Thursday, October 9, 2014

Military Service Members Manning Three Ebola Labs in Liberia ... Will be Processing up to 100 Blood/Fluid Samples a Day

U.S. military specialists highly trained in dealing with biological threats have been sent to Liberia to operate mobile laboratories being set up to test blood samples for the Ebola virus, the top American commander in Africa said Tuesday.
Gen. David Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, said the U.S. has sent three mobile labs to Liberia, each staffed by three to four military service members who will wear head-to-toe protection as a safeguard against accidental infection. Four more labs have been requested, and the Defense Department is looking to fill that need, Gen. Rodriguez said.
“These mobile labs are very, very important, because, as you can imagine, some people have malaria, some people have the flu, and it’s really important to find out who you have to treat and who you don’t,” Gen. Rodriguez said.
U.S. military personnel staffing the mobile labs will test fluid samples from individuals possibly infected with Ebola, but won’t interact with patients, he said after the news conference.
The labs, officials said, can provide results in 24 hours and can process up to 100 samples a day.
Some virologists and policy makers have expressed concern that the Ebola virus could mutate, possibly becoming airborne or otherwise changing its pattern of transmissibility as it continually moves from one person to another in the large-scale epidemic in West Africa.
But Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday said said there are no signs of that happening. “We do not see airborne transmission in the outbreak in Africa,” he said.
Most U.S. personnel will be stationed at Liberia’s Ministry of Defense or at military bases, away from people infected with the virus, Gen. Rodriguez said. The troops will live either at the Ministry of Defense or in tents set up by the Americans. Protocols for preventing infection, like multiple hand washing and daily monitoring of vital signs, are built into the troops’ daily routine, officials said.
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