CDC flies home staffer who had 'low-risk' contact with Ebola

[JimO]

:tiphat: Shiloh

UPDATE 1-US CDC says flies home staffer who had 'low-risk' contact with Ebola

Aug 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday it flew an employee back to the United States from West Africa by chartered plane after the staff member came in contact with an international healthcare worker who later tested positive for Ebola.

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the employee was "feeling fine" and had been scheduled to return to the United States from West Africa anyway.

The staffer's exposure was "low-risk", the CDC said in a statement. According to the statement, the staff member worked in "close proximity", which it defined as within three feet, and in the same room with the ill person for a prolonged period during the period that that individual had symptoms.

The CDC transported the staff member via chartered plane because its regulations require that people who have contact with Ebola patients who travel long distances must travel by private means for 21 days after the last contact, the statement said. The provision is designed to protect other travelers in case the exposed person develops symptoms during the flight, it said.

According to the World Health Organization, Ebola spreads through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and through indirect contact with contaminated surfaces.

According to the CDC statement, the staff person is not sick with Ebola, does not show symptoms of the disease and "poses no Ebola-related risk to friends, family, co-workers or the public".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/health-ebola-cdc-idUSL1N0QX1V620140827

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: CDC flies home staffer who had 'low-risk' contact with Ebola

Ebola outbreak: 'It's even worse than I'd feared'

By Jacque Wilson, CNN

updated 3:25 PM EDT, Wed August 27, 2014
...
A CDC staff member was recently flown home to the United States on a private charter after spending time in close proximity with another health care worker who tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone.

The CDC worker is reportedly healthy and has shown no symptoms of the deadly virus. He or she is simply rotating back to the United States as previously scheduled, according to the CDC. It is CDC policy that people who have been exposed to Ebola and are traveling long distances do so on a private plane in the three weeks after exposure to lower the risk of spreading the infection.

"We think it's the right thing to do, to bring them home," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. "They want to come home. Their tour of duty was up, and we've made it crystal clear that if they go over there and have something like this happen and want to go home, we're going to bring them home."

The staff member will be monitored for 21 days -- the longest known incubation period -- for Ebola symptoms, but he or she currently "poses no Ebola-related risk to friends, family, co-workers, or the public," the CDC said in a statement.

The other health care worker, who tested positive for Ebola, has been flown to Germany to recover, Skinner said.
...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/27/health/ebola-outbreak/

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: CDC flies home staffer who had 'low-risk' contact with Ebola

Since the CDC worker is a primary contact of a confirmed ebola case, they should be home quarantined with pay for 21 days - in an abundance of caution.

It is in the interest of public health to go with the most conservative approach.

 

[JimO]

Re: CDC flies home staffer who had 'low-risk' contact with Ebola

Video report on the subject from CNN

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