Ebola in Texas

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Dewman

113 Posts

Only two options eh? The first option is that Obama is intentionally misleading the American people and the second option is that he is clueless.

The correct answer is Option 3: Both of the above.

azhiker96, BSN, RN

1,129 Posts

Specializes in PACU, ED.

There is a problem with using Ro to compare the contagiousness of Ebola to less lethal viruses. Ro is affected by control measures that are taken. For example, when someone comes down with the flu, we don't identify all their contacts and place them in quarantine. If we did, Ro for the flu would drop.

Ro for the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1976 ranged from 2.6 to 8.6. Better treatment and earlier recognition of Ebola has driven down Ro. That doesn't mean it is less contagious.

http://mtbi.asu.edu/files/Mathematical_Models_to_Study_the_Outbreaks_of_Ebola.pdf

MassED, BSN, RN

2,636 Posts

Specializes in ER.

Duncan has died. Would love to be a fly on the wall in that ICU.

Dewman

113 Posts

Duncan has died. Would love to be a fly on the wall in that ICU.

The following phrase was either thought or spoken by everyone present: "Holy S(p)it..."

nursej22, MSN, RN

3,820 Posts

Specializes in Public Health, TB.
Perhaps not, but it is laughable to imply that but for 5% of the budget, there would be no Ebola here or elsewhere. The biggest crisis regarding this virus is the mis-information being spread by our supposed leaders:

"Like so many other events during his presidency, in grasping Mr. Obama's approach with Ebola, we have two options: Either he and his team deliberately chose to mislead the American public about a dangerous situation, or he is actually clueless. Either option tells the American people that endeavoring to believe what we're told by those in charge of this nation is a fool's errand.The moment it was revealed the United States had its first diagnosed Ebola case, the main message from various officials centered on the insistence that we are not to panic or become hysterical. Information was limited to repeating the narrative that Ebola could only be transmitted if you were in direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids with someone, according to the CDC guidelines, "who is very sick." This meme was repeated over and over again by officials at the CDC and many in the mainstream media. Until it began to unravel.

The CDC's Ebola happy talk, usually delivered by Director Tom Frieden, was finally exposed on CNN. Dr. Frieden was speaking with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, also a physician, once again to reassure everyone that everything was A-OK. A news anchor asked the doctor to reassure viewers that Ebola wasn't "highly contagious" so as to help the American people "back away from the panic."

Dr. Frieden happily complied, "It's not like the flu, not like the common cold, it requires direct physical contact." Then the anchor chimes in and says, "If he sneezes on you, it's a different story." With that one statement, Dr. Frieden was compelled to admit existing CDC guidelines do warn simply standing within a three-foot radius of someone with Ebola poses a risk of infection."

Read more: BRUCE: Containing the facts about Ebola - Washington Times

I don't believe that the 5% would have prevented Ebola here or elsewhere. But $13 million cut for emerging infectious diseases, $18 million cut for global health and $98 million cut for public health preparedness would have gone a long way toward screening airline passengers and training ED staff to recognize the S/S of someone recently arrived from West Africa.

http://www.cdc.gov/fmo/topic/budget%20information/appropriations_budget_form_pdf/Sequester_Impacts.pdf

Jolie, BSN

6,375 Posts

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
I don't believe that the 5% would have prevented Ebola here or elsewhere. But $13 million cut for emerging infectious diseases, $18 million cut for global health and $98 million cut for public health preparedness would have gone a long way toward screening airline passengers and training ED staff to recognize the S/S of someone recently arrived from West Africa.

http://www.cdc.gov/fmo/topic/budget%20information/appropriations_budget_form_pdf/Sequester_Impacts.pdf

Ironically, training on identifying potential Ebola patients had just been held in Dallas shortly before Thomas Duncan was sent home improperly treated from the ED. Funding wasn't the problem there. Stupidity was. If you find a way to fix stupid, please enlighten us all :)

And the absence of airport screening in the U.S. has not been because of lack of funding. It has been because of the lack of willingness on the part of the Administration and the CDC to acknowledge that there was a need to do so. Now that they have agreed to start the process in 5 cities, I highly doubt that $98 million will be necessary for a few forehead thermometers, some copy paper, clipboards and pens. BTW, do we know who the highly-trained screeners will be?

toomuchbaloney

12,694 Posts

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

Don't we attempt to fix "stupid" with education?

