Editorial Team
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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : October 14, 2014 11:06 AM IST
Authorities have said the Dallas nurse, Nina Pham, infected with the Ebola virus disease is 'clinically stable'. At a press conference Monday, head of the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, Thomas Frieden, also said that there could be new Ebola cases among the medical personnel who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian patient with the virus who died last Wednesday. 'We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control. Even a single infection is unacceptable,' Frieden told reporters. (Read: Ebola in India: Will experimental drug ZMapp ever come to India?)
'The care of Ebola is hard. We're working to make it safer and easier,' he added. The CDC head, who after Pham was confirmed to have been infected with Ebola Sunday, said that there had been a 'breach of protocol' in attending to patients with the virus, said Monday that authorities still had not been able to determine precisely how Pham became infected. (Read: Traditional healer responsible for bringing Ebola to Sierra Leone scientists)
He apologised for having suggested Sunday that she herself was responsible for the breach in protocol leading to her infection. Pham, 26, was one of the nurses at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who attended to Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola outside West Africa, although he had just returned from there. (Read: How the Ebola virus spreads in humans)
Why Ebola virus is mutating rapidly?
A recent research related to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) states that the Ebola virus is rapidly mutating, making it difficult to diagnose and treat. A study conducted on the initial patients being infected with the virus in Sierra Leone revealed more than 400 genetic modifications of the Ebola virus, which might prove detrimental for the ongoing treatment measures but also to the vaccines that are under clinical trials for future treatment of the Ebola virus.
The Researchers at the Broad Institute in Massachusetts and Harvard University warn that the Ebola virus is constantly undergoing mutation. The findings show that the future treatment options including vaccines as well as diagnosing of the disease will be very difficult and less effective as mutations will continue. As of now, the researchers have analysed around 99 Ebola viral genomes. Since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in March, more than 1550 people have died of the Ebola virus disease. Earlier in August (24th), a new viral strain of the Ebola virus different from the one being observed in West Africa was detected in those from Democratic Republic of Congo, posing threat to million of lives all over the world. Read more about Ebola virus is mutating rapidly say scientists
With inputs from IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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