CNN: 2 Ebola patients returning to U.S.

[PeterMP]

it doesn't really, now ya wanna expand it to someone not 'self quarantined'?

 

or do you agree quarantine of some sort is best?

 

Like I already said, if I can ride a subway (more than once), go bowling, and out to eat with friends than I don't have an issue with a quarantine.

[twa]

so you prefer not to answer

[PeterMP]

so you prefer not to answer

 

I don't prefer anything that what I think most people would consider a quarantine, including what people normally are considering a quarantine in this situation.

 

I think I've been pretty clear on that.

 

I won't speak for the other people in this thread, but I don't get the impression that many other people consider what Spencer did a quarantine.

 

But if that meets your definition of the word, then I think what you propose isn't unreasonable.

[visionary]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/07/dallas-ebola-saga-ends-final-residents-end-watch-period

Dallas to close book on Ebola saga as final at-risk residents are cleared

 

The final chapter of the weeks-long Ebola saga in Texas that began with the misdiagnosis of a Liberian man in Dallas who died of the disease closes – at least for now – on Friday. 

 

The last person on the city’s watch list of people possibly exposed to the disease – an unidentified hospital worker who handled one of the Texas Ebola patients’ medical waste on 17 October – is set to be cleared by the day’s end. In total, 177 people who had direct or indirect contact with one of the three patients diagnosed with Ebola in Texas were monitored by federal, state and local health officials for symptoms of the deadly disease that has killed more than 5,000 people, mostly in the west African nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

 

“We’re happy to reach this milestone, but our guard stays up,” Dr David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas department of state health services said in a statement. “We reached this point through teamwork and meticulous monitoring, and we’ll continue to be vigilant to protect Texas from Ebola.”

 

Thomas Eric Duncan came to the US on 20 September to be reunited with his fiancee, Louise Troh, the mother of his son, Karsiah. Their jubilant reunion was disrupted days after his arrival by the onset of symptoms of the disease tearing apart his native country. Troh took her ailing fiance to Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas.

 

Ebola had yet to be discovered in the US, and without knowing it, the medical team who treated Duncan on his first hospital visit sent the US’s patient zero home with a course of antibiotics.

 

Troh, who nursed Duncan in her apartment while he suffered from diarrhea and a blistering fever in the days leading up to his diagnosis, was among the first group to be quarantined for a 21-day period, which is believed to be the maximum length of time it takes someone exposed to the virus to display symptoms.

 

Under quarantine,Troh was forced to grieve in isolation when Duncan died on 8 October. Upon her release, she said in a statement: “We have lost so much, but we have our lives and we have our faith in God, which always gives us hope.”

 

The list also included healthcare workers who treated Duncan on his initial visit to the hospital as well as the EMS crew who drove the Liberian man to the hospital and the nearly 70-person medical team who treated him on his second visit.

[visionary]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/10/nyc-ebola-doctorrelease.html?utm_content=general&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

NYC doctor, free of Ebola, to be released

 

A New York emergency room doctor who was diagnosed with Ebola after working with patients in West Africa has recovered and is scheduled to be released from the hospital on Tuesday, health officials said.

 

The city Department of Health said Monday in a statement that Dr. Craig Spencer "has been declared free of the virus."

 

Spencer tested positive for the virus Oct. 23, just days after returning from treating patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders.

 

The 33-year-old has been treated in a specially designed isolation unit at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, a designated Ebola treatment center. His condition was upgraded from serious to stable last week and he was feeling well enough to request an exercise bike and a banjo.

 

His fiancée and two friends were initially quarantined but were released and are being actively monitored along with hundreds of others.

 

Spencer is expected to issue a statement but not take questions when he's released from the hospital.

 

News of Spencer's infection set many New Yorkers on edge, particularly after details emerged that he rode the subway, went bowling and dined out in the days before he tested positive.

 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responded by announcing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for travelers who have come in close contact with Ebola patients.

 

Health officials have stressed that Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms.

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo had urged residents not to be alarmed by the doctor's Ebola diagnosis, even as they described him riding the subway and taking a cab. De Blasio said all city officials followed "clear and strong" protocols in their handling and treatment of him.

