First Ebola case diagnosed on US soil

[Loptr]

Ebola is bad. It is deadly, but it is not that easy to contract. It requires direct contact with an infected person.

This virus, like many viruses, does mutate and the big danger is that it could come up with a more effective method of spreading.

Au contraire... It has proven to be airborne and current cases bear this out...

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

[F430murci]

U.S. Hospitals Fall Far Short in Emergency Planning as First Ebola Case Reported in the U.S.

In the wake of the first confirmed case of a patient in the U.S. who has been infected with the Ebola virus, the largest U.S. organization of nurses today warned that U.S. hospitals are far from ready for the Ebola outbreak, are sorely lacking in other disaster planning, and everyone needs to do more to stop Ebola.

• More than 60 percent of RNs say their hospital is not prepared for the Ebola virus.
• 80 percent say their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola
• 85 percent say their hospital has not provided education on Ebola
• 30 percent say their hospital has insufficient supplies of eye protection (face shields or side shields with goggles) and fluid resistant gowns
• 65 percent say their hospital fails to reduce the number of patients they must care for to accommodate caring for an isolation patient

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/u.s.-hospitals-fall-far-short-in-emergency-planning-as-first-ebola-case-rep/

To be completely fair, lets put this in some context. No one is really prepared for anything like Ebola. That being said, a very low percentage of RNs would be required to address or work in areas of a hospital that dealt with Ebola patients. The only RNs that would feasibly have to deal with an Ebola patient would be triage and ER nurses. I would estimate that a very small percentage (2 %) of the RNs working in hospital are triage and ER nurses. Most RNs are assigned to ICUs, recovery, surgery and patient floors to administer meds, insert or change IVs, handle care plans, perform diagnostic testing, operate and monitor medical equipment, and handle other duties that LPNs cannot handle. These RNs would not come into contact with Ebola patients. Not sure an RN working in surgery recover, ICU, cardiac unit, neonate unit and etc. would need Ebola training so candidly, the result of the survey are not surprising.

The isolation one is really a doozy and taken out of context. No doubt about it that RNs nurse to patient ratio does not change when they typically deal with an isolation issue. These issues, however, are Clostridium Difficile, MRSA, Staff and perhaps certain pneumonia. I can guarantee the ratios would drop dramatically with an Ebola patient and,. in fact, nurses assigned to normal patients would not even be assigned to an Ebola patient.

Second paragraph, "Isolation". Don't the highly unique standards and protocols for Ebola require a higher level of clinical isolation and PPE for healthcare staff? Not to be confused with Staph.

Looking for clarity--not argument.

Yes!!! I think you are just illustrating what I was trying to say, just more eloquently.

RNs complain, and rightfully so, about their nurse/patient ratios all the time. Usually, there are a couple of rooms on each floor that are private (no room mate) that can be used for patients that have infectious disease issues. These rooms will typically be occupied by normal patients until, lets say, the cardiac floor gets a patient that just happens to have a staff infection also. They will put the patient in the private room, but the nurse's nurse/patient ratio does not change even though a higher level of care is required which aggravates nurses. This is like have 2 or 3 patients instead of 1 in that room.

Ebola is completely different. People would go in an isolation ward and would be cared fro by a nurse not assigned to regular patients. I have no idea what the nurse patient ratio would be for Ebola, but it would be perhaps comparable to the ratio and level of care say in ICU, TICU, Cardiac ICU or neonate ICU. These patients, however, would not be a regular floor. I would imagine the guy in Dallas is a getting a nurse assigned only to him so she is a 1/1 nurse patient ratio.

My only point was that the survey question about isolation was stupid and what I suppose you typically get with surveys and people who read and don't look behind the numbers.

[F430murci]

Ebola is bad. It is deadly, but it is not that easy to contract. It requires direct contact with an infected person.

This virus, like many viruses, does mutate and the big danger is that it could come up with a more effective method of spreading.

Au contraire... It has proven to be airborne and current cases bear this out...

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

Where has this been proven? I recall that study in an earlier thread and the full article on that study hedged more than your article. Your article, however, even states:

"While the study provided evidence that transmission of Ebola between species is possible, researchers still cannot say for certain how that transmission actually occurred. There are three likely candidates for the route of transmission: airborne, droplet, or fomites."

. . .

What do these findings mean? First and foremost, Ebola is not suddenly an airborne disease.

- See more at: http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112#sthash.eZFI7JUS.dpuf

[F430murci]

Bothersome . . .

