Suspected Ebola patient now in isolation at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital

(NaturalNews) A patient suspected of harboring Ebola is now in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. According to breaking news reports, the patient is suspected of carrying Ebola because of his medical symptoms and travel history. This means the patient recently visited areas where Ebola has been actively circulating such as Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea.

A statement released by the hospital reads:

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas has admitted a patient into strict isolation to be evaluated for potential Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) based on the patient's symptoms and recent travel history. The hospital is following all Centers for Disease Control and Texas Department of Heath recommendations to ensure the safety of patients, hospital staff, volunteers, physicians and visitors. The CDC anticipates preliminary results tomorrow.

CBS News has been covering the breaking story and reports speaking with a county HHS official: [1]

CBS 11 News spoke with Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson who confirmed the patient had been in an area where the Ebola virus exists. "Looking at the travel history is the first indicator and then the next step is [treatment or non-treatment] once we get lab results," he said.

If Ebola appears in the USA, people will panic

Whether or not this patient turns out to have Ebola, the likelihood of Ebola making its way into the continental United States increases with each passing day that it spreads unabated across African nations.

I have publicly predicted the possibility of Ebola arriving in the United States and unleashing a public panic. This scenario was covered in detail in chapter 8 of my free online course Pandemic Preparedness found at www.BioDefense.com

In anticipation of an expected Ebola outbreak in the United States, the U.S. government has already ordered 160,000 hazmat suits, and the Governor of Kansas just declared October to be Zombie Preparedness Month in the hopes that the theme will nudge more Kansas citizens into taking action on preparedness.

Millions of people already under quarantine due to Ebola

Currently, two million residents of Sierra Leone are living under government quarantines, with food shortages already widely reported. If an Ebola outbreak begins to spread in the United States, there is little question that the federal government will declare and enforce quarantines of cities or even entire regions.

Once those quarantines go into place, routine deliveries of food and other supplies are likely to be sharply restricted or disrupted.

The question on everyone's mind right now is "If this patient in Dallas turned out to be carrying Ebola, did he infect anyone else?" And for how long was he able to mingle with other patients or medical staff before he was isolated?

In Africa, hospital staff were among the very first people infected. The continued, persistent spread of MRSA and other superbugs across U.S. hospitals proves that even first-world medical staff are unable to prevent the spread of infectious disease in their own hospitals.