Posted on 10/13/2014 5:15:47 AM PDT by xzins
"We are deeply concerned about this new development," Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Sunday, after a Dallas nurse who treated a Liberian Ebola patient also tested positive for the deadly virus -- the first person-to-person transmission in the U.S.
"We now consider all of the health care workers who cared for the index patient (Thomas Eric Duncan) potentially to have been exposed, and we'll be rostering those individuals and determining which require active follow-up in addition to their self-monitoring," Frieden told CBS's "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer.
"We know from many years of experience that it's possible to care for patients with Ebola safely without risk to health care workers," Frieden added. "But we also know that ...even a single breach can result in contamination.
"And one of the areas that we look at closely are things like how you take off the gear that might be infected or contaminated. Another that we'll be looking at closely in-- in the investigation is the-- the interventions that were done to try desperately to keep the index patient alive. This included dialysis and intubation. These are two procedures which can result in the spread of infectious material."
The nurse who contracted Ebola after treating Duncan did wear full protective gear.
"I think the fact that we don't know of a breach in protocol is concerning because, clearly, there was a breach in protocol. We have the ability to prevent the spread of Ebola by caring safely for patients," Frieden said.
He listed for "four things" that CDC is doing now:
"First, is to make sure that that individual (the nurse) is cared for safely and effectively. Second, we're identifying that individual's contacts...Third, we now consider all of the health care workers who cared for the index patient potentially to have been exposed and we'll be rostering those individuals and determining which require active follow-up in addition to their self-monitoring. And, fourth, we'll conduct a full investigation of what happens before health workers go in, what happens when they're there, and what happens in ... taking off their protective equipment, because infections only occur when there's a breach in protocol."
Frieden said CDC is now monitoring "all individuals" (he couldn't give an exact number) who cared for Duncan in Dallas, "and we'll be determining how many of those may potentially have had contact that would have resulted in a breakdown of protocol and possible contamination."
Meanwhile, Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas has shut down its emergency room until further notice, CBS reported, because of staffing limitations. Many staffers are being watched for signs of Ebola. This means ambulances will take patients to other emergency departments.
Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert with the National Institutes of Health, said U.S. hospitals "need to reemphasize the importance" of the protocols involved in removing their protective gear.
Although such breaches are "very, very rare," it can happen when a health care worker is "fatigued, they've been working for a long time, and when they take it off, they do something inadvertent, like brushing their face or something like that. I don't know how it happened. The CDC's investigating it, but that's very likely what happened. An inadvertent breach."
Fauci said he's "still quite confident" that there won't be a public outbreak of Ebola in this country -- "because of our ability to reach out, do the contact tracing, and isolate people who are infected."
He also said shutting down flights from West Africa "would be counterproductive."
"We can understand how people might come to that conclusion," Fauci told NBC's Chuck Todd. "But when you look at what happens when you isolate a country, you diminish greatly their ability to handle their own epidemic. If that happens, it very likely will spread to other African countries.
"And the best way to protect Americans is to completely suppress the epidemic in West Africa. If we do that, we wouldn't be talking about this today. So to isolate them, maybe with good intentions, actually can be counterproductive and make things worse."
I have a Screaming Eagle patch from 326 Engineer days long, long ago. At that time, I also covered the ADA and the Med Battalion.
My opinion...dated though it might be...
We’re going to get some our troops infected while we’re in Africa. A light infantry, air assault division is not designed to fight epidemic.
In fact, they’re trained in a chem/bio/nuke method that prefers AVOIDING contaminated areas and deals with contaminated areas only if placed in the middle of such an area by direct enemy action.
There is absolutely no training on intentional, proactive work within a chem/bio/nuke area. It’s all about surviving and getting the hell out of there.
I truly believe Obola has signed the death certificate of many of the finest air assault troops in the world.
What I see is we are going to be addressing this with a full level A HAZMAT response. I am level A qualified and cannot imagine trying to do anything more than rudimentary medical care.