 

"We want to state at the outset that New Yorkers have no reason to be alarmed," de Blasio said when Spencer was diagnosed. "New Yorkers who have not been exposed are not at all at risk."

 

Elsewhere, North Carolina health officials said on Monday a missionary doctor deemed to be at "some risk" for developing the disease after returning from Liberia had been placed under a 21-day quarantine.

 

It was the second quarantine for Dr. John Fankhauser, 52, a family physician from Ventura, California, who officials said has shown no signs of the virus since arriving in Charlotte, said the Christian mission group SIM USA.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

So...are we all dead yet?

[ixcuincle]

RT @davidaxelrod Three weeks ago, it was a media and political frenzy.  Today, not one person in U.S. is being treated for Ebola. #panicpeddling

[TheGoodBits]

So the crisis is over in Africa too, right? Just asking because I haven't heard anything about it on the news in weeks.

Oh, you mean we only cared because 3 Americans got sick? Nothing about the thousands dying in Africa? Yeah, makes sense.

[twa]

none being treated that you know of 

[PeterMP]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/health/quick-response-and-old-fashioned-detective-work-thwart-ebola-in-mali.html

 

"Remarkably, no one in Mali who touched the girl, Fanta Condé, is yet sick. Not the woman she called her grandmother, her 5-year-old sister or her uncle, who all spent three days traveling with her from Beyla, Guinea. Not Dr. Abdouramane Koungoulba, the pediatrician who first examined her on Oct. 21, nor two traditional healers who saw her earlier, nor any of a dozen other doctors or nurses who gave her a transfusion and intravenous hydration and cleaned up her vomit and diarrhea in the 48 hours before she died.

 

Nor, apparently, are any of the dozens of bus passengers, taxi drivers, family friends or other contacts she had while traveling."

 

Assuming the medical professionals that were taking care of her at the end took some precautions, it really isn't remarkable at all.

 

It is what would be completely expected and completely is consistent with previous evidence and our experience in the West.

 

(Things are getting better in Liberia (which is expected at some level).  They caught this Mali case before it spread apparently (hopefully).  Things in Guinea and Sierra Leon are still bad. 

 

Realistically, we over reacted to Liberia and have over built resources there and by the time things are really ready the disease has moved on.)

[Duckus]

Conservatives win big and Ebola disappears. Coincidence? I think not. God bless America!

[twa]

now ya are gonna lay off the ass whooping on ebola fears? 

[Elessar78]

kenyan president? Ebola in the US? Coincidence? I think not.

[Zguy28]

I have a close friend in the Marine Corp.They are still there helping Samaritan's Purse deliver much needed medical supplies to remote regions of Western Africa. SP also sent a 747 over loaded with supplies as well.

 

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/life-saving-ebola-supplies-headed-to-liberia/

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/09/marines-and-ospreys-deployed-to-fight-ebola-epidemic.html

[Larry]

Wondering why the US military pitching in to this effort isn't getting more props.

What's the matter, we only cover stories that are easily used for fear mongering?

[twa]

Wondering why the US military pitching in to this effort isn't getting more props.

What's the matter, we only cover stories that are easily used for fear mongering?

 

Keeping it on the down low in case it spreads to them?

 

Don't want to talk about their mandatory quarantine?

 

Military doctors providing direct care is different than what was intended?

 

Good question

[PCS]

Nah. Larry probably got it right for the most part. By and large Ebola,for now,isn't a problem here in the U.S..  Public has a short attention span as well. Easier and better for the ratings to build up a scare for a bit then move on. That and the elections took precedent,(which they should). 

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/world/africa/un-seeks-a-more-nimble-response-to-ebola-in-africa.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0

U.N. Seeks a More Nimble Response to Ebola in Africa

 

A shortage of international health workers and delays in building Ebola treatment clinics in West Africa are forcing the United Nations to change course in fighting the virus, and to call for smaller and more mobile treatment units that make greater use of local staff — and in turn require more money.

 

The shift comes eight months after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first identified. The virus is waning in some places and growing stronger elsewhere, and the international response so far has been unable to get the outbreak under control.

 

The most prominent international efforts have so far been focused on building large treatment centers. But by the time they are completed, they may not be where they are most needed.

