US ready if Ebola virus spreads: Senator

Authorities in the US are prepared if the Ebola virus disease enters the country, a senator of the Republican Party said.

"Ebola virus is as much of a threat as the Islamic State (IS) terrorists, but experts in US know what to do if the disease spreading through three West African nations ever comes to the US," USA Today Thursday quoted senator Lamar Alexander as saying.

Alexander, the top Republican on the senate committee on health, education, labour and pensions, held discussions on Ebola with Vanderbilt University physicians and scientists and the state epidemiologist, Tim Jones.

"I saw them making the antibodies that they will give to healthcare workers treating people with Ebola," Alexander said in an interview after the tour. "It's not an approved solution yet, but it's further along than anything else I've heard of."

The deadliest Ebola virus disease epidemic in history has claimed 2,800 lives in West Africa.

A total of 5,800 people were infected with the Ebola virus in the hardest-hit countries -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.