The Centers for Disease Control sign is seen at its main facility in Atlanta, Georgia June 20, 2014. REUTERS/Tami Chappell
The first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
The patient accidentally carried Ebola to the United States after visiting Liberia, and is at a hospital in Dallas.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the patient left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20. He had no symptoms when he entered the country, Frieden said, who was emphatic that the CDC would contain the virus.
“The bottom line here is that I have no doubt that we will control this case of Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country,” Friedensaid.
Health care workers will care for the patient and identify all the people he may have had contact with. If any of those people develop symptoms, Frieden said, they will be monitored for 21 days.
This is the first case of a traveler being diagnosed. The patient’s at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
The patient isnot a health care worker.
Dallas hospitalofficials said in a statement on Monday that an unnamed patient was being tested for Ebola and had been placed in “strict isolation” due to the patient’s symptoms and recent travel history.
The virus has killed more than 3,000 people throughout West Africa.
Four other people with Ebola – all medical volunteers working in West Africa – were previously evacuated tothe U.S. to be treated. They all made full recoveries.
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