Ebola crisis: Texas children 'monitored for symptoms'

Children have come into contact with the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, the governor of Texas has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29447877

So bad. I would sue the hospital . . . even if nothing more than emotional distress if I or a family member was in contact with that African infected dude after he first presented to the hospital.

I can guarantee you now every hospital will be over cautious now as they now they will get popped for liability if they fail to diagnose and release someone with Ebola.

[JDGRUEN]

Dallas Ebola Patient Was Another Visa Mistake

By Jessica Vaughan, October 1, 2014

Look up "likely visa overstay" in the dictionary, and you should find a picture of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who is the first Ebola case diagnosed within the United States, and who is now being treated in a Dallas hospital.

This looks like another good case for the consular officers training manual of a non-immigrant visa that never should have been issued, but which could have serious public health consequences, not to mention monetary costs.

complete article ...

http://cis.org/vaughan/dallas-ebola-patient-was-another-visa-mistake

[JDGRUEN]

Bothersome . . .

Ebola crisis: Texas children 'monitored for symptoms'

Children have come into contact with the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, the governor of Texas has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29447877

So bad. I would sue the hospital . . . even if nothing more than emotional distress if I or a family member was in contact with that African infected dude after he first presented to the hospital.

I can guarantee you now every hospital will be over cautious now as they now they will get popped for liability if they fail to diagnose and release someone with Ebola.

Obviously the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital do not pay attention to the news of the last three months. Seems they never heard or saw any headline about Ebola surging in West African countries ... because no one noticed this man with varying kinds of symptoms was from a West African country ... The doctor and no one else went - Hmmmmm? We need to look further into this... Get blood samples immediately and everyone begin now to take precautions. Put him in isolation until we get some blood results... Stupid uninformed medical staff with NO PLAN ... NO EDUCATION about a very serious epidemic in Africa... crazy stupid.

[JDGRUEN]

BREAKING>>> Dallas Ebola Patient VOMITED WILDLY Outside Apartment On Way to Hospital Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, October 1, 2014, 9:31 PM

Two days after he was sent home from a Dallas hospital, the man who is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States was seen vomiting on the ground outside an apartment complex as he was bundled into an ambulance.

“His whole family was screaming. He got outside and he was throwing up all over the place,” resident Mesud Osmanovic, 21, said on Wednesday, describing the chaotic scene before the man was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday where he is in serious condition.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/10/breaking-dallas-ebola-patient-vomited-wildly-outside-his-apartment/

[ClutchClark]

This guys medical bills will quickly exceed $1 million and it will all fall back on the taxpayer.

Why was he issued a Visa?

[zydeco]

This guys medical bills will quickly exceed $1 million and it will all fall back on the taxpayer.

Why was he issued a Visa?

Because some government bureaucrat didn't want to be called a racist??? Better to start a pandemic in America than be called a racist.

[F430murci]

Bothersome . . .

Ebola crisis: Texas children 'monitored for symptoms'

Children have come into contact with the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, the governor of Texas has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29447877

So bad. I would sue the hospital . . . even if nothing more than emotional distress if I or a family member was in contact with that African infected dude after he first presented to the hospital.

I can guarantee you now every hospital will be over cautious now as they now they will get popped for liability if they fail to diagnose and release someone with Ebola.

Obviously the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital do not pay attention to the news of the last three months. Seems they never heard or saw any headline about Ebola surging in West African countries ... because no one noticed this man with varying kinds of symptoms was from a West African country ... The doctor and no one else went - Hmmmmm? We need to look further into this... Get blood samples immediately and everyone begin now to take precautions. Put him in isolation until we get some blood results... Stupid uninformed medical staff with NO PLAN ... NO EDUCATION about a very serious epidemic in Africa... crazy stupid.

Actually, the triage nurse did ask and mark in his chart that hex was from Africe and an Ebola impacted region. The ER staff treating him apparently missed it, but they did have a checklist and protocol in place to detect Ebola patients. They screwed up which I kind of get. They have a lot of volume and I doubt they actually expected an Ebola patient to walk through the door.

[JDGRUEN]

Bothersome . . .

Ebola crisis: Texas children 'monitored for symptoms'

Children have come into contact with the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, the governor of Texas has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29447877

So bad. I would sue the hospital . . . even if nothing more than emotional distress if I or a family member was in contact with that African infected dude after he first presented to the hospital.

I can guarantee you now every hospital will be over cautious now as they now they will get popped for liability if they fail to diagnose and release someone with Ebola.

