Ebola outbreak - general thread #4

[Muffet]

I know it's probably unrealistic to think that *every* hospital could get the correct biohazard suits, isolations and such needed to contain the ultimate spread of the virus, but at the very least if they can manage to spend a few extra $$$ on those hospitals/wards here in the US such as Dallas, to expedite the better suits/isolations (even if they have to set up something temporary and rearrange a bit) for the right now patients where they are needed most... Yes one has passed and we have a sick nurse unfortunately so it's already hit that hospital, but if they can urgently get the correct supplies/measures in place right now before it potentially spreads farther.. It's worth going for it. I know there's the chance that other cases will pop up (as people are traveling to and from our country until/if they restrict/monitor travel a LOT more, totally agree with you there), like it sounds is happening in the Harvard area with a potential case popping up.. But if they can manage to step up their game where it matters now... Might save a grisly looking future of the spread in the states. And stop pointing fingers everywhere else, but act like their lives depend on it instead, because, well they do.

ITA, trex.

 

[trex]

If they can equip the plane, surely they can equip a helicopter? If they haven't thought of this, they should have.
I knew full well that all hospitals aren't ready to take care of Ebola patients, and clearly they aren't.
Surely CDC can figure it out?

I don't want to live in a world of woulda/shoulda/coulda but, I'm curious why they didn't fly Mr. Duncan and now the new patient the nurse to one of the 4 facilities who is equipped to handle this.. There is one in Atlanta and one in Nebraska... Those aren't too far a shot away from TX. Kind of surprises me considering the patients we flew in from West Africa were taken immediately to those facilities. I understand Mr. Duncan had a shady circumstance of not being truthful on his travel application about being around an ebola patient, but I also understand that he did tell someone initially upon his first visit at the hospital that he had traveled from West Africa and somehow that got lost in translation and he was sent away. Etc etc. Here we are now.

I wonder if they thought it was too late by the time he came back to the hospital and they tested/diagnosed him positively to send him to one of the facilities? I'd hate to think it was because he wasn't an American citizen/aid worker as the rest were. To me it shouldn't matter who you are or where you came from, if you've got Ebola get the person to one of those facilities ASAP if the hospital they get to isn't well equipped to handle. I know, it costs dollars. But still. This needs containment at it's finest. I wonder if they will take the nurse who is now ill to one of the facilities, or it sounds like they are essentially closing down the hospital now for some amount of time so they don't need to?

 

[jjenny]

We have been told that every hospital in the US should be able to treat an Ebola patient. So I presume that is the reason that Mr. Duncan was not flown to one of the four biosafety level 4 hospitals.
After all, treating him should have been perfectly safe in Dallas.
Only it wasn't.

 

[Muffet]

We have been told that every hospital in the US should be able to treat an Ebola patient. So I presume that is the reason that Mr. Duncan was not flown to one of the four biosafety level 4 hospitals.
After all, treating him should have been perfectly safe in Dallas.
Only it wasn't.

'Fool me once... ", right? And they crossed that line months ago, imo.

 

[shotgun09]

I think this poor nurse should demand to be transferred to one of those facilities. Clearly this Texas hospital is not prepared for Ebola.

 

[jjenny]

I think this poor nurse should demand to be transferred to one of those facilities. Clearly this Texas hospital is not prepared for Ebola.

I agree. If she stays in the same hospital, under new cdc guidelines, she would get less care than Mr. Duncan did.
Only essential procedures and limiting number of people taking care of her to absolute minimum.

 

[chipmunk]

When your DH is a doctor, as mine is, or your sister is a RN or your SIL is a RN and your friends are all first line medical personnel, yes Ebola gets worrisome and real.

It seems taking off the protective clothing and gear may well be the weak link, most common cause of infection in those who are well trained.
I meant to post this earlier in case the health professionals here didn't see a statement Dr Kent Brantly made a few days ago. He said when Taking Off the garment to hold it on the Inside.

Whatever pointers experienced medical personnel can provide must be collected. The best of instructions can be posted in the care area, similar to a surgery to do/check list in an OR which reduces infection risk.

I would think infectious disease experts (of ebola) would test every item in the patient's isolation unit to determine what if anything has been contaminated and re trace all steps, actions taken in the room.

If I find the article I'll post it.

 

[1&2&3]

Just thinking - if you or I, just the struggling adult who barely makes it each month, were to come down with Ebola, how would OUR medical bills be paid? We have minimum insurance coverage. Being in an isolation room is not cheap, and all the charges add up. Plus, if we were to be given the experimental drug, not the Zmapp, the other one that Duncan received, it is probably quite expensive. Add this up for a three week hospital stay, and your head is bursting!

It is a painful thought as none of us could afford it! Bankruptcy you say. There are rules to that and the statement "you can keep your house" does not apply in every state.

There are so many consequences to catching Ebola. What will it take for our government to wake up and do something to keep people from infected countries out of our country? The USA is willing to be Big Brother to other countries, however, they have lost sight of the needs of their own citizens! JMO

 

[jjenny]

Just thinking - if you or I, just the struggling adult who barely makes it each month, were to come down with Ebola, how would OUR medical bills be paid? We have minimum insurance coverage. Being in an isolation room is not cheap, and all the charges add up. Plus, if we were to be given the experimental drug, not the Zmapp, the other one that Duncan received, it is probably quite expensive. Add this up for a three week hospital stay, and your head is bursting!

