A former White House doctor has warned that Donald Trump‘s ‘blackout’ at the CDC could allow one of the world’s deadliest diseases to enter the US.
One of Trump’s first acts as president was to put 90-day pause on travel, foreign assistance and some external communications at the CDC, FDA and NIH while the new administration prepares to overhaul the agencies.
The CDC has also been told to stop working with the World Health Organization ‘immediately’.
Dr Stephanie Psaki — who is also the sister of Joe Biden’s former press secretary Jen Psaki — said these moves could lay the ground for dangerous pathogens to come to America, such as Marburg virus, an Ebola-like illness that kills up to 88 percent of people it infects.
There is currently an outbreak of Marburg in Tanzania, where eight of the nine known Marburg patients have died and more cases may emerge.
There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which causes bleeding from orifices like the eyes, ears and mouth, and the only hope of protecting Americans ‘is to stop it at its source,’ said Dr Pskai.
Writing in an editorial today, the former health and ‘gender equity’ advisor to Biden said there should be CDC experts on the ground to fight the virus and working with public health partners to coordinate resources available to protect Americans.
She said Trump’s pause leaves the US less prepared to tackle ‘unknown pathogens’ — much like how the Covid pandemic began.
Dr Stephanie Psaki raised the alarm over an outbreak of Marburg virus in Tanzania
Dr Psaki continued: ‘As I’ve watched the Trump administration announce a series of actions that undermine our ability to detect and respond to biological threats… I wonder: Who is protecting the American people from Marburg right now?’
Marburg virus is one of the deadliest diseases known, with patients starting with a headache, fever, and vomiting, before experiencing bleeding from orifices — such as the eyes, nose and ears.
The disease can spread between people via contact with bodily fluids such as blood and feces. Health workers trying to help patients are often infected.
Outbreaks of the disease and Ebola are often linked to exposure to infected bats.
But while there were 11 cases of and two deaths from Ebola in the US in 2014, officials say their protocol for responding to and handling viral outbreaks is a major reason why Marburg virus has never been detected in the US.
Writing for STAT News, Dr Psaki — the former US coordinator for global health security of the National Security Council — urged the Trump administration to follow the ‘playbook’ she and her team left behind for handling these types of outbreaks.
Dr Psaki said: ‘The Marburg outbreak has continued to evolve since the transition last week, but we have little visibility into what is happening.
‘Scientific experts across the US government have lost access to many of the tools they would normally use to protect Americans.’
The WHO warned her team of the Marburg outbreak in Tanzania on January 11, citing ‘reliable reports from in-country sources’ and said six people had been sickened, five of which had died.
By the morning after, her team had conducted a risk assessment — which found the risk was significant.
Marburg has a mortality rate of up to 88 percent. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus
Pictured above is a medical worker assisting with a Marburg virus outbreak in 2014 in Kenya
And by Tuesday, the CDC had a response team ready while the State Department had issued guidance to Americans traveling to Tanzania warning over the outbreak and telling them to be aware of symptoms of Marburg.
The WHO had also conducted a risk assessment of the situation, and found the risk of transmission internationally was ‘low’.
Dr Psaki added: ‘Now is not the time to demolish our well-oiled machine [for preventing outbreaks].
‘Instead, the United States should do what it does best — drive an effective and efficient response to stop outbreaks at their source. Because that’s the best way to save lives around the world, and to protect our homeland too.’
In a slew of executive orders on January 20, Trump announced he would withdraw from the WHO, replace the US Global Health Security Strategy for 2024 and place a 90-day pause on foreign assistance.
He has also paused the CDC and FDA from making public announcements, and blocked the National Institutes of Health from funding new research.
Dr Psaki warned these moves are severing ties with critical organizations that help to limit disease outbreaks and stop them before they hit the US.
She also warned it was leaving the US ‘locked out’ of warning systems, such as the WHO’s ‘Event Information Site’ — which alerts of new outbreaks.
Additionally, she said it left the US less prepared to tackle ‘unknown pathogens’ — like Covid — after they emerge because it will likely have much less luck obtaining information from the country recording the outbreak than the WHO.
The previous administration followed a strategy of monitoring and responding to biological threats posed to the US abroad in order to stop them reaching the country.
Dr Psaki said: ‘That was our plan to keep Americans safe. It worked for the last four years, and it’s our best bet to keep Americans safe for the next four.’
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