Ebola watch lists to shrink; cruise passenger cleared

The Carnival Magic cruise ship is seen after reaching port in Galveston, Texas. The ship reached...
The Carnival Magic cruise ship is seen after reaching port in Galveston, Texas. The ship reached port after a week-long trip with a Dallas hospital lab worker on board who spent much of the cruise in isolation after possible exposure to Ebola. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer
Some of the dozens of people who are being watched for possible exposure to Ebola in the United States are expected to be cleared in coming days, potentially easing concerns about the spread of the disease after two nurses were infected.

A Dallas lab worker who spent much of a Caribbean holiday cruise in isolation tested negative for the deadly virus and left the Carnival Magic liner with other passengers after it docked at Galveston, Texas, early on Sunday morning.

The precautions taken for the cruise passenger reflected widespread anxiety over Ebola in the United States, including calls from some lawmakers for a travel ban on West Africa.

The worst outbreak on record of the virus, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids of sick people, has killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged on Sunday stronger international action to bring the epidemic under control, saying the disease was unleashing an economic catastrophe that will leave a "lost generation" of young West Africans.

Belgium announced on Sunday it would screen people arriving at its largest airport from West Africa for signs of fever.

In the United States, the first person to be diagnosed with the disease was Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who fell ill while visiting Dallas last month. He died on Oct. 8, and two nurses who treated him were infected. This triggered a lengthy watch list of people who had had possible contact with them.

At midnight, some 48 people who might have been in contact with Duncan will no longer require monitoring for signs of the virus, health officials say.

On Monday, more were expected to end 21 days of monitoring, the incubation period for the virus.

They would include Duncan's fiancee, Louise Troh, her 13-year-old son and two other people who have been in mandatory quarantine at an undisclosed location in Dallas.

"They will be free to go ... It will expire for them at midnight tonight and that's going to be a good thing for those families who've been through so much and we're very happy about that," Clay Jenkins, Dallas County's top official, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

There are still 75 health workers in Dallas who have isolated themselves and are being monitored.

The Pentagon said on Sunday it would create a military emergency response team of infectious disease doctors, nurses and trainers to help in the event of a U.S. domestic Ebola crisis. The team would not be deployed in West Africa or elsewhere overseas.

'SCARY'

The lab worker who was being monitored aboard the Carnival Magic worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan was treated. The ship arrived at Galveston after a weeklong cruise that included being denied docking by Belize and Mexico because of the presence of the woman on board.

"It was scary. It was really very worrying," said passenger Regina Sargent of Dallas.

The lab worker, who has not been named, did not have contact with Duncan, but was under observation as she might have come into contact with test samples from him.

She voluntarily isolated herself in her cabin and her blood sample was flown by helicopter for testing. "The lab testing done was negative," said Coast Guard Lieutenant Sam Danus.

Officials in Dallas, where nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson were infected, have urged residents to stay calm. "This is a critical weekend," said Jenkins. If there are no new patients, he said, Dallas is "going to be statistically less likely" to see new cases.

A series of Ebola scares has rattled the United States since Duncan was diagnosed. Americans' faith in the medical system and in its disease prevention ability was jolted by early missteps in his case.

In a public letter on Saturday night, Texas Health Resources Chief Executive Barclay Berdan acknowledged that Texas Health Presbyterian, where Duncan first went, made mistakes, including initially not diagnosing Ebola.

Berdan said aggressive actions since then ensured that the hospital was a safe place, and that outside experts would be consulted to determine how the two nurses became infected.

Nurse Amber Vinson is being treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, while her colleague Nina Pham is being treated at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington.

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he had a long conversation Saturday night with Pham.

"She's in good spirits," Fauci told "Fox News Sunday." Asked whether she would recover, he said, "I'm feeling good about the fact that she's progressing very well."

Some 800 passengers who flew with Vinson on a trip she made to Ohio before being diagnosed, as well as those on subsequent flights on the same planes, have been contacted by Frontier Airlines, the company said on Saturday.

 

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