We begin with the Public Health Agency of Canada, which once (as recently as August 6) stated on its website that:

"In the laboratory, infection through small-particle aerosols has been demonstrated in primates, and airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected, although it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated (1, 6, 13). The importance of this route of transmission is not clear. Poor hygienic conditions can aid the spread of the virus."

No more; the "airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected" language has been cleansed:

"In laboratory settings, non-human primates exposed to aerosolized ebolavirus from pigs have become infected, however, airborne transmission has not been demonstrated between non-human primates

Footnote1 Footnote10 Footnote15 Footnote44 Footnote45.

Viral shedding has been observed in nasopharyngeal secretions and rectal swabs of pigs following experimental inoculation."

Are we to suppose that very recent and ground-breaking research was conducted that indicated there is no longer reason to "strongly suspect" that airborne Ebola contagion occurs? Surely, the research was done three weeks ago, and we only need to wait another couple of days until the study is released for public consumption. Feel better now?

If not, perhaps the 9/30 words of the Centers for Disease Control accompanying the Dallas Ebola case will provide some solace. Or, perhaps those words just contain another pack of U.S. Government lies. Let's investigate.

Health officials are closely monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person to be diagnosed in the U.S., the director of Dallas County's health department said Wednesday.

All who have been in close contact with the man diagnosed are being monitored as a precaution, Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said in a morning interview with WFAA-TV.

"Let me be real frank to the Dallas County residents: The fact that we have one confirmed case, there may be another case that is a close associate with this particular patient," he said. "So this is real. There should be a concern, but it's contained to the specific family members and close friends at this moment."

The director continued to assure residents that the public isn't at risk because health officials have the virus contained.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was the first person to be diagnosed in the United States with the Ebola virus.

The patient left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in Dallas the following day. On Sept. 26, he sought treatment at the hospital after becoming ill but was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics. Two days later, he was admitted with more critical symptoms, after requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital.

The country's top medical official who has vowed to stop Ebola "in its tracks" in the U.S., conceded today that it's "not impossible" that others will contract the disease.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said an extensive tracking process is underway in the wake of the first Ebola diagnosis in the United States, with special focus on the patient's family and health staff.

"We have a seven-person team in Dallas working with the local health department and the hospital, and we will be identifying everyone who may have come in contact with him and then monitoring them for 21 days," Frieden said.

The city of Dallas, which has activated its Emergency Operations Center on "Level 2: High Readiness," said, "We are currently evaluating 12-18 people that the patient confirmed to have the Ebola virus was in contact with."

In addition, the three ambulance crew members that brought the patient to the hospital were tested for Ebola. The tests were negative, but the crew members were sent home and will be monitored for the next three weeks, the city said in a statement.

Frieden believes the disease will be "stopped in its tracks" in this country.

The unidentified man's safety, along with the well-being of the medical people treating him, is a primary focus, Frieden said.

A former Food and Drug Administration chief scientist and top infectious disease specialist said that several people were exposed to the Ebola virus by the unidentified patient in Dallas, America's first case, and it's likely that many more will be infected.

Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, now a professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, said while the nation shouldn't panic, it's best to prepare for the worst.

"It is quite appropriate to be concerned on many fronts," he said in a statement provided to Secrets. "First, it is a tragedy for the patient and family and, as well, a stress to contacts, health care workers and the community at large. Second, it appears several people were exposed before the individual was placed in isolation, and it is quite possible that one or more of his contacts will be infected," he added.

What's more, he conceded that it was "only a matter of time" that the swift-killing African virus arrived in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Tuesday that the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in the US.

On Monday, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas admitted a patient into strict isolation to be evaluated for potential Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), based on the patient's symptoms and recent travel history, according to a statement by the hospital.

By Tuesday afternoon, the CDC had received preliminary blood test results back, confirming that the patient was indeed infected with the potentially deadly virus.

The patient had recently traveled to Liberia, leaving the West African country on September 19 and arriving in the US on the following day. The patient had no Ebola symptoms when leaving Liberia or entering the United States, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said during a press conference.

Dallas County health officials on Tuesday told county commissioners that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dispatching a team to Dallas in case a patient at a local hospital tests positive for Ebola.

