An electron micrograph image of an Ebola virus virion obtained March 24, 2014 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia/AFP
MONROVIA, October 2- Liberia expressed regret on Thursday over one of its nationals carrying the Ebola virus from Monrovia to the United States.
The man — the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil — flew from Liberia and arrived in Texas on September 20 to visit family, falling ill four days later.
“The Liberian government is concerned and regrets that an individual travelling from Liberia was diagnosed with Ebola after arrival in the United States,” Information Minister Lewis Brown said in a statement.
“Currently there are stringent screening measures in place at the Roberts International Airport which we believe are preventing the disease from spreading via air travel.”
Ebola is transmitted through close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, but is only contagious when a patient is showing symptoms like fever, aches, bleeding, vomiting or diarrhoea.
“Consistent with the findings of the (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we are led to believe that he posed no risks to other passengers or the crew with whom he travelled,” Brown said.
He added that the incident had demonstrated “the clear international dimension of this Ebola crisis”.
“For months now, the Liberian government has been stressing that this disease is not simply a Liberian or west African problem. The entire international community has a stake in defeating Ebola,” he added.
US officials were scrambling to track down people in the Dallas area who may have had contact with Liberian patient, as the death toll from the west African outbreak jumped to 3,338 dead from 7,178 infected.
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