William J. Fulkerson, Jr., MD, executive vice president of the Duke University Health System said tonight in an official statement to Duke faculty, staff, and students:
Despite not knowing the patient’s Ebola status, we are approaching this as though it was a confirmed case. Therefore, the patient is being cared for in the same contained, isolated and secured unit within DUH in which an actual Ebola patient would be treated. The patient is receiving care from a seasoned team of Duke clinical professionals who volunteered for this service and have trained extensively for this possibility. We have anticipated this scenario for several weeks now, and a plan to manage it is in place.
At present, the patient only has a fever, “but has no other symptoms of Ebola.”
Duke University Health System and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced tonight that a traveler from Liberia is being monitored for fever and tested for Ebola virus infection. Photo credit: Duke University Hospital
The individual had been monitoring their temperature as instructed in customs and border patrol and, upon detecting a fever this morning, called the CDC line and they immediately called the [North Carolina] Division of Public Health, said chief state epidemiologist, Megan Davies, MD, MPH. Dr. Davies has experience in tracking emerging diseases from her two-year stint as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the New Orleans area from 1998 to 2000.
DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos opened the press conference with a lengthy statement as to how well-prepared Governor Pat McCrory is regarding the potential Ebola case. Wos indicated that the governor had spoken with New Jersey governor Christie this evening, presumably about contact tracing on the flight that arrived in Newark yesterday.
Dr. Wos seemed thrown off by a question about how the patient got to North Carolina from Newark. When she responded that it was a commercial bus, an unnamed official abruptly called the press conference to a close.
Before being interrupted, Dr. Wos said, “This person did not have symptoms on bus. This person has not been diagnosed with any specific condition yet.”
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