Army Quarantines General, Soldiers Who Were Fighting Ebola - East Idaho News
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Army Quarantines General, Soldiers Who Were Fighting Ebola

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102414 Quarantine?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1414436487474ABC News(WASHINGTON) — The Army has decided that troops returning from deployments to Liberia should be quarantined so they can be monitored for possible exposure to the Ebola virus.

The order immediately affected up to a dozen soldiers who returned to their home base in Italy this weekend, including Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the former top U.S. commander in Liberia.

“Out of an abundance of caution the Army directed a small number of personnel, about a dozen, that recently returned to Italy to be monitored in a separate location at their home station of Vicenza,” Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday. “None of these individuals have shown any symptoms of exposure.”

Williams transferred command of Operation Unified Assistance on Saturday to Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, who commands the 101st Airborne Division. Williams and his staff returned to his command of U.S. Army Africa which is based in Vicenza, Italy. The order will also apply to several dozen more Army personnel returning to Vicenza later in the week.

Warren said that the decision was made by the Department of the Army and that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is aware of their decision.

There are 882 military personnel assigned to Operation Unified Assistance in Liberia and Senegal. They are being sent mainly to build Ebola treatment units and provide the infrastructure needed for additional treatment. They will not be providing health care to Ebola patients and will have minimal contacts with the general population.

Warren said there was no one incident that triggered the Army’s decision as the personnel in question did not have direct contact with Ebola patients. A Defense official said the Army made it’s decision over the weekend.

Ebola symptoms include fever, exhaustion, muscle ache, vomiting and diarrhea.

According to the Department of Defense policy returning troops who have been exposed to the virus will be medically evacuated to the U.S. for treatment at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta or the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.


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