NEW YORK — The Trump administration is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States, an administration official said Wednesday.
The quarantine and treatment center being set up by the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services will be designed for Ebola patients who need to get out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and receive care quickly, said the official who requested anonymity to share the administration’s plans. The person said the plan would help patients avoid an hours-long medical evacuation to the U.S.
It wasn’t immediately clear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.
The official said the facility will be able to care for the full spectrum of Ebola, a rare but severe disease that is often fatal in people. But they said people may be transported elsewhere for more advanced care as appropriate.
Kenya’s health minister confirmed officials there were talking with the U.S. about “preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola,” but didn’t address whether the country would establish a treatment facility for Americans.
“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” Health Minister Aden Duale said in a statement.
For decades, medical experts have suggested moving patients suffering from Ebola and similar illnesses as little as possible in case their condition worsens, said Dr. Ali Khan, the public health college dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. But, he added, the quality of care must be equivalent to what someone would receive in American facilities.
“You’ve got to make sure the patient gets the best quality care and you need to ensure excellent infection control,” said Khan, who earlier in his career led international responses to Ebola and other outbreaks for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During a massive Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014 and 2015, more than a half dozen infected Americans were brought back to the United States. That experience prompted the establishment of a U.S. network of quarantine and isolation facilities across the country.
But during that earlier outbreak, Donald Trump – then a businessman and reality TV star – repeatedly criticized then-President Barack Obama for bringing infected Americans home for care.
“The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great – but must suffer the consequences!” he wrote in a 2014 tweet.
He also suggested a plan similar to the one described to the AP by the administration official: “Treat them, at the highest level, over there,” Trump wrote in July 2014.
During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department and other agencies were working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” he said.
Earlier this month, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for Ebola and was sent to Germany for medical care. Serge, a Christian missionary organization, identified him as Dr. Peter Stafford. Stafford’s wife and four children did not have symptoms but also were flown to Germany and placed in isolation at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.
On Wednesday, the hospital said the patient was in stable condition.
“The viral load measured in the patient has dropped very, very rapidly over the course of the week,” likely thanks to antiviral therapy, Dr. Leif Erik Sander, director of the hospital’s infectious diseases department, told reporters.
Sander said the doctor’s relatives are not showing any symptoms.
Another American medical missionary, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, was transported to the Czech Republic for isolation after he was exposed to Ebola, though he did not have any symptoms, according to the missionary organization.
Health authorities in Congo have been struggling to contain the outbreak that the World Health Organization has said is outpacing them.
The number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed and that it is looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.
Challenges include the threat of armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.
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AP journalists Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
