First case of Ebola diagnosed in US, health officials say

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States has diagnosed its first case of the deadly Ebola virus, a man who became infected in Liberia and traveled to Texas, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.

The patient was hospitalized with symptoms that were confirmed to be caused by Ebola, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman told AFP.

Further details were to be released during a CDC press conference at 5:30 p.m. (2130 GMT).

Earlier Tuesday, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas said it had placed in strict isolation a person based on “symptoms and recent travel history.”

The patient is the first to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, although a handful of U.S. medical workers who were infected in West Africa have been flown back to the United States for treatment, and have recovered.

The world’s largest outbreak of Ebola has infected 6,574 people across five west African countries, and killed 3,091, according to the World Health Organization.