 

For example, four 100-bed centers are to open soon in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, where reports of new cases have slowed significantly, while Sierra Leone, where new cases are escalating, is seriously short of treatment centers.

 

“We need to be more nimble and flexible,” Anthony Banbury, the head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said in an interview.

 

“Instead of trying to build 100-bed facilities, I believe we need smaller facilities, more geographically dispersed, and to rely more on trained national medical professionals to provide the clinical care,” he said.

 

The United Nations health system, however, has not been known for being nimble.

 

Many health advocates say the United Nations’ call for help in mid-September was very late, and the trust fund that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon established — he asked for $1 billion in contributions — is still not fully funded. His special envoy, Dr. David Nabarro, said recently that an additional $500 million would be needed to pay for Ebola operations through next March. Both Dr. Nabarro and Mr. Banbury are to brief the General Assembly on Thursday. Their ability to curb the virus in West Africa is widely seen as a critical test for the organization.

[Special K]

none being treated that you know of 

It's a disease that exists under the mandatory reporting guidelines --- i.e. if a blood test comes back positive it must be reported in the system that connects with the state health department.  So, it isn't possible for an ebola patient to be treated by a physician without the disease being reported.

[Special K]

Not sure if I already posted this in this thread or on another forum, but the following link is to a NY Times article discussing the WHO and the reasons behind its inability to mount a quick global response during the initial stages of the outbreak.  

 

"Cuts at W.H.O. Hurt Response to Ebola Crisis"

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/world/africa/cuts-at-who-hurt-response-to-ebola-crisis.html?_r=0

[twa]

It's a disease that exists under the mandatory reporting guidelines --- i.e. if a blood test comes back positive it must be reported in the system that connects with the state health department.  So, it isn't possible for an ebola patient to be treated by a physician without the disease being reported.

 

mandatory for public health facilities certainly, isn't possible is a overstatement

[Special K]

mandatory for public health facilities certainly, isn't possible is a overstatement

You really will argue anything, won't you?  God love ya.  

 

So, what are you meaning by claiming it's mandatory for public health agencies?  Are you thinking the reporting stops in that local health jurisdiction??  Do you think when a mandatory reporting disease is confirmed and the local health department notified we just sit on the information?  Because if you really think that, we might have a problem.  Where do you think the CDC gets all its data from for their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports?  From where do you think the CDC gets all its data for the reports it publishes about the state of the nation?

 

The process for disease reporting goes like this:  laboratory confirms positive test result, lab automatically kicks positive lab to the local health department.  The health department enters patient info and lab results into statewide database then establishes contact with the patient.  If it's a confirmed Ebola case, the state immediately alerts the CDC.  Bottom line, if there is a confirmed Ebola case out there, we'd know it.  It's not like it can be treated secretly.  There isn't some black site hospital the government is sticking all these "unknown ebola patients."  If there is an Ebola patient being treated in the US, we'd know.   

[ABQCOWBOY]

Part of the problem in getting funding is the control of funds that are donated.  There are multiple stories of how money get donated but land up in the pockets of others, rather then going towards the aid it was intended for.   This is a real problem. 

[twa]

You really will argue anything, won't you?  God love ya.  

>

>

>

 

 If there is an Ebola patient being treated in the US, we'd know.   

 

I wouldn't bet on that last part , our present is not that different from the past.

 

of course that depends on who we is 

[twa]

probably just labor activists or GOP science denying plants, nothing to worry over

 

  U.S. nurses to protest, strike over Ebola measures

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-usa-nurses-ebola-idUSKCN0IW14S20141112

 

 

(Reuters) - Nurses across the United States will stage protest rallies and strikes on Wednesday over what they say is insufficient protection for health workers dealing with patients possibly stricken with the deadly Ebola virus.

The California-based nurses' union, National Nurses United, says hospitals still lack enough hazardous materials suits which leave no skin exposed and sufficient powered air-purifying respirators to properly protect nurses from exposure.

"Inadequate preparedness for Ebola symbolizes the erosion of patient care standards generally," National Nurses United spokesman Charles Idelson said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has ordered $2.7 million worth of personal protective equipment to help hospitals care for Ebola patients.