<p>Full blown public panic could be vey bad.</p>
<p>A full blown epidemic would be worse. Personally, I am very concerned about enterovirus 68.</p>
<p>Enterovirus 68 has been reported very near our area also - I am worried about that because it seems very easy to catch in school aged kids. The worrysome part is that apparently it is implicated in causing polio like symptoms if it gets to into the spinal column.</p>
<p>Aggressive containment would stop a full blown epidemic which should short circuit full blown public panic</p>
<p>Enterovirus 68 is a bit scary, as I now see that there have been a few deaths and some paralysis. The fact that we are nearing flu season doesnt help any of this. I never get a flu vaccine, but I did get the flu last year, and it was nasty. But man, that Tamiflu is a wonder drug, it knocked it right out! </p>
<p>Have finally heard some common sense on CNN tonight. They have made it clear that people are not contagious if they are not showing symptoms. They showed a timeline of when this guy traveled, when he arrived where, when he first went to the hospital, etc. He was not contagious on any flights.</p>
<p>Then they broke it down even further, explaining what kinds of exposure are worse than others. Droplets that are excreted when we cough or sneeze are the tiniest risk - I think it was Dr. Gupta who explained that droplets such as this, just don’t contain any real meaningful amount of virus as in the same amount of blood or even vomit. It is not a virus that lives very well in the respiratory system, which also decreases the risk of picking it up from anything expelled during a cough or sneeze (they even referred to what comes out - the teeny, tiny droplets of a cough or sneeze - as a gas, not bodily droplets). They said it was theoretically correct that one could spread the disease via cough or sneeze, but it is highly, highly unlikely to be transmitted that way because of these two components. Nrdsb4 might be able to explain this in more scientifically appropriate terms.</p>
<p>Teri, I think you posted a great summary. </p>
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<p>I agree. Even though he told them he was in an affected area, he didn’t say specifically that he was in direct contact with an infected person. Stupid on his part for his own health and the health of those around him.</p>
<p>ETA this is in reference to post #135. I guess it never posted earlier.</p>
<p>Thanks BB - I was just so thankful to finally hear someone reporting responsibly!</p>
<p>Part of me still suspects that, when we hear of the second case that hits here, there will be a run on milk and bread in the grocery stores!</p>
<p>Pulled out my crystal ball… I see the uptick in the underground survivalist bunker construction. Sales of bottled water and dog chow are going to beat the analysts’ estimates. It might be a good time to invest in pharmas that make antiviral drugs… Diagnostic tests, too.</p>
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<p>Or… the private hospital didn’t want to be saddled w very expensive care for a foreigner w no health insurance coverage, so the hospital gambled and deliberately let him go. </p>
<p>Now that the poop has hit the fan, the hospital is in CYA mode and is claiming that the ER nurse didn’t inform the doctors that the patient said he just came from western africa. So they’re gonna make the nurse the fall-guy…</p>
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<p>Okay, I’m going to call complete BS on this post. Doctors and nurses who work in ERs are not privy to the financials of the patients who come into their units. We don’t know or care whether or not someone has insurance which will cover all or only part of their care, or none. We treat the patients we see and admit them or not based on their presenting symptoms, their verbal medical history, and any tests which are done. The “HOSPITAL” didn’t see this patient, the triage nurses and ER doc or PA did. They don’t ask anyone’s permission to admit a sick patient to the hospital, they write orders and only then does anyone in admitting and insurance get a go at them, and THOSE folks don’t have the power to override a doctor who suspects he has the first ebola case in US history in his ER.</p>
<p>This guy got sent home because there was a major fail in communicating his travel history. There is no way that the nurses and docs at that hospital would knowingly send an EBOLA patient back into circulation because they are worried about the hospital losing money. We admit patients all the time with expensive conditions who turn out not to have insurance. Even in the unlikely event that they didn’t care about him as a human being or the others he would encounter along the way, they would know that it would be traced right back to them. I guarantee you every person who is on his medical records is SHAKING in their boots about the implications of this screw up not only on the community, but on their future ability to carry their licenses and continue to practice. </p>