Obviously the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital do not pay attention to the news of the last three months. Seems they never heard or saw any headline about Ebola surging in West African countries ... because no one noticed this man with varying kinds of symptoms was from a West African country ... The doctor and no one else went - Hmmmmm? We need to look further into this... Get blood samples immediately and everyone begin now to take precautions. Put him in isolation until we get some blood results... Stupid uninformed medical staff with NO PLAN ... NO EDUCATION about a very serious epidemic in Africa... crazy stupid.

Actually, the triage nurse did ask and mark in his chart that hex was from Africe and an Ebola impacted region. The ER staff treating him apparently missed it, but they did have a checklist and protocol in place to detect Ebola patients. They screwed up which I kind of get. They have a lot of volume and I doubt they actually expected an Ebola patient to walk through the door.

" doubt they actually expected an Ebola patient to walk through the door." That is exactly what my post is about ... Glad to hear one nurse picked up on it ... but with a highly publicized Ebola news story for months in the newspapers, on Cable TV, on Facebook and all the other social media, and on line news... one would think the whole staff would know and 'GET IT'. But sad to say - as an American and a Texas it is expected that even educated people in Dallas Texas pay little or no attention to such things. Most of them could not find Africa on a globe and probably think Africa is one big country ... "West Africa... Ebola ? Is that something like Ebonics ? I am quite serious I lived in the immediate area for 35 years... If it is not home, momma, kids, Friday night football, soap operas, back yard BBQ it doesn't exist.... I bet they are aware NOW!

[JDGRUEN]

This guys medical bills will quickly exceed $1 million and it will all fall back on the taxpayer.

Why was he issued a Visa?

I complain about some of the weirdness and inconsistencies of Thai Immigration laws and enforcement ... but I only hope that in the very near future - like tomorrow - Thai Immigration announces that NO ONE who has been in any African country in the last six months will be allowed entry into Thailand - end of story.. Regardless of their nationality - country of origin... country in which the passport has been issued, etc.... If anyone has traveled from Africa - period ... or have been there in the past six months - NO ENTRY...

I am hoping my home country of the United States does the same thing -- but actually I think the obama Administration will do NOTHING... Which means - even traveling to the USA might put one in danger of not being able to get back to Thailand ... it could easily come to that... unless and until the American Government says NO ... no travel to Africa - no entry into America if you have been in Africa in the last six months... DRASTIC - absolutely and absolutely necessary.

[MJP]

This guys medical bills will quickly exceed $1 million and it will all fall back on the taxpayer.

Why was he issued a Visa?

I complain about some of the weirdness and inconsistencies of Thai Immigration laws and enforcement ... but I only hope that in the very near future - like tomorrow - Thai Immigration announces that NO ONE who has been in any African country in the last six months will be allowed entry into Thailand - end of story.. Regardless of their nationality - country of origin... country in which the passport has been issued, etc.... If anyone has traveled from Africa - period ... or have been there in the past six months - NO ENTRY...

I am hoping my home country of the United States does the same thing -- but actually I think the obama Administration will do NOTHING... Which means - even traveling to the USA might put one in danger of not being able to get back to Thailand ... it could easily come to that... unless and until the American Government says NO ... no travel to Africa - no entry into America if you have been in Africa in the last six months... DRASTIC - absolutely and absolutely necessary.

I agree. Unless drastic action is taken this thing's just going to spread and spread.

[JDGRUEN]

Ebola unstoppable without total quarantine Scientists warned curbing air travel would only delay spread

NEW YORK – In an article published in a scientific journal one month ago, an international team of scientists correctly predicted Ebola would reach the United States by the end of September, arguing a reduction in airline travel of as much as 80 percent would only delay the international spread of the disease by three to four weeks at most.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/staggering-prediction-about-ebola-in-america/#rPGI43ijGEJ585iP.99

[zydeco]

So bad. I would sue the hospital . . . even if nothing more than emotional distress if I or a family member was in contact with that African infected dude after he first presented to the hospital.

I can guarantee you now every hospital will be over cautious now as they now they will get popped for liability if they fail to diagnose and release someone with Ebola.

Obviously the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital do not pay attention to the news of the last three months. Seems they never heard or saw any headline about Ebola surging in West African countries ... because no one noticed this man with varying kinds of symptoms was from a West African country ... The doctor and no one else went - Hmmmmm? We need to look further into this... Get blood samples immediately and everyone begin now to take precautions. Put him in isolation until we get some blood results... Stupid uninformed medical staff with NO PLAN ... NO EDUCATION about a very serious epidemic in Africa... crazy stupid.

Actually, the triage nurse did ask and mark in his chart that hex was from Africe and an Ebola impacted region. The ER staff treating him apparently missed it, but they did have a checklist and protocol in place to detect Ebola patients. They screwed up which I kind of get. They have a lot of volume and I doubt they actually expected an Ebola patient to walk through the door.

