Trending News Monday: President Obama Calls Ebola National Security Priority

Last Monday, doctors diagnosed the first case of Ebola in the United States. Since then, Ebola has been trending in the US. As such, this Trending News Monday, we’re featuring some of the important updates on the Ebola virus.

While Thomas Duncan, the Ebola patient who was diagnosed in Dallas, Texas last week, sat in isolation at stable but critical condition in his Dallas hospital bed today, President Obama was informing reporters that the outbreak is “a top national security priority. This is not just a matter of charity… This is an issue about our safety,” reports CNN.

Over the weekend, Duncan took a turn for the worse, and doctors claim he is “fighting for his life.” While the FDA has not yet approved any drugs or vaccinations to treat Ebola patients, doctors in Dallas are currently treating him with brincidofovir, an experimental antivirus created by Chimerix.

Last week, Liberia, where Duncan traveled to the United States from and the country with the largest out break, announced that they will prosecute Duncan when he returns as he lied to an airport health official. Duncan told the official he had not been in contact with anyone infected with Ebola before boarding the plane to the US; however, he had helped care for his sick neighbor who died from the virus.

Today, Ashoka Mukpo– a freelance journalist for NBC– arrived in Nebraska from Africa for treatment, making him the fifth American to contract Ebola outside the United States. Mukpo believes he contracted the disease while washing the car of someone who died from the Ebola virus. His symptoms have not yet advanced from a fever and slight nausea, and although no one on his team has shown symptoms, they have also been quarantined as a precaution.

Meanwhile, a nurse in Spain has become the first known case of contracting the Ebola virus outside of Africa when she was diagnosed earlier today.

According to the New York Times, even though Ebola is in the United States, CDC officials state that the odds of contracting the virus in the US  is “extremely low.” The virus cannot be transferred by people who have been exposed to the virus but are not showing symptoms yet. Officials were able to track down all 50 people Duncan came into contact with, including a homeless man who had been transported in the ambulance Duncan had been in, and none of them are experiencing symptoms.

For more information on Ebola, click here.

Cover Photo Source: Nixx Photography

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://ourspace.thesanjosegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Cassandra-Bremer-Our-Space-Photo-e1402061863316.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Cassandra is a Content Manager and Developer at SJG. She earned her BA from Fontbonne University in 2011. Outside the office, she enjoys an active, healthy and well-rounded lifestyle including reading, writing, running, golfing, watching films, listening to music, taking photographs, and consuming media and social media.[/author_info] [/author]