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Once again, it is a nurse who has taken the Ebola media spotlight this week. Kaci Hickox, a nurse who cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone found herself quarantined against her will in New Jersey upon her return to the US, in spite of the fact that she tested negative for the virus. After a 3 day isolation in less than desirable accommodations, she was transported home where she was supposed to remain under home quarantine but is now declaring that the quarantine is unnecessary and counterproductive, and is openly defying the order by going out in public.
Additional breaches in voluntary quarantine from those returning from Ebola-plagued Africa occurred when NBC medical correspondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman in New Jersey and Dr. Craig Spencer in New York left their homes and ventured out into public spaces.
On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called for voluntary home quarantine for workers with the highest risk for Ebola infection. It also specified that most medical personnel returning from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea would not need to be kept in isolation.
In spite of this, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, mandated a 21-day mandatory quarantine policy for all healthcare workers exposed to Ebola. Although this move has received much criticism, it did get the support of Dr. Bruce Beutler, an American doctor and researcher and Nobel Prize winner for Medicine and Physiology for his work researching the the body’s overall immune system. He is currently the Director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at the University of Texas Southwestern Center in Dallas. He favors Christie’s quarantine policy “because it’s not entirely clear that they can’t transmit the disease,” referring to asymptomatic healthcare workers like Kaci Hickox.
New York and Illinois have also have followed suit and mandated mandatory 21-day home quarantine policies. Although there is plenty of scientific evidence indicating there’s very little chance that a random person will contract Ebola unless they touch bodily fluids of an infected person, the thought is that the authorities need to do something to calm Americans’ fears. As Mike Osterholm, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, says, "You want to try to eliminate not just real risk, but perceived risk."
There are thoughts on both sides of this issue which has led to heated discussions at times. There are concerns about the potential impact with both pathways of re-entry requirements for Ebola healthcare workers. What are your thoughts about this? Please take our survey to share your opinions. Let your voice be heard.
We went to Uganda for three weeks in July (myself, my wife and 6 of our 7 children) as we have done every year for the last 4 years, having gone to Botswana annually for 7 years before that. I have posted about this several times over the years. My wife volunteers as a "Nurse," helping out in the clinic (she is a PhD chemist). Our children go to work building latrines, digging wells and trenches, patching roofs as well as teaching English, reading and math. We are routinely exposed to diphtheria, malaria, dengue fever, TB, leprosy, schistosomiasis, hepatitis, meningitis, rabies, HIV and sleeping sickness (just off the top of my head. there are probably others). I had a week off when I got back and then I went to work. My kids were immediately reimbursed in our community, going to baseball and soccer, parties, etc. If anyone had tried to bar me or my children from moving freely upon our return, I would have sued them into bankruptcy. I have the resources, and I would not let up.
As you know, there is no Ebola in Uganda, but that didn't stop Louisiana from asking any physician attending a conference that to stay home if they had been on any part of the African continent.
I'll be going back to Uganda next year, Ebola or no Ebola. Just try and tell me I can't go out for pizza when I get home, I dare you!
What happens if she goes to a crowded movie theater, feeling great, on day 19. A lot can happen in 2 hours. What if she leaves that theater with a high fever, feeling like crap? What if she feels so bad that she vomits in the lobby on the way out? This is not an impossible scenario, is it?
I understand the science. If there are no symptoms, the person is not contagious. And Ebola might not be as easy to catch as people think. However, you just don't know when, or if, those symptoms will arrive. To me, being extra cautious for 21 days isn't such a big deal, in the scope of things.
What you are implying is that her body's immune system is suddenly going to go from an almost nonexistent ebola viral load to extremely high viral load in a matter of hours after being afebrile for several days. That is not how ebola works or our body's immune system.
That doesn't even mention the fact that 21 days is from the time she made it to the U.S. which means she probably hasn't had any contact with an ebola patient 2-3 days prior to getting to the U.S.
I'm mostly just talking about the development of symptoms, not that exact scenario. I worded it wrong, sorry. I was under the impression that symptoms could develop at any time during the 21 day period, which was the point I was trying to make.
If I'm wrong, don't kill me! I've been so busy that I have not had much time to research. I'm not trying to battle anyone, just to have a discussion!
:)
Then maybe you shouldn't comment on these things until you have time to actually look up the information then.
