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CDC urges restraint over Ebola isolations

October 28, 2014

US public health officials have advised against routine quarantining of health workers who return home from affected parts of West Africa. However, some states have already exercised a right to impose isolation measures.

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Verschärfung der Bestimmungen für Reisende aus Ebola-Ländern in den USA
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Thomas Frieden on Monday said active monitoring was necessary where returning medical personnel might be at risk of contracting Ebola.

However, Frieden stopped short of recommending a strict quarantine for all health workers, and others who have worked in Ebola-hit countries in West Africa - where the disease has killed almost 5,000 people.

The high-risk category includes anyone who might have been exposed to infected body fluids without wearing special protective Hazmat suits or those who may have touched corpses of Ebola victims.

The CDC recommendations are for the state or local health departments to monitor the temperatures of those deemed to be at risk on a daily basis. The individuals would answer a checklist of potential symptoms and plans for the day's activities might be reviewed to ensure there was no risk of a spread of the infection.

"That, we think, is good sound public health policy," Frieden told reporters, while indicating that certain state authorities might have already overreacted to the threat.

'Stigma and false impressions'

"We are concerned about some policies that we have seen in various places that might have the effect of increasing stigma or creating false impressions. You don't catch Ebola from someone who is not sick."

A nurse who worked with Ebola patients in West Africa, and was quarantined at a new Jersey hospital after arriving at Newark airport, returned to her home state of Maine on Monday. Kaci Hickox - who tested negative for Ebola - was the first person to be quarantined as part of a state-wide ban announced on Friday by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Similar measures were introduced in New York, with various states following suit.

Hickox, who has agreed to be quarantined at her home - in accordance with that state's own requirements - described her placement in an isolation tent upon arrival in New Jersey as "inhumane" and "completely unacceptable."

rc/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)