First Ebola case on US soil as doctor returns home

[Lite Beer]

EBOLA OUTBREAK
First Ebola case on US soil as doctor returns home
 

File photo : Dr Kent Brantly

 

ATLANTA: -- Doctors worked to save America's first Ebola virus patient Saturday after he arrived in the United States aboard a private air ambulance and was whisked to a state-of-the-art hospital isolation unit.

Onboard was stricken doctor Kent Brantly, one of two American aid workers infected with Ebola as they helped to battle an Ebola outbreak that has claimed more than 700 lives in West Africa since March.

The Gulfstream jet, equipped with a collapsible isolation chamber, landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside Atlanta, Georgia just before 11:50 am (1550 GMT).

The jet pulled up at an aircraft hangar, where it was met by an ambulance and several vehicles, and the convoy then wound its way across Atlanta to Emory University Hospital.

Images showed three individuals wearing white bio-suits emerge from the ambulance, with one, apparently Brantly, led gingerly into the hospital.

His wife Amber Brantly asked for people to pray for his recovery and that of those stricken with the virus in Liberia.

"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," she said in a statement.

"I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the US. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital."

Christian missionary worker Nancy Writebol is expected to be airlifted back to the United States in the coming days by the same method as Brantly.

"We thank God that they are alive and now have access to the best care in the world," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, the organisation for which Brantly was working in West Africa.

The State Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization and Emory Hospital all helped in the effort.



Cutting-edge isolation unit

Brantly and Writebol will be treated at Emory’s cutting-edge isolation unit, which has previously been used to care for individuals infected during the SARS epidemic that erupted in Asia in 2002-2003.

It is one of only four such facilities in the United States and is located near the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

Brantly’s arrival marks the first time a patient infected with Ebola has been treated anywhere in the United States, triggering criticism in some quarters.

Business magnate and television personality Donald Trump argued that the patients should be barred from returning to US soil.

However Bruce Ribner, who oversees the isolation unit at Emory, dismissed the criticism.

"They have gone over on a humanitarian mission (and) they have become infected giving medical care," said Ribner.

"We owe them the right to receive the best medical care that is available."

The US State Department said the "safety and security of US citizens" remained the paramount concern.

"Every precaution is being taken to move the patients safely and securely, to provide critical care en route on a noncommercial aircraft, and to maintain strict isolation upon arrival," a State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

Emory Healthcare said the establishment was "privileged" to be treating the infected individuals.

"Emory University Hospital physicians, nurses and staff can treat them safely and effectively, and we are honored to have the privilege of caring for these patients who contracted Ebola while serving on a humanitarian mission," a statement said.

"These two Americans want to come back home and be treated here, and we are committed to helping them."

The hospital said Brantly and Writebol would be the only patients housed in the isolation unit.

"This is not because of concerns of exposure, but, rather, for privacy matters considering the high-profile nature of these patients," it explained.

The latest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has killed 729 people of the more than 1,300 infected since March.

The World Health Organization has said the fast-moving outbreak was causing "catastrophic" loss of life in the affected countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Ebola, which has no vaccine, causes severe muscular pain, fever, headaches and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.

It has killed around two thirds of those it has infected since its emergence in 1976, with two outbreaks registering fatality rates approaching 90 per cent.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/First-Ebola-case-on-US-soil-as-doctor-returns-home-30240121.html

 

[thenation]2014-08-03[/thenation]

[laolover88]

As was posted in the UK: If Ebola occurred in the US/USA, they would find a profitable medication asap!

[Asiantravel]

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

[MK1]

Interesting how medical science perceives the word “risk” differently to others. If they could be trusted they would have eliminated the cause of lung cancer, HIV and Malaria/Dengue fever long ago.

[Soutpeel]

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

 

This is not the first time Ebola and the related virus Marburg have turned up in the US, in 1989,  monkeys inported from the Phillipines into the US had Marburg virus and half of them had the Ebola virus as well when tested

[F430murci]

As was posted in the UK: If Ebola occurred in the US/USA, they would find a profitable medication asap!

They are working on antidote which has passed phase one and is in phase two. According , they have been working on an antidote even though it has not occurred in the US/UK. As was you propensity in the other Ebola thread, please get your facts somewhat straight before starting you little condemnations rants.

[F430murci]

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.
If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

 
This is not the first time Ebola and the related virus Marburg have turned up in the US, in 1989,  monkeys inported from the Phillipines into the US had Marburg virus and half of them had the Ebola virus as well when tested

A strain of Ebola, Reston, that does not cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. Although perhaps splitting hairs, I think they are talking about first time a Zaire or African strain that affects human has been on US soil.

[ozsamurai]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

 

So its best you ship your finest doctors in this area half way across the world into a high risk area so they can possibly contract it too, then be of no use to anyone here or there.  VERY clever.....not!  Why not just put them in a plane and fly them over the Ukraine, at least then you get to blame the Russians!!

 

Oz

[Asiantravel]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

 

So its best you ship your finest doctors in this area half way across the world into a high risk area  so they can possibly contract it too, then be of no use to anyone here or there.  VERY clever.....not!  Why not just put them in a plane and fly them over the Ukraine, at least then you get to blame the Russians!!

 

Oz

 

And I was under the mistaken belief that ships can be moved to any location you like.

 

[CTO]

Trump is an arse

[Grindting]

Get well soon doc. your country should be very proud of you

[Franky Bear]

Get well soon doc. your country should be very proud of you

Agreed.