The problem is the MD that came back and went bowling and then was ill with Ebola. That has really stirred peoples fears even more and I think that needs to be acknowledged.
Really, that was a problem? He had been afebrile and checking his temperature regularly, so even though he later developed a fever he still wasn't contagious at that time.
Really, that was a problem? He had been afebrile and checking his temperature regularly, so even though he later developed a fever he still wasn't contagious at that time.
They made it into a problem.
No need to shut down and clean a bowling alley or to shut down two food shops and get clearance from the health department, then don't do it.
Like the CDC's recommendations, my thoughts on this have evolved over time. I do think people who have close contact with symptomatic Ebola victims should be quarantined. That was done in Dallas with the family and is a major part of how Firestone stopped Ebola at their Liberian rubber plantation. Health care workers who wear appropriate PPE should probably not be routinely quarantined.
The quarantine of US troops who had no contact with Ebola victims makes no sense at all. It just fits into the mixed messages our administration has been giving.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
The problem is the MD that came back and went bowling and then was ill with Ebola. That has really stirred peoples fears even more and I think that needs to be acknowledged.
That has proven to be false, and has been posted in several threads.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Like the CDC's recommendations, my thoughts on this have evolved over time. I do think people who have close contact with symptomatic Ebola victims should be quarantined. That was done in Dallas with the family and is a major part of how Firestone stopped Ebola at their Liberian rubber plantation. Health care workers who wear appropriate PPE should probably not be routinely quarantined.
The quarantine of US troops who had no contact with Ebola victims makes no sense at all. It just fits into the mixed messages our administration has been giving.
It seems to me that the message from the WH on the topic of ebola has been "stay calm, we've got this". On the other hand, state officials and other politicians are thumping this for every political advantage they can...mostly based in ignorance and fear, but thumping just the same.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
We went to Uganda for three weeks in July (myself, my wife and 6 of our 7 children) as we have done every year for the last 4 years, having gone to Botswana annually for 7 years before that. I have posted about this several times over the years. My wife volunteers as a "Nurse," helping out in the clinic (she is a PhD chemist). Our children go to work building latrines, digging wells and trenches, patching roofs as well as teaching English, reading and math. We are routinely exposed to diphtheria, malaria, dengue fever, TB, leprosy, schistosomiasis, hepatitis, meningitis, rabies, HIV and sleeping sickness (just off the top of my head. there are probably others). I had a week off when I got back and then I went to work. My kids were immediately reimbursed in our community, going to baseball and soccer, parties, etc. If anyone had tried to bar me or my children from moving freely upon our return, I would have sued them into bankruptcy. I have the resources, and I would not let up.
As you know, there is no Ebola in Uganda, but that didn't stop Louisiana from asking any physician attending a conference that to stay home if they had been on any part of the African continent.
I'll be going back to Uganda next year, Ebola or no Ebola. Just try and tell me I can't go out for pizza when I get home, I dare you!
Clearly, you are so potentially infectious you shouldn't even be posting here. You never know...those bugs could be transmitted via the internet. It's not that much of a stretch...computers can get viruses, right?
BlueDevil, DNP
176 Posts
We went to Uganda for three weeks in July (myself, my wife and 6 of our 7 children) as we have done every year for the last 4 years, having gone to Botswana annually for 7 years before that. I have posted about this several times over the years. My wife volunteers as a "Nurse," helping out in the clinic (she is a PhD chemist). Our children go to work building latrines, digging wells and trenches, patching roofs as well as teaching English, reading and math. We are routinely exposed to diphtheria, malaria, dengue fever, TB, leprosy, schistosomiasis, hepatitis, meningitis, rabies, HIV and sleeping sickness (just off the top of my head. there are probably others). I had a week off when I got back and then I went to work. My kids were immediately reimbursed in our community, going to baseball and soccer, parties, etc. If anyone had tried to bar me or my children from moving freely upon our return, I would have sued them into bankruptcy. I have the resources, and I would not let up.
As you know, there is no Ebola in Uganda, but that didn't stop Louisiana from asking any physician attending a conference that to stay home if they had been on any part of the African continent.
I'll be going back to Uganda next year, Ebola or no Ebola. Just try and tell me I can't go out for pizza when I get home, I dare you!