Dewman

113 Posts

Don't we attempt to fix "stupid" with education?

"Ignorance" can be remedied though proper education.

But "stupid" goes to the bone. ;)

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP

4 Articles; 5,259 Posts

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Sorry, I found it and couldn't resist. :) Ahem. Back to a serious thread.

Dewman

113 Posts

As a teacher of mine once said:

"That's sick! FUNNY, but sick!"

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP

4 Articles; 5,259 Posts

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
Until American doctors treating patients with Ebola in West Africa were diagnosed with the disease, the current Ebola outbreak has been largely faceless, mainly about statistics and if and when the virus would spread to American soil.Carrilho told The Huffington Post he created the illustration to show how the media "seems to treat epidemics differently, depending on where they occur, and to whom."

"I think unfortunately, in the Western media, there are first-world diseases and third-world diseases, and the attention devoted to the latter depends on the threat they pose to us, not on a universal measure of human suffering," he said. "A death in Africa, or Asia for that matter, should be as tragic as a death in Europe or the USA, and it doesn't seem to be."

Since the first cases of the current Ebola outbreak were reported in March, 3,865 people have died of the disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mortality rate for the disease averages around 50 percent, the World Health Organization notes, and there are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines.

This Illustration Of Ebola Coverage Shows How Problematic Media Reports Can Be

Jolie, BSN

6,375 Posts

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Top US doctors: Hospital worker infected with Ebola by 'breach in protocol,' changes in handling patients are coming

Top US doctors: Hospital worker infected with Ebola by 'breach in protocol,' changes in handling patients are coming | Fox News

In this article, both Dr. Thomas Frieden and Dr. Anthony Fauci state that the health care worker, whom they've not met or interviewed, engaged in a breach of protocol, causing exposure to Ebola. The hospital disagrees.

"Fauci said he thinks the unidentified health care worker is a nurse."

CDC director: Second case of Ebola in US result of 'breach of protocol'

CDC director: Second case of Ebola in US result of 'breach of protocol' | Fox News

In this article, public health officials indicate that they will protect the privacy of this nurse, as she has requested. They also remind us that the only way to contract Ebola is to have direct contact with an infected person or his/her body fluids. Then they go on to this:

"You cannot contract it by walking by people on the streets," he said. "There is nothing about this case that changes that basic premise of science."Dr. Daniel Varga, of the Texas Health Resource, said the worker was in full protective gear when they provided care to Duncan during his second visit to the hospital.

Varga said the family of the worker has "requested total privacy."

Varga said the health care worker reported a fever Friday night as part of a self-monitoring regimen required by the CDC.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the Dallas Fire Department's rescue hazmat team has decontaminated any open areas of the health care worker's apartment complex.

"Police are standing by to make sure no one enters that apartment complex," he said.

Rawlings said officials have knocked on every door within a block of the apartment and have spoken with every person that came to the door. Reverse 911 calls have been made to residents within four blocks of the apartment complex and printed materials have been left at each door, he said.

A team has decontaminated and secured the vehicle the health care worker drove to the hospital. Rawlings said hazmat units will go into the worker's apartment and clean up the interior Sunday."

Is anyone else here dizzy from the double speak coming from our nations top public health agencies and officials?

First we were told that the risk of healthcare workers contracting Ebola was virtually zero, due to the protective gear and practices that would be put into place. We were assured that our healthcare facilities (not just those specially prepared, but all of our hospitals) were ready to safely care for Ebola patients. Now we're told, with certainty, even though neither of these doctors have seen, spoken to, or examined the now-infected nurse, that she breached protocol, causing her to become infected. That's supposedly extremely rare, or easy to do, depending on which version of the story you read. And it happened with the very first case of Ebola admitted to a non-designated facility.

Then we're reminded of the very limited circumstances by which one can be exposed to Ebola, and told that the nurse's privacy will be protected, while local officials knock on every door and make reverse 911 phone calls to every number in the vicinity of the nurse's apartment complex, which is being completely closed off.

Is it any wonder that the confidence of the American people in our government is at an all-time low?

Please, CDC, NIH and local public health officials, get your stories straight.

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