Official Ebola update thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that only nurses who treated Duncan while he was very ill, and not the daughter who helped get him to the hospital, are the ones that have contracted Ebola is very telling that the disease is not contagious until the disease is underway.

Hopefully the disease in the US stops with these two nurses. I'm optimistic.

Agreed.

The chances that everyone in Duncan's household was somehow immune to Ebola, seem very, very low (particularly considering that studies showing immunity were all conducted in remote villages, where bush meat is regularly consumed). They just didn't catch it and seem unlikely to at this late date. As experts have told us, a patient's viral load when they first become symptomatic is very low. Ebola just isn't that contagious in the initial stages when people are likely to be walking around (or flying) out in the community. I'll be extremely surprised if anyone is infected as a result of contact with Amber Vinson over the past two days.

Clearly, those who are at risk are the healthcare workers who deal directly with bodily fluids and care for patients as they become increasingly ill and their viral load increases. We need to be sure those workers are well-trained and practiced with PPE. Transferring patients to one of the 4 designated US treatment centers (as they did with nurse #2) seems like the best course of action, wherever possible. Ebola is not an illness that hospitals are used to dealing with, so it really isn't surprising that Dallas Presbyterian struggled. They made mistakes. The CDC has made mistakes. We are learning from those mistakes and our response will improve.

Despite the fact that this epidemic has been raging overseas for well over 6 months, we have unknowingly imported only ONE Ebola victim. We may see one or two other patients like Duncan but the next time we will be better prepared, having learned from our experiences.
Nigeria contained this epidemic and we will too.

Unfortunately, we must believe the CDC about other exposures....

Are you the same one who keeps saying that Obama wants a pandemic? You come across like a total whack job and, quite frankly, it doesn't do your cause any favors.

As I said, I wish I was wrong, that I've been wrong. Unfortunately, I have not been. He is mentally ill.

Why do you say that? I don't believe it (I don;t agree with his political views) but wouldn't say he was mentally ill.

Malignant narcissism. Very dangerous. Watch his actions vs what he says. The blame he places on everyone else. The taking credit without also giving credit - until called on it. The number of folks and agencies coming forward saying they received threatening calls. The calling out of those who dare to criticize him. The way he carries himself. The way he speaks. Ignore media, both positive and negative, and just observe him. Read his own words. It's pretty darn clear

Someone's mentally ill, all right. My money's on the person who all but hears Obama's real, true words, the ones he doesn't say, from public events, largely scripted ones at that.

And just so you're aware, it's pretty much a guarantee that there will be a pandemic someday. It's the global equivalent of death and taxes.

[Anonymous]

So how is that nurse in Spain and her husband? Any news?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the trashing of Obama over this, including by Dems. I didn't vote for him either time. I cheered his decision to send the military to Liberia (why aren't we hearing more about this?). The CDC has made missteps; it is a bureaucracy and anyone who thinks a president has much power over entrenched government bureaucracies is seriously misguided. One might hope Obama had come up with the perfect formula for making everyone believe everything will be okay; he hasn't, but what president could?.

It is also unrealistic to think a president should be an expert in public health who could have the confidence to overrule experts from the CDC, particularly at the outset of all this. (I wouldn't be surprised, however, to see the head of the CDC resign over the second nurse debacle.)

I did vote for Obama both times and continue to consider myself a supporter. I cheered his decision to send aid and military support to Liberia and think it was absolutely the right decsion. But fighting the disease in West Africa doesn't preclude taking additional measures here in the US. These are not mutually exclusive and it's frustrating that the President and others in the administration present it as an either / or - it's not.

At a minimum, people coming to the US from affected areas in West Africa where infection rates are high, should be kept in quarantine and not permitted into the general population until they are shown to be disease free. Or, if the quarantine is too logistically complex, then ban travellers who have visited affected areas in West Africa within the last 21 days. After 21 days since their travel, they are welcome in.

I don't expect that the President has to be a public health expert. But the officials at HHS, including Dr. Frieden, serve at the President's pleasure and it is now abundantly clear that Frieden and his team are insufficiently prepared to address Ebola. Even other public health officials are publically stating their concerns about the CDC's handling of this issue. From misinformation to the insistence that Ebola would never come to the US to the poor monitoring of the second nurse infected (why was she not being monitored by the CDC team in Dallas as the public was repeatedly assured anyone who had contact with Mr. Duncan would be????). Obama needs a different team in place. NOW.

Moreover, Obama seems t be completely tone deaf to the concerns of the public. People are afraid for their lives and the lives of their children and are responding to the absurdly poor response from the CDC and other officials. Obama is conducting fundraisers and photo ops. Where is his leadership? Where is his command?

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the trashing of Obama over this, including by Dems. I didn't vote for him either time. I cheered his decision to send the military to Liberia (why aren't we hearing more about this?).

The CDC has made missteps; it is a bureaucracy and anyone who thinks a president has much power over entrenched government bureaucracies is seriously misguided. One might hope Obama had come up with the perfect formula for making everyone believe everything will be okay; he hasn't, but what president could?.

It is also unrealistic to think a president should be an expert in public health who could have the confidence to overrule experts from the CDC, particularly at the outset of all this. (I wouldn't be surprised, however, to see the head of the CDC resign over the second nurse debacle.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/10/15/u-s-military-will-need-until-december-to-complete-ebola-treatment-units-in-liberia/

http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-military-effort-to-combat-ebola-in-africa-to-enter-new-phase-1413406781

http://www.npr.org/2014/10/12/355564105/ebola-shows-small-signs-of-slowing-in-liberiaebola-shows-small-signs-of-slowing-in-liberia

And military from the UKi:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29640090

Germany has been less successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how is that nurse in Spain and her husband? Any news?