<p>“The Hospital” had nothing to gain and everything to lose by sending a patient with EBOLA back out into the community. Do you think they are so stupid as to believe it wouldn’t occur to the patient or family to report that they had visited this hospital and were sent home with antibiotics for something that was known to be a fatal, communicable disease? That it wouldn’t make national news, with their facility’s name on every reporter’s story across the world? Really?</p>
<p>Based on the NYT article, this guy had to had known he was exposed and he didn’t even tell his family. Unbelievable. What a selfish jerk.</p>
<p>Lots of people in Liberia don’t even think Ebola is a communicable disease. Maybe this guy is one of them. You are laying Western/1st world understandings and expectations on this guy that may or may not be valid. And boy, I just think post #170 is beyond ridiculous. No doc or nurse (or hospital administrator in the situation with an expected Ebola case) would even consider this course of action.</p>
<p>Well, great. So those “screening questions” they ask in West African airports basically are useless then. No fever, you’re good to go. And visas - here, you get a visa, you get a visa, and you get a visa. Let’s not add any restrictions that might make people wait. Just shaking my head.
We’re basically depending on Ebola to keep behaving as it does, despite the fact that this outbreak is already atypical. We’re one viral mutation away from a Hollywood Disaster movie.</p>
<p>Here are some Ebola Q&As that make sense to me. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/26672547/questions-and-answers-about-the-us-ebola-case”>http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/26672547/questions-and-answers-about-the-us-ebola-case</a></p>
<p>For someone like me who is not in the profession, it’s hard to grasp how a healthcare professional could FORGET to mention to colleagues a monumentally huge bit of info about a sick patient: i.e. that he just came out of a part of the world where 3000+ people dropped dead from a disease that is being reported about 24/7 on every media outlet. So, the only rational explanation I could think of was lack of insurance-- sorry #170 sounded nuts, but I’ve lived in countries where you get left to bleed to death on the street if you don’t have medical insurance. Whatever the reason, the Dallas hospital is indeed in CYA mode now.</p>
<p>I gather that this guy’s relatives suspected ebola when they took him to the hospital, because no one goes to the hospital for just a temperature & a tummy ache. The patient’s nephew said
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<p>Just because they’re blaming that nurse, doesn’t mean it lies squarely on her. The guy should have been screaming from the rooftops…I just left Liberia and was exposed to Ebola to every single person who saw him! Also, let’s not act like every medical professional who works in a hospital is focused and dedicated. She could have been overworked, could have been lazy, could have felt ignored when she spoke up. Sometimes people get intimidated to speak up. There are also many, many people out there who don’t watch the news or keep up at all with what is going out in the world. They’re busy working, taking care of their family, watching the voice and don’t keep up with current events at all.</p>
<p>"I gather that this guy’s relatives suspected ebola when they took him to the hospital, because no one goes to the hospital for just a temperature & a tummy ache. The patient’s nephew said</p>
<pre><code>“I called CDC to get some actions taken, because I was concerned for his life and he wasn’t getting the appropriate care,”
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<p>Or calls the CDC. That is unusual to say the least. Meanwhile, another case is suspected in Hawaii.</p>
<p>If our health care triage protocol and containment plan for any communicable disease assumes a “Western/1st world” understanding" then we need to revamp those protocols if they can’t be assumed to be valid based on cultural differences. If people can’t be counted on to be accurate and truthful and that is a presumed first line of defense then how valid is that plan? People have said that it can’t happen here because our treatment system is so good. To me that is shutting the barn door after the horse is out. In parallel, does it matter more in the long run that more people are “living with HIV” than dying of AIDS due to advancements in medicine? Wouldn’t we want to stabilize the system by having fewer people contract HIV? Our first world medical facilities have done an excellent job of treating Ebola cases in isolated small numbers. I would love to keep it that way and not even risk testing the ability to handle larger numbers.</p>