US modifies Ebola rules after quarantine uproar

WASHINGTON

US health authorities Tuesday issued new guidelines for health workers returning from Ebola-hit nations after a firestorm of criticism over state quarantine restrictions, including from the UN chief.

The enforced quarantine in New Jersey of a US nurse who had come home after treating patients in Sierra Leone sparked controversy — and accusations from the woman that her rights had been violated.

The nurse was discharged on Monday, one day after New York eased strict new quarantine rules under pressure from President Barack Obama’s administration.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday urged active monitoring of those at risk following stints in the countries hardest hit by the epidemic — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“Active direct monitoring” means high-risk people must be checked for fever daily for 21 days, and must restrict their travel and public activities for the duration of the virus’s incubation period, the CDC said, in an update of previous guidelines.

Those at high risk include those who experienced needle sticks, handled bodily fluids of Ebola patients without protective gear or who handled the corpse of a victim, among others.

“That, we think, is good sound public health policy,” CDC chief Tom Frieden told reporters.

“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.”

The new guidelines — which the CDC does not have the power to enforce on a national level — stop short of a strict quarantine.

That is the standard New Jersey and New York states had adopted, following the first confirmed case of the disease in New York — a doctor who had treated patients in Guinea.

Those measures drew criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and in Washington.

“Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity,” Ban said.

US GOVERNMENT SLAMMED

Meanwhile, the husband of a Spanish nurse who survived Ebola slammed the government’s handling of the case Tuesday as he left a Madrid hospital where he had been quarantined.

“This is a story full of mistakes, blunders and above all a lack of political control,” Mr Javier Limon told a packed news conference at the Madrid office of his lawyer.

His wife Teresa Romero was diagnosed with Ebola on October 6, becoming the first person to catch the disease outside west Africa in the current outbreak.

Ms Romero was one of the nursing staff at Madrid’s Carlos III hospital who volunteered to treat two elderly Spanish missionaries who caught the disease in Africa and died at the hospital in August and September.

Ms Romero was treated with human serum containing antibodies from Ebola survivors and other drugs and was declared cured last week. She will remain in hospital until she has fully recovered.

TAKING LEGAL ACTION

Her husband and 14 other people who came into contact with her were also sent to a special isolation unit in the hospital to be monitored for signs of Ebola, though none showed any symptoms.

Five were released on Thursday and the remaining 10, including Mr Limon, left the hospital on Monday. Mr Limon said he and his wife were considering taking legal action against the government for negligence and defamation.

“Teresa was never to blame, you can only accuse her of loving her profession and of being dedicated to others,” Limon said as he sat beside his lawyer Jose Maria Garzon.

“It is a huge lack of personal and professional respect to someone who risked their life to help others,” he added. Mr Limon also lashed out at the decision by Spanish authorities to put down the couple’s pet dog, Excalibur.

“It did not matter to anyone the importance that an animal had to a family like ours, which does not have children. Excalibur was executed without even giving me the chance to protest,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross said Tuesday the weekly total of Ebola victims collected by its body disposal teams around the Liberian capital is falling dramatically, indicating a sharp drop in the spread of the epidemic. The announcement appears at odds with an assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO), which said last week transmission “remains intense” in the capitals of Liberia and neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Fayah Tamba, head of the Liberian Red Cross, said his workers collected 117 bodies last week from Montserrado county, which includes Monrovia — a drop of almost two-thirds from the high of 315 from September 15 to 21.

“I am sure you don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that the cases are dropping,” he told private radio Sky FM.