The Ebola Thread: Ebola is an economic black swan - outbreak is out of control.; What if Ebola hits Australian shores? Race to notify 131 passengers on flight that carried second infected nurse
Tweet Topic Started: 11 Aug 2014, 01:48 PM (5,779 Views)
Key Question: How Did Dallas Worker Contract Ebola?
That’s the big question as U.S. health officials investigate the case of a Dallas health worker who treated an Ebola patient and ended up with the disease herself.
These are professionals and this is the United States, where the best conditions and protective gear are available, unlike in West Africa, where the Ebola epidemic is raging in much poorer conditions.
The health worker wore protective gear while having extensive contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died Wednesday of Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
Officials say she has not been able to pinpoint any breach in infection control protocols, although there apparently was a breach, they say.
Experience shows that health workers can safely care for Ebola patients, “but we also know that it’s hard and that even a single breach can result in contamination,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The situation also raises fresh concerns about whether any U.S. hospital can safely handle Ebola patients, as health officials have insisted is possible.
“A breach in protocol could be anything from not taking your gloves off the right way to taking a dialysis catheter out of a dialysis patient and not disposing of it the right way,” explains Dr. Darrin D’Agostino, Chair of Internal Medicine UNT.
According to Dr. D’Agostino those are just some of the multitude of scenarios. He says these incidents don’t happen often, but accidents do occur.
“We can be as diligent and meticulous as we want to be but occasionally things happen that expose to risk,” said Dr. D’Agostino.
While the fight to eradicate Ebola in Dallas and internationality Dr. D’Agostino is reminding us the battle will be long.
“The fact of the matter is that we do have a lot to learn about this virus and all the viruses that are in this family…this one is particularly infectious.”
Despite the uncertainty Dr. D’Agostino says he is confident that we have the proper infrastructure and resources to handle these cases.
Some questions and answers about the new case.
Q: What protection do health workers have?
A: The exact gear can vary. A hazardous material type suit usually includes a gown, two sets of gloves, a face mask, and an eye shield. There are strict protocols for how to use it correctly.
“When you put on your garb and you take off your garb, it’s a buddy system,” with another health worker watching to make sure it’s done right, said Dr. Dennis Maki, University of Wisconsin-Madison infectious disease specialist and former head of hospital infection control.
Q: How might infection have occurred?
A: Officials are focusing on two areas: How the garb was removed, and the intensive medical procedures Duncan received, which included kidney dialysis and a breathing machine. Both involve inserting tubes — into blood vessels or an airway. That raises the risk a health worker will have contact with the patient’s bodily fluids, which is how Ebola spreads.
“Removing the equipment can really be the highest risk. You have to be extremely careful and have somebody watching you to make sure you remember all the steps,” said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor who formerly worked at the CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
“After every step you usually would do hand hygiene,” washing your hands with antiseptic or being sprayed with a chlorine spray, she said.
Q: How else could infection have happened?
A: Some of the garb the health worker takes off might brush against a surface and contaminate it. New data suggest that even tiny droplets of a patient’s body fluids can contain the virus, Maki said.
“I can have on the suit and be very careful, but I can pick up some secretions or body fluids on a surface” and spread it that way, he said.
Q: Can any U.S. hospital safely treat Ebola patients?
A: Frieden and other health officials say yes, but others say the new case shows the risks.
“We can’t control where the Ebola patient appears,” so every hospital’s emergency room needs to be prepared to isolate and take infection control precautions, Maki said.
That said, “I don’t think we should expect that small hospitals take care of Ebola patients. The challenge is formidable,” and only large hospitals like those affiliated with major universities truly have enough equipment and manpower to do it right, Maki said.
“If we allow it to be taken care of in hospitals that have less than optimal resources, we will promote the spread,” he warned.
The case heightens concern for health workers’ safety, and nurses at many hospitals “are alarmed at the inadequate preparation they see,” says a statement from Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the trade union, National Nurses United.
