Monday, October 27, 2014

Quarantined nurse allowed home as Ebola measures eased in US - Telegraph.co.uk


Her arrival coincided with the imposition of the controversial strict quarantine measures in New Jersey and neighbouring New York, introduced in response to the case of a doctor who tested positive for the disease five days after returning to his home in Manhattan from treating Ebola victims in Guinea.


Dr Craig Spencer remains in a serious but stable condition at New York's Bellevue Hospital.


Miss Hickox complained that her human rights had been abused and that she was being treated like a "criminal". On Sunday she hired a leading human rights lawyer to challenge the quarantine order.


Amid a growing outcry over her treatment, with critics including senior members of the Obama administration suggesting the strict quarantine was counter-productive and could put doctors and nurses off volunteering in Africa, New York loosened its quarantine measures.


However, Mr Christie stood by the measures, which remain in place in New Jersey, and said Miss Hickox was only being released as she had been symptom-free for 24 hours after testing negative.


The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) published new federal guidance for travellers on Monday evening, requiring health workers who had been in Ebola regions to stay away from public areas for 21 days after their return.


Other travellers are told to report any suspect symptoms to the authorities. But, the CDC said, no one should be forcibly quarantined unless they sought to evade monitoring.


Meanwhile, a dozen American soldiers returning from working in West Africa have been placed in isolation at a US military base in Italy as a precaution to prevent the potential spread of the Ebola virus.


"Out of an abundance of caution, the army directed a small number of personnel, about a dozen, that recently returned to Italy, to be monitored in a separate location at their home station of Vicenza," said Col Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. "They're not allowed to leave."


The isolation could last up to 21 days, during which the soldiers will be regularly checked for Ebola symptoms.


Achille Variati, the mayor of the city, said: "The American military authorities have assured me that all the soldiers returning from Africa are healthy. None of them display any of the symptoms of Ebola. But they will all be monitored constantly."


If any soldier does show symptoms of the disease, they will be placed in an isolation ward in Vicenza's San Bortolo hospital.


Dozens more troops will be isolated in the coming days as they rotate out of West Africa, where the US military has been building infrastructure to help health authorities treat Ebola victims.









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