Ebola outbreak - general thread #6

[Gypsy Road]

A little off topic but since there are a few posts about diseases you can get from your pets - just wanted to say - I got Cat Scratch Fever from my kitty scratching me about a year or so ago. I don't actually even remember getting scratched! Some people don't suffer so much after being infected, but unfortunately I had a really rough illness from it. CDC says it's not very common and my doctor never thought to test me in the beginning, and from what I understand - tests are somewhat difficult. Anyway, it was not a light or easy illness. I was very uncomfortable and my lymph nodes under my arm swelled up to the size of a lemon and I was in A LOT of pain. Anyway...off topic....carry on...

 

[mck16]

I find this to be the single most shocking thing about this entire situation. I have absolutely no medical background, but if someone told me they had a fever and oh, by the way, I was one of the nurses that treated Thomas Duncan, I would definitely advise against flying. But the CDC says "don't worry your temperature isn't high enough." That is truly mind bogglind and someone needs to be fired over this.

I am still not in panic mode over this, but I certainly don't think the country can afford this type of mistake being made. We may end up with mass panic as almost as dangerous threat as the disease and this is certainly not inspriing confidence.

As flu season comes into full force I can only imagine how crowded the ER's are going to become. This is going to be an interesting winter, for sure.

If I had treated anyone with Ebolla and then I started running a fever, I would use my own Common Sense and stay home and isolated.

 

[Hatfield]

Its pretty obvious the CDC is not doing any real isolations of any of the "contacts" of the people that came into direct contact of the affected 3 people. They are just calling them each day and asking if they are still ok, and the people are told to call them if something changes. Proof is how the lady called before boarding the plane when she got a fever. And this below is from their own website which basically says this.

"Contacts are defined as people who had definite exposure to an Ebola patient."

"Public health officials attempt to reach all contacts/possible contacts every day to check for fever and other symptoms. Daily follow-up with contacts/possible contacts will continue for 21 days from the date of each person’s exposure."

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/united-states-imported-case.html

 

[oh_gal]

Rumor is the nurse who was on tv with Matt Lauer does not hold the same feelings as the majority of the rest of the nurses at TPH.

I don't mean to sound dense...but what does that mean? That all the other nurses think things are under control there? I also don't do any social media, which, apparently, is going crazy (around here in NE Ohio, anyway)...so I am clueless as to what is being said...

 

[Woe.be.gone]

If I were dictator I would put the top military brass (small group) in charge of coming up with a good plan and give them access to whatever doctors/info they need.

Those folks are trained with regard to logistics, risk assessment, etc... They know how to get things done on a large scale.

A good dictator, one with the best intentions, okay?

 

[SStarr33]

I don't mean to sound dense...but what does that mean? That all the other nurses think things are under control there? I also don't do any social media, which, apparently, is going crazy (around here in NE Ohio, anyway)...so I am clueless as to what is being said...

That they followed CDC guidelines.

 

[oh_gal]

check this out.

http://www.liveebolamap.com/

On the map: aren't "mortality rate" and "rate of death" the same thing? I mean, shouldn't they be? They have different percentages.

 

[Gypsy Road]

If I had treated anyone with Ebolla and then I started running a fever, I would use my own Common Sense and stay home and isolated.

Me too! Honestly it blows my mind that AV, being a NURSE, thought it was okay to fly! I have NO medical background and have more common sense than that. She either thought she was invincible or was lacking common sense in that department! IMO!

 

[Sonya610]

Some education on this subject is obviously needed.

Go here http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/11-diseases-you-can-get-your-pet?s=12 to learn the most common DISEASES/DISORDERS that can be picked up from house pets. Whether CAUSED BY a parasite, a fungus, a bacteria, or a virus, these diseases are well known and documented to be carried by house pets.

And speaking of anyone having never HEARD of a disease transmitted by a dog to a human, the first one that came to mind to me was RABIES.

Virtually ALL mammals can get and TRANSMIT rabies, that is not at all limited to dog on human.

The OVERWHELMING majority of diseases to be concerned about come from OTHER HUMANS not our pets.

This Ebola situation is NOT a "pet problem", not even close.

As far as education goes, have you lost interest in discussing Toxoplasmosis? I thought that was a topic of concern.

 

[LaborDayRN]

I flip between him being sent home was a good thing to a bad thing in this situation only. At home he only exposed those in the house. At the hospital until they thought Ebola I think many many more people would be exposed. All the nurses going in and out all their other patients and in some cases the families of all those patients.

For Mr Duncan, being sent home was a bad thing. The earlier he could have been treated, the better the outcome IMO.

 

[SCHMAE]

Its pretty obvious the CDC is not doing any real isolations of any of the "contacts" of the people that came into direct contact of the affected 3 people. They are just calling them each day and asking if they are still ok, and the people are told to call them if something changes. Proof is how the lady called before boarding the plane when she got a fever. And this below is from their own website which basically says this.

"Contacts are defined as people who had definite exposure to an Ebola patient."

"Public health officials attempt to reach all contacts/possible contacts every day to check for fever and other symptoms. Daily follow-up with contacts/possible contacts will continue for 21 days from the date of each person’s exposure."

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/united-states-imported-case.html

Key word being attempt. If they're not available for that fever check, do they follow up ? Leave a voicemail? Get back to them at their earliest convenience? This is descending into madness and if the public goes hysterical, it will be the officials to blame. When you tell a population ' trust me, i have this under control', you better have it under control!

