The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Tuesday the first Ebola case of a patient who traveled from Liberia to Dallas, but no additional information has been made public.

According to Tom Frieden, director of CDC, the patient left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in Dallas the following day. The patient went ill five days after, but Frieden said it remains unclear how the patient became plague-ridden.

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The patient was reported to be critically ill. He was placed in an isolated area at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday.

Federal health officials also started to look for his relatives or friends who might have come in contact with him in order to prevent the disease from spreading. Officials recently confirmed that there are no other suspected cases as of now.

Frieden said anyone who had close contact with an Ebola-stricken person or had bodily fluids transferred may contract the virus and will fall ill in a few days.

However, Frieden and other health officials assured the American public that the CDC is well-prepared to stop the spread of the virus.

CDC is working closely with the Texas Department of State Health Services. Frieden added that the local hospital where the man is being treated is implementing infection control measures to ensure the safety of the other patients and the hospital staff.

As regards passengers who flew in with the patient, the officials said they were not at risk because the patient only went ill four or five days after travelling from the said country.

The nationality of the patient remains undisclosed, but Freiden said the patient flew to the U.S. to visit his family.

The CDC director said that he and other U.S. health officials have already prepared for an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. He said the first reported case will test the healthcare system of the U.S.

However, Freiden has assured the people that the Ebola virus will not pose same threat it does in West Africa in which more than 3,000 people died from the virus in the affected regions. He said the U.S. hospitals and medical experts are more equipped than their African counterparts.

Also, U.S. President Barack Obama was already briefed with the procedures done to the patient via a phone call, Freiden noted.

The symptoms of Ebola normally appear two to twenty-one days after being infected and these include fever, muscle pain, bleeding and vomiting. It is not an air-borne virus as it is being transferred only through bodily fluids such as diarrhea, tears, and blood.

Four health workers and a doctor who were working closely with the patients in the affected regions in South Africa have been contaminated and were placed in special isolation facilities for treatment. Three have already recovered.

Meanwhile, the U.S. recently delivered equipment in Liberia to build a field hospital with twenty-five clinical beds to be used. U.S. is also planning to build another 17 clinics in Liberia and is looking at the possibility that more health workers will be trained to help in treating affected areas in West Africa.

TagsTom Frieden, Health Medical Pharma, medicine, Microbiology, Ebola Virus Disease