Donald Trump needs a good hard kick in the nuts

[Jonmarleesco]

Meanwhile, Thailand will be safe in its complacency.

[shirtless]

Misleading headline , he was flown into America in a controlled environment and sent to an isolation ward ,what could go wrong?

[luangtom]

The good doctor was flown to Dobbins Air-Reserve Base where he was transferred to a waiting isolation-ambulance and transported to Emory University Hospital, which is in proximity to the Center for Disease Control, CDC, where all of the USA and its allies test or create the viruses of the world.

 

The uproar or concern that has occurred locally is due to the fact that the very same CDC that is to tend to the good doctor is the same unit that compromised the health and safety of 80 of their own employees recently by exposing them to the Anthrax virus. It is fear of a repeat of this folly that is in the news locally.

 

On a noted conspiracy basis, this is what many people fear will lead to declaration of a national emergency and imposition of martial-law in the USA. This, too, has been noted in the media and quesitoned. All of the National Guard units and all of the US Military Reserve units have been issued contamination-suits and containment-areas have been set-up at 20 locations nation-wide in preparation for "errors" occurring. So, say what you may and think what you wish, this is a matter of grave concern in the USA.

What will be, will be. We all have to die of something.

 

I write this some 60-km from the site of Emory University Hospital.

[MJP]

Meanwhile, Thailand will be safe in its complacency.

 

Most countries can barely deal with everyday routine let along a Black Swan event like Ebola.

[Asiantravel]

The good doctor was flown to Dobbins Air-Reserve Base where he was transferred to a waiting isolation-ambulance and transported to Emory University Hospital, which is in proximity to the Center for Disease Control, CDC, where all of the USA and its allies test or create the viruses of the world.

 

The uproar or concern that has occurred locally is due to the fact that the very same CDC that is to tend to the good doctor is the same unit that compromised the health and safety of 80 of their own employees recently by exposing them to the Anthrax virus. It is fear of a repeat of this folly that is in the news locally.

 

On a noted conspiracy basis, this is what many people fear will lead to declaration of a national emergency and imposition of martial-law in the USA. This, too, has been noted in the media and quesitoned. All of the National Guard units and all of the US Military Reserve units have been issued contamination-suits and containment-areas have been set-up at 20 locations nation-wide in preparation for "errors" occurring. So, say what you may and think what you wish, this is a matter of grave concern in the USA.

What will be, will be. We all have to die of something.

 

I write this some 60-km from the site of Emory University Hospital.

 

 

But the anthrax debacle wasn't the only one. The CDC just recently unintentionally sent a sample containing highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza to another lab.

 

With regards to the conspiracy theories I was thinking of something less dramatic than military officers in protection suits. When I read how sweeping the law is in America regarding detaining people only suspected of having a communicable disease ( in terms of being able to detain   and hold people for as long as is "reasonably necessary" ) I thought what a perfect alternative for the Obama administration to use this method rather use the IRS to get at tea party members.

 

Just lock them away in a detention centre for a while

 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title42/html/USCODE-2011-title42-chap6A-subchapII-partG.htm

 

[antifagasto]

 These NGOs will got to extreme lengths  for two things only, funding cash and publicity. take it as being that only.  smelling more and more like a BIG fake as time goes by.

[kamahele]

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

I must disagree and it has nothing to do with the fact that Trump is  a big wind bag. The doctor with Ebola was flown to the US to be treated at and by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in a completely contained environment which was constructed to treat people with contagious diseases. He is not sitting in a regular hospital bed in downtown Podunk. He will not even be sharing the same air as the rest of the facility.

[IAMHERE]

Misleading headline , he was flown into America in a controlled environment and sent to an isolation ward ,what could go wrong?

African bees come to mind, fire ants, kudzu, flying asian carp, etc...

 

'The US State Department said the "safety and security of US citizens" remained the paramount concern.'

 

Utter balderdash I say, obviously the concern for US citizens come after the doctor that is infected.

[Asiantravel]

 

 I agree with Donald Trump's view of this.

If it was just a case of wanting to give these people the best doctors  surely they could have transported the doctors to a hospital ship and carried out this work offshore at considerably less risk to the American population?

I must disagree and it has nothing to do with the fact that Trump is  a big wind bag. The doctor with Ebola was flown to the US to be treated at and by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in a completely contained environment which was constructed to treat people with contagious diseases. He is not sitting in a regular hospital bed in downtown Podunk. He will not even be sharing the same air as the rest of the facility.

 

 

his latest tweet

 

 

Donald J. Trump        ✔ @realDonaldTrump Follow

"@BigBoie7531: To all the liberal do gooders, this is the Plague you idiots! No cure! @ You may have confidence in the CDC, but I don't!"

[connda]

Trump is an arse

 

I'll agree, Trump is an arse, but a pragmatic arse.  In this particular case, I tend to agree with him.  It's irresponsible to bring an active case of ebola onto US soil.

[Asiantravel]

In addition to the individuals from terror-prone nations who attempted to illegally enter the U.S., individuals from nations currently suffering from the world’s largest Ebola outbreak have been caught attempting to sneak across the porous U.S. border into the interior of the United States. At least 71 individuals from the three nations affected by the current Ebola outbreak have either turned themselves in or been caught attempting to illegally enter the U.S. by U.S. authorities between January 2014 and July 2014.

 

 

 

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/03/Leaked-CBP-Report-Shows-Entire-World-Exploiting-Open-US-Border