A patient has been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus in the US, the first diagnosis in the country.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis.
The patient initially sought treatment six days after arriving in the country, potentially exposing a "handful" of family members and others to the virus, a top US health official said tonight.
Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he had no doubt that local and federal health authorities could contain the potential spread of the deadly virus in the country.
"It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden told a press conference.
"I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States."
The patient was hospitalised at a Dallas hospital on Sunday after travelling from Liberia, one of the countries hit hardest by the worst Ebola outbreak on record.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas officials said in a statement yesterday that an unnamed patient was being tested for Ebola and had been placed in "strict isolation" due to the patient's symptoms and recent travel history.
US hospitals have treated several patients who were diagnosed with Ebola in West Africa, the centre of the worst known outbreak of the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people.
Earlier today, the new head of the UN Ebola response team vowed to take swift action on the crisis.
Anthony Banbury said ambitious targets need to be met to prevent the spread of the virus worldwide.
"We don't know how long it will take. We hope to do it as fast as possible and to close the UNMEER mission (UN Mission on Ebola Emergency Response) as quickly as possible," he said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon set up UNMEER earlier this month in response to criticism of the world body's response to the outbreak.
