Ebola Killed Off More American Lab Machines Than American Humans

InvestmentWatch ^ | 11/6/2014 | Peter Eisler

[wtd]

Ebola Killed Off More American Lab Machines Than American Humans

When physicians at the Nebraska Medical Center got their first Ebola case in September, they knew they'd rely heavily on sophisticated blood-test machines to monitor the man's condition. They didn't expect the virus might leave the machines incapacitated for longer than the patient.

Several leading manufacturers of high-tech diagnostic devices have alerted hospital laboratories that they will restrict service, support and warranties for equipment used to test blood and organ functions for Ebola patients. Fearing infections, some decline to have their technicians perform tuning and maintenance the expensive devices often require. Others advise labs to quarantine the equipment after use on Ebola patients or even destroy it â?? a policy that one company's own CEO calls "the dumbest" approach imaginable.

[MaxMax]

They didn't expect the virus might leave the machines incapacitated for longer than the patient.

a policy that one company’s own CEO calls “the dumbest” approach imaginable.

Out of sight, out of mind. It seems the unnamed CEO doesn't care about the
outcome once the machine is off their property. I suggest this CEO clean them.

Those Techs don't make enough money to risk their lives with the dangers involved.
Cleaning loaded guns "blindfolded" in a daycare would be safer.

[Travis McGee]

Our vaunted first-world tech advantages will be overwhelmed by just a few 100 eboloa cases, leaving us with Liberia-like hospitals.

[knarf]

I’d suggest they calibrate those machines to the carbon dating machines to determine when, exactly .. those deaths occured.

[wtd]

This morning's Ebola headlines:

• InvestmentWatch: Ebola Killed Off More American Lab Machines Than American Humans 11/6/2014

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• FoodManufacture: Food firms should review supply chain for Ebola 11/7/2014

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• AOL.com: Ebola: What is the FDA hiding?

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• TimesDispatch: Virginia health department monitoring 73 travelers from West African countries with Ebola outbreaks 11/7/2014

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• ABC9: Iowa health officials monitoring 13 travelers from west Africa for Ebola 11/7/2014

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• FergusFallsDailyJournal: Minnesota health officials monitoring 48 travelers for Ebola [updated] 11/6/2014

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• GreenBayPress: Fox Valley health officials help state monitor Ebola 11/7/2014 "We had no idea frankly what percentage of returning travelers we were picking up, but we did the best we could do," Kazmierczak said."

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• dnaInfo: CITY monitoring 257 people for Ebola symptoms

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• Yahoo: CDC unveils 'individualized' Ebola guidelines amid patchwork of state rules 11/7/2014

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• MedinaGazette(OH): Medina County residents cleared after 21 days of Ebola monitoring 11/6/2014

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• Mirror: Man injects himself with Ebola DELIBERATELY in bid to battle the deadly disease 11/6/2014

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• ChannelNewsAsia: Ebola aid plan needs to go beyond medical care: ECOWAS 11/7/2014

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• DailyBeast: Ebola is destroying Liberia's vaccination program 11/7/2014

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• CharlotteObserver: A look at the worst ever Ebola epidemic by numbers `11/7/2014

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• Guardian: Ebola for beginners: Twitter map outlines some elementary geography 11/7/2014

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• PressTV: Ebola outbreak could be contained by next year: UN

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• News24: Togo's president to lead Ebola response 11/7/2014

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• ModernGhana: Ebola kills (over) 100 Health Workers 11/7/2014

• ***** BurtonMail: Ebola: East Midlands MEP says vaccine must be affordable 11/7/2014

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• AOL.com: Oklahoma officials say they're prepared for possible Ebola case 11/7/2014

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• AOL.com: Lack of Surgeon General during Ebola scare is partisan issue 11/7/2014

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• GMA: Japan to offer $100M aid to Ebola hit Africa 11/7/2014

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[Sherman Logan]

Radiation destroys DNA/RNA. Seems to me a high-intensity radiation chamber would do a dandy job of disinfecting the machines.

Though I don’t know what effect it would have on the instruments.

[Sherman Logan]

Yup. No country in the world can afford to have the infrastructure and personnel “on standby” to deal with an epidemic that “might” happen.

[wtd]

• News13: Coast Guard monitoring ship arriving in Port Canaveral from West Africa 11/7/2014

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• KWWL: 1 Iowan quarantined for 'some risk' of Ebola after traveling 11/6/2014

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• News&Record: People monitored for Ebola symptoms in alamance and Guiford are low-risk travelers 11/6/2014 (Greensboro, NC)

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• NewsGuard: New Details: Lincoln (Oregon) County prepares for Ebola 11/6/2014

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[RC one]

I wonder if there’s an anti-viral agent that they could put in the lab vials prior to filling them with infected blood which would kill the virus without making the specimen unusable.

[PLMerite]

I’m pretty sure Ebola isn’t the only deadly disease people have who get their blood tested by these machines. What do they do then, I’m sure they don’t just chuck them out.

[posterchild]

I was wondering the same. Perhaps it is more about their liability insurance not being ready for it.

[Jack Hydrazine]

It’s amazing how a virus with only seven genes can do so much damage.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/11/understanding-the-ebola-virus/

[a fool in paradise]

We’ll just 3-D print more of them.

Disposable technology, right?

Open them up to some sunlight and bleach, according to FReepers.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping...

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

[exDemMom]

This is beyond dumb.

If those machines happen to analyze the blood of someone with rabies, naeglerie fowleri, HIV, hantavirus, MRSA, anthrax, etc., do those companies also refuse to service the machines?

Companies require machines to be disinfected before service. Ebola virus is not that difficult to kill. Bleach, Micro-chem (a hospital disinfectant), formaldehyde, heat, and radiation will all kill it.

The research laboratories that work with Ebola regularly do have their equipment inspected, repaired, and calibrated, just like any other lab.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[null and void]

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

Bring out your dead! The Dark Man cometh! Bring out your dead! The Dark Man cometh! Bring out your......

(Since all records of obama's past were lost in a tragic boating accident and fire, no one can be certain that the guy in the red circle isn't him...)

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...