Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden described Ebola as "scary," and said he understood the concerns people had about the virus after the announcement of the first diagnosed case in the United States.
The CDC announced Tuesday that a man traveling Sept. 20 from Liberia in West Africa to the U.S. was diagnosed with Ebola and was being treated in Dallas. Frieden told "Fox & Friends" the public should be safe, since Ebola didn't spread through the air.
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"People are scared. It's a scary disease," Frieden said Wednesday. "It only spreads from someone who's sick, and only spreads from direct contact with the person or their body fluids."
The CDC was working to determine if anyone came in contact with the affected male patient, Frieden said, adding there was a "nine-person team in Dallas working with the hospital, with the health department, and the family to identify every possible contact." He said the team would be "monitoring every one of those individuals for 21 days."
Frieden said the "best way" to stop the
spread of the disease was to identify it "at the source in Africa," where the disease has affected more than 6,500 people.
The CDC was working to contain the disease in West Africa by screening people for fever who were leaving the country by plane, he said, adding the process included a questionnaire and taking people's temperature.
"Every single patient's temperature is measured at least once, often two or three times, before they get on a plane. That's important, not only to protect other people, but also to keep the airlines flying," Frieden said.
The CDC was also working to make sure doctors and health workers in the U.S. were aware "about the possibility of Ebola in anyone who's been in West Africa for the past 21 days, and test them and isolate them if they have been," he said.
Frieden explained it was the policy of the CDC to "level with people" and "tell people more, rather than less" about the spread and risks associated with Ebola.
"We are going to tell you what happens, when it happens. When we don't know something, we'll tell you that as well," he said.
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