<p>Another case:
<a href=“NBC News Freelancer in Africa Diagnosed With Ebola”>http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/nbc-news-freelancer-africa-diagnosed-ebola-n217271</a></p>
<p>“I do agree he should have been more forth coming, but I don’t get the logic of thinking it could have been a calculated play for US healthcare.”</p>
<p>The reason this is suspected is because of the interview with the half brother. He called the CDC to complain about the hospital treatment. And he detailed the caring for dying Ebola victims in Africa. So he knew and the patient obviously knew. He also did not seem at all uneducated. Of course, he should have been more forthcoming maybe before he got on the plane. And, with the girlfriend and her kids however that happened in the first place since the half-brother said it was his first trip to the US.</p>
<p>At the hospital I don’t think he did the talking.</p>
<p>Hawaii residents can breathe a bit easier:</p>
<p><a href=“http://khon2.com/2014/10/01/patient-in-isolation-in-honolulu-hospital-officials-say-ebola-a-possibility/”>http://khon2.com/2014/10/01/patient-in-isolation-in-honolulu-hospital-officials-say-ebola-a-possibility/</a></p>
<p>Yes, it sounds like a good thing that they are taking precautions and being careful. Ebola isn’t the only nasty and contagious disease out there–SARS killed quite a lot of people who were exposed to it as well. Am glad the Hawaii Department of Health is cooperating with CDC, as directed.</p>
<p>I think he wanted to get the heck out of Dodge (Liberia) and I really can’t blame him for that. I think he could have been in denial about being infected. </p>
<p>I think people often don’t behave rationally about mortality, and we need to handle it procedurally like we did in the Ellis Island period:
If you are coming from a hot zone, you have to enter at a specific port of entry, and you wait there 21 days. It would be very inconvenient but safe. The expense would be less than treating an outbreak.</p>
<p>That is how our state has traditionally treated animals entering our state. Recently, they have been accepting animals who have had rabies vaccines within a specified window prior to entering our state. It is important for our state to keep rabies out, since we are probably the only state that doesn’t have rabies. </p>
<p>It does make sense to me that there could be some hot zone isolation place for folks coming from a “hot zone.” I’m not sure there is the political will to do such a thing, but it certainly is something that would be worth considering and discussing intelligently. Maybe not tho–read link below.</p>
<p><a href=“Here's how you can (and can't) get Ebola - Vox”>Here's how you can (and can't) get Ebola - Vox;
<p>What if he had checked yes that he had contact with someone with Ebola? I assume they would not have let him leave right away. I think he checked the No box on purpose because he wanted to leave the country. I bet he isn’t the only one to do so either.</p>
<p>Somehow I don’t think our public health measures should rely on a patient self reporting his history. All doctors are aware that patients “misrepresent” or “lie” about things for all sorts of reasons. This man may have been relieved that the ER found nothing alarming about his symptoms (they are, after all, there to diagnose him). I feel bad that he is being “blamed” for being sick. </p>
<p>Well, he did a little more than be sick. He lied to get on an airplane and risked infecting the household that took him in and sparking an Ebola outbreak in the US. So yeah. But, ultimately I think he was desperate and a bunch of public health systems failed. The hospital is especially appalling. And, the self-reporting to fly is just silly. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The circumstances of how he got sick is irrelevant. This guy was the first ebola patient identified on US soil; he will not be the last. The system needs to be ready to screen patients no matter the circumstances of how they got infected.</p>
<p>The news story here is that despite protocols being in place to identify potential patients, the system failed miserably despite the guy seeking medical assistance and reporting the info on a questionnaire that he just came from western africa,</p>
<p>I’m often shocked by doctors who fail to review questionnaire responses, vital signs, or other information collected and charted by nurses or other assistants before I’m seen by the doctor. Just recently, I was at a doctor’s appointment, and at the end of the appointment I was provided with a print out of the information that was entered into the computer. The LVN who had taken my vital signs had erroneously recorded by blood pressure, recording it at a sky-high number when it was in fact normal. I pointed out the error when I got the print out at the end of the appointment, but the doctor had not noticed or commented on the ridiculously high blood pressure recorded on the chart during our appointment. It was clear she hadn’t even reviewed it. (After I pointed out the error, they had to redo my blood pressure and then recorded the correct number. Seriously, why do it in the first place if no one is going to review it?)</p>
