First Diagnosis of Ebola in the U.S.

The first Ebola diagnosis to ever happen in the United States occurred earlier today in Dallas in a man who recently traveled to Liberia.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this man left Liberia on September 19^th, arrived in the United States on September 20^th, and subsequently developed suspicious symptoms after a few days.  Upon further inspection, this man was diagnosed with Ebola.  Currently, he is hospitalized and quarantined at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, though he is believed to have been in contact with a few individuals after showing Ebola symptoms.  Still, experts stress that Ebola is not a public health threat for the United States because transmission requires direct contact and relies on poor health infrastructure and failure of adequate public health systems. Experts also stress that appropriate measures were taken to prevent Ebola from arriving in the United States, including screenings at the airport, but that these screenings obviously do not prevent those who are infected but do not yet display symptoms from traveling.  Those in contact with the patient have been put in isolation and the ambulance used to transport the patient has been disinfected.  

--Andrew Duong

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/30/health/ebola-us/