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Podcasts Take Two
Disease detectives track Ebola in the US
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Oct 27, 2014
Listen • 6:18
Disease detectives track Ebola in the US
"Disease detectives" are hard at work behind the scenes, collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control, to stop the spread of Ebola and other infectious diseases in the U.S.
Dr Felicity Hartnell, who is a clinical research fellow at Oxford University, holds a vial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola in Oxford, England Wednesday Sept. 17, 2014. A former nurse will be the first of 60 healthy volunteers in the UK who will receive the vaccine. The vaccine was developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline and targets the Zaire strain of Ebola, the cause of the ongoing outbreak in West Africa. A trial of the same vaccine has already begun in the U.S. (AP Photo/Steve Parsons/Pool)
Dr Felicity Hartnell, who is a clinical research fellow at Oxford University, holds a vial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola in Oxford, England Wednesday Sept. 17, 2014. "Disease detectives" are hard at work behind the scenes, collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control, to stop the spread of Ebola and other infectious diseases in the U.S.
(
Steve Parsons/AP
)

"Disease detectives" are hard at work behind the scenes, collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control, to stop the spread of Ebola and other infectious diseases in the U.S.

The state of New Jersey says it's releasing a nurse who had been forced into quarantine under a new Ebola policy.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have said such measures were necessary to help stop potential spread of the disease. Meanwhile, the nation's top disease experts argue quarantines are unnecessary and could discourage medical professionals from offering assistance in the places its needed most.

All of which points to the fact that there are no easy answers when it comes to controlling an infectious disease. That's why so-called "disease detectives" are hard at work behind the scenes, collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control, to stop the spread of Ebola and other infectious diseases.

Dr. Kavita Trivedi, an infection control consultant in Northern California and a former "disease detective" with the CDC, joins Take Two to explain how the process works.