The Giants sent out an NFL newsletter outlining facts about Ebola to players and staff ahead of the team’s trip to Texas this weekend to take on the Dallas Cowboys.
Team officials emailed Big Blue players Wednesday after the league gave them information on the disease, Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said. The newsletter was written by the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network, the NFL’s infectious disease consultants, and sent to the league's 32 teams on Monday.
"Our athletic trainers and team physicians have been briefed on the scope of the Ebola virus disease," Hanlon said in an email.
Hanlon added the team did nothing out of the ordinary other than providing background and information on the disease.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning was not concerned heading to Dallas, where the first person diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. died. Two nurses who treated him have also tested positive for the disease.
"No, I don't worry about myself or the team," Manning said. "I think what we're doing, where we're staying, I think we'll be OK."
AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys have played since 2009, is about 26 miles from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where the man was treated and the nurses worked.
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Dallas coach Jason Garrett seemed caught off-guard when asked if he had to address his team about Ebola.
"Really haven't, to be honest with you," Garrett said. "I don't think it has directly affected us. So it hasn't been something we have addressed directly with our players."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Wednesday in an email that the newsletter was informational.
"We do recommend that medical personnel educate their players and staff about the need to inform club medical personnel in the unlikely event that they actually have such contact," the doctors wrote.
The two doctors who signed the newsletter said the teams did not need to screen players.
The newsletter ends by recommending any NFL personnel who encounter situations or have questions about possible exposure to Ebola seek advice from either an infectious diseases specialist affiliated with their team, team physicians or with their local health department.
"Our goal in writing this newsletter is to provide basic facts and answers to common questions that may arise in players, their families, or your staff-particularly if imported cases of Ebola have occurred in your local community," Drs. Daniel J. Sexton and Deverick J. Anderson wrote.