Q: Should Ebola patients be transferred to one of the specialized centers that have treated others in the U.S.?
A: Specialized units are the ideal, but there are fewer than half a dozen in the nation and they don’t have unlimited beds. “It is also a high-risk activity to transfer patients,” potentially exposing more people to the virus, Farnon said.
Q. What is CDC recommending that a hospital do?
A. Training has been ramped up, and the CDC now recommends that a hospital minimize the number of people caring for an Ebola patient, perform only procedures essential to support the patient’s care, and name a fulltime infection control supervisor while any Ebola patient is being cared for. Frieden also said the agency was taking a new look at personal protective equipment, “understanding that there is a balance and putting more on isn’t always safer — it may make it harder to provide effective care.”
Ebola infection rate could rise to 10,000 new cases a week: WHO
GENEVA/LONDON - The Ebola epidemic is still spreading in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and the number of cases in West Africa will exceed 9,000 this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
The death toll so far in the outbreak, first reported in Guinea in March, has reached 4,447 from a total of 8,914 cases, WHO Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward said.
While there are signs that rates of infection are slowing in some of the worst-hit areas, Aylward said the disease has now reached "more districts, counties and prefectures" than it had a month ago, and said case numbers would continue to rise.
He stressed it would be "really, really premature" to read success into the apparent slowing numbers in some areas, noting that by the first week in December, WHO projections suggest there may be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week.
"It could be higher, it could lower but it's going to be in that ball park," he told reporters from WHO's Geneva headquarters.
October 16, 2014 - 8:21AM Lisa Maria Garza and Terry Wade
Second US nurse infected with the Ebola virus flew on a commercial flight with 131 other passengers.
Public health officials are interviewing passengers and answering their questions. Anyone determined to be at risk will be monitored.
Amber Vinson of Dallas exhibited no symptoms on the flight, but developed a fever the next day and tested positive for Ebola late on Tuesday. Ms Vinson had cared for Thomas Duncan, a Liberian who died October 8 from Ebola.
Ms Vinson was isolated immediately after reporting a fever on Tuesday, Texas Department of State Health Services officials said.
The circumstances under which Ms Vinson travelled were not immediately known. But the latest revelation raised fresh questions about the handling of Duncan's case and its aftermath by both the hospital and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
CDC Director Dr Thomas Frieden told CNN that the second Ebola patient should not have travelled on the plane as protocol outlined that any healthcare workers who treat Ebola patients are not allowed to take public transport.
At least 4447 people have died in West Africa in the worst Ebola outbreak since the disease was identified in 1976, but cases in the United States and Europe have been limited. The virus can cause fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea, and spreads through contact with bodily fluids.
"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," the health department said in a statement.
During the weekend, 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham became the first person to be infected with Ebola in the United States. She had cared for Duncan during much of his 11 days in the hospital. He died in an isolation ward on October 8.
The virus will chew at the under belly of humanity, the unintelligent are clearly in it's sights.
There is no economic imperative to fight and save those people.
Humanity would have to expend huge mind boggling amounts of resources to "save" the already walking dead zombies.
That even if saved can never contribute to society.
I will argue that there is simply no economic imperative to fight this disease effectively.
This is not personal. Please do not take this as a personal attack on a group of people that are disadvantaged.
The main point i will make is that even if you save these people they are of no value to the system.
As a crystallisation, walk out into the yard, pick up a rock and look after it.
Spend all your money on it.
It would be like spending all of the medical budget for child birth on 70 year old ladies.
The poor will suffer, the unintelligent and ignorant will suffer.
Very sad.
Like alcoholics and smokers. We all know that this is bad for their long term health, they may even know it is bad for their long term health outcomes, but the effort required to get them to change most likely outweighs the net benefit to society at large.
Ignore posts by The Whole Truth · View Post · End Ignoring The forum fuckwit goes RRRAAARRRGGHHhhh - But not a fuck was given..................by anyone.
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