55 are deployed in West Africa now, others are working from the U.S.
WebMD News from HealthDay
By EJ Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has 55 staffers already in Ebola-hit areas of West Africa helping to fight the current outbreak, the agency said Wednesday.
Another 350 U.S.-based CDC personnel are working on other aspects of the health crisis, agency officials said.
The outbreak, centered in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, has already claimed more than 1,000 lives, the World Health Organization reported. Two infected Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were flown for care at a special facility in Atlanta over the past week and now appear to be making a recovery.
In the meantime, however, the biggest outbreak ever of Ebola continued to spread in West Africa, the CDC said. Last week, the agency boosted its response to the outbreak to its highest level of alert.
"We are fulfilling our promise to the people of West Africa, Americans, and the world, that CDC would quickly ramp up its efforts to help bring the worst Ebola outbreak in history under control," agency Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a statement. "We know how to stop Ebola. It won't be easy or fast, but working together with our U.S. and international partners and country leadership, together we are doing it."
Left untreated, Ebola disease has a 90 percent fatality rate. There is no known treatment or vaccine, although experimental medicines are in the pipeline. One such medicine, called Zmapp, may have helped Brantly's and Writebol's recovery.
According to the CDC, 55 staffers are now deployed in West Africa: 14 in Guinea, 18 in Liberia, 16 in Sierra Leone, and seven in Nigeria. While some staffers may be rotated in and out of various positions, the CDC expects to have more than 60 people on the ground in the affected areas for the coming months.
One key effort those staffers will be involved with includes "contact tracing" -- tracking down people who may have been in contact with an infected person and checking for signs of illness over the next 21 days.
"Ebola virus can remain in the body for weeks before making a person sick," the CDC noted. "If any of the people who were in contact with a person sick with Ebola develops a fever or other Ebola symptoms, that person is isolated and treated and the cycle starts again -- and all of that person's contacts must be traced and followed for 21 days."
CDC personnel will be active in training and coordinating health-care workers in Africa and collecting and analyzing data on the outbreak. Staffers will also help educate residents of affected areas on how best to avoid getting infected with Ebola and the importance of seeking out care as soon as symptoms appear.
source : CDC Commits More Than 400 Staffers to Fight Ebola Outbreak
