Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) modified protocols for travelers from Liberia to the United States, stipulating that those currently under active or direct active monitoring for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) by local health departments (LHDs) no longer need monitoring. For California, the protocol for Liberian travelers is spelled out in the attached updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPHi).
December 2014 - On the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on grassy land among palm trees and tropical hardwoods, stands a cluster of one-story bungalows painted cheerful yellow with blue trim. This is the campus of Eternal Love Winning Africa, a nondenominational Christian mission, comprising a school, a radio station and a hospital. It was here that Dr. Jerry Brown, the hospital’s medical director, first heard in March that the fearsome Ebola virus had gained a toehold in his country.
As travel continues between West Africa and the rest of the world, the possibility increases that more individuals exposed to Ebola will seek care at hospital emergency departments. It is also possible that more medical and other volunteers caring for Ebola patients will contract the disease and need treatment in U.S. hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response have been anticipating and preparing for Ebola in the U.S. Both agencies aim to increase understanding of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) and encourage widespread preparation for managing EVD patients.
Additional information and resources that may be of value to international/local organizations and individuals providing Ebola outbreak-related services in West Africa, as well as friends and family of people in the affected region, are available at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Disaster Information Management Research Center’s Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources
