The first case of Ebola in the United States has been confirmed in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this afternoon.
The patient, a man who recently arrived from Liberia, was admitted Sunday to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas with symptoms consistent with the deadly virus. Hospital officials sent lab samples to the CDC and the Texas state health department, both of which confirmed today that Ebola is the culprit, CDC Director Thomas Frieden announced.
Neither Frieden nor Texas health officials identified the patient or discussed his condition. They said he entered the U.S. on Sept. 20 and began to feel ill last Wednesday. He sought treatment but was not admitted to the hospital until Sunday.
Ebola victims are only contagious once they begin to exhibit symptoms, so health officials are now backtracking to identify and contact every person the patient was in contact with from Wednesday to Sunday. Officials stressed that the patient was not showing symptoms when he made the flight to the United States and would not have been contagious while on the plane.
Frieden said he is confident that the case does not present any risk of a widespread epidemic. "I have no doubt that we will control this case of Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country."
The Dallas hospital is not among the four in the United States equipped with special isolation units designed to treat highly deadly diseases such as Ebola. But the health officials said it has a "robust" infection control system and is well equipped to handle the patient's needs and to prevent any further spread.
One of the special isolation units is at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. It has received three American workers who contracted Ebola while doing humanitarian work in West Africa. Two of those patients were treated successfully and released. The third, who arrived Sept. 10, apparently is still undergoing treatment; officials have released no further information.
In recent weeks, the CDC has taken a lead role in trying to stop the largest outbreak of Ebola to date, which has killed more than 3,000 people in a handful of countries in West Africa.
Frieden said the CDC has a team en route to Texas to help locate the latest patient's contacts and, if necessary, isolate any that show Ebola symptoms.
Officials said they believe only a handful of people had contact with the patient after he became ill and may now be at risk. But they said they will err on the side of caution and locate anyone who might possibly have encountered the patient.
Ebola, while extremely deadly, is not airborne and does not spread easily from person to person. It is transmitted only through direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.
