Sawyers brother moves Ebola to the US. Texas Ebola Patient Had Contact With School-Age Kids, Perry Says Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other officials told a news conference Wednesday that the man with the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States had contact up to 18 people, including some school-age children. The children have been identified and they are being monitored, the governor said. Dr. Christopher Perkins, with the Dallas Dept. of Health and Human Services, said that there were five people in the patients immediate household and then about 12-18 other contacts, all of whom would be monitored closely for 21 days. Officials said five students at four different schools, two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school, had had contact with the patient over the weekend. They are currently being “monitored” at home, but are not quarantined. The schools are still open. The victim, a Liberian man visiting the Dallas area, is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Perry was joined by Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. They have a whole ward that’s dedicated to the care of this individual, said Lakey. Professionals who are very competent and are doing it in a safe environment with compassionate care. He also reiterated that the disease can only be spread by direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick patient, whose condition was given as serious but stable. This is not West Africa, this is a very sophisticated city, a very sophisticated hospital, said Lakey. The chances of it being spread are very, very small. This is all hands on deck, said Perry. We understand that, and weve got great local partners, and everyone has their marching orders and understands the importance of good collaborations good partnering from the local level all the way up to the CDC. Blood tests by state and federal health officials confirmed the Ebola diagnosis Tuesday. The man recently flew from Liberia to Dallas to be with relatives. The patient actually first went to the hospital when he felt sick on Sept. 24, but was allowed to go home, and was then transported back by ambulance on Sept. 28. Dr. Mark Lester, an executive with the hospital, said despite a nurse using a Ebola check list to diagnose the man, that the patient was allowed to go home because the first team that assessed him felt he had a low-grade common viral disease. He refused to characterize the move as a “misstep” but said that the procedures taken were being investigated.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 18:24:16 +0000
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