Serious and stable condition.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/world/europe/spain-ebola/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the nurses: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/blog/entry/statement-by-registered-nurses-at-texas-health-presbyterian-hospital-in-dal/

This is really upsetting.

Holy crap.

[Anonymous]

Interview with (whistleblower) nurse from Dallas hospital (video)
http://www.today.com/health/dallas-nurse-we-never-talked-about-ebola-thomas-eric-duncan-2D80220579

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the nurses: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/blog/entry/statement-by-registered-nurses-at-texas-health-presbyterian-hospital-in-dal/

This is really upsetting.

Good for the nurses that are speaking up. Most hospitals in this country are not prepared for Ebola. They do not have staffing or space or the proper gear. The space suits they have at the CDC and Emory with the battery back fans that keep your mask from fogging up are not the same isolation gear they have at standard hospitals around the country. I think the CDC and Obama were too quick to say that US hospitals could handle this. Our hospitals are better but standards are different in Africa. For one thing people don't travel as much as they do in the US so it spreads slowly. Secondly, in previous outbreaks that have been smaller, hundreds or thousands have still died. US citizens will not tolerate hundreds of people dying from Ebola. They will boycott flying, and many other things that will cause our economy to tank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this is why the hospital sent him home in the first place, they knew they weren't prepared.

No. The doctor just missed it.

Human error happens, especially when it's something new and out of the course of ordinary events.

[Anonymous]

A voice of reason:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/shepard-smith-ebola_n_5992510.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

(never thought I'd hear that from Fox news...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that only nurses who treated Duncan while he was very ill, and not the daughter who helped get him to the hospital, are the ones that have contracted Ebola is very telling that the disease is not contagious until the disease is underway.

Hopefully the disease in the US stops with these two nurses. I'm optimistic.

Agreed.

The chances that everyone in Duncan's household was somehow immune to Ebola, seem very, very low (particularly considering that studies showing immunity were all conducted in remote villages, where bush meat is regularly consumed). They just didn't catch it and seem unlikely to at this late date. As experts have told us, a patient's viral load when they first become symptomatic is very low. Ebola just isn't that contagious in the initial stages when people are likely to be walking around (or flying) out in the community. I'll be extremely surprised if anyone is infected as a result of contact with Amber Vinson over the past two days.

Clearly, those who are at risk are the healthcare workers who deal directly with bodily fluids and care for patients as they become increasingly ill and their viral load increases. We need to be sure those workers are well-trained and practiced with PPE. Transferring patients to one of the 4 designated US treatment centers (as they did with nurse #2) seems like the best course of action, wherever possible. Ebola is not an illness that hospitals are used to dealing with, so it really isn't surprising that Dallas Presbyterian struggled. They made mistakes. The CDC has made mistakes. We are learning from those mistakes and our response will improve.

Despite the fact that this epidemic has been raging overseas for well over 6 months, we have unknowingly imported only ONE Ebola victim. We may see one or two other patients like Duncan but the next time we will be better prepared, having learned from our experiences.
Nigeria contained this epidemic and we will too.

Unfortunately, we must believe the CDC about other exposures....

Are you the same one who keeps saying that Obama wants a pandemic? You come across like a total whack job and, quite frankly, it doesn't do your cause any favors.

As I said, I wish I was wrong, that I've been wrong. Unfortunately, I have not been. He is mentally ill.

Why do you say that? I don't believe it (I don;t agree with his political views) but wouldn't say he was mentally ill.

Malignant narcissism. Very dangerous. Watch his actions vs what he says. The blame he places on everyone else. The taking credit without also giving credit - until called on it. The number of folks and agencies coming forward saying they received threatening calls. The calling out of those who dare to criticize him. The way he carries himself. The way he speaks. Ignore media, both positive and negative, and just observe him. Read his own words. It's pretty darn clear

Someone's mentally ill, all right. My money's on the person who all but hears Obama's real, true words, the ones he doesn't say, from public events, largely scripted ones at that.

And just so you're aware, it's pretty much a guarantee that there will be a pandemic someday. It's the global equivalent of death and taxes.

I'm talking about his writings. His books. His off the cuff remarrks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this is why the hospital sent him home in the first place, they knew they weren't prepared.

No. The doctor just missed it.

Human error happens, especially when it's something new and out of the course of ordinary events.

Had they been preparing for the inevitable eventuality with protocols issued by the CDC and communicated with the proper intensity within the hospital, however, the doctor likely would have been paying more attention to the issue and would not have missed it.

[Anonymous]

They keep saying the nurse had symptoms on the plane. They said before that a high fever is when symptoms can start. Now they realize that symptoms can start with a low fever. I wonder if she was sweating and had diarrhea on the plane?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They keep saying the nurse had symptoms on the plane. They said before that a high fever is when symptoms can start. Now they realize that symptoms can start with a low fever. I wonder if she was sweating and had diarrhea on the plane?

We all know how clean airplane bathrooms are . As a microbiologist the amount of fecal matter on door handles and faucet knobs is disturbing ...u can't see the bugs but they are there when you swab for them.

[Anonymous]

Air France flight grounded and passengers not being let off

http://online.wsj.com/articles/air-france-flight-grounded-in-madrid-over-suspected-ebola-virus-case-1413462553?mod=e2tw