Start an IV? No way.
CDC protocol is INADAQUATE:
CDC head criticized for blaming nurse’s Ebola infection on ‘protocol breach’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3214475/posts
Texas and CDC officials say that the nurse was wearing the recommended personal protective gear for handling an Ebola patient, including a gown, gloves, mask, and eye shield. However, one expert told Reuters that gear only offers a minimum amount of protection, especially when the disease enters its final phases.
Sean Kaufman, president of an Atlanta-based firm that helps train hospital staff said that caregivers may need to add more layers of protection in the patient’s final days, such as double gloves, a respirator, or even a full bodysuit.
They are totally clueless
Freegards
LEX
HAITIANS WERE BANNED FROM ENTERING THE UNITED STATES TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF AIDS.
HIV TRAVEL BAN:
https://www.dosomething.org/news/hivaids-travel-ban-lift-what-does-it-mean
“HIV was the only medical condition that legally prevents someone from immigrating or even visiting the country. Even leprosy and tuberculosis are left to the discretion of the secretary of health and human services.”
The ED is shut down because they do not have staff to take any more patients. Most of their staff is being watched for Ebola....
What a cluster-F***.
A. We KNEW this would happen, just as they stood there and told us they can contain any outbreak that might happen here...most of us knew they could not.
B. The procedures they did to save this man’s life (who should NOT have even been here) might have caused who knows (only time will tell) how many American Health workers lives. This angers me.
C. They still insist they can contain it because they have the ability to contact and monitor at-risk people. How stupid do they think we are!? Simple math skills and common sense...The patients should only be treated by the CDC trained and experience staff. If not, they are going to see a shortage of nurses and other personnel in Texas for one thing.
“Not Frieden. Thanks for clarifying.”
I listened to Frieden on Sunday. He was VERY serious.
If it were genuinely airborne, it would have an R-factor perhaps as high as Measles, as Ebola is so infectious. It would also have infected tens of thousands in Liberia et al, perhaps hundreds of thousands, by now...not less than 10k total.
Of course it's possible it could mutate, but I don't believe it has nor that it can with its speed to death.
What needs to be recalled here is that the pattern for this nurse getting infected existed prior to the current 'crisis': C-Diff, among other 'hospital-borne bugs'. Doctors and nurses have been spreading infection in hospitals long before Ebola due to lax procedures. The latest CDC Lab scandals almost make the recklessness policy.
The pattern of recklessness existed in US medicine before and is now spreading this bug and feeding the government-created panic.
Ah, again, what does “counterproductive” mean?
It depends on what you WANT to happen, does it not?
I understand that. But this is an emergency situation that calls for emergency procedures, not business as usual. Staff can be called in from other locations or to be on call. If the powers that be - whoever they are - really want to get a handle on this, anyone with symptoms of this disease should be taken to a single location, isolated from other types of injuries or potential illnesses so as not to spread this to the general population. This disease is highly contagious and should not be treated like other common illnesses. If they want to nip it in the bud, they need to send potential patients to a single location, not spread them around the area, especially since they know that there are approximately 100 or so potential exposures in the area.
Bingo! We have a winner! And send patients with other injuries and illnesses to other emergency rooms!
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Wow, they’re really out in front of this/s
This means ambulances will take patients to other emergency departments.
This is a huge, huge point.
Any ER or clinic where an Ebola patient shows up runs the risk of being taken offline-- for the entire community.
Genius...
Their bodies will be burned and buried in Africa.
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
There is a huge nursing shortage right now. Many nights I dont have beds to admit all the patients that show up in the ED, not because I dont have physical beds, but because I dont have enough nurses to cover them. Add to that the fact that I doubt nurses are running to volunteer to work in an Ebola ward, and I just dont see it happening
It would be great in principle, but there is no way to keep patients from going anywhere they want. Once they are at a location, its a crapshoot whether you increase exposure by moving them to your designated Ebola hospital, or just treat them where they land
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