" doubt they actually expected an Ebola patient to walk through the door." That is exactly what my post is about ... Glad to hear one nurse picked up on it ... but with a highly publicized Ebola news story for months in the newspapers, on Cable TV, on Facebook and all the other social media, and on line news... one would think the whole staff would know and 'GET IT'. But sad to say - as an American and a Texas it is expected that even educated people in Dallas Texas pay little or no attention to such things. Most of them could not find Africa on a globe and probably think Africa is one big country ... "West Africa... Ebola ? Is that something like Ebonics ? I am quite serious I lived in the immediate area for 35 years... If it is not home, momma, kids, Friday night football, soap operas, back yard BBQ it doesn't exist.... I bet they are aware NOW!

I have actually used this hospital and its sister hospital, Presby Plano, quite frequently. Before she died, my 83 year old mother was in and out of Presbyterian frequently for kidney dialysis related treatment. One time I took her in and she was experiencing extreme difficulty breathing. The ER at Presby took her temp and let her sit for an hour. I finally told them to stuff it, walked out the door and took her up to a hospital in Denton where they immediately diagnosed bronchitis, treated her and had her stable in about 90 minutes. Ignoring an 83 year old dialysis patient who was having trouble breathing. THAT is the quality of care you get at this hospital's ER. Somebody should be raked over hot coals for this latest screw up. All this bragging about how prepared the medical system is to deal with ebola or any other pandemic is just propaganda. It will not take much for everything to seize up and collapse. It all began when this latest guy got a visa, got into the country, then entered the medical system, which incompetently sat on its rear and watched a crisis development. Now, watch the taxpayers' money just fly out the window. I would hate to see the US become a dumping ground for every African who thinks they have ebola and who can hop a plane and deposit themselves at the nearest ER in America.

[Asiantravel]

Ebola is bad. It is deadly, but it is not that easy to contract. It requires direct contact with an infected person.

This virus, like many viruses, does mutate and the big danger is that it could come up with a more effective method of spreading.

Au contraire... It has proven to be airborne and current cases bear this out...

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

Where has this been proven? I recall that study in an earlier thread and the full article on that study hedged more than your article. Your article, however, even states:

"While the study provided evidence that transmission of Ebola between species is possible, researchers still cannot say for certain how that transmission actually occurred. There are three likely candidates for the route of transmission: airborne, droplet, or fomites."

. . .

What do these findings mean? First and foremost, Ebola is not suddenly an airborne disease.

- See more at: http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112#sthash.eZFI7JUS.dpuf

" What do these findings mean? First and foremost, Ebola is not suddenly an airborne disease."

That may have been true last week or last month but it doesn't necessarily mean it will still be true next week or next month?

Every virus mutates to adapt to its surroundings. Ebola is no exception. The longer a virus circulates, the more it changes its genetic material. "Even a single change in the genome can have huge consequences," says Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. He confirms that mutations can increase the contagiousness of a virus.

The disease could also become airborne. And that would be disastrous: the infection rate would increase exponentially.

The researchers found more than 300 genetic changes that make the 214 Ebola virus genomes distinct from the viral genomes tied to previous Ebola outbreaks. Moreover, over 50 changes had occurred since the start of the 2014 outbreak, suggesting the virus is in fact mutating.

http://www.dw.de/unstoppable-is-ebola-mutating-with-unknown-consequences-before-our-eyes/a-17912329

[JDGRUEN]

NIH Director on Ebola Screwup: 'I Think We Just Need to Put That Behind Us'

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/nih-director-ebola-screwup-i-think-we-just-need-put-behind-us?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=marketing&utm_term=facebook&utm_content=facebook&utm_campaign=n-ebola-screwup

[Bwanatickey]

Ebola is airborne, flying in with a visa, and landing at an airport near you.

Texas eh, who would have thought of it, they have the own border issues with the Mexican border and this lands on their doorstep.

[F430murci]

Oh jeez. Check out what Farrakhan says about Ebola. Sounds like a couple of people on this thread.

----------

Firebrand Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s latest racially-charged claim is that Ebola – the deadly disease ravaging parts of Africa and now diagnosed on American soil – was designed by white scientists specifically to kill off blacks.

The 81-year-old leveled the charge in his organization’s newspaper, The Final Call, insisting the disease is man-made and cooked up in a laboratory as a means of population control. He underscored the claim on his Twitter page, which has 308,000 followers.