 

[Gypsy Road]

Virtually ALL mammals can get and TRANSMIT rabies, that is not at all limited to dog on human.

The OVERWHELMING majority of diseases to be concerned about come from OTHER HUMANS not our pets.

This Ebola situation is NOT a "pet problem", not even close.

As far as education goes, have you lost interest in discussing Toxoplasmosis? I thought that was a topic of concern.

Right! It's not a "pet problem" unless you have bats or are keeping other "bush-meats" as pets and plan on eating them!

 

[Woe.be.gone]

We'll agree to disagree. See article above.

 

[SStarr33]

Loudoun inmate who traveled from Ebola-affected area taken to hospital

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...c0bfde-5565-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Rumor is the nurse who was on tv with Matt Lauer does not hold the same feelings as the majority of the rest of the nurses at TPH.

This does not surprise me at all. Far too many nurses are cowed by hospital administrators. Any of us who have nursed in a hospital know what it is like. Lots and lots of "get along, go along" and god help the nurse who has the guts to question any off-protocol thing s/he sees.

Far too often this nurse will be labeled as a "troublemaker". She may end up getting transferred, hours cut, receive undesireable scheduling, or even be fired. And if administrators decide they want to fire a nurse, they will do so. Over some other thing, of course. Stupid things like looking over a nurse's Nursing Notes and finding a check box she failed to check. Or documentation of a temperature that was taken 5 minutes too late.

I personally saw this happen to a good nurse I once worked with. (I was actively looking for another job and ended up resigning within two weeks of her being fired.) This nurse had written up an "Incident Report" as per policy when a patient had a fall. I watched the Nursing Supervisor literally tear up the document in front of a group of us. We were told that too many of these kind of "incidents" make the unit "look bad". And, that this was a dementia patient. (Meaning that even if the patient said she fell, it could be thought that she was imagining it.)

So, yes, the majority of nurses at the Texas hospital are not going to become whistleblowers. But because they likely would not want to outright lie, I would bet they are actively avoiding the press right now.

 

[hockeymom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-16-14-24-38

Attention Mr. President!!! Closing borders and travel restrictions helped save other countries!! Can you not see this?!!

 

[nrdsb4]

Its pretty obvious the CDC is not doing any real isolations of any of the "contacts" of the people that came into direct contact of the affected 3 people. They are just calling them each day and asking if they are still ok, and the people are told to call them if something changes. Proof is how the lady called before boarding the plane when she got a fever. And this below is from their own website which basically says this.

"Contacts are defined as people who had definite exposure to an Ebola patient."

"Public health officials attempt to reach all contacts/possible contacts every day to check for fever and other symptoms. Daily follow-up with contacts/possible contacts will continue for 21 days from the date of each person’s exposure."

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/united-states-imported-case.html

But they are not saying that they want to be isolating contacts, only that they are monitoring them. According to their protocol, isolation occurs after symptoms appear, and not before, in the absence of some extraordinary circumstances. For example, any person who visited him once he began running a fever has been considered some level of "contact" and as such, should be monitored, not isolated. Louise and the other three were isolated because they were very closely exposed, then placed under forced quarantine because they violated the honor system that had been set up. Now, many of us believe that the caregivers have obviously had either more significant contact with Duncan, or at least certainly more contact with body fluids that by virtue of his advancing illness are far more full of virus than earlier, so if anyone should be quarantined, it is they.

At least that's how I understand it. Please correct if I'm wrong.

 

[fran]

People, wait a second! There is something wrong with this post. The first line says:



But when you open the article, it says this:



So which is it, because these are two VERY different risk situations.

I haven't read this entire thread, but since I first posted earlier this a.m., we've seen three or four different stories. Kind of like we've gotten out of the CDC. So we're not sure what the deal is.

On a live news conference, with the Chief of the Campus Police of Southwestern, he stated the student had been on the flight with the nurse, and the student vomited in class. But then we've seen other stories where it's the student's sister who is hospitalized, etc.

I have a connection who's trying to get hold of the local DH. I'll let you know if and when I hear anything.

In awhile I have to pick up my younger grandson who's at HS across the street from Southwestern College.

OTOH, Shep Smith on FOX just said there has been NO new cases of Ebola in the U.S. other than the medical workers. Reminds me of the head of the CDC the other night telling Megan Kelly on FOX that they had it under control, but he didn't know that another nurse had been admitted to the hospital that very morning. He found out AFTER he appeared on FOX.


fran

 

[sonjay]

Half of Americans fundamentally misunderstand Ebola
By Aaron Blake October 16 at 1:28 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-americans-fundamentally-misunderstand-ebola/

If I could understand the big words in this article, I'm thinking we've been insulted

I'm pretty sure that was the goal. But IMO it was a big fat FAIL.

"Just 36 percent said (correctly) that Ebola can be transmitted only by a person who has been infected and is symptomatic."

Yeah, well.... only about 30% can even name the Vice President of the United States, so I'd say that Ebola is better known than Biden.

And that's not even taking into account all the people who know what the CDC says about it, but just don't believe the CDC.

 

[nrdsb4]

Key word being attempt. If they're not available for that fever check, do they follow up ? Leave a voicemail? Get back to them at their earliest convenience? This is descending into madness and if the public goes hysterical, it will be the officials to blame. When you tell a population ' trust me, i have this under control', you better have it under control!

Do you remember the homeless guy who was the first patient to ride in the ambulance after Duncan? He was nowhere to found for his second temp check one day, and they went to the media to help find him. His photo went up on all the local news stations, and it wasn't long before he was located.