CDC Director Warns Ebola Outbreak ‘Spiraling Out Of Control,’ Urges Major Global Effort To Curb Infections

News outlets report on CDC Director Thomas Frieden’s public remarks after returning from a week-long trip to West African nations hit by Ebola.

CNN: Officials, aid groups rip world’s response to ‘spiraling’ Ebola outbreak
“The Ebola outbreak is much worse than official figures show and is ‘spiraling out of control,’ a leading U.S. official said Tuesday — due in part, he said, to some countries that inadvertently have made it harder to corral the deadly disease…” (Castillo/Botelho, 9/2).

CQ News: CDC Chief Urges Stronger Response to Ebola Outbreak
“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden on Tuesday called for specialized medical experts to volunteer to travel to Africa to help contain the Ebola epidemic and promoted the World Health Organization’s call for $490 million in funding to fight the disease’s spread over the next nine months…” (Adams, 9/2).

The Hill: Ebola epidemic ‘spiraling out of control,’ CDC director says
“…Frieden recently returned from a trip to countries in West Africa affected by Ebola. He described it as a ‘horrific’ situation but said treatment centers are increasing survival rates…” (Shabad, 9/2).

PBS NewsHour: Why Ebola is proving so hard to contain
“Jeffrey Brown joins director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Tom Frieden, who just returned from surveying the situation in West Africa, to discuss the impediments to containing the disease, and the prospects of it spreading…” (Brown, 9/2).

Politico: CDC head urges ‘overwhelming’ response to Ebola
“The country’s top public health official is calling for a rapid escalation of the world’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and says ‘the window is closing’ on the opportunity to bring the unprecedented outbreak under control…” (Norman, 9/3).

Reuters: CDC says Ebola threatens stability of stricken countries
“The world’s worst Ebola outbreak is threatening the stability of affected and neighboring countries in West Africa, and requires a ‘massive’ effort to bring it under control, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday…” (Steenhuysen, 9/2).

Scientific American: Ebola Now Poses a Threat to National Security in West Africa
“…Failure to tamp down Ebola’s spread is stressing the infrastructure of countries stricken with the disease that must still continue to provide basic health and security services and promote routine commercial activity. Fear of its spread is also hindering care for other maladies and may increasingly put the stability of neighboring nations at risk, said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a press conference [Tuesday]…” (Maron, 9/2).

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