Currently centers across the U.S. are monitoring to stop the spread of Ebola here.

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/vhf/monitoring.html

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/vhf/monitoringweekly.pdf

It has been stated or implied that there will not be a widespread outbreak of Ebola in the U.S. because of medical services here, sanitation standards,containment, and greater caution being used to bury or dispose of the dead.  However despite all these precautions there are currently some suspected case in the U.S. as well as confirmed cases of Ebola in the past.

The first was in Texas with the possibility the strain had mutated and become more virulent.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s930-ebola-confirmed-case.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed today, through laboratory tests, the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States in a person who had traveled to Dallas, Texas from Liberia. The patient did not have symptoms when leaving West Africa, but developed symptoms approximately four days after arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20.

Soon there were not one, but eight cases

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/17/us/ebola-us-list/index.html

As of Friday, eight confirmed cases of Ebola have been or are being treated in the United States, and one U.S. citizen died abroad, having never returned to the States. Dozens of others are being monitored or are in some form of quarantine.

Then there was one - and the spin began - that the fear of Ebola was worse than the reality. This has been a common theme justifying denial and inaccurate cases and deaths,  even before the Flu Pandemic of 2009.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/10/24/there-is-now-only-one-confirmed-case-of-ebola-in-the-united-states/

The fear that surrounds Ebola — a disease that is incredibly deadly and not very contagious, a plague that has killed thousands yet is difficult to contract — is understandably exacerbated whenever a new case is diagnosed. The realization that one person contracted it opens up the possibility that other people may have gotten it as well; the fact that people are rarely stationary reminds us that a person with the virus can board a commercial flight, ride in a subway, take a taxi and otherwise exist in the same world as you and everyone you know and love. At the same time, anxiety breeds paranoia and paranoia begets panic, clouding the realities on the ground.

All of which is to say that, as of Friday morning, there is now only one confirmed case of Ebola in the United States.

Then there were no more reported cases, yet there may soon be some to report.

While I have received reports of possible cases in Minnesota and other places, let us hope these will be ruled out and as the Ebola, which is now spreading again in West Africa, is held in check and does not appear here. We can hope this thread will disappear due to lack of any further outbreaks in the U.S.

It has been said the mutation is less than was previously found in several research studies to be as great as 200% times normal.

If the information out there, which is being heavily spread on the mass media, is not accurate and cases are not being reported, this thread will continue and we may sadly live to see Ebola spread in America.  Up for debate is whether the "regular hospitals" are adequate enough to deal with Ebola due to possibilities it can be spread by sneezing and droplets.

The real test will be if it once more spreads through West Africa and those people get in planes. Are the filtration systems in jet planes, which some time ago were downgraded, adequate?

Medclinician

Ebola Monitoring Overview

DCHHS monitors individuals for Ebola Virus Disease for 21 days per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of State Health Services.

Dallas County residents can be confident that DCHHS is doing its part to protect Dallas County residents from viruses and diseases that are a threat to public health.

CDC Interim Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Potential Ebola Virus Exposure

Number of individuals currently being monitored: 8

 

Individual(s) Being Monitored	Risk Level	Date Monitoring Ends
2	Low	July 2, 2015
1	Low	July 6, 2015
1	Low	July 13, 2015
1	Low	July 16, 2015
2	Low	July 20, 2015
1	Low	July 21, 2015

 

http://www.livescience.com/48263-ebola-mortality-us-africa.html

Statistically speaking, this means that African patients with Ebola have about a one-in-two chance of surviving the illness, according to the CDC. It should be noted that fatality rates can vary widely from country to country, so Ebola patients' chances of survival might be greater or less than 50 percent depending on where they're located.

But if Ebola were to become widespread in the U.S.— a situation that public health organizations believe is highly unlikely — the mortality rate from the virus would likely be lower than it is in West Africa, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

"The death rate would be lower in the U.S.," Schaffner told Live Science. "Everybody believes we could move it down from 50 percent to 30 percent, or perhaps even lower than that."

This belief is based on the quality and availability of health care in the United States, he said.

comment: Although it is still said with great confidence Ebola will not spread to the U.S., if it did we could see a 30% death rate. A 5% death rate would shut down the infrastructure of government and medical services as we know it.  A 30% .. well... it is doubtful that the power grid, the Internet, or our medical system would be able to deal with it.

The level at sanitation and number of doctors per patient is fairly low in West Africa.

http://www.irinnews.org/report/89186/africa-ten-countries-desperately-seeking-doctors

NAIROBI, 19 May 2010 (IRIN) - Shortages of medical staff have been identified as one of the major impediments to achieving the health-related UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For example, one of the poorest countries in the world, Mozambique, has just 548 doctors for a population of more than 22 million, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO's baseline estimate for achieving health-related MDGs is at least 23 health workers per 10,000 people - against an average of 13 in Africa. IRIN/PlusNews has compiled a list of 10 African countries - in no particular order – that are critically short of skilled personnel.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-08-12/liberia-doesnt-have-many-doctors-and-its-battling-ebola-minimal-supplies

In Liberia, doctors have been in short supply for decades. When the country's most recent civil war ended in 2003, the country relied on about 50 doctors to care for the entire nation of more than 3 million people. 

comment: So there is good reason to question how bad Ebola would be in the U.S. Yet, with all our health care, even if 30% didn't make it, we still couldn't handle it.

Medclinician

Good find. We have undoubtedly let our guard down by now so this wouldn't be good.