Pentagon launches military response team to help fight Ebola in US

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the military to prepare and train a 30-member medical support team that could provide short-term help to civilian health professionals if there are more Ebola cases in the United States.

The team of five doctors, 20 nurses and five trainers in infectious disease protocols could respond on short notice to help civilian medical professionals, a statement from Hagel’s spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

The team will go to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for seven days of training in infection control and special protective equipment. Training is expected to start within the next week.

“Upon conclusion of training, team members will remain in a ‘prepare to deploy’ status for 30 days,” Kirby said.

Kirby says the team won't be sent to West Africa or elsewhere overseas, but will be called up for service in the U.S. only if needed by public health officials.

Three cases of Ebola have been diagnosed in the United States, prompting widespread concern about the potential spread of the virus. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man fell ill while on a trip to Dallas, Texas, and died on Oct. 8. Two nurses who treated him contracted the disease.

One of the infected nurses — Amber Joy Vinson, 29 — traveled to Cleveland, Ohio. The number of people quarantined in Ohio after the visit from one of the nurses who tested positive for Ebola has risen from one to three. There are 153 people being monitored in Ohio because of contact or potential contact with Vinson. That number was 116 on Saturday.

Some of the dozens of people who are being watched for possible exposure to Ebola in the United States are expected to be cleared on Sunday and Monday, potentially easing concerns about the spread of the disease after two nurses were infected.

A Dallas lab worker, who spent much of a Caribbean holiday cruise in isolation, tested negative for the deadly virus and left the Carnival Magic liner with other passengers after it docked at Galveston, Texas, early on Sunday morning.

The precautions taken for the cruise passenger reflected widespread anxiety over Ebola in the United States, including calls from some lawmakers for a travel ban on West Africa.

At midnight, some 48 people who might have been in contact with Duncan will no longer require monitoring for signs of the virus, health officials say.

On Monday, more were expected to end 21 days of monitoring, the incubation period for the virus.

The worst outbreak on record of the virus, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids of sick people, has killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Kirby called the team "an added, prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases." He said it would consist of critical care nurses, doctors trained in infectious diseases and trainers in infectious disease protocols.

Al Jazeera and wire services