On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its response to the largest Ebola outbreak in history to a “level 1 activation,” an alert reserved for the most serious health emergencies.
With the CDC on high alert, there comes a truth straight from the agency — the latest outbreak of Ebola will be long and serious. So far, the virus has killed 932 in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea. More than 1,000 have contracted the virus and two Americans were flown back to the U.S. for treatment at a medical center in Atlanta adjacent to the CDC.
The CDC is deploying additional staff to the four affected countries, and said 50 more disease-control experts should arrive there in the next 30 days. It also issued instructions to airlines that may come into contact with passengers from the affected countries designed to minimize the chance of infection.
Meanwhile, a search for 70 people who may have been exposed to the virus is underway in Nigeria.
International alarm at the diffusion of the virus increased when a U.S. citizen died in Nigeria last month after flying there from Liberia. Authorities said on Wednesday that a Nigerian nurse who had treated Patrick Sawyer had also died of Ebola, and five other people were being treated in an isolation ward in Lagos, Africa’s largest city.
With doctors on strike, Lagos health commissioner Jide Idris said volunteers were urgently needed to track 70 people who came into contact with Sawyer. Only 27 have so far been traced.
The CDC previously raised alerts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and again in 2009 during a bird-flu threat.
We’ll keep you updated with the latest.
SOURCE: NBC, HuffPost | PHOTO CREDIT: CDC | VIDEO CREDIT: NewsInc.
