Sgt. Rock
Full Access Member
DALLAS - About 80 people are now being monitored for symptoms of Ebola in Texas, a Dallas County Health and Human Services spokeswoman said Thursday.
The people being monitored are the 12 to 18 people who first came into contact with the infected man - which federal health officials have said include three members of the ambulance crew that took him to the hospital, plus a handful of schoolchildren - as well as others those initial people had contact with, spokeswoman Erikka Neroes said.
"The number of people who are now part of the contact investigation has grown to more than 80," she said.
Neroes was unable to specify how those initial 12 to 18 people came in contact with the larger group, nor could she provide specifics about the ages of those being monitored. No one is showing symptoms, she said, and health officials have told them to monitor their own conditions in the coming weeks.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said Thursday it has list of about 100 potential or possible contacts but that the official "contract tracing number will be lower," department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said in a statement. The statement did not say specifically when the official number will be released, but that the current figure is due to caution and includes people who had brief encounters with the patient or the patient's home.
Health officials are focusing on containment to try to stem the possibility of the Ebola virus spreading beyond Thomas Eric Duncan, who traveled from Liberia to Dallas to visit relatives and fell ill on Sept. 24. His sister, Mai Wureh, identified Duncan as the infected man in an interview with The Associated Press.
During the influenza outbreak from 1918-19 over 20 million people worldwide died from it, including 500,000 in the U.S. alone. If this ebola outbreak really and I mean really takes hold and spreads..the death toll could be staggering. I also have limited faith in our government and the CDC to contain it. Plus not to mention all of those illegal kids who came across the borders unchecked. This is scary times we are facing...
The people being monitored are the 12 to 18 people who first came into contact with the infected man - which federal health officials have said include three members of the ambulance crew that took him to the hospital, plus a handful of schoolchildren - as well as others those initial people had contact with, spokeswoman Erikka Neroes said.
"The number of people who are now part of the contact investigation has grown to more than 80," she said.
Neroes was unable to specify how those initial 12 to 18 people came in contact with the larger group, nor could she provide specifics about the ages of those being monitored. No one is showing symptoms, she said, and health officials have told them to monitor their own conditions in the coming weeks.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said Thursday it has list of about 100 potential or possible contacts but that the official "contract tracing number will be lower," department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said in a statement. The statement did not say specifically when the official number will be released, but that the current figure is due to caution and includes people who had brief encounters with the patient or the patient's home.
Health officials are focusing on containment to try to stem the possibility of the Ebola virus spreading beyond Thomas Eric Duncan, who traveled from Liberia to Dallas to visit relatives and fell ill on Sept. 24. His sister, Mai Wureh, identified Duncan as the infected man in an interview with The Associated Press.
During the influenza outbreak from 1918-19 over 20 million people worldwide died from it, including 500,000 in the U.S. alone. If this ebola outbreak really and I mean really takes hold and spreads..the death toll could be staggering. I also have limited faith in our government and the CDC to contain it. Plus not to mention all of those illegal kids who came across the borders unchecked. This is scary times we are facing...
