The 43 Dallas citizens who came into contact with the first confirmed Ebola patient in the US, 41 year old Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan (who has passed away a little over a week ago) have been cleared of the suspicion of being infected with the dangerous disease, CNN reports. The people had to undergo a strict 21-day monitoring period, the maximum incubation time of the disease. One more patient will be out of monitoring later today.
Among those cleared by Texas authorities today we can find Louise Troh, Thomas Eric Duncan’s fiancee. This is the 21st day since she last made contact to the now defunct patient. On Sunday, she said that she was glad all this comes to an and, and grateful none of the patients she was under observation with showed any symptoms of the disease. In the meantime the two nurses who have helped care for Duncan remain hospitalized as they battle the virus. Nina Pham is in stable condition at the National Institutes of Health facility in Maryland, while Amber Vinson is in an undisclosed condition at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
So far the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the United States is 8. Each of the patients were either infected before returning to the country from Liberia or Sierra Leone, or have been in direct contact with Thomas Eric Duncan. The chances of any American citizens of becoming infected with the virus are almost zero at this moment. Health care professionals consider that people have something more pressing to worry about – like getting their flu shots. And still, the hysteria over the dangerous African hemorrhagic fever continues to grow. Right now the panic and hysteria around the disease is far more dangerous than the disease itself. Schools keeping their students at home, concerned citizens assaulting CDC with concerned phone calls, and even universities not accepting foreign students due to their fear of the disease are just a few examples of overreaction.