International leaders back speedy response on Ebola

US President Barack Obama convened a high-level meeting about the Ebola outbreak today after abruptly postponing a political trip amid growing concern about the deadly virus.

Mr Obama held a 75 minute-long video conference call with leaders from Britain, France, Germany and Italy to discuss Ebola. He reiterated that a larger international response to the crisis is needed.

More than 4,000 people have already died in West Africa and concerns over efforts to prevent a wider global outbreak were fuelled when it emerged a second person to catch Ebola in the US had taken a flight with 132 others the day before suffering symptoms. The World Health Organisation has recorded 8,914 cases, including 4,447 deaths. But WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward has warned that the number of new cases is likely to hit 5,000-10,000 a week by early December, with as many of 70% of those infected dying as a result of the disease.

Following today’s discussions, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Leaders agreed that this was the most serious international public health emergency in recent years and that the international community needed to do much more and faster to halt the rise of the disease in the region.

“Each leader set out what they are doing to help the countries affected and then discussions focused on how to improve co-ordination of the international effort and to work together to address the most urgent priorities: increasing the amount of international spending on the issue; increasing the number of trained personnel working in the region to treat those affected and prevent the disease spreading; and evacuation procedures for workers affected.

British prime minister David Cameron called for further discussions when European and Asian leaders gather in Italy on Friday for a pre-planned summit.

“All agreed that we should share more information on what we’re doing in order to identify any gaps where more work is needed and to ensure we maximise, rather than duplicate, our efforts,” Number 10 said.

The White House strongly defended the government's handling of the Ebola problem after it became clear that a second Texas healthcare worker who tested positive for the virus had traveled aboard a commercial airliner.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the government is showing “the kind of tenacious, adaptive response that’s required,” and that Americans should continue having confidence in the Obama administration.

But criticism grew of the administration’s handling of the situation.

Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas told MSNBC that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needs to be more responsive, and Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman tweeted that the government must be more proactive in the fight to prevent Ebola from spreading in the United States.

Mr Obama said yesterday that the US public healthcare infrastructure is such that an Ebola epidemic in the United States is highly unlikely.

Mr Earnest told reporters that this remained the case. He ruled out for the time being that the United States might impose a ban on travel from Ebola-ravaged West Africa.

He also suggested that an Ebola “czar” to coordinate the US global response was not necessary as of yet.

The second Dallas health care worker to test positive for Ebola took a flight on Monday from Cleveland to the Dallas area the day before she reported symptoms of the disease, federal health officials said tonight.

The head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Thomas R Frieden, said the worker should not have been on a commercial airliner. The health care worker, identified as Amber Vinson, reported having a fever yesterday and was isolated a short time later at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

Speaking at a news conference, Dr Frieden, said Ms Vinson “should not have traveled on a commercial airline.” He said the risk to any passengers who shared the flight was very low. Still, the CDC said in a statement that it was reaching out to passengers on the Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 “because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning.”

The airline said the plane landed in Dallas-Fort Worth at 8.16pm on Monday and remained at the airport overnight. Ms Vinson was part of the medical team at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital that cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who was admitted to the hospital on September 28th and who died a week ago.

Ms Vinson had “extensive contact” with the patient at a time when Mr Duncan was vomiting and had diarrhea, Dr Frieden said. He confirmed the accounts of nurses that said a wide variety of protective gear was used in the first few days, including two and three layers of protective gear and gloves by some workers, which in fact is harder to remove safely.

Ms Vinson was one of 76 health care workers at Presbyterian who were being monitored daily for symptoms of Ebola, including a self-administered temperature check. She was not in quarantine and was allowed to travel because she had exhibited no symptoms of Ebola. She flew to Cleveland from Dallas on Friday.

Crew members on the return flight said the woman had shown no signs of illness, according to a statement from the airline and the disease centres. The agency asked that all 132 passengers who took the flight contact the federal health authorities.

“Individuals who are determined to be at any potential risk will be actively monitored,” it said in a statement. Frontier said in a statement that the aircraft “received a thorough cleaning per our normal procedures,” which the airline said were consistent with CDC guidelines, on Monday night at Dallas-Fort Worth and that it was then cleaned again Tuesday night in Cleveland.