(Reuters) – A physician with Doctors without Borders who returned from West Africa recently and developed potential symptoms was being tested for Ebola at a New York City hospital, health officials said on Thursday, setting off fresh fears about the spread of the virus. The doctor was identified as Craig Spencer, who was working for the humanitarian organization in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola. Spencer, 33, developed a fever […]
North America
U.S. Ebola czar seeks to reverse government mistakes, step up response
(Reuters) – U.S. Ebola czar Ron Klain faces a hefty to-do list when he begins his new role: soothe Americans’ jitters about the virus, fix federal coordination with states, and restore a sense of control over the crisis that the White House had lost. Klain, a former senior aide in two Democratic administrations who is known for his keen political antenna, also must smooth over tensions with lawmakers who are angry about the government’s missteps and mixed […]
Obama names Ebola ‘czar’ as West Africa death toll rises
BY JEFF MASON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama appointed a former White House adviser as U.S. Ebola “czar” on Friday as the global death toll from the disease that has ravaged three West African countries rose to more than 4,500. Amid growing concerns about the spread of the virus in the United States, authorities said a Texas health worker, who was not ill but may have had contact with specimens from an Ebola patient, was quarantined on a […]
Obama open to appointing Ebola ‘czar,’ opposes travel ban
BY STEVE HOLLAND AND DAVID MORGAN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said he was considering appointing an Ebola “czar” to coordinate the fight against the virus in the United States, but he remained opposed to a ban on travel from West Africa. Obama’s administration is facing sharp criticism from lawmakers over its efforts to contain the disease at home. Obama authorized calling up military reservists for the U.S. fight against Ebola in West Africa on Thursday. U.S. concerns have intensified […]
Second Texas healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola
(Reuters) – A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement on Wednesday. The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, the department said. “Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify […]
U.S. sets up rapid-response Ebola team; Dallas nurse improves
BY TERRY WADE (Reuters) – The United States is establishing a rapid-response team to help hospitals “within hours” whenever there is a case of Ebola, the top doctor leading the fight against the deadly virus said on Tuesday. Prospects for a quick end to the contagion fell as the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that three impoverished countries in West Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – could produce as many as 10,000 new cases […]
Sick passengers removed from flight in Boston in Ebola scare
(Reuters) – Emergency crews in protective gear removed five passengers with flu-like symptoms from a commercial airliner that arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport on Monday, but U.S. health authorities played down the possibility of Ebola. Emirates flight 237 from Dubai landed at Logan around 2:30 p.m. EDT and emergency medical workers escorted the ill passengers off the aircraft, authorities said. Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Matthew Brelis said none of the ill passengers had recently been […]
CDC head criticized for blaming ‘protocol breach’ as nurse gets Ebola
BY JULIE STEENHUYSEN (Reuters) – Some healthcare experts are bristling at the assertion by a top U.S. health official that a “protocol breach” caused a Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola while caring for a dying patient, saying the case instead shows how far the nation’s hospitals are from adequately training staff to deal with the deadly virus. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made the declaration […]
U.S. military faces new kind of threat with Ebola
BY PHIL STEWART (Reuters) – At Fort Campbell in Kentucky, spouses of U.S. soldiers headed to Liberia seem to be lingering just a bit longer than usual after pre-deployment briefings, hungry for information about Ebola. For these families, the virus is raising a different kind of anxiety than the one they have weathered during 13 years of ground war in Afghanistan and Iraq. They want to know how the military can keep soldiers safe from the epidemic, a new […]
Texas health worker tests positive for Ebola
BY LISA MARIA GARZA (Reuters) – A health worker in Texas at the hospital where the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died last week has tested positive for the deadly virus in a preliminary test, the state’s health department said on Sunday. The worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital reported a low-grade fever Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing, the Texas Department of State Health Services said […]
U.S. begins enhanced Ebola screening program at New York’s JFK airport
BY SEBASTIEN MALO (Reuters) – Stepped up efforts by the U.S. to halt the spread of the Ebola virus will start at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, where teams armed with thermal guns and questionnaires will screen travelers from West African countries hit hardest by the outbreak. JFK Airport is the first of five U.S. airports to start enhanced screening of U.S.-bound travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where most […]
First US Ebola patient dies
The first Ebola patient to be recorded in the United States has passed away.