U.S. troops returning from West Africa are being placed under isolation at a base in Italy, even though none of the soldiers has symptoms of Ebola, as a precaution to prevent the potential spread of the virus, the Pentagon said on Monday.
The U.S. Army has isolated a dozen soldiers returning from West Africa, including Major General Darryl Williams, who oversaw the military’s initial response to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, the Pentagon said.
Dozens more troops would be isolated in the coming days as they rotate out of Liberia and Senegal, where the U.S. military has been building infrastructure to help health authorities treat Ebola victims, the Pentagon said.
‘Out of an abundance of caution, the army directed a small number of personnel, about a dozen, that recently returned to Italy, to be monitored in a separate location at their home station of Vicenza,’ Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
“They’re not allowed to leave,” Warren said, describing the precautions as “enhanced monitoring.”
