A top U.S. doctor on Sunday again acknowledged treatment for the country's first Ebola patient was mishandled, and that the Obama administration overstated the country's readiness for the deadly virus, amid concern that Americans have already lost faith in the government.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told 'Fox News Sunday' that the adopted World Health Organization protocol for handling an Ebola patient was better suited for field work than confined hospital care.
As a result, two nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas were infected with Ebola while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who arrived from West Africa with the virus and died.
'It was very clear ... that is not the optimal way,' Fauci said.
Fauci said he wasn't sure how nurse Nina Pham became infected, but it was 'likely' because 'she was not completely covered.'
As many as 4,500 people in West Africa so far this year have died from Ebola.
Fauci also tried to quell some of the fear and criticism over President Obama and other administration officials overstating U.S. readiness, including White House adviser Lisa Monaco suggesting every U.S. hospital is fully prepared to treat an Ebola patient.
'Nothing is risk free,' Fauci told Fox News. He said that what U.S. health officials need to do now is not talk about things in 'absolutes.'
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist and founding member of the GOP Doctors Caucus, said the hysteria about Ebola reaching the epidemic level in the U.S. that President Obama is trying to calm is the result of people wanting answers and getting wrong information, which is typical in such situations.
'So many of those assurances have been inaccurate,' he told Fox News.
Murphy also said the so-called Ebola czar that the president appointed to oversee the federal response, Ron Klain, will not calm such fears.
'The American people are looking for knowledge and expertise,' he told Fox News. 'He has none in these fields.'
Entities 0 Name: U.S. Count: 5 1 Name: Fauci Count: 4 2 Name: Fox News Count: 3 3 Name: Obama Count: 3 4 Name: West Africa Count: 2 5 Name: White House Count: 1 6 Name: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Count: 1 7 Name: World Health Organization Count: 1 8 Name: Nina Pham Count: 1 9 Name: Tim Murphy Count: 1 10 Name: Dallas Count: 1 11 Name: Murphy Count: 1 12 Name: Dr. Anthony Fauci Count: 1 13 Name: Lisa Monaco Count: 1 14 Name: Thomas Eric Duncan Count: 1 15 Name: American Count: 1 16 Name: Liberian Count: 1 17 Name: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Count: 1 18 Name: Ron Klain Count: 1 19 Name: GOP Count: 1 20 Name: R-Pa. Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1CCwErV Title: Ebola to dominate Sunday talk shows Description: WASHINGTON - The Sunday network shows will focus on Ebola with Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appearing on all the major talk fests. The deadly virus has unnerved the nation with the infection of two nurses who cared for the first confirmed case in the United States.
