A resident from the Santa Barbara County has been taken to a hospital in Los Angeles for close monitoring. The individual had just arrived from West Africa and was under observation according to protocol when Ebola symptoms started manifesting.
Though the Santa Barbara County Health Department have ruled that an infection was highly unlikely despite symptoms manifesting, the patient was still sent to a hospital in Los Angeles after health officials consulted with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Health.
All those who may have been in contact with the individual have been notified about potential Ebola exposure. Susan Kleith-Rothschild, Santa Barbara County Health Department deputy director, said the community is not at risk.
"The individual will remain in the hospital until results of testing are completed," she added.
No information has been released about the gender or other identifying information about the patient as well as the Los Angeles hospital the individual is being held in.
The patient underwent monitoring at home after being extensively screened after arriving from West Africa, in accordance with established protocols. More tests will be conducted on the patient at the Los Angeles hospital with full infection control measures in place.
Ebola continues to be a threat in West Africa although the rate at which new infections are being acquired have slowed down. Still, over 10,000 individuals have died from the outbreak that started in early 2014. Aside from the lack of a vaccine preventing the disease, slow response from the World Health Organization is seen as one of the major contributors to the high death toll from the virus.
A vaccine still hasn't been finalized but several treatments have entered human clinical trials, all designed to stop Ebola in its tracks. So far, some clinical trials have reported that the medications they are testing are safe.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia remain to be hot spots for Ebola but a reduction in the number of new cases have allowed these countries to go back to regular day-to-day activities. But even if health officials gain a handle on the situation, thousands have already been affected by the virus, most especially children, many of whom lost their parents to Ebola or were displaced because of the outbreak.
As of March 18, 2015, 24,754 cases have been reported since the outbreak began, making the 2014 Ebola epidemic the largest in history.
Photo: CDC Global | Flickr