<p>I have a complicated medical syndrome. I’ve had doctors ask why I hadn’t mentioned a particular symptom that was somehow a key part of the puzzle, when in fact I had described the symptom in detail in a lengthy questionnaire response. Again, it is clear that the doctor had not read the response. I naively supposed that, having provided an extensive written description of the particular issue, if the doctor felt it was relevant, she would have inquired further. Nope. I apparently was supposed to have separately drawn the issue to the doctor’s attention because I should not have expected the doctor to review the written information.</p>
<p>I’m a highly sophisticated consumer of medical services, and even I have put undue trust on the notion that information communicated and charted will be taken in account by my caregivers. It is not surprising that less sophisticated consumers would reach similar conclusions. </p>
<p>The sick dude in dallas is being prosecuted by liberian gov’t for lying on his exit questionnaire. I wonder how many other pax feel financially pressured to lie or else forfeit pricey airline tix? </p>
<p>Well if I was surrounded by the horror of people being sick and dying and being refused by hospitals, I might lie to get on an airplane also.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>News reports state that the patient’s companion specifically pointed out to the nurse that Liberia was involved in the Ebola outbreak. </p>
<p>Having spent a lot of time in hospitals with my aging parents in recent years, I can’t say this surprises me. Hospitals are severely understaffed, meaning among other things, important information doesn’t get heard or recorded or paid attention to. If I’d been the patient’s companion, I would have insisted on being with him at the ED bed, and loudly pointing out to everyone who came in the room “Liberia! Ebola! Liberia! Ebola!” until it registered with someone. But I’ve only learned that through hard experience.</p>
<p>An American cameraman has been diagnosed</p>
<p><a href=“An American Cameraman With NBC News Has Ebola”>An American Cameraman With NBC News Has Ebola;
<p>This makes me wonder about transmission methods. I would like more details. </p>
<p>WOW. If this is true, some heads need to roll… Or someone’s rear end needs to be lit on fire! WHO THE (*&% IS IN CHARGE OF THE PERMITS!!! </p>
<p><a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/dallas-er-sent-ebola-infected-patient-home-050718374.html”>http://news.yahoo.com/dallas-er-sent-ebola-infected-patient-home-050718374.html</a></p>
<p>“A hazardous material crew arrived to decontaminate the apartment Thursday evening but did not have the required permits to clean the home and remove hazardous waste, city spokesman Richard Hill said. He said the crew, contracted by the county and state, will return to complete the job on Friday.”</p>
<p>Betcha this was the same reason the CDC could not collect the “bag of the bed sheets and towels Thomas Eric Duncan used” - because they did not have a legal authority to enter the premises without the bleep permit!</p>
<p>According to Rachel Maddow on her show, the camera guy was a freelancer who, it sounds like, would have already been infected when he was hired by NBC in Liberia. I don’t see any particular reason to believe he wasn’t infected the way all the other patients in Liberia were infected: by direct contact with another symptomatic person.</p>
<p>Did you all see how they cleaned up the vomit? With a water sprayer in regular clothes! sheesh There is also a photo of the red cross just handing a bag to someone in the apartment directly. </p>
<p>According to GMA this morning, the hospital is now claiming that it was a flaw in the computer system that led doctors to release Duncan after his first hospital visit.</p>
<p>@eyemamom, I thought the same thing while watching them power wash the concrete outside of the apartment. How is that a Hazmat crew? All they are doing with the water is spraying whatever might be in one spot to the larger spray area they created. </p>
<p>As anyone who has ever power washed knows, that water sprays all over whoever is holding the hose. You would think they would have been wearing some protective gear. Although they say the virus isn’t alive after a certain amount of time, so maybe there were counting on that, but if that is the case, why power wash at all?</p>
<p>@eyemom I saw that photo and I am hoping the news crew is mistaken and that is some other mess they are cleaning up. The photo I saw even had a woman in flip flops walking right through the water run off.
As to the guy handing food - I think that might be one of the quarantined nephews getting the food after the Red Cross left it outside the door. I’m basing that on the tshirt looking like the one in daily mail (scroll down)
<a href=“Hazmat team arrives at Ebola victim Thomas Duncan's apartment FIVE DAYS later | Daily Mail Online”>Hazmat team arrives at Ebola victim Thomas Duncan's apartment FIVE DAYS later | Daily Mail Online;