Italy has confirmed their first case of Ebola.
Italian health officials say that a doctor who had been treating patients in Sierra Leone became contracted with the virus.
“The procedures for transfer of the Italian doctor who is positive for Ebola do not present any risk to the community,” Gianni Rezza, director of the Department of Infectious Disease at the Spallanzini clinic told the Corriere della Sera.
“We have been ready for this possibility and are already equipped to manage the situation. It is our moral duty to provide therapy and support to co nationals struck by Ebola: better here than in Sierra Leone. We can resolve this safely.”
The doctor, whose name has been withheld, was flown to Rome for treatment at the Lazzaro Spallanzani infectious diseases institute.
There are 26 Italian doctors with with the charity group Emergency in Sierra Leone.
Officials in Sierra Leone say that churches may be the last Ebola free zones in the country.
Infection rates in Sierra Leone are continuing to rise despite the efforts of western agencies such as Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations.
“We will overcome Ebola through the blood of Christ, with His help, and with prayer,” Pastor Olatunji Oseni told his congregation at a church in Freetown according ot the Christian Post.
Sierra Leone has forbidden most public gatherings such as soccer matches, concerts, schools or movies but the faithful have been continuing to flood into churches despite the concerns over the killer virus.
A deacon at Winner’s Chapel told the Christian Post that some measures have ben taken to safeguard against Ebola such as elimination of shaking hands and hugging.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is reporting that their latest survey estimates 50 percent of the Ebola cases in Sierra Leone were not reported to officials and most of the patients who did not seek medical attention died from the virus.
A nurse who worked on Ebola patients in Sierra Leone who returned to the U.S. and complained about mandatory quarantine is now flaunting a voluntary quarantine.
Kaci Hickox, 33, had been working in Sierra Leone as part of Doctors Without Borders. New Jersey officials ordered her into quarantine when she returned to the United States and she hired lawyers to challenge the ruling. She eventually was allowed to leave for her home state of Maine if she agreed to a voluntary quarantine.
Hickok said she would flaunt any quarantine order because she believes there’s no risk of exposing anyone to Ebola because she’s not sick.
She left her home to take a bike ride with her boyfriend this morning in full view of national media cameras. Her lawyer said that because Hickox didn’t want to “freak people out” she didn’t ride through the center of town.
“Since there’s no court order, she can be out in public,” Siegel said. “Even if people disagree with her position, I would hope they respect the fact that she’s taking into account the fear, which is based on misinformation about the way the disease is transmitted.”
Hickox and her lawyer claim the orders for quarantine are just politically motivated.
