At a press briefing in Washington last month, World Health Organization and United Nations officials stressed the need to step up the response to West Africa's Ebola crisis.

David Nabarro, MD, senior U.N. system coordinator for Ebola disease, warned that we're not in a position where we can afford to lose a day, because the outbreak is moving ahead of efforts to control it. Since the worst outbreak of the virus began in West Africa early this year, more than 4,000 people have died.Just two days ago, Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO called Ebola the "most severe acute health emergency in modern times." Chan said the epidemic had proved "the world is ill-prepared to respond to any severe, sustained, and threatening public health emergency."Since there is no established anti-viral treatment, the warnings must be taken seriously. The first Ebola case in the U.S. shows just how hard it is to identify and manage the epidemic. Thomas Eric Duncan carried the Ebola virus from Liberia, and did not get sick until he arrived here. A week ago he became the first person to die in the U.S.When he was screened before his flight, Duncan had a normal temperature and he denied having contact with anyone known to be infected. After checking into an emergency room with a fever on Sept. 25 he was discharged but three days later he returned and then tested positive. Medical experts said that even if Duncan had been identified on the first visit, it may have been too late since he had already been carrying the virus for days.Last Sunday a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan died, become the first person to contract Ebola within the U.S. The next day, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, said the latest case changes our approach to controlling Ebola.Along with screening travelers from Ebola-affected areas at selected airports, another strategy is to isolate all suspected symptomatic patients and monitoring or quarantining everyone who came into contact with them. Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the chief medical editor for NBC News, and her news crew was flown back to the U.S. from West Africa after a freelance cameraman started showing symptoms of the virus. The crew, including Snyderman, were asked to isolate themselves for 21 days in a voluntary quarantine.Amazingly, we learned last week that Snyderman decided to break her voluntary quarantine by riding to one of her favorite New Jersey restaurants for some soup! A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Health said there was no need to decontaminate the restaurant or warn anyone who was inside because the CDC says people without Ebola symptoms aren't contagious. Since the NBC crew remains symptom-free, she said there is no reason for concern of exposure to the community.It's important not to press the panic button on Ebola but when Snyderman, a seasoned journalist and medical expert, decided to break her quarantine, it did little to allay the fears of a skittish public or enhance the image and trust in the mainstream media.By Jim Zbickeditor@tnonline.com