http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/220498-obama-administration-points-fingers-on-ebolaBy Megan R. Wilson - 10/11/14 07:04 PM EDT
White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice says other countries “haven’t done enough” to help stop the deadly disease Ebola from spreading.
“We are pushing very hard for everybody to do more. This is going to take all hands on deck,” she told NBC’s Chuck Todd, in an interview set to air Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people, mostly centralized to three countries in Western Africa. The outbreak has caused skepticism of international health workers in some of those communities, who fear the workers could be spreading the disease instead of helping cure it.
The outbreak in Africa began in March in Guinea, but has rapidly spread, primarily, to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Obama administration has also authorized up to 4,000 American troops to go into West Africa to assist in the effort. A smaller advance team in Liberia is already opening up clinics for infected aid workers and testing labs to expedite patient checks for the disease.
A man who traveled to Dallas from Liberia became the single case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States. He died last week from the illness.
Five U.S. airports are stepping up screening measures on passengers arriving from the mostly Ebola-afflicted countries in Western Africa, in addition to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing airport passengers departing the capitals of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The disease is only spread through contact with bodily fluids of a diseased person, but as those being treated increase beyond hospital capacities, friends and family members are left to care for the ill – making it likely they will come into contact with those fluids.
Among the many symptoms of the disease are vomiting and excessive bleeding both internally and through parts of the body, including the eyes and nose.
