WASHINGTON: The United States has diagnosed its first case of Ebola in a man who was infected in Liberia and traveled to Texas, US health officials said Tuesday, pledging to contain the virus that has killed more than 3,000.
The man is also the first to be diagnosed outside Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, cautioning that since he was not sick on the plane he was unlikely to have infected other travellers.
CDC chief Tom Frieden vowed that US health authorities would be able to contain the virus and the White House said President Barack Obama had been briefed by the CDC about the Texas case.
“We are stopping this in its tracks,” said Frieden, describing the man as critically ill.
The world’s largest outbreak of Ebola has infected more than 6,500 people across five west African countries and killed 3,091 since the start of the year, according to the World Health Organisation.
The CDC warned last week that a worst-case scenario could see Ebola cases explode to 1.4 million worldwide by January, but that such dire predictions could be avoided if resources are scaled up.
The United States has already treated several patients who acquired Ebola during the West African outbreak, including Christian missionary doctors Kent Brantly and Rick Sacra, who have been declared free of the virus. — AFP