“There is a weapon that can be put in a room where there are black and white people, and it will kill only the black and spare the white, because it is a genotype weapon that is designed for your genes, for your race, for your kind,” Farrakhan wrote.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/02/farrakhan-claims-ebola-invented-to-kill-off-blacks/

[ronz28]

Some info I have heard from CNN, Fox, CNBC news include: Second person being monitored in US for Ebola. Now tracking over 100 people including children who had contacts with first patient. Both the first victim and his girl friend advised the ER staff that he just arrived from Liberia but didn't mention that he had carried an Ebola victim to a hospital where she died the next day from Ebola just 2 days before he got on a United Airlines plane to come to the US via Belgium and Washington DC. He puked all over the outside of his girl friends apartment and had diarrhea there. He puked all over the ambulance that picked him up to take him to the hospital. The ambulance remained in service for 2 days after he puked on it. Hospital sent him home but he came back later. ER staff that did this must be fired.

Texas has not tried to dispose of the Ebola contaminated waste like bed sheets from the girl friends apartment yet, but tells her not to leave her apartment. United Airlines still has those planes in services where he sweated all over the seats, etc. There are about 10,000 Liberians in the Dallas area (who knew). US will send 3,000+ Army newly trained medics, etc. from Ft. Hood in Killeen, Tx to Africa to care for Ebola patients and undoubtedly bring more Ebola back to USA. Some countries are now stopping Visas for Liberians but I agree to denying Visas to anyone who has been there or anywhere else with the epidemic, without regard to national origin until this disease has been eradicated.

Edited October 2, 2014 by ronz28

[englishoak]

Problem Reaction Solution

We are now getting into the reaction phase, watch for draconian laws and rules suggested being put into place regarding peoples freedom of movement etc as the panic and fear mounts

[NeverSure]

I think we might be overreacting. I don't mean it isn't serious, but no one in the US has died.

Weren't there some infected health care workers who had gone to Africa and came back and lived? How can they say this is the first case?

I don't think the US is anything like Nigeria and others where I wouldn't want to live under any circumstances.

[F430murci]

The Liberian authorities say they will prosecute the man diagnosed with Ebola in the US, accusing him of lying over his contact with an infected relative.

When he left the country last month, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan filled in a questionnaire saying that none of his relatives were sick.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29467489

[ronz28]

Wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a bio-terrorist suicide bomber because came in contact with several people with Ebola and then hopped his plane to the USA.

[NeverSure]

So, how many US citizens, if in Africa and thought to have been exposed to Ebola, would hop a plane to OZ or the UK or Canada or the US immediately?

I'm not saying it's right, just asking if they wouldn't.

When US health care workers were infected in Africa they came right back to the US. Can't blame them.

There is more than one reason why this is spreading like wildfire in Africa.

[F430murci]

Wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a bio-terrorist suicide bomber because came in contact with several people with Ebola and then hopped his plane to the USA.

I am sure Obama will grant him immunity or a Presidential pardon. Just sayin!

[wooloomooloo]

The Liberian authorities say they will prosecute the man diagnosed with Ebola in the US, accusing him of lying over his contact with an infected relative.

When he left the country last month, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan filled in a questionnaire saying that none of his relatives were sick.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29467489

This is as good an excuse for quarantine as I've come across.

[MJP]

Wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a bio-terrorist suicide bomber because came in contact with several people with Ebola and then hopped his plane to the USA.

Possible. Need to shut down all migration, transit, visas, don't care what . . . now.

[zydeco]

The Liberian authorities say they will prosecute the man diagnosed with Ebola in the US, accusing him of lying over his contact with an infected relative.

When he left the country last month, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan filled in a questionnaire saying that none of his relatives were sick.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29467489

Seems quite obvious that the Liberian government has more common sense about this incident than does the US government.

[JDGRUEN]

I think we might be overreacting. I don't mean it isn't serious, but no one in the US has died.

Weren't there some infected health care workers who had gone to Africa and came back and lived? How can they say this is the first case?

I don't think the US is anything like Nigeria and others where I wouldn't want to live under any circumstances.

_7.jpg

It is the first case 'in the wild' - not brought to the U.A. with aforethought as a medical evacuation under controlled conditions. About 100 people have been exposed to his bodily fluids... at the apartment, outside the apartment, in the EMS vehicle - twice, in the emergency room -twice, exposed children 4 or 5 - went to 4 different schools...

It takes up to 22 days for symptoms to show and all that are treated do not survive... Even with good treatment the death rate is still 50%. Exposed people could start showing symptoms and be infectious in 5 to 7 days... I am not sure how long a person survives on average - with or without treatment but it is not long.

We will see...