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Tough new Ebola quarantine controls in US criticised

Tough new Ebola quarantine controls for medics returning to some parts of America are being criti...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.27 26 Oct 2014


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Tough new Ebola quarantine con...

Tough new Ebola quarantine controls in US criticised

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.27 26 Oct 2014


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Tough new Ebola quarantine controls for medics returning to some parts of America are being criticised.

One nurse, who flew into Newark from Sierra Leone, was immediately isolated. Kaci Hickox says it was a frightening experience and fears it may now put off health workers volunteering in west Africa.

American journalist Ashoka Mukpo survived Ebola after picking it up in Liberia, and describes how he was treated:

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Doctors Without Borders worker Kaci Hickox returned to the US from Sierra Leone on Friday and was taken to a New Jersey hospital in case she had the killer virus.

She has now been told she is free from the disease, but will be unable to leave quarantine for another 21 days.

Illinois joined New York and New Jersey on Saturday night in introducing a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for anyone who has been involved in treating victims in west Africa.

Other states, including Virginia and Georgia, are also considering whether to impose the same regime.

It follows 33-year-old doctor Craig Spencer falling ill with Ebola having spent several days travelling around New York, riding the subway and visiting a bowling alley.

'Not a situation I would wish on anyone'

Writing in the Dallas Morning News, Ms Hickox said: "This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me.

"I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa. I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganisation, fear and, most frightening, quarantine."

She said on telling a border official she had just arrived back, she was immediately ushered into a private room before having questions "barked" at her.

She said she was made to wait hours with little to eat, only to later test negative for the virus.

Despite the test, she must wait in a secure facility in New Jersey until it is certain she has not contracted the disease.

"The US must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity," she said.

The number of Ebola cases worldwide has now exceeded 10,000, with nearly 5,000 not surviving.

President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to be guided by the facts about Ebola and "not fear".

Dr Spencer, who is being held at the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, was described by officials overnight on Saturday as "entering the next phase of his illness".

A health service statement said: "The patient is awake and communicating. In addition to the required supportive therapy, we initiated antiviral therapy within hours of admission. We also administered plasma therapy yesterday."


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