CDC designates El Paso an Ebola quarantine

[+OverSword]

From the article:

EL PASO, Texas -

The Centers for Disease Control has designated El Paso as one of 20 quarantine stations for the ebola virus.

The Sun City is part of a comprehensive system designed to prevent the spread of the disease in the United States.

While ebola has never been detected in the U.S., that doesn't mean it can't make its way to the country. The biggest concern is at airports with international flights and ports of entry, which there are a lot of in the Borderland.

"It's a scary virus ... Definitely," said Dr. Hector Ocaranza, the health authority for the El Paso City/County Health Department. "Terribly deadly. It's one of those viral hemorragic fevers. They haven't found where it's coming from, if it's coming from an animal to the human or what. But we know there is human tissue transmission."

That means it cannot be contracted like the flu, through the air. It can only be spread by direct contact with bodily fluids like saliva or secretions.

The CDC released a map showing the 20 quarantine stations designated across the country, including El Paso, mostly where international travelers arrive. The closest ones are in San Diego and Dallas.

El Paso's CDC offices are located in West El Paso off Sunland Park Drive. Dr. Miguel Escobedo runs the offices, but would speak with ABC-7 on camera. However, he told ABC-7 if someone needed to be quarantined for ebola here in El Paso, they would immediately be sent to the hospital.

Symptoms include fever, rash, vomiting and diarrhea.

While there are no reports of ebola so far in the U.S., some doctors fear it could happen. But Dr. Ocaranza said it's highly unlikely.

"I don't think we should be concerned, even if we're on the list of quarantine stations," he said. "I don't think we should be concerned with these kinds of viruses. It is still contained within Africa, unfortunately it has been one of the largest outbreaks of this virus and it has a high mortality."

Link

[MysticStrummer]

"While ebola has never been detected in the U.S…"

We're importing it. Two ebola patients are headed for Atlanta.

Edited August 1, 2014 by MysticStrummer

[Leonardo]

"While ebola has never been detected in the U.S…"

We're importing it. Two ebola patients are headed for Atlanta.

Well, the powers-that-be need a sample of the virus so they can send it to various laboratories to be experimented with - but don't worry, it's perfectly safe!

[scorpiosonic]

Right MS, 2 Humanitarian Aid workers. I was just reading the CDC has a quarantine facility in Emory GA.

I agree these 2 US Citizens deserve the best care poss....but not sure bringing them here is such a good idea.

Edit to add from other thread:

Reuters) - A U.S. aid worker who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus while working in West Africa will be flown to the United States to be treated in a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, hospital officials said on Thursday.

The aid worker, whose name has not been released, will be moved in the next several days to a special isolation unit at Emory. The unit was set up in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said her agency was working with the U.S. State Department to facilitate the transfer.

Reynolds said the CDC was not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the United States, but five people in the past decade have entered the country with either Lassa Fever or Marburg Fever, hemorrhagic fevers similar to Ebola.

News of the transfer follows reports of the declining health of two infected U.S. aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia on behalf of North Carolina-based Christian relief groups Samaritan's Purse and SIM.

CNN and ABC News reported that a second American infected with Ebola was to be flown to the United States. CNN identified the U.S.-bound patients as Brantly and Writebol. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Edited August 1, 2014 by scorpiosonic

[+OverSword]

After doing a little more research I'm not really buying that this is a quarantine center created just for some type of ebola emergency.

Here is a map of quarantine center locations in the USA.

[Rafterman]

After doing a little more research I'm not really buying that this is a quarantine center created just for some type of ebola emergency.

Here is a map of quarantine center locations in the USA.

You're absolutely right - it says so right in the article.

So you guys think the Government should be completely unprepared for quarantine situations? This from the same group that faulted the Government for not "connecting the dots" prior to 9/11 no doubt.

[+OverSword]

You're absolutely right - it says so right in the article.

So you guys think the Government should be completely unprepared for quarantine situations? This from the same group that faulted the Government for not "connecting the dots" prior to 9/11 no doubt.

Now who said that?

[Rafterman]

Now who said that?

That certainly seems to be your implication.

These are not Ebola facilities, they are simply quarantine facilities in case they are needed and the CDC is putting them in places where they feel they make the most sense.

Why would anyone have a problem with that?

[msmike1]

Ebola has been detected in the U.S. Just not in humans. An entire facility of monkeys had to be euthanized around 1995 or so because of an ebola outbreak. I think it was in or around Washington state somewhere.

Mike

[libstaK]

Oh look a bunch of quarantine facilities in the states at the edges of American soil - gee that's a surprise.

[Agent0range]

Oh look a bunch of quarantine facilities in the states at the edges of American soil - gee that's a surprise.

Or in the most populated areas of the United States. Is it still a surprise?