By Caribbean Medical News Staff
President Obama will visit the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta for a briefing on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the White House has said in a statement.
According to the White House statement, not only was Obama updated on the outbreak of the Ebola Virus but also was briefed on the rare respiratory illness that has sickened hundreds of children across the Midwest.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Obama discussed the outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal which has reported killed over 2700 people and over 125 health workers. The WHO chief, Dr. Margaret Chan has said that the outbreak is “out of control” and may triple what was anticipated in case loads by the end of the year.
Ebola could be a danger to US
“We’re going to have to get U.S. military assets just to set up, for example, isolation units and equipment there to provide security for public health workers surging from around the world,” said Obama.
“If we do that, then it’s still going to be months before this problem is controllable in Africa. But it shouldn’t reach our shores. If we don’t make that effort now, and this spreads not just through Africa, but other parts of the world, there’s the prospect then that the virus mutates, it becomes more easily transmittable, and then it could be a serious danger to the United State, “he added.
According to reports on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, President Obama said that Ebola must be considered in the context of the disease being a “national security priority.”
The White House spokespersons have indicated that the CDC, the Health and Human Services Department, USAID and the Pentagon have all contributed various resources and technical support to beef up efforts to contain the deadly illness.
Obama was also briefed on a rare respiratory virus that has sickened and hospitalized several hundred children in the US.
CDC has said that there is a significantly large number of seriously ill young patients, so much so that the Agency termed it “just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases.”
