Doctors Without Borders Physician Tests Possitive for Ebola In New York City

Nurses COVID

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New York tests doctor who was in West Africa for Ebola

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK Thu Oct 23, 2014

A physician with Doctors without Borders who returned from West Africa recently and developed potential symptoms is being tested for Ebola at a New York City hospital, health officials said on Thursday, setting off fresh fears about the spread of the virus.

The doctor developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement. Preliminary results of the Ebola testing were expected in the next 12 hours...

... Mayor Bill de Blasio said test results would be made public, possibly late on Thursday evening.

"It is our understanding very few people were in direct contact with him," de Blasio said at a news conference. "Every protocol has been followed.

"We're hoping for a good outcome for this individual," he said.

The doctor reported his fever immediately, and Doctors Without Borders said it promptly notified the city health department.

The patient, who returned to the United States within the past 21 days, is being treated at Bellevue Hospital, the health department said. Twenty-one days is the maximum incubation period for Ebola...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/uk-health-ebola-newyork-idUKKCN0IC2KE20141023

Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

Does it make a difference that this doctor just returned from months of treating patient after patient after patient with Ebola, and has first hand knowledge of how the disease progresses?

On the other hand, Histrionics are usually reserved by the media for use against the non-elite class of "medical workers" i.e. Nurses.

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I'm wondering if they will quarantine the staff taking care of him in Bellevue.

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Specializes in RN, CHPN.
Missy Write-- I was not being sarcastic when I posted about Amber having a low grade temp and being positive. Wasn't she whisked off to isolation? Please don't take offense because I expressed my opinion. Please lets all maintain a professional demeanor. Lots of people are reading these posts who aren't healthcare providers. We need to remember that and not sink to behavior that degrades ourselves and our profession.

I took no offense at all. I totally misunderstood your question, and the conclusion I came to is that you were kidding. I was not "degrading the profession."

What degrades the profession are nurses ignoring science and joining the hysterical and ignorant public.

Some of us "more experienced nurses" remember the beginnings of MRSA, HIV, VRE. We all tried to contain it and we all saw it spread slowly across the country over the years. From our perspective this is going to continue to spread like everything else did, but EBOLA is much more deadly.

MRSA and VRE are absolutely controllable. They can be contained. And it is my hope that what's going on now with Ebola will bring some much-needed attention to hospital-acquired infections.

Macawake described infection control protocols where she works in a post on another thread:

One thing that I have been thinking about lately, do nurses caring for patients with infectious disease (like the current Ebola patients) wear their own scrubs underneath whatever PPE they’re wearing? Does the nurse take these scrubs home with them after the shift ends?

I’m a Scandinavian nurse and although our healthcare system (like most others) is far from perfect there is one thing we do rather well, infection control. Scrubs have been hospital-owned and laundered for at least as long as I can remember (80s). Scrubs aren’t allowed to be worn outside the hospital.

We have very strict hygiene and infections prevention protocol. No hair touching your collar, disposable aprons in all patient contacts, (of course gloves when needed) change scrubs immediately if wet (water or bodily fluids) or soiled, no rings allowed including wedding bands, short nails/no nail polish and sleeves end approximately four inches above the elbow. You can wear longer sleeves if you’re cold when you’re not in a patient care area, but as soon as you approach a patient you have to remove the jacket (this clothing item is of course also hospital-laundered). This applies to all categories of healthcare workers. Physicians aren’t allowed to wear their coat (or personal clothes) in direct patient care. They are relentlessly pestered if they forget to remove their coat. We use hand sanitizer like we’re addicted to it.

I’ve seen nurses here on AN voice the opinion that they prefer dark scrubs because stains don’t show as easily on them as on white/light scrubs. That always makes me shake my head in bewilderment. Why would anyone want to walk around with some biological crud on their clothes (posing a risk to both themselves and others)? This is the exact reason why our scrubs are white or pale blue, stains will be noticed and you can change into a clean set.

I’ve been a nurse for ~seven years (med-surg, ER, PACU) and I’ve administered Vanco to four patients if memory serves. On the few occasions that I’ve had MRSA positive patients I’ve been that patient’s designated nurse for the shift. I’m not allowed to come in contact with any other patient or even enter another patient’s room during that shift. If the patient’s condition warrants it, there’s also a CNA designated to care solely for the MRSA + patient. This patient can be a relatively healthy walkie-talkie elective surgery, so sometimes these shifts were pretty much spent twiddling my thumbs and catching up on email.

The luxury to be able to focus on infection prevention, rather than on maximizing profit/productivity is one advantage of having a healthcare model that isn’t profit-driven. We probably go a bit overboard at times, but as I said earlier better safe than sorry.

About the decision to quarantine health workers returning from Africa:

Why did they make this decision? My guess is that they caved in to public pressure and fear. In my opinion this decision lacks scientific rationale.

I think for those reasons, and because we have an election coming up. I agree, it lacks scientific reasoning.

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Now that there is a forced isolation for anyone returning from Africa (and identified as having cared for a person with Ebola), it does beg the question about how to handle healthcare workers currently treating Ebola patients HERE in the US.

Here, we have healthcare workers who are wearing proper PPE leaving the facility after their shift has ended. Do those who support isolating returning HCW from Africa for 21 days also support quarantine precautions in place for every single person who came/comes in contact with the American victims, too?

Seems like it's been more reasonable to assume a PPE breach in THIS country, based on our track record thusfar. Yet there's no quarrantine for them....?

If anyone voices that it's just too large a quarantine, that just too many people will have to be put in isolation, I'd have to counter that quarantines based on convenience and scapegoating rather than scientific necesssity are.....crap.

To clarify my position: if someone does not meet the criteria for isolation, they should not be forced into it. No symptoms, no viral transmission? No "military state" quarantine.

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Now that there is a forced isolation for anyone returning from Africa (and identified as having cared for a person with Ebola), it does beg the question about how to handle healthcare workers currently treating Ebola patients HERE in the US.

Here, we have healthcare workers who are wearing proper PPE leaving the facility after their shift has ended. Do those who support isolating returning HCW from Africa for 21 days also support quarantine precautions in place for every single person who came/comes in contact with the American victims, too? .

I have wondered about this too. I haven't read anything suggesting that employees of Emory, NIH, Bellevue or the other facility should be rushed into a tent and clad in paper scrubs. I live in NYC and could be on the subway with someone who is caring for Dr. Spencer, and I'm not at all worried about it.

I happened to be near Bellevue recently and it occurred to me that if this weren't so serious, it would be comical.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

How fitting that we would be engaged in a witch hunt on Halloween in the USA.

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