"Houston we have a problem" This just got very real

[Esme12]

And so it begins....

A health care worker who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola who later died, has preliminarily tested positive for the deadly virus, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement today.

The health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has been isolated since reporting a low-grade fever Friday, the department said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will conduct further testing to confirm the diagnosis.

"We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services said in the statement. "We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread."

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/texas-health-care-worker-tests-positive-ebola/story?id=26135108

[1KoolRN]

I'm thinking that basic hand washing with soap and warm water isn't cutting it....has their been any studies into how much, if any, of the virus is eliminated after 'proper hand hygiene'? Seems like there needs to be a stronger chemical involved than the soap used in hospitals...

[suzil]

Exactly, how would a photographer get it? How close is he, they use distance to get the photo. I believe we are being lied to. Nurses we are a dime a dozen!

[dnnc52]

Oh yes! I am tired of them throwing our sister nurse under the bus. saying she breached the isolation protocol. I figure by my experience that the most likely time of exposure is not as much when we are working with the pt but more when we are gowning in and more when we are gowning out. Lets face it after awhile wearing all these PPE you cant wait to get out and back into the world. We need a buddy system or a camera with a nurse who monitors closely when our nurses are getting in our PPE and when we are removing them. Of course this is going to cost the hospitals more money and more staff. We as nurses and all healthcare workers have a right to demand a safe working environment, which means enough staff and proper and plentiful PPE. As a nurse and being honest I have seen healthcare workers from MDs to housekeeping break isolation and MD and nurse break sterile fields. Hey we can even get 100% hand washing compliance. As far as this head of CDC or the mouth piece on TV. I would like to se him demonstrate the proper technique of getting in and out of the PPE. If the administrators don't want to give us the environment we deserve then Come on and gown up with us and work side by side. We can give you a few non-nursing tasks with a relative risk along with us. Then I can help you count the beans!!!

[dnnc52]

Lysol spray kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria when used as directed I wonder is Ebola that .1%

[RedWeasel, RN]

From NBC dot com:

Dr. Thomas Frieden said officials at the agency are "deeply concerned" about the new Ebola case involving a female caregiver, because she was infected after Duncan was admitted ...

when all workers were taking full precautions against Ebola transmission.

He said the unidentified employee had been interviewed and could not

"identify the specific breach"

that allowed the infection to spread, he said.

The worker became infected despite wearing full protective gear while treating Duncan,

who died on Wednesday from the disease, according to hospital officials...

Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources, which owns the hospital, said that

the worker wore a gown, gloves, and surgical mask

Soooo that is 'full protection' against Ebola?!? Righhhht....

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

My Microbiology instructor taught us that Bleach would kill it best in a 1-10 to 1-12 ratio with water.

Too weak, and the bug would be surrounded, but the mixture wouldn't kill it, too strong, and the bug wouldn't be floated up enough to have the solution surround it and it would still be viable/contagious, underneath.

[RedWeasel, RN]

Yeah we are to wear a surg mask gown and gloves whereas these guys have someone checking them, sealing em with duct tape, and respirators. See video of the plane evacuation of the guy who sneezed then yelled/joked he had ebola this week. The big respirator suits came on and pulled him off (was on a plane from usa that landed in another country...)

[Emergent, RN]

Until today's news of a nurse becoming infected, I had poo-pooed this Ebola scare. I laughed it off as another media feeding frenzy. I thought it would end up fading into obscurity, like SARS and the Avian Bird flu.

But, if this virus gains a foothold, it looks like it could drown our already strained healthcare system. Already, from the first pt, we have a nurse infected with this deadly virus.

I work ER, fortunately for me in a region with few travellers from West Africa. I just don't see how ERs will deal with this. The patients will be infecting the waiting rooms before they even are evaluated.

Our best hope is a vaccine.

[suzil]

yep and she is getting blamed for getting the virus. Go figure!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This is very upsetting. The nurses do all of the work, get NONE of the credit, and get ALL of the blame and the infections. How many times as nurses have we seen doctors in and out of the patients room to assess them in less than 0.5 seconds!??!

And in my neck of the woods, a significant number of physicians assess patients' wounds, incisions and other open areas without gloves/PPE.

I once read an observational study that concluded that people with the lowest educational levels are more likely to perform appropriate hand hygiene, and that these tendencies lessen as educational attainment rises. This, this may explain why the housekeeper washes his hands for several minutes after cleaning the unit, while a doctor on the same unit has popped into several patient rooms without performing hand hygiene.

[stablesystole]

AP Enterprise: Records chronicle how Ebola kills

Reading this and seeing some of the commentary on his Sx, it looks pretty ugly.

By evening, Duncan was suffering from explosive diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and projectile vomiting. Efforts to bring down his fever failed.

As someone who has been hit by projectile vomiting (thankfully not by projectile diarrhea though) I can say that those crappy yellow or blue gowns aren't going to do jack against something like that. I doubt that anything less than one of those pressurized spacesuit getups will adequately protect against spraying vomit and feces.

[suzil]

I totally agree! Projectile vomiting and diarrhea is what I suspected. Doesn't matter what we do, those flimsy gowns won't do anything. But of course, the nurse will get blamed in the end.