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Success against Ebola lies in the details

U.S. officials have proven effective tactics to battle infectious diseases. But the devil is in the details – and the devil now is Ebola.

It was confirmed Wednesday that a second employee of the hospital where a Liberian man died of Ebola has come down with the disease. Like the first American victim, this one also was involved in treating the Liberian man.

No one seems to know how the two women, employees of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, contracted Ebola. Obviously, the needs to be determined quickly.

What we do know is that both hospital and federal health officials maintained the facility used effective measures to contain the disease. Obviously, that was not true.

Incredibly stupid mistakes have been made. One involves the new Ebola patient. After treating the Liberian man, she was allowed to travel by airliner from Dallas to Cleveland and back. Now, health officials have to track down passengers on those flights.

Knowing what to do about scourges such as Ebola is one thing. Ensuring it is done is another. Clearly, health care workers and officials throughout the United States need to take another look at how they deal with all infectious diseases.

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