BREAKING: First CONFIRMED U.S. Case Of Ebola Reported

01 Oct, 2014 by Tiffiny Ruegner

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CONFIRMED: Officials from the CDC have confirmed reports that a man has been diagnosed with Ebola in a Texas hospital. The unidentified man, who is being treated at a Dallas hospital, didn’t show symptoms until after four or five days of arriving in the United States from Liberia.

Isn’t this how literally EVERY single biological disaster movie starts?

Via Associated Press:

Officials with the Center of Disease Control have confirmed the first case of Ebola in the U.S. in Dallas. The CDC will host a press conference at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to address the issue.

Officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital say the patient is being kept in isolation until preliminary results came back Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 12 other people in the U.S. have been tested for Ebola since July 27. Those tests came back negative.

The Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance crew who transported the infected man to the hospital has been quarantined and will be monitored for Ebola symptoms, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told NBC 5. If symptoms develop, they too will be isolated and investigators will determine who they came into contact with and monitor those people for symptoms.
The patient was hospitalized and placed in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sunday after symptoms appeared four days earlier, on Sept. 24.

Because the patient showed no symptoms of the virus when he arrived in the U.S. Sept. 20, there was no risk to fellow airline passengers, according to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

This is really scary but it’s not like a cold or the flu, which can be spread before symptoms show up. And it doesn’t spread through the air. Symptoms of Ebola include:
•Fever (greater than 38.6°C or 101.5°F)
•Severe headache
•Muscle pain
•Weakness
•Diarrhea
•Vomiting
•Abdominal (stomach) pain
•Unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)