The report was delivered after Health and Human Services officials cut short a presentation on the threat of an Ebola outbreak for a conference call with the CDC. Officials said the CDC team would lead the response if test results, expected today, come back positive for the patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.

During a media briefing outside the commissioners meeting, Dr. Christopher Perkins, the health department's medical director, said it was after arriving home from West Africa that the patient started showing symptoms, the point at which Ebola becomes contagious.

"We know at this time this person was not symptomatic during travel but became symptomatic once arriving here and being home for several days," Perkins said. "So that decreases the threat that might be to the general population."

Symptoms of the deadly virus can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and body aches unrelated to any other disease.

Health and Human Services officials told commissioners that they had already begun an investigation to find people who had been in contact with the patient. Director Zachary Thompson said it was not unusual for the department to begin tracing contacts after being notified about a possible contagious disease. County nurse epidemiologists are tracking down the patient's family members, friends and work colleagues, basically anyone who might have been exposed, if the virus is confirmed, he said.

Sierra Leone's largest newspaper, the Awareness Times, is reporting with alarm that at least 1,028 Ebola patients appear to be missing in the country, as official Ministry of Health statistics account for a smaller number of combined victims and survivors of the disease than the total number of registered cases.

The Awareness Times report notes that the Ministry of Health has confirmed 2,000 cases of Ebola in the country. Its official statistics note that 540 have died, while 432 are classified as survivors. That leaves 1,042 unaccounted for cases.

The report follows up on a New York Times piece in which a Western diplomat is quoted as saying that official statistics in Sierra Leone are highly untrustworthy. According to the Times, those numbers are believed to be "largely inaccurate," rendering them borderline useless. Said the diplomat: "Even a 2-year-old child can look at them and see they don't add up." The Times notes that Sierra Leone has responded to the crisis largely by quarantining large areas-- nearly all 14 districts in Sierra Leone are at least partially quarantined, and it is believed that between one and two million people are being kept locked down due to this measure.

The Awareness Times did the math to prove the inaccuracy of the numbers, and the response they received from the Ministry of Health did little to assuage the concern that the government has little control over the situation. In a statement highlighting the convoluted relationships between press and state in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sylvia Blyden-- both Special Executive Assistant to President Ernest Koroma and founder of the Awareness Times-- issued a statement to her own newspaper:

"The fact is that a few of these unaccounted-for numbers are currently admitted in Ebola centers but I can categorically state today that the vast majority of the [over] 1,000 patients are already DEAD and lying in their graves. Yes, they are dead and buried! Hundreds of them! :-( May their souls rest in peace."

She goes on to blame the erroneous numbers on "a flight of common sense" on the part of the government, and adds that many of those unaccounted for are those who did not die in medical facilities, but rather died in their homes, and may continue to remain in their homes undisturbed given the fear of touching the body of a person with Ebola.

A Dallas hospital says it is isolating a patient who is showing signs of having the Ebola virus.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas said in a statement Monday night that the patient's symptoms and travel history suggest the patient may have Ebola, the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people across West Africa.

The hospital expects to receive preliminary test results Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Presbyterian Hospital says it's taking measures to keep its doctors, staff and patients safe.

Several hundred US kids are being treated for Enterovirus 68 - a respiratory illness that can cause children to become paralyzed. Outbreaks of the virus have been detected in most of the fifty states.

So far, the virus has infected 443 children in 40 states, and the District of Columbia, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Abbreviated as EV-D68, the virus was first identified 50 years ago. However, it has rarely been tested for until cases started appearing in the US Midwest and Southwest this year.

EV-D68 causes symptoms similar to the common cold but progresses into wheezing, breathing problems and paralysis.

There is no drug yet for the current strain of the virus, so treatment is focused on helping patients to breathe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the death toll from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has now risen to over 3,000.

The WHO said on Friday that at least 3,091 out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed cases died according to data received up to September 23. The data provided by the UN health agency shows that Liberia has recorded 1,830 deaths. It is the most affected country, with around three times as many fatalities as any other nation in West Africa. The outbreak, which began in Guinea, has ravaged neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

WHO officials say the world's worst Ebola epidemic in history may kill tens of thousands of people. Nigeria and Senegal have also confirmed cases of Ebola, but no new cases or deaths have been reported in the two countries over the past few weeks.

Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.