is being monitored,” said Lauren Mish, a spokeswoman for Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, in an e-mail.
Aggressive Approach
The CDC has taken an aggressive approach to containing any spread of the virus in Dallas, and is checking any suspected cases where people with a recent travel history in West Africa show an early sign of what could be Ebola. So far, no one else has been diagnosed with the virus in the U.S.
“We have no doubt we will stop it in its tracks in Texas,” Frieden said.
The outbreak has sickened more than 7,000 in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, killing about half.
Frieden said U.S. troops are making progress there in helping local health officials fight Ebola’s spread, and reports from the region suggest the disease has been contained in Nigeria, where there were cases related to the current outbreak. At the same time, the all-clear there hasn’t been given, and there is still worry about the threat of the disease reaching the U.S.
New Case Possible
Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious disease expert, said today he wouldn’t be surprised if one of the people who had close contact with the Ebola patient in Dallas becomes ill. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Frieden appeared on four TV talk shows to stress that U.S. health authorities are taking measures to prevent an outbreak here, even if another case appears.
If any of the people potentially exposed in Dallas develop fever, they will be isolated, tested, and if they have Ebola, they will be given appropriate care and officials will determine if they had contact with other people, Frieden said.
Texas health officials sought to reassure people that hospitals are safe and that people should seek medical attention immediately if they are worried about Ebola.
“We’re all on high alert right now and that’s where we believe it should be,” David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said during yesterday’s news briefing.
To contact the reporters on this story: Harry R. Weber in Dallas at hweber14@bloomberg.net; Caroline Chen in New York at cchen509@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net Drew Armstrong, Bruce Rule
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