Global Ebola outbreak response intensifies as cases surge
New video showed an American surgeon infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo arriving by ambulance at a hospital in Germany.
(NBC)- The global effort to contain Africa’s growing Ebola outbreak intensified as new video showed an American surgeon infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo arriving by ambulance at a hospital in Germany.
The Washington Post reported the White House resisted allowing Dr. Peter Stafford to return to the United States for treatment, allegedly delaying his evacuation and medical care, according to five people familiar with the Ebola response.
A White House spokesperson denied the report, calling it “absolutely false.”
Directors of the missionary group Dr. Stafford was traveling with described his condition as he boarded a medical evacuation flight.
“He’s hanging on them, barely strong enough to walk, so he looked really tired and really sick,” Dr. Scott Myrhe said.
Health officials said Dr. Stafford’s wife, four children and another American physician were also exposed to Ebola and transferred to hospitals in Berlin and Prague for monitoring.
Officials say the outbreak has now been linked to 139 suspected deaths and 600 suspected cases, with case numbers nearly tripling over the past five days.
Meanwhile in the United States, federal quarantine orders were issued to one of 18 American passengers exposed to hantavirus aboard a cruise ship.
The passenger is now isolated at a Nebraska hospital, which he described as “a prison.”
The 30-year-old New Yorker asked to remain anonymous due to online threats targeting fellow passengers.
According to the quarantine orders, the passenger faces the highest risk of developing symptoms during the first 21 days of the incubation period.
The orders state that leaving isolation early to return home “would potentially endanger the public’s health.”
They also warn that violating quarantine rules could result in criminal fines or up to one year in jail.
The passenger said he and others under quarantine do not want to remain isolated.
