CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH

Since the first appearance of Ebola in West Africa earlier this year, CDC has been working to prepare the American health care system for the diagnosis and safe care of a patient with Ebola here on our shores.

We have learned immensely from this first U.S.-diagnosed case and we are implementing additional actions to make sure health care workers and hospitals around the nation are as prepared and informed as possible.

CDC is committed to making sure every U.S. health care system and health care worker is prepared for Ebola. Key is first noting if the patient exhibits symptoms consistent with Ebola, and if so, working with that patient using the most meticulous infection control procedures, and then taking a careful and complete travel history of each patient who comes in their door.

In the past three months, CDC has been in close communication with hundreds of thousands of clinicians through notices distributed through CDC’s Health Alert Network, our primary means of reaching the nation’s health care community — and one they are already very familiar with. The Ebola-related notices have included recommendations for evaluating patients, guidance for the nation’s Emergency Medical Services systems and 911 offices, and guidelines for infection control should a hospital or health care facility find themselves caring for a patient with known or suspected Ebola.

We’re holding daily press conferences which include information specifically for those in the health care profession. To prepare health care workers to go to West Africa and safely care for Ebola patients, CDC organized the first course on safety and infection control training which is now being offered every week.