Friday, August 1, 2014

BBC: "Ebola Infected aid worker heads to US"

"A hospital in Atlanta is preparing to receive a US aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa."
A spokeswoman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said her agency was working on the transfer with the US State Department.

Barbara Reynolds said she was not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before.

But in a statement, the Atlanta hospital said it has an isolation unit which is specially equipped to deal with this kind of infection. (read more)

13 comments:

rhhardin said...

I'm surprised they don't just ship him across the southern border with the others.

Michael Haz said...

While I fully understand and respect the humanitarian aspect of bringing this US citizen home for medical treatment, I also question the wisdom of bringing Ebola into the US.

If the virus has killed highly trained and bio-protected MDs who took all precautions, how can there be any assurance that it will be confined only to the patient's room in Atlanta?

This has a possibility if becoming an untreatable pandemic.

Unknown said...

Why?
this is insane.

edutcher said...

Where's Poot when you need him?

April Apple said...

Why?
this is insane.


They need to cover the fact the real epidemic's coming in over the border.

Chip S. said...

No problema, mi pueblo.

They'll keep her in the safe room where they hid the vials of smallpox.

ndspinelli said...

This virus is not airborne. We need to start panicking if and when it does. There is little risk we these brave Christians being brought back home for treatment. On that same topic, the brave Christian woman, Merriem Ibrahim, just got back to the US yesterday. I consider her a living saint.

deborah said...

I agree there is little danger to bringing this patient to Atlanta.

Everything is happening at once. What next?

ndspinelli said...

"What next?" The Zombie Apocalypse, of course.

TrooperYork said...

Didn't you see "Outbreak?"

Gwyneth Paltrow is going to kill us all.

The Dude said...

So Gwyneth has moved from conscious uncoupling to hemorrhagically depopulating.

It's a good career move.

Lydia said...

If the virus has killed highly trained and bio-protected MDs who took all precautions, how can there be any assurance that it will be confined only to the patient's room in Atlanta?

Not sure that first statement about "highly trained and bio-protected MDs" is accurate. Conditions in Africa aren't what they are in the U.S. There's a good piece in Foreign Policy about this -- an excerpt:

Liberian health workers have complained about a lack of protection and equipment, saying it is limiting their ability to do their jobs and stay healthy. But Nestor Ndayimirije of the World Health Organization (WHO) says that part of the problem is inappropriate use of equipment. He says health workers, for instance, ran through a supply of 8,000 protective suits, worn when dealing with infected or potentially infected individuals, from donors too quickly because they were using them unnecessarily.

“Some don’t have the personal protective equipment, but this cannot explain the number of infections among health workers,” says Ndayimirije, who witnessed and worked on major Ebola outbreaks in eastern and southern Africa in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There are currently 37 suspected cases among health workers in Liberia, and there have been 16 deaths.

The Ministry of Health says it is making an effort to speak to and further train hundreds of health personnel, including workers in counties that have not yet even registered cases of the virus.

Michael Haz said...

Lydia - This link will take you to an article about the physician who died of Ebola.

http://www.webmd.com/news/20140730/doctor-dies-ebola

If you google his name, there is more info about him.

Lydia said...

That doctor who died said this back in June:

I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,” Khan told Reuters in a June interview about his work fighting the deadly outbreak of the disease in his country. He added, “Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk.” Before Khan’s death, three nurses working at his treatment center also died of the disease.

I think he's saying there that the protective clothing may not always be on when they first encounter victims of ebola. Considering the conditions in Africa talked about in that article I linked to above, that's probably the likely scenario.