Ebola outbreak: Priority is stopping it at the source, CDC head says

U.S. health officials testify before Congress about what went wrong

The Associated Press Posted: Oct 16, 2014 9:08 AM ET, Last Updated: Oct 16, 2014 1:25 PM ET, Source - CBC Canada

CDC testifies in U.S. Congress LIVE

o protect the U.S. from the Ebola virus, the disease needs to be stopped at its source in West Africa, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden says.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified Thursday before Congress on the agency's Ebola response.

"One of the things I fear about Ebola is that it could spread more widely in Africa. If this were to happen, it could become a threat to our health system and the health care we give for a long time to come," Frieden told the congressional hearing.

Frieden said there are no shortcuts in controlling Ebola.

While Ebola patients are not considered contagious until they have symptoms, and only two people are known to have contracted the disease in the U.S., the revelations raised new alarms about whether hospitals and the public health system are equipped to handle the deadly disease.

U.S. President Barack Obama has postponed a political trip ahead of congressional elections, suggesting a higher level of concern at the White House over the Ebola outbreak. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Frieden and other federal health officials were called to testify Thursday to explain where things went wrong.

U.S. President Barack Obama directed his administration to respond in a "much more aggressive way" to oversee the Dallas cases and ensure that the lessons learned there are transmitted across the country. And for the second day in a row he cancelled out-of-town trips to stay in Washington and monitor the Ebola response.

Even as the president sought to calm new fears about Ebola in the U.S., he cautioned against letting them overshadow the far more urgent crisis unfolding in West Africa, where Ebola has killed more than 4,000.

On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged continued support for the fight against Ebola in West Africa, but made no specific new aid offers. China last month pledged $33 million in assistance to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and dispatched doctors and medical supplies.

A health-care worker now infected with Ebola virus should not have flown on the commercial airline from Cleveland to the Dallas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press)

France said on Saturday, it will begin screening passengers who arrive at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on the once-daily flight from Guinea's capital.

But it was Wednesday's development in Dallas that captured political and public attention in the United States.

Frieden, the CDC director, said nurse Amber Joy Vinson never should have been allowed to fly on a commercial jet because she had been exposed to the virus while caring for an Ebola patient.

Vinson was being monitored closely since another nurse, Nina Pham, also involved in Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan's care, was diagnosed with Ebola.

Still, a CDC official cleared Vinson to board the Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland to the Dallas area. Her reported temperature — 37.5 degrees — was below the threshold set by the agency and she had no symptoms, according to agency spokesman David Daigle.

Vinson was diagnosed with Ebola a day after the flight, news that sent airline stocks falling amid fears that it could dissuade people from flying. Losses of between five and eight per cent were recorded before shares recovered.

Duncan, who travelled to the U.S. from Liberia, originally was sent home when he went to the Dallas hospital's emergency room only to return much sicker two days later. He died of Ebola on Oct. 8.

Frieden has said breaches of protocols led to the infection of the two nurses. More than 70 other health-care workers involved in Duncan's care were being monitored.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of one of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, announced that Pham is being transferred to NIH for specialized care at the Bethesda, Md., facility.

Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources told the committee that hospital staff made mistakes despite their best intentions, and is "deeply sorry."

Dr. Luciana Borio of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration noted that every Ebola patient treated in the U.S. has received at least an investigational product, such as the experimental drug ZMapp.

Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker John Boehner, increased calls for travel bans or visa suspensions from the West African countries where the disease has spread.

Source - http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/e...-head-says-1.2800498