With all the hysteria among Americans about the Ebola virus making its presence known in the United States, President Barack Obama implored his national security and public health officials to incorporate lessons from the most recent infection in Texas into our country's response to the deadly virus.
According to a report by the Associated Press, President Obama also called on the international community to deliver assistance more quickly to countries in West Africa struggling against the disease. The president is meeting with senior advisers, communicating with United Nations officials and French officials who have devoted time to the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and to the infection of a nurse in Dallas, the first person known to contract the disease in the United States, the AP reported.
The nurse had treated a Liberian man named Thomas Eric Duncan who died at the hospital after bringing the disease from Liberia. Hospitals across the U.S. are on high alert for patients with fever or symptoms of Ebola who have traveled from the three Ebola-stricken nations in the past 21 days. The Centers for Disease Control is monitoring all hospital workers who treated the Liberian man.
President Obama is maintaining a high profile regarding the Ebola crisis in West Africa, especially because Duncan fell ill in Texas after traveling from his home in Liberia. Obama and French officials are discussing the need for treatment facilities in West Africa and steps needed to prevent the spread outside the affected region.
The French presidency said in a statement to the AP that the leaders discussed the possibility of starting a screening program for passengers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. France will also accept a request to set up additional Ebola treatment centers.
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