U.S. officials Friday broadly defended the response to the country's first case of Ebola, although one acknowledged that while the government is confident of containing the virus, it had been "rocky" in Dallas where the patient is in serious condition.
Health officials in Dallas charged with checking the spread of Ebola have narrowed their focus to about 50 people who had direct or indirect contact with an infected Liberian visitor, including 10 at high risk who are being checked twice daily for symptoms.
In Washington, officials were asked at a news conference why the visitor, Thomas Eric Duncan, was able to get past screening in his journey from Liberia on Sept. 19 and then be sent home after telling a Dallas hospital a few days later about his travel to a country where there had been an Ebola outbreak.