Thread: Ebola Isn't Really a Threat to America, but Your Paranoia Probably Is

Second person in isolation as Texas healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola

The Guardian
Martin Pengelly in New York and Haroon Siddique 1 hr ago


© Getty Images A possible Ebola patient arrives at the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas earlier this week. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images A Texas healthcare worker who provided care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be given a diagnosis of Ebola outside Africa, has tested positive for the deadly virus, officials have said.


The worker is in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas. At a Sunday morning press conference, it was confirmed that a close contact of the healthcare worker is in preliminary isolation.


Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins said that the healthcare worker who has been given a diagnosis of Ebola was a “heroic person who provided care for Mr Duncan” but did not release his or her name.


Dr Dan Varga, of Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, said the worker had been “following a self-monitoring regimen prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (CDC) and that “the entire process from the patient’s self-monitoring to the admission to isolation took less than 90 minutes”.
He added: “The patient’s condition is stable. In addition, a close contact has also been proactively placed in isolation. The caregiver and the family have requested total privacy, so we can’t discuss any more details of the situation.”
Dr Varga added that the hospital was not taking any other emergency patients. Answering questions, he said the healthcare worker was wearing full protection gear and following all CDC guidelines when he or she made contact with Duncan.



Mike Rawlings, the mayor of Dallas, said: “We heard about this case at midnight and have been working since then to make sure the citizens of Dallas are safe. We believe they are.”


Judge Jenkins said: “I want to stress an important fact. You cannot contract Ebola other than from bodily fluids of a symptomatic Ebola victim. You cannot contract Ebola by walking by people in the street or from contacts who are not symptomatic. There is nothing about this case that changes that basic premise of science.


“And so it’s important that while this is obviously bad news, it is not news that should bring about panic. We have a strategy to monitor this and we will go to that strategy to keep the community safe.”


The healthcare worker reported a low-grade fever on Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing, the state’s department of health services said earlier. The preliminary test result was received late on Saturday. The unnamed worker had provided care for Duncan, who died on Wednesday after being diagnosed with Ebola last month, while in the US.


Dr David Lakey, commissioner of the department of health services, said: “We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility. We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
People who had contact with the healthcare worker after symptoms emerged will be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus, the department said.


Duncan travelled from Liberia to the US on 19 September to join his girlfriend, Louise Troh, the mother of his son, Karsiah.
After falling ill a few days later, Duncan was initially sent home from hospital, despite telling a nurse he had recently travelled from west Africa. He was taken by ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian on 28 September, where he was admitted and placed in isolation.
He was confirmed to have Ebola two days later.


It is believed Duncan contracted the disease while helping take his landlord’s 19-year-old daughter to an Ebola treatment ward in Monrovia.
He did not declare that he had been in contact with Ebola when he completed a pre-flight questionnaire at Monrovia airport before travelling to the US.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that passengers travelling from west Africa will face additional Ebola screenings at five US airports, amid mounting concern that not enough controls were in place to prevent the deadly disease from entering the US.
The current outbreak of Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people in west Africa.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/second-person-in-isolation-as-texas-healthcare-worker-diagnosed-with-ebola/ar-BB8RLM4

Related:

http://www.alipac.us/f19/obama-doing...ml#post1440476

'Breach in protocol' caused second U.S. Ebola infection


Texas health officials say a health care worker who provided care for the Ebola patient who died there has now tested positive for Ebola. (Oct. 12) AP

John Bacon, USA TODAY12:23 p.m. EDT October 12, 2014


(Photo: Richard Rodriguez, epa)

A Dallas health care worker who provided care for the Ebola patient who died there last week tested positive for the deadly virus, and sent health officials scrambling Sunday to determine the "breach in protocol" that resulted in her infection.

The woman was among caregivers for Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Sunday his agency will investigate how a worker in full protective gear contracted the virus.

"At some point there was a breach in protocol," Frieden said. "That breach in protocol resulted in this infection."

Frieden cited four steps being taken by the CDC: ensuring the woman is cared for safely; identifying her contacts; treating all health care workers who cared for Duncan as having potentially been exposed; and reviewing procedures used to protect health care workers who treat Ebola patients.

Frieden called the positive test "very concerning" but stressed that the protocols for caring for Ebola patients are safe if done properly.

He said that removing the gear incorrectly, for example, raises risk.

"This tells us there is a need to enhance training and to make sure protocols are followed," he said. He said the CDC will study ways to reduce the number of health care workers involved in treatment, to reduce medical procedures — noting that kidney dialysis, for example, could increase risk — and to provide on-site monitoring to ensure that protocols are followed.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaking on CNN's State of the Union, said the U.S. needs "some kind of czar" to take charge of the Ebola response. "Americans have to be reassured," McCain said.

The woman reported having a fever Friday night and was hospitalized, isolated and referred for testing within 90 minutes, Clay Jenkins, Dallas County's chief executive and its Homeland Security director, said at a news conference.

"While this is obviously bad news, it is not news that should bring about panic," Jenkins said. "We knew it was a possibility that a second person would contract the virus. We had a contingency plan in place."

The woman, who requested anonymity, was listed in stable condition, Jenkins said.

Dan Varga, chief clinical officer for the hospital group that includes Texas Health Presbyterian, confirmed that the woman had worn full protective gear when working with Duncan.

Duncan initially sought treatment Sept. 25, days after arriving from Africa, and was sent home with antibiotics, despite informing health workers he came from West Africa where the virus has created an epidemic. He returned three days later in an ambulance and was diagnosed with the deadly infection.

Duncan was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

The health care worker is among a few dozen who had contact with Duncan and were self-monitoring — watching for symptoms consistent with early signs of Ebola, Varga said. The monitoring guidelines include taking a temperature twice a day.

Dallas Police stand watch outside the apartment where a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital lives and tested positive for Ebola on Saturday.(Photo: Larry W. Smith, epa)


"That health care worker is a heroic person," Jenkins said. "Let's remember as we do our work that this is a real person who is going through a great ordeal, and so is that person's family."

Last week, the hospital defended the quality of care it provided Duncan, saying treatment was not affected by the man's nationality or lack of health insurance.

The hospital had released a written statement Thursday in response to questions raised around the world about the treatment Duncan, 42, received, saying it wanted "to correct some misconceptions.''

"Our care team provided Mr. Duncan with the same high level of attention and care that would be given any patient, regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care,'' the hospital said in a statement from its director of public relations, Wendell Watson.

"In this case, that included a four-hour evaluation and numerous tests,'' he said. "We have a long history of treating a multicultural community in this area.''

Tougher screening for Ebola began Saturday at New York's Kennedy Airport. Agents with the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection screened travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, taking their temperature and observing them for other Ebola symptoms. The program will be added at four more U.S. airports in coming days.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...bola/17147449/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Really? comparing Ebola to smoking is a true liberal sidestep. JMO

http://www.alipac.us/f19/crazy-isn%9...nymore-312800/

Originally Posted by Newmexican

Really? comparing Ebola to smoking is a true liberal sidestep. JMO

It's a comparison of the number of people killed in the U.S. by each.
Ebola in the U.S. 1

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