Ebola outbreak - general thread #3

[zwiebel]

CBS reporting a person arriving in Texas on a plane has symptoms of Ebola. They have been taken to hospital. I'm having trouble pasting the link at the moment.

ETA: Here you go
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-p...-landed-in-texas-being-checked-for-the-virus/

 

[jjenny]

CBS reporting a person arriving in Texas on a plane has symptoms of Ebola. They have been taken to hospital. I'm having trouble pasting the link at the moment.

ETA: Here you go
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-p...-landed-in-texas-being-checked-for-the-virus/

Weren't they telling us they check the temperature before people from West Africa get on the plane?

 

[zwiebel]

Also, another person has been taken to hospital in Spain; there have been protests by nursing staff outside the hospital in Madrid and staff have been telling media that they are terrified, and some have been breaking down in tears.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29516882

 

[zwiebel]

"In 1976 I discovered Ebola...now I fear an unimaginable tragedy.."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

 

[SeekingJana]

How are they to clean Duncan's ventilator and dialysis equipment?

Durable Medical equipment is cleaned with a bleach solution. The interior parts of the ventilator which come in contact with the patient's own respiratory effort ( and thus, condensation) and are not disposable would be cleaned with an Acetic Acid ( vinegar) concentration to clean, since Acetic Acid is not caustic to human tissues ( don't want to fumigate the next person using the ventilator with bleach fumes).

Any other durable equipment which comes in contact with blood ( such as the non-disposable parts of the hemodialysis unit are also cleaned with an Acetic Acid solution because it is not caustic to tissues like bleach would be.

The rest of the room would be cleaned with a bleach solution or other approved anti-viral cleaning solution and the room, when cleaned, should have the door closed to the rest of the hospital but the windows open and sunlight on as many surfaces as possible for as long as possible before reusing it as an isolation room.
Isolation rooms are always prime space in a hospital. Hopefully, this one at Presby will not be called back into service for the same infection ever again.

 

[SeekingJana]

Some fear in our own home....

My husband has to fly into Washington, DC in the AM. He will return to the DFW area via the same route 2 weeks later.
I would be untrue if I said I wished he didn't have to fly right now. Our airports are, as I think we all agree, the weakest link in the fight to contain Ebola.

I think all foreign travel should be stopped, but that's not going to happen until, well, next year, I'd say.

 

[zwiebel]

The fifth person to be quarantined in Spain is a friend of the nurse AND a member of the same Ebola Care Unit. No wonder staff are worried.

A total of 50 people in Spain are being monitored.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29516882

 

[zwiebel]

Some fear in our own home....

My husband has to fly into Washington, DC in the AM. He will return to the DFW area via the same route 2 weeks later.
I would be untrue if I said I wished he didn't have to fly right now. Our airports are, as I think we all agree, the weakest link in the fight to contain Ebola.

I think all foreign travel should be stopped, but that's not going to happen until, well, next year, I'd say.

I've been waiting 10 years for a proper vacation. Something always happens to thwart my plans. I finally booked a vacation in Spain, just before the Ebola news broke. Sigh.

 

[revampz]

Wow oh wow, I have just been reading the news reports posted above..........its happening and the panic is starting.....and very understandably so. The scariest thing I read is the news report above stating that the nurse had only entered the room twice and was fully protected clothing wise. Now if that is true then that is very worrisome. The borders to these countries need to be closed, and it needs to be contained there and now! I really hope an emergency meeting of world leaders is going to be called soon and some real solutions discussed. If something is not done and it is due to $$$ then they better bite the bullet and start spending, because this is going to creep into the western world and the while I personally think it will not go far through the population, the destruction economically from the panic it will cause is unpredictable.

I saw Bill Gates donated 50 million.....excellent stuff..........time for many other filthy rich folk out there to start donating as well.....

 

[Lyra500]

Yeah, noone has reported anything on the markets Louise and her family may have initially gone to for food when they were initially told they could go out and not be quarantined. I'd like to know where they went and what precautions were taken at those places to disinfect.

Why would the markets need disinfecting?

Patients are only contagious once they become symptomatic and I don't think any of them were symptomatic otherwise they would be in hospital now rather than in quarantine and under observation.

 

[Lyra500]

I thought I would post this link as it has a photo of full protective gear if you scroll to the bottom of the article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29531671

 

[Brightbird]

Wow oh wow, I have just been reading the news reports posted above..........its happening and the panic is starting.....and very understandably so. The scariest thing I read is the news report above stating that the nurse had only entered the room twice and was fully protected clothing wise. Now if that is true then that is very worrisome. The borders to these countries need to be closed, and it needs to be contained there and now! I really hope an emergency meeting of world leaders is going to be called soon and some real solutions discussed. If something is not done and it is due to $$$ then they better bite the bullet and start spending, because this is going to creep into the western world and the while I personally think it will not go far through the population, the destruction economically from the panic it will cause is unpredictable.

I saw Bill Gates donated 50 million.....excellent stuff..........time for many other filthy rich folk out there to start donating as well.....

I see Bill Gates has contributed more than twice as much money as Australia has :facepalm:

 

[Sonya610]

There is no real evidence you say, maybe the word yet should be added. And how many tests have they done on dogs. I would really like to some MSM reports on this. I really do not trust just hearsay at this stage....read my comment about how we were told that exact same thing about the lassa and Hendra viruses which started in bats....................now have infected horses which infected dogs..... Ebola is suppose to have started in bats as well....

