Doctor leads the fight
WASHINGTON — Butler native Dr. Amesh Adalja, who is an infectious disease expert, was among medical professionals recognized Wednesday by President Barack Obama as front line leaders in the fight against Ebola.
At the nationally-televised White House ceremony, the president specifically thanked those doctors who have traveled to West Africa, and he urged Americans to treat them as heroes.
Adalja, 39, has not traveled to Africa, and has no immediate plans to do so. However, as a senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health, Adalja for some time has studied emerging infectious diseases, including Ebola, and ways to manage their outbreaks.
This expertise has garnered him four previous invitations to the White House to present his research and work to the national security staff. In recent weeks, it also has thrust him into a national media spotlight.
“I’ve been interviewed on television every day for the last month,” said Adalja, who appeared in three different CNN news clips on Wednesday alone. “I was invited to the White House as someone who is communicating effectively about Ebola.”
Adalja said the topics he has covered during these interviews have evolved as knowledge and issues pertaining to the disease have changed. However, he has consistently stressed that there is no need to panic.
“It is scary and deadly, but not very contagious,” he said.
Adalja, a 1993 Butler High School graduate, said he was honored by the invitation to be at the White House on Wednesday.
“It’s good to be on the list of people the president wanted at this event,” he said.
In his talk, Obama said the United States is not immune to the disease but cautioned against discouraging American health care workers with restrictive measures that confine them upon their return from the afflicted region.
“We can’t hermetically seal ourselves off,” he declared.
Obama said doctors and nurses from the United States who have volunteered to fight Ebola in West Africa must be treated with dignity and respect. The disease has killed nearly 5,000 in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
His remarks came amid debate between the federal government and several states over how returning health care workers should be monitored. The White House has pushed back against overly restrictive measures, including proposals for travel bans or isolation measures adopted by some states.
“Yes, we are likely to see a possible case elsewhere outside of these countries, and that’s true whether or not we adopt a travel ban, whether or not you adopt a quarantine,” Obama said.
“We have to keep in mind that if we’re discouraging our health care workers, who are prepared to make these sacrifices, from traveling to these places in need, then we’re not doing our job in terms of looking after our own public health and safety,” he added.
The White House has argued that stricter measures adopted by states such as New Jersey and New York could hurt efforts to recruit doctors and nurses to volunteer in West Africa. The federal government’s guidance says only health care workers who have been exposed to Ebola directly, such as through a needle pin prick or by not having adequate protection, should face isolation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
