The latest on the Ebola crisis

This week's revelation that two Dallas nurses contracted Ebola from the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the U.S. realized the fears of public health officials and sparked new questions over the government's ability to respond to the disease.

With numerous stories stemming from the new cases in the U.S. and additional news from overseas, here's the most recent Ebola coverage from Saturday:

Obama meets with Ebola response team

The president brought together national security and public health officials Saturday evening to get an update on the Ebola response in the U.S. The advisors gave him details on the status of the contract tracing process, according to a statement from the White House. The process would identify those who may have had some contact Ebola patients in Dallas after they were exposed.

In addition, the team went over actions being taken to ensure that Dallas officials have access to the proper resources to effectively diagnose additional cases.

Team members who attended the meeting included Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Officials seek sample from isolated cruise guest

The U.S. Coast Guard sent a helicopter to collect a blood sample from a passenger, who is under isolation on a Carnival Magic cruise ship. The passenger is a lab supervisor who works at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas who may have handled lab specimens from Thomas Eric Duncan 20 days ago, according to the Coast Guard.

The sample is being flown to Austin where it will be tested for Ebola.

The request was made by local, state and federal officials preparing for the ship to arrive in Galveston, Tex., Sunday morning.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Andy Kendrick said the passenger is likely asymptomatic and healthy.

Dozens being monitored in Ohio

A total of 116 people are being monitored for Ebola symptoms in Ohio following the visit from a Dallas nurse who treated the first patient to die of the virus in the United States and later tested positive herself, health officials said Saturday.

None of those being monitored is sick, officials stressed.

Obama: Keep Ebola fight in "perspective"

President Obama pleaded for "perspective" in the fight against Ebola Saturday, urging Americans to trust the scientific community and warning that "hysteria" and "fear" will only make it more difficult to ultimately stop the virus in its tracks.

"This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need," he said in his weekly address. "We have to be guided by the science. We have to remember the basic facts."

First U.S. victim remembered for compassion

Thomas Eric Duncan was remembered Saturday as a big-hearted and compassionate man whose virtues may have led to his infection with Ebola in his native Liberia and death as the first victim of the disease in the United States.

Family and friends gathered Saturday at a Southern Baptist church with a primarily Liberian flock in the North Carolina city of Salisbury, near where Duncan's mother lives.

Sick woman at Dallas train station prompts scare

A woman fell ill at a Dallas train station and prompted a brief scare as Ebola fears are running high in the city. But the transit system says she is not on an Ebola watch list.

Authorities were inspecting the train and platform and will clean the facility.

Monitoring inconsistent as virus spread

The inconsistent response by health officials in monitoring and limiting the movement of health workers has been one of the critical blunders in the outbreak.

Friends and family who had contact with Duncan before he was hospitalized were confined to homes under armed guard, but nurses who handled his contagious bodily fluids were allowed to treat other patients, take mass transit and get on airplanes.

Team of scientists tries to crack deadly code

A few San Diego scientists are part of a global team of researchers racing to cure an outbreak unlike anything they've ever seen.

"We've never seen it in West Africa before. We've never seen an 8,000 person Ebola virus outbreak before," said Erica Ollmann Saphire with the Scripps Research Institute Global Virus Network.

Food deliveries in Sierra Leone to fight virus

The U.N.'s World Food Program on Saturday delivered emergency food rations to 265,000 people, many of them quarantined in Sierra Leone, to help fight the spread of Ebola.

Food supplies are being distributed in the Waterloo district on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, WFP's Alexis Masciarelli told The Associated Press.