State health officials: 2nd Ebola case in Texas
DALLAS (AP) — Health officials say a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the Ebola patient hospitalized there has tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test.
A statement posted on the Texas Department of State Health Service’s website Sunday says “confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.”
Officials say the health care worker reported a low grade fever Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing. Preliminary test results were received late Saturday.
Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, says officials have “been preparing for this possibility.” SOURCE
OK, now I have to ask; aren’t the proper procedures being followed by Presby to keep this Ebola virus from spreading to others?
You see medical personnel dressed in FULL Haz/Mat suits, wearing respirators and all of the necessary gear to keep them from being infected by, well, you have to presume, from anything, or so we’re told.
Did someone at Presby fail to follow procedures for protection against an infectious disease or is Ebola actually spread in ways other than contact with the patient and/or their bodily fluid(s)?
Health officials have interviewed the patient and are identifying any contacts or potential exposures.
Admirable actions on the part of health officials, truly admirable, and I have to admit, I have no idea who this person is that’s the latest to be diagnosed with Ebola, but what about this 21 day incubation process we keep hearing about? Suppose this person is a *social butterfly* or a *party animal* and has been in contact with great numbers of people?
It seems that it’s only been a week or so, 10 days maybe, since we began to hear about Thomas Eric Duncan, the person that died from Ebola on Oct.8th.
Is it possible that Ebola is manifesting itself in LESS than 21 days? Is it speeding up its incubation period? Is it MY imagination? Am I that far off on MY numbers?
And suppose Ebola does spread by other than direct contact with bodily fluid(s)?
What if it truly is an airborne virus? How many people do you suppose this healthcare worker has come in contact with over the last several days? How many others have those people come in contact with?
These are legitimate questions and concerns in my opinion, especially considering the degree of protection you see being worn by medical personnel in all the news footage.
How do WE know that the guys doing all the interviews actually KNOW what they’re talking about?
Don’t take me wrong, I’m not trying to become an Internet Doctor, I don’t play a Doctor on TV and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night, I’m just a concerned senior citizen with preexisting health conditions that make me very susceptible to infectious diseases.
UPDATE: Infection appears to have come from A Clear Breach of Safety Protocol.
Here’s a video one of my readers sent me this fine Sunday morning.
OK, it appears I am wrong on the timeline… Local news is saying Thomas Eric Duncan went to Presby on Sept.20 and that would be a long enough period of time for other cases to surface…
Just now saw that on the news. They’re saying the healthcare worker was following the proper procedures outlined by the CDC and was wearing protective gear. The folks on the news (FOX) were asking how this worker could contact Ebola wearing the proper gear. Also, they said this healthcare worker had contact with Duncan on his second visit to Dallas Presbyterian.
Duncan’s first trip to the hospital was on September 24 and he returned on the 28th when this healthcare worker would have contacted him.
http://thegrio.com/2014/10/11/ebola-in-america/
Suspect that this is just the beginning of the Ebola virus spreading in this country. Thank Obama for that as he is willing to allow travel from west Africa to this country to continue instead of containing the disease at its source. Also thank Obama for this new flu that is killing young children all over the country. Read its source is in Central America and is being spread by Obama’s latest crop of illegal’s. Just a few more ways the Obama regime is trying to destroy this nation.
And now they are saying there was a “breach in protocol” that led to this woman being infected…
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/breach-protocol-led-ebola-diagnosis/story?id=26135108
” The health care worker, who’s in stable condition, had been taking her temperature twice daily under the CDC’s self-monitoring regimen since treating Duncan, said Dr. Daniel Varga with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
She was not one of the initial 48 people who have been monitored for Ebola after they came into contact with Duncan when he was admitted into the hospital.
The patient is part of an additional group of people who may have come into contact with Duncan while he was being treated.
“It is possible that we will see more Ebola cases,” he said. “
A great many are saying CLOSE THE BORDERS, stop all flights from Africa…
The borders should have been closed and fully secured a long time ago but it’s not going to happen now… A Liberal Demoturd like Obama isn’t going to do it, Bush didn’t, Clinton didn’t, no POTUS since Harry Truman had the balls to deport em and lock the door…
Stop flights from Africa? Well, OK, what about the Ebola that’s here now?? The cases that haven’t incubated yet? Ebola is here, the government may or may not be responsible, regardless, it’s here and we, the people are totally screwed…
And we will be until we get a hard core American in the White House, with a Congress, Senate and SCOTUS that will back him up…
EnvironMENTAL wacos, progressives and anarchists such as Bill Ayers have said for a long time that the planet has too many people on it. Don’t you think that they have a hand in this delusional theory that you cannot contract this very easily? My opinion is that the government needs another crisis to bloom before the November elections and this is far too important a crisis to go to waste.
As an afterthought, could the boys and girls in DC request the postponement of the elections until the health emergency is fully resolved? Just sayi’n.
That is an interesting thought…
If a couple more cases pop up in Dallas, how many people will be heading to the polls in a couple of weeks? There’s nothing the occupant and his party won’t do in order to get a Democrat back running Texas again.
To clarify, the incubation period is a range: it can be as SHORT as 2 days or as long as 21 days for symptoms to appear. The average is 8 to 10 days.
