Thread: CDC To Revise Ebola Protocol

CDC To Revise Ebola Protocol



Posted: 10/19/2014 3:25 pm EDT Updated: 30 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients will include using protective gear "with no skin showing," a top federal health official said Sunday, and the Pentagon announced it was forming a team to assist medical staff in the U.S., if needed.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said those caring for an Ebola patient in Dallas were left vulnerable because some of their skin was exposed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on revisions to safety protocols. Earlier ones, he said, were based on a World Health Organization model in which care was given in more remote places, often outdoors, and without intensive training for health workers.

"So there were parts about that protocol that left vulnerability, parts of the skin that were open," Fauci said.

"Very clearly, when you go into a hospital, have to intubate somebody, have all of the body fluids, you've got to be completely covered. So that's going to be one of the things ... to be complete covering with no skin showing whatsoever," he said.

On Sunday the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had ordered the formation of a 30-person support team from across the services to assist civilian medical professionals in the U.S. if needed to treat Ebola. So far, three cases have been confirmed in the U.S.

The team was to be formed by Northern Command Commander, Gen. Chuck Jacoby, and was to consist of 20 critical care nurses, five doctors trained in infectious disease and five trainers in infectious disease protocols. Once formed, the team would undergo up to a week of specialized training in infection control and personal protective equipment at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, then remain in "prepare to deploy" status for 30 days.

The team would not be sent to West Africa or other overseas location, and would "be called upon domestically only if deemed prudent by our public health professionals," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement Sunday.

Ebola's incubation period is 21 days, and Fauci noted that mark was being reached Sunday for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital workers who first treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who later died of the disease.

"The ones now today that are going to be 'off the hook' are the ones that saw him initially in the emergency room," said Fauci, representing the Obama administration as he appeared on five Sunday news shows.

Duncan was seen at the hospital on Sept. 26 and sent home with antibiotics. He returned by ambulance on Sept. 28, was admitted and died of Ebola on Oct. 8.

Judge Clay Jenkins, the chief executive in Dallas County, said that the protective order that has kept Duncan's family isolated expires Sunday at midnight.

"That's going to be a good thing for those families. They've been through so much, and we're very happy about that," Jenkins said.

But, Jenkins continued, "At the same time, we're extremely concerned about these health care workers and we continue to make contingency in the event that there are more cases."

Jenkins called the 75 health workers who cared for Duncan "hometown health care heroes," and said they had signed agreements with the state's public health commissioner to stay off public transportation.

He said if any other health workers test positive for Ebola, a plan is in place that includes:
—all intake will be done at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
—ambulances have been instructed to bring anyone with a history of West Africa travel and a fever to that hospital.
—those found to be infected will be transferred by air ambulance to one of three national health centers set up to handle very risky germs, or by ground ambulance to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which has the capability of disposing of the "copious waste" that Ebola cases generate.
—If a large number of cases surface, a triage unit at another, undisclosed location will be set up in the next 24 hours, with isolation units. The location was to be announced later Sunday.

Fauci appeared on ABC's "This Week," NBC's "Meet the Press," ''Fox News Sunday," CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Jenkins was on ABC.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/19/cdc-ebola_n_6011286.html

http://www.alipac.us/f19/pentagon-an...-virus-313085/

CDC Updates Ebola Protocol as Anxiety Rises

BY MIRANDA LEITSINGER

Four dozen people who had contact with the original Ebola patient in Dallas will complete a three-week watch period on Monday with no sign any of them has contracted the virus — a watershed in the fight to contain the disease in the United States.

“We are looking forward to Monday morning, when (the) first wave of 48 contacts and potential contacts will no longer be monitored for Ebola,” the city of Dallas said online.

It has been a tense three weeks since the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, became the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan, who had flown to Dallas from Liberia, was turned away from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on a first visit and admitted later.

Duncan died Oct. 8. Within days, two nurses who cared for him were diagnosed with Ebola themselves.

The virus has a 21-day incubation period. When a case is confirmed, health officials monitor anyone who had contact with that person for three weeks. If they don’t develop symptoms, they are cleared.

“We are so happy this is coming to an end, and we are so grateful that none of us has shown any sign of illness,” Louise Troh, Duncan’s fiancée and mother to the couple’s son, said late Sunday in a statement. Troh and three other people have been under quarantine — ordered by the government not to go out in public.

“Our happiness is mixed with sadness at the same time,” she said. “We continue to mourn his (Duncan) loss and grieve the circumstances that led to his death, just at the time we thought we were facing a happy future together.”

After the isolation window closes, Troh and her children will spend a few more days at a temporary residence, then move to a new rental home in the Dallas area, said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is heading the local Ebola response. Donors are paying for the family’s new home and hope to replace belongings that had to be destroyed in the cleanup process.

Troh’s daughter, Youngor Jallah, is among the group whose three-week watch period will end Sunday. Jallah, a nurse’s assistant who took Duncan’s vital signs, has stayed in an apartment she shares with her partner and their children, according to The Associated Press.

“I'm telling you, just to step outside will be so great,” she told The AP. “To hug my mom and grieve for Eric, not over the phone like we’ve been doing, but in the flesh.”

Troh’s family is among the first wave of people who had contact with an Ebola-infected person to finish the three weeks. Others, such as those who had contact with the two nurses, won't finish their quarantine for days.

More than 9,000 people in West Africa have been infected with Ebola, and half have died, sparking fears in the U.S. and elsewhere that the virus could spread.

Ebola spreads by close physical contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is infected and symptomatic. But despite the threat of the Ebola crisis growing exponentially in West Africa,

Americans have little reason to fear the disease spreading here, experts told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

The Pentagon is fielding a 30-person expeditionary medical support team to provide immediate assistance to civilian health professionals in the U.S. if additional Ebola cases arise. The team will include 20 critical care nurses, five doctors trained in infectious disease and five trainers in infectious disease protocols, the Pentagon said in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebo...-rises-n229341