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This morning (10/13), the second case of Ebola in the United States was confirmed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). A health care worker who had treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the person who visited relatives in Texas from Africa and died from Ebola on Wednesday, has been tested positive for Ebola. The CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, claims that the worker was infected through a "breach in protocol," although the details of how that happened are still unsure.
As we all know, the issue of Ebola is absolutely huge worldwide. With the current epidemic in Africa as well as the mounting fears with the recent death of Duncan and the contraction of it by the worker, the need for a solid response becomes all the more pressing. Do you think the worker's contraction of the disease may have had something more to it? Was it really just a "breach in protocol," or is there a problem with how Ebola is being handled right now? Do you think that we could possibly have an Ebola epidemic in the future? Is enough being done to try to combat this threat?
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Monday, October 13, 2014
Ebola in America: Another Case
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8 comments:
While I think that an Ebola epidemic is possible, I think that it is highly unlikely. Ebola, thankfully, isn't an airborne disease but instead passed through fluids and so, in the United states at least, this makes it easier to control and easier to keep contained. I agree with your comment in your first Ebola posting about this issue being the "flavor of the month" instead of something that is more important than any other issue happening right now. Of course, public opinion on the importance of this issue is very high because disease is scary and has a higher likelihood of directly affecting people than things like the issues in Hong Kong or Russia or even here at home. I do believe that this second infection was due to a breach in protocol like they said because if it was more serious than that, there would probably be more people infected. However, government conspiracies and all, it's of course a possibility.
Though the details of the "breach in protocol" are currently unknown, I'm going to assume that the nurse had not properly removed her protective gear and/or disinfected herself, and therefore caught the disease. Even if this isn't the case, this could still possibly reveal one of the weaknesses when dealing with Ebola: inadequate training. Perhaps even more could be done to ensure proper handling of contaminated items. But as of now, I think there is already plenty being done to stop Ebola in its tracks. The CDC has been putting in so much effort to track down numerous people in attempt to stop the spread. With this continued effort and drive, combined with our superior medical capabilities, hopefully there won’t be an Ebola epidemic.
Because Tim Duncan(guy who had Ebola) stayed in the closet, the Nurse probably assumed that she was treating a patient with minor flu-like symptoms. Though Ebola isn't airborne(for now), like Kelsey said, it can only be transmuted through fluids and such. I think that the Nurse just got too close to him while he was sneezing or coughing, and also, like Victoria said, lacked training. The nurse who got Ebola was 26 and just had recently graduated, so she was fairly new to this program and I would assume that the hospital she worked at would not assign her to treat patients with Ebola or any other deadly diseases, and would leave a more experienced Nurse to do so. Also, about Ebola, I think that Ebola is a very deadly virus. I attribute my opinion from the movie "Outbreak" that I saw in Freshman health class about the same said virus. I feel that this situation is not getting enough attention as it should be. Ebola can potentially devastate areas and force the government to contain them when airborne, which researches have said there is a good chance it can become airborne. Hopefully, there wouldn't be and places everywhere up their standards and prepare for what can potentially devastate the world.
I feel like the American government should be taking more precautions against the spread of Ebola in America. Tim Duncan is estimated to have been in contact (direct and indirect) with over 100 persons before being quarantined. Now that Ebola has gotten a strong foothold in the US, it's very difficult for officials to keep it from spreading. When I visited China during the start of the H1N1 epidemic, we were all scanned for fevers in the plane. We passed through three thermal scanning checkpoints within the airport, and then we were required to quarantine ourselves in a house for a week (by then, symptoms would've shown). We should be treating everybody entering the US as a possible carrier of Ebola.
From previous comments, I see a lot of the pressure being put on the "health care worker". Sure, even if there was a "breach in protocol" I feel more concerned as to why the hospital wasn't prepared for the patient. Here is a follow up article I found interesting by Tina Susman and Geoffrey Mohan at the LA times, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ebola-dallas-20141014-story.html#page=1. I think this may be a reflection of the infrastructure of the American Health Care system, and a disregard for the tremendous cost a epidemic such as Ebola can create. The article states that nurses were "essentially left to figure out things for themselves as they dealt with 'copius amounts' of bodily fluids from Duncan. RoseAnn DeMoro states that the Dallas hospital was in a state of "chaos" and could be like any other hospital in the country, with staff unqualified to handle an epidemic. Rather than a breach in protocol I would argue there is a lack of a protocol in many hospitals across the nation.
A lot of precautions have been taken in order to somehow deal with Ebola. But in this outbreak, there is very little information available regarding this disease. There is no specific treatment for this disease, though no doubt numerous efforts are put into finding a cure. Everybody needs to be careful, as with any disease. We all must do everything in our power to protect ourselves.
@John
I think you bring up a really important point. Before seeing what you posted about that article, I didn't actually know about how the nurses in this. An incident like this should most definitely spur cautionary action and preparation at other hospitals. To propose another question regarding this, how do you think this sort of issue can be addressed? What would characterize a proper protocol for this?
Though Ebola is a scary, I believe it is very unlikely that there would be an epidemic in the US. There may have been initial missteps, but Ebola is not nearly as contagious as many other diseases. In the US, we have a better healthcare system than the West African countries hardest hit by the pandemic, such as Liberia or Sierra Leon.
That being said the best thing the US can do to protect itself is help fight the pandemic in West Africa. By eliminating the disease there, the risk of it traveling to the US and other regions is less likely. Also, it is a good humanitarian action to send aid in the form of trained troops to help fight Ebola with better healthcare services.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola
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