It is a painful thought as none of us could afford it! Bankruptcy you say. There are rules to that and the statement "you can keep your house" does not apply in every state.

There are so many consequences to catching Ebola. What will it take for our government to wake up and do something to keep people from infected countries out of our country? The USA is willing to be Big Brother to other countries, however, they have lost sight of the needs of their own citizens! JMO

Even if you are put in isolation for 21 days, are you still going to have your job when you emerge? Who is going to feed you when you are in isolation?
So many issues.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Yah, that's what I was thinking... The loss of the work force. That plus a restriction on air travel has nearly bankrupted Liberia, a country that was struggling anyway after many years of civil war.

What if Europe, Australia, etc put air restrictions on people originating in Texas?

--------------------

Doctors and nurses don't break sterile field anyway. They do things already like take gloves off inside out and put compromised protecting clothes in bio hazard bags anyway. They don't need to be taught this. They are already taught this.

Personally I believe either the current garments aren't bio safe from Ebola or this virus spreads more easily than CDC estimated.... We will have to see how far this goes....

Cause, you just know another 1 or 2 of Duncan's family members are going to get diagnosed with it.... :cow: they certainly werent wearing any sterile garments....

 

[popsicle]

Shimon Prokupecz ‏@ShimonPro 6m6 minutes ago
“@ABC7: #BREAKINGNEWS: Patient with flu-like symptoms being investigated at LAX; plane taken to remote area due to #Ebola concerns”

 

[Hiandmighty]

I recommend the vodka!

I don't know if Vodka would kill Ebola, but stock piling vodka for cleaning and disinfecting is probably a good idea too.... It would be handy to trade/barter with

 

[twomanywords]

I totally agree with you. I actually haven't met anyone who thinks it is a good idea that we aren't restricting flights. I really am pi**ed that no one is actually in charge and those who are, are so complacent about allowing sick people into our country.
I already called a local congressman but I doubt it will do anything

 

[twomanywords]

It is probably not feasible to have a BSL-4 area in every hospital, and transportation of patients to one is also problematic.

But ITA that we need to stop talking about and treating it as carelessly as we have and accepting inadequate treatment, isolation, and PPE protocols when and where the highest ones possible can be implemented.


I also agree that we need to restrict flights to allow only those necessary for aid and use real quarantines. Not doing so is inexcusable and makes those who refuse to take these critical measures complicit in the consequences of every uncontrolled escape of the virus that ensues, imo.

I meant to reply with quotes!

 

[Yoda]

The airplanes, two are outfitted, are owned by a company, not the Govt.

The jets belong to a small, Georgia-based air charter company called Phoenix Air. Officials say it is the only carrier capable of performing the evacuations.

“We’re it,” Dent Thompson, Phoenix Air vice president, said in a phone interview. “We’ve done (six) evacuations back to the U.S. and three to Europe, two into Germany and one into France,” Thompson told Stars and Stripes said before the company had evacuated a Norwegian last week. “It’s a steady program, we figure, for at least a year,” he said.

http://www.stripes.com/news/if-infe...fly-out-of-africa-on-special-charter-1.307742

 

[Elley Mae]

snippets

Health officials said the nurse was not one of the 48 individuals initially monitored for possible direct or indirect contact with Mr. Duncan before he was admitted to the hospital, including health care workers and Mr. Duncan’s relatives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/us/texas-health-worker-tests-positive-for-ebola.html?_r=0

In addition to being present in body fluids, the virus is also present on a patient’s skin after symptoms develop, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, the infectious disease specialist who heads the team that has cared for three Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Four hospitals in the United States — Emory in Atlanta, Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont. — have special high-containment units for isolating patients with dangerous infectious diseases, and medical teams at those facilities have conducted extensive training and drills for dealing with pathogens like Ebola.

The hospital took the unusual step Sunday of prohibiting ambulances from bringing new patients into its emergency room. Officials stressed the hospital was open for business, but said they decided to put the emergency room on so-called diversion status because of limitations in staff capacity.

bbm

 

[Yoda]

TMK. Samaritans Purse paid for three evacuations, NBC paid for the reporter and the other two are unknowns.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Same here, my family is medical also........and 1 grandson in a big university...........GOD help us all..........

Right, This isn't like MRSA, etc. Ebola is different.

 

[Paulette]

Does anyone really think that hospitals will be accepting Ebola patients if they start showing up in emergency rooms? Just look at Dallas Presbyterian & the hit they took!

So...where will the Ebola patients go? Ebola hospitals away from towns? Who will take care of them seeing that the nurse who cared for Duncan is infected? I see the medical community shying away from this virus.

 

[jjenny]

Does anyone really think that hospitals will be accepting Ebola patients if they start showing up in emergency rooms? Just look at Dallas Presbyterian & the hit they took!

So...where will the Ebola patients go? Ebola hospitals away from towns? Who will take care of them seeing that the nurse who cared for Duncan is infected? I see the medical community shying away from this virus.

They can't stay away. If a patients shows up in the ER, hospital is obligated to treat the patient.