Olympia doctor being monitored for Ebola after Liberia trip

A Thurston County doctor who recently returned home from a trip to West Africa is now being monitored for Ebola as a precaution.

Dr. Paul Bunge, of Olympia, is working with the Thurston County Health Department and self-monitoring after returning from a three-week trip to Liberia. Bunge never treated Ebola-infected patients directly.

He said he “never even saw an Ebola patient from across the street,” but helped train medical clinic staff on how they could protect themselves and handle Ebola victims.

Bunge practices in Chehalis, Elma and Olympia, among other locations.

The Chronicle published a story about him and his trip on Thursday, and Bunge said a letter from the health department about self-monitoring came Friday morning.

“This is universal for people coming back,” Bunge said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently created protocols for travelers returning from West African nations caught in the Ebola outbreak to report to local health officials in their home state.

Bunge passed CDC screening at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. He was determined to pose “no known risks” of carrying the virus.

Bunge traveled to Liberia to help assist in the crisis. He’s traveled to other countries suffering emergency situations in the past, including Thailand, Kenya and Haiti.

He told the Chronicle there is too much fear and not enough information when it comes to the current hysteria over Ebola.

“People do dumb things when they’re afraid and they don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “We have to stop doing stupid things, sit down, get educated, find out what we know about Ebola – which is quite a bit – and do reasonable things to fight this disease.”