Fever screening at airports is a joke. If you were exposed eg., yesterday and flew out today you would not have any fever. But perhaps next week you would be symptomatic. By then you could have exposed how many others? And if someone did think they had a fever yet wanted to hide it, well, an aspirin would work nicely. So IMO this fever screening is just to make it look like something is being done.
Remember the Black Death plague? Caused by bubonic plague? Well, maybe not. Some researchers are now leaning toward a viral hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola as the cause based on symptoms and rate of spread. It is speculated that it came out of Ethiopia. And we all know the devastation that resulted.
I have read some reasons why there is a low risk for Ebola to mutate to a true airborne virus (as opposed to droplet transmission). And why we have enough problems with the present virus to not worry about unlikely possibilities. Yet it seems to me this is the time to worry about it for if/when a mutation occurs, it will be too late.
For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why non African countries have not slammed the doors shut to anyone from West Africa until this is resolved. Someday someone will look back and say, here, this was the time when this could have been easily averted yet they did nothing.
Seems like nothing good comes out of Africa: Bubonic Plague, AIDS, West Nile Virus, Ebola, Obama.
Obama DID say his intention was to fundamentally transform our Nation. Apparently even in death.
His statement “Use the military to get in and out of Africa” sucks. Let’s expose our young men and women to Ebola and then what? Hasn’t Ofubar already done that?
Personal opinion… It’s a big lie to lay the groundwork to implement Martial Law in the USA and declare Dear Leader President (Dictator) for life… Just my 2 cents
I’d like to add this little tidbit as more fuel to “stir the pot”
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/yulia-latynina-ebola-in-america-and-other-fake-problems-t15034.html
This is an interesting thought…
I just finished reading the article on P.C. website. Interesting take on Ebola but can we believe what she says. I had not looked at this site for quite a while and can’t figure out whether or not it is satire? Help me out on this Eugene.
I am still of the opinion there is much about Ebola that isn’t being transmitted to the public, with the thought of “panic” in mind. The problem with that philosophy is that it tends to lend itself to governmental and agency UNDERreaction, and it lends itself to the public filling in the vacuum with their own theories.
Frankly, I can tell you that I have masks and gloves for my own family. I also believe that Ebola is mutating because of the larger number of human targets found.
I do not trust that Ebola has not mutated and cannot be passed in some airborne fashion.
Because the US government, the CDC and involved hospitals have already LIED to the American public. It’s in their DNA; they can’t NOT lie.
BZ
Did someone at Presby fail to follow procedures for protection against an infectious disease or is Ebola actually spread in ways other than contact with the patient and/or their bodily fluid(s)
Preventing the exposure of a disease like this comes into two parts; the first part everyone usually gets right — the containment gear was probably worn properly.
The 2nd part is what normally gets people in trouble - Getting OUT of the containment gear. Improper decontamination is the likely culprit — it is remarkably easy to touch something you shouldn’t when getting out of the suits, masks, etc.
This comes from decades old but still relevant experiences in NBC warfare training from the Air Force.
Bob S.
Yesterday, a commenter at my blog made the following excellent comment:
Suiting up for Ebola is easy, albeit time consuming. Removing the suit is the greater risk.
But there are other risks too, particularly during Mr. Duncan’s treatment. We know that he received the following:
1. use of laryngoscope and subsequent intubation so as to use the ventilator — procedures most often done by a doctor
2. catheter for the dialysis machine — procedure sometimes done by a nurse
We had better pray that this nurse most recently diagnosed with Ebola is the only case traceable to Mr. Duncan. Two cases traced to him for whatever reason means that Ebola is not under control. Dr. Frieden well knows this basic principle of epidemiology, and that’s why we saw Dr. Frieden so concerned yesterday.
I also have to wonder if we’re next going to see a Texas Presbyterian doctor with Ebola.
PS: I am not a medical professional. However, I come from a line of medical professionals and have many contacts in the field of medicine. I know what I’m talking about.
As for Ebola itself, the history of the outbreaks shows us that it’s difficult in the extreme to curtail an outbreak. In the past, the only way the outbreaks have stopped is that they’ve burned themselves out via isolation.
I find it interesting that a nurse contracted ebola despite taking precautions and yet not one member of his family seems to be exhibiting any symptoms. I am sure they had closer contact with Duncan than the nurse did and, from what I read, remained in a contaminated apartment for a week. Yet no sign of illness? Aren’t we at the 20 or 21 day mark since they first probably were exposed?
Maybe he told them to stay far away from him as he knew he had been exposed before he came here as I said earlier; he came to get treatment here! Yes, it is harder to remember to touch everything from the inside only when you undress; someone needs to help you and also remind you as you take all that gear off. I was an R.N. and may become active again but it’s so hard now working in a hospital with all the Obamacare rules the hospital must follow and so many more patients coming to the Emergency Rooms; not enough time to get everything done in the time you have with the sicker patients.
Again, the obama bunch don’t know how to react to a potential crisis. Airport screenings should have begun several weeks ago barring flights/passengers to and from West Africa. Even our experts are stymied about this disease. They are not sure of it’s incubation period or how it can be spread. Like all of obama’s dealings his administration will stumble along making the worst of decisions.
I just hope the Dems take a beating in three weeks at the polls. My hopes are not great this year as I saw too many Tea Party types drubbed at the ballot box by Establishment weaklings.