USA Basketball cancels trip to Senegal due to 'public health emergency' declaration

USA Basketball will not be visiting Senegal as part of their exhibition tour leading up to the FIBA World Cup as originally planned.

Team USA was expected to participate in a clinic in Dakar on Aug. 27, three days before opening the tournament against Finland in Barcelona, Spain. That date on their tour has been scratched due to ongoing health concerns over the Ebola virus in the region.

This comes via Marc Stein of ESPN.com:

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN.com on Friday that the recent declaration of a "public health emergency of international concern" in the region by the World Health Organization left no alternative for USAB.
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After the World Health Organization "noted that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa constitutes an extraordinary event and a public health risk to other [African] states," Colangelo said, USAB officials made the determination that "any risk, however small, is one we cannot take."

Colangelo expressed "extreme" disappointment and said the entire group was looking forward to the trip, but with more than 1,000 deaths attributed to Ebola in West Africa since March, the risk was deemed a limiting factor.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet identified any cases of Ebola in Senegal, but the proximity of other cases "heightened our concern," according to Colangelo.