Thursday at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health hearing titled, “Combating the Ebola Threat,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said he has contacted his local hospital who confirmed they are testing for the Ebola virus.
Smith said, “There is also concern giving — given modern air travel and the latency time of the disease that the virus will jump borders and threat lies elsewhere in Africa and even here in the United States. In my own state of New Jersey, and a hospital just a few hundred yards from my district office, precautions were taken. A person who had traveled from West Africa begin manifesting symptoms including a high fever. He was put in isolation. Thankfully it was not Ebola and the patient has been released.”
He added, “The New Jersey health commissioner reiterated to me yesterday that New Jersey hospitals have control programs in which they train and our deal — ready to deal with infectious patients who come through their doors. She told me physicians and hospital workers follow specific protocols prescribed by the CDC on how to protect themselves as well as other patients and how to observe a patient if they have any concerns, which include protocols like managing a patient in isolation so they are not around others who are not appropriately protected. The commissioner also underscored that the federal government has U.S. quarantine stations throughout the country to limit introduction to any disease that might come into the United States.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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