The homeless man who caused Ebola panic in Dallas

Let’s make everyone deathly afraid of homeless people, eh? Pitiful!

Daily Mail – by JOSH GARDNER and MICHAEL ZENNIE

This is the first photo of the homeless man who sparked an Ebola alert in Dallas on Sunday after going missing following possible contact with an infected patient.

Michael Lively was the first patient to ride in the ambulance that was used to carry Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan to Presbyterian Hospital, Texas.

It is possible that Lively came into contact with Duncan’s Ebola-infected bodily fluids during that ride.   

Lively, who is not showing any symptoms of the disease, had been under observation when he wandered off.

He is now in the psych ward of Parkland Hospital following a city-wide search by Dallas police.

Police are working to obtain a court order to hold Lively at the hospital, against his will if necessary.

Authorities had monitored him a day earlier before he went missing, but want to take his temperature regularly to make sure he doesn’t have a fever, a possible symptom of Ebola infection.

Texas public health officials say there is ‘zero chance’ Lively spread Ebola to anyone else – even if he became infected with it.

Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Friedan sought to reassure the public during a press conference from Atlanta.

The CDC is currently monitoring 48 people in Dallas who may have come into contact with Duncan while he was contagious with the deadly disease.

Losing track of Lively was just the latest mistake by authorities in Texas, who have come in for heavy criticism over their handling of the Ebola outbreak.

Ebola can manifest in a patient any time up to 21 days after exposure. A patient is not contagious until symptoms begin to emerge.

Lively is rated as ‘low risk’ for infection by authorities, but officials were still desperate to monitor him.

At a press conference on Sunday, CDC Director Thomas Friedan declared: ‘There’s no doubt that we can stop Ebola in this country.’

Ebola is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids of an infected person.

Duncan was reportedly sweating profusely and vomiting when he was taken to the hospital.

The day before he had been due to leave Liberia, Mr Duncan carried a pregnant Ebola sufferer to her home where she later died.

Four days after the Ebola diagnosis, Duncan’s girlfriend revealed that his sweat-stained sheets were still on his bed and that no one from the CDC or health department had been by to collect his belongings.

It was not until Friday that a cleaning crew finally arrived to remove the infectious items and clean the apartment.

He said that of the 48 people at risk for becoming infect with Ebola, just ten are considered high-risk.

Three of them are the family members that Duncan stayed with in a Dallas apartment and seven are healthcare workers who came into contact with him while he was contagious.

He noted that none of the people being monitored has shown any signs of being ill.

On Saturday, Texas Presbyterian Hospital announced that Duncan’s health had declined and that he is now in critical condition and ‘fighting for his life’ against the disease.

Duncan is not receiving any experimental drugs to fight the Ebola because officials fear his body could not handle the medication in his current unstable condition. Instead, doctors are giving him ‘supportive care,’ ABC News reports.

Supplies of ZMapp, the miracle drug that cured two American Ebola patients and a British nurse, have run out. Drug makers are working to produce more, but the process takes months.

Friedan said today that he will brief President Barack Obama on the outbreak tomorrow and that officials are considering stepping up checks at airports to help prevent infected patients from entering the country.

Currently, travelers from West African nations are checked for fever and questioned about their contact with Ebola patients at their departure airports, but are not formally screened before being allowed to enter the U.S.

Duncan allegedly lied to airport officials and told them he had not been in contact with anyone infected with Ebola before flying out of Monrovia, Liberia, last month.

Friedan stood by the screening procedures, pointing out today that 77 people have been prevented from getting on planes in West Africa thanks to the efforts of airport officials who were trained by the CDC.

Despite the calm and collected image that the CDC and Texas Department of State Health Services today, doctors and public health officials have repeatedly fumbled when confronted with the virus.

When Duncan first went to the hospital with a high fever on September 25, he was given antibiotics and sent home – despite revealing that he had recently been in Ebola-stricken Liberia.

He was not diagnosed with the disease until his girlfriend called an ambulance on September 28.

The ambulance transported at least one other person before being taken out of service.

Then, after the the case of Ebola was confirmed, family members and friends who had contact with Duncan said they were left to go about their daily routines without contact from the CDC or local health officials.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781838/Pictured-The-homeless-man-caused-Ebola-panic-Dallas-wandering-supposed-observation-virus.html#ixzz3FNStY8d5
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