Dogs in the effected regions have been HEAVILY exposed due to scavenging for food. Yes they HAVE tested dogs in the heavy hit areas, NO dogs have gotten sick from Ebola but several DO show they were exposed and have antibodies in their blood. I don't worry about catching parvo or distemper, that is much more common in the U.S. but no one thinks it will start infecting humans. No reasonable person would think that Ebola is going to start killing dogs.

Even if dogs could be very briefly infected there is NO reason to start killing household pets especially when the owners of the pets are MUCH higher risk and being quarantined and the owners belongings are infected and need a cooling off period as well.

Secondly if dogs DID contract the disease you can be SURE the research labs would be all over that! Dogs are basically "free" as test subjects whereas non-human primates are a LOT more expensive.

On another note the idea of using Africa as a testing ground for unproven drugs is just plain crazy. No matter how badly those people may want to try new drugs the fact is if any drug companies (or countries) went along with that they would be compared to Dr. Mengele in no time (whites treating Africans like guinea pigs for their own profit etc...). There are already widespread rumors that Ebola was made up by the Western World to "steal the blood from Africans" so throwing experimental drugs into that mix would start a whole new bunch of conspiracy theories (and chances are great that the companies/countries involved would go down into the history books as "exploiting Africans" no matter how it turned out).

 

[zwiebel]

Just heard on BBC Radio news that the Spanish nurse with Ebola has given a media interview. She says she has no idea how she caught Ebola as she followed all the hospital's safety precautions.

She also said (when asked) that she thinks she is a 'bit better'.

I hope she pulls through. It's awful when people lose their lives trying to help others.

 

[zwiebel]

Don't want to be cynical, but the Spanish hospital would say all their safety precautions are in place, wouldn't they? But there is obviously something wrong, if a nurse has contracted Ebola and medical staff are protesting outside......?

 

[Sonya610]

Weren't they telling us they check the temperature before people from West Africa get on the plane?

Article says the woman is from Turkey, no link to West Africa (and no fever, just vomiting). It is not likely Ebola (maybe she got food poisoning during her layover).

 

[Sonya610]

Experts believe many of the health care workers who have become infected with Ebola have been exposed when they were taking off contaminated gear. Removal is a tricky process that, to be safe, must be done slowly and meticulously.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/eb...pplies-cripple-care-ebola-hit-liberia-n220686

Article talks about how there are virtually no Liberian doctors treating ebola at this time and there is also a huge shortage of supplies, many clinics don't have running water or protective gear or bleach.

Experts say the only way to protect the rest of the world from Ebola is to stop it in West Africa.

Honestly who are they kidding? They will NEVER be able to "stop" this using clinics and individual isolation and such. Best plan would be to quarantine off regions for an extended period of time and let it run it's course hopefully while air-dropping food and supplies (and stop those in infected regions from traveling to uninfected countries/areas).

 

[revampz]

Dogs in the effected regions have been HEAVILY exposed due to scavenging for food. Yes they HAVE tested dogs in the heavy hit areas, NO dogs have gotten sick from Ebola but several DO show they were exposed and have antibodies in their blood. I don't worry about catching parvo or distemper, that is much more common in the U.S. but no one thinks it will start infecting humans. No reasonable person would think that Ebola is going to start killing dogs.

Even if dogs could be very briefly infected there is NO reason to start killing household pets especially when the owners of the pets are MUCH higher risk and being quarantined and the owners belongings are infected and need a cooling off period as well.

Secondly if dogs DID contract the disease you can be SURE the research labs would be all over that! Dogs are basically "free" as test subjects whereas non-human primates are a LOT more expensive.

On another note the idea of using Africa as a testing ground for unproven drugs is just plain crazy. No matter how badly those people may want to try new drugs the fact is if any drug companies (or countries) went along with that they would be compared to Dr. Mengele in no time (whites treating Africans like guinea pigs for their own profit etc...). There are already widespread rumors that Ebola was made up by the Western World to "steal the blood from Africans" so throwing experimental drugs into that mix would start a whole new bunch of conspiracy theories (and chances are great that the companies/countries involved would go down into the history books as "exploiting Africans" no matter how it turned out).

This is just a general question and please Sonya610 do not take it that I am being argumentative, as I haven't really gone into looking into the dog situation. I do realize that the dogs there are scavengers and that is the reason of the exposure, but do dogs then have antibodies different from other animals? The reason I am asking this, is that I was reading a blog from a National Geographic reporter who has been reporting on this for a couple of decades. He said that in one previous outbreak they have traced it back to a boy bringing a chimpanzee into the village and the villagers ate it and got sick, it was only after this that he confessed that he had found the chimpanzee already dead....it was hot with ebola. And in another previous outbreak about 10 dead gorillas were discovered as well in the forest near the village where people had become sick. That is my concern re the animals. If the dogs have antibodies do you know if they are looking into this? I know very little about medicine, but I thought antibodies could be used in vaccinations against the disease.

Re the drugs though, sorry I have to disagree there, but I also do see your point, as I have read that being "superstitious" as they are, there are those that don't believe the diseases exists........still conspiracy theories or not, something has to be used and if there is no time for the thorough testing, so be it....

 

[revampz]

Sorry if this has been already posted, but the further down this article I read, the angrier I got. Very,very slack of the Spanish Health department. That poor woman thought she was safe.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/07/ebola-fears-alcorcon-hospital-spain

 

[webaddict]

Looking at the pix of the gear the medical personnel are wearing - I am a nurse who hates having to work in gown, gloves and mask caring for a patient in isolation: hot, sweaty, cumbersome, especially in the summer...I cannot imagine what it is like to try to function in that gear let alone try to start an IV or carry out precise work, especially in a tropical climate.