First Ebola Diagnosis in US

[SkyDekker 1,465]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/30/cdc-confirms-first-case-of-ebola-in-the-u-s/

In an ever mobile world, this is not really that unexpected. This will start spreading some fear though, not much doubt about that.

Will likely also result in a much larger response to the outbreak.

[cvfd1399 0]

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Health officials stressed that they are confident they can control this situation and keep the virus from spreading in the U.S.

Um too late?

[airdvr 210]

cvfd1399

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Health officials stressed that they are confident they can control this situation and keep the virus from spreading in the U.S.

Um too late?

I can think if a plane full of people who are wondering whether they were sitting next to him.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[cvfd1399 0]

Or everyone in Dallas right now.

[airdvr 210]

A little off topic but we got a great deal to go to Cancun in the middle of the Swine Flu bullshit. In order to leave the airport for the US we were checked by a doctor before going through security. Right now I'm thinking alot of Africa should be going through the same check.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[cvfd1399 0]

No joke weeks ago when this hit I though it was already policy to stop travel from these places, and have people coming in be questioned about their travels at customs when trying to come to the us. Shit when I give blood I have to answer if I have have paid for sex or had sex with anyone from Africa still lol!

[airdvr 210]

I just read an article that states this guy wasn't symptomatic when he arrived 10 days ago. It also said to put this outbreak in perspective...3000 cases on the African continent. How many billions of people are there in Africa?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[cvfd1399 0]

One billion. The cdc expects 550,000 cases in Africa.

[Dantes 0]

Skydiving is 260,000 times safer than Ebola. Jokes on you, whuffos.

[kelpdiver 2]

SkyDekker

Will likely also result in a much larger response to the outbreak.

46 more white people with Ebola before the cure (the Onion).

[DanG 1]

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Right now I'm thinking alot of Africa should be going through the same check.

According to NPR this morning, he was screened before leaving Liberia, but was asymptomatic. If it is true that the virus is only contagious while the person is experiencing symptoms, the people on the plane should be fine, which is good since they are more likely to have traveled on to other destinations. The CDC is focusing their tracking efforts on the few days when he was symptomatic in Dallas.

- Dan G

[kenthediver 0]

This from WHO

4. What are typical signs and symptoms of infection?

Sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat are typical signs and symptoms. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts, and elevated liver enzymes.

The incubation period, or the time interval from infection to onset of symptoms, is from 2 to 21 days. The patients become contagious once they begin to show symptoms. They are not contagious during the incubation period.

Ebola virus disease infections can only be confirmed through laboratory testing


Full writeup is here :

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/

[tbrown 26]

cvfd1399

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Health officials stressed that they are confident they can control this situation and keep the virus from spreading in the U.S.

Um too late?

The thing that gripes me is that the first time the guy went to the ER, he TOLD them he'd just come from Liberia - and they sent him home anyway. So two days later, they had to send an ambulance to bring him in and he was puking in the ambulance. Now those EMTs are under quarantine at home for 21 days and there are up to 18 known contacts, including school children, who are being monitored. The kids are still in school, by the way... I'd say all around that the health authorities are working very hard to fuck this thing up any way they can.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[hajnalka 0]

tbrown

***

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Health officials stressed that they are confident they can control this situation and keep the virus from spreading in the U.S.

Um too late?

The thing that gripes me is that the first time the guy went to the ER, he TOLD them he'd just come from Liberia - and they sent him home anyway. So two days later, they had to send an ambulance to bring him in and he was puking in the ambulance. Now those EMTs are under quarantine at home for 21 days and there are up to 18 known contacts, including school children, who are being monitored. The kids are still in school, by the way... I'd say all around that the health authorities are working very hard to fuck this thing up any way they can.

Excellent - and scary - point. WHY was this guy sent home the first time?

I would bet the health worker(s) who initially screened this person is (are) questioning their actions, and has/have a major pucker factor right now. I hope they're in quarantine, or at least under surveillance. I realize that the official word is that you need direct contact with body fluids to become infected - and only once the sick person is extremely sick and virulent.

But - This guy HAD a fever, he was sick enough to take himself to an emergency room in Dallas, and had recently traveled from Liberia. Reports say that he was forthcoming about this. MAJOR mistake by hospital staff.

I have faith that the folks down there will be able to contain this quickly.
I also hope: "Lesson learned" for all hospital staff everywhere.

Much media has asked why flights from Liberia are even allowed.

I read one report today from some journalists who were leaving West Africa. They had their temperatures taken, and were questioned at length, at several points along the journey - until they got to the US. The report said that they asked TSA if they were going to be tested. Answers were vague, but they were ultimately let go without being tested. I'll try to find a cite.

I don't think Ebola could ever take off here for a myriad of reasons. Still, I feel like the CDC is not being entirely honest either.

If this Dallas hospital was not on enough alert to deal with a febrile man who recently traveled from Liberia ....

I am sorry for the folks who are under isolation/surveillance/whatever they call it right now. My thoughts are with them.

[rifleman 70]

airdvr

A little off topic but we got a great deal to go to Cancun in the middle of the Swine Flu bullshit. In order to leave the airport for the US we were checked by a doctor before going through security. Right now I'm thinking alot of Africa should be going through the same check.

Please arrive at the airport 21 days before your flight to allow for mandatory pre-boarding quarantine?

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[Andy9o8 2]

Iago

That would be my first choice. Nobody travels to the US from those areas without a quarantine.

Of course it requires full international cooperation & coordination. The guy connected thru Brussels.

[tbrown 26]

tbrown

***

Quote

Health officials stressed that they are confident they can control this situation and keep the virus from spreading in the U.S.

Um too late?

The thing that gripes me is that the first time the guy went to the ER, he TOLD them he'd just come from Liberia - and they sent him home anyway. So two days later, they had to send an ambulance to bring him in and he was puking in the ambulance. Now those EMTs are under quarantine at home for 21 days and there are up to 18 known contacts, including school children, who are being monitored. The kids are still in school, by the way... I'd say all around that the health authorities are working very hard to fuck this thing up any way they can.

As an update, the number of possible exposures from this major fuck-up is now closer to 80, and not 18 as reported yesterday. Plus, the poor guy was not only puking in the ambulance, but apparently "all over the place" on the sidewalk outside the apartment house as well. This, according to a neighbor witness. But don't worry, don't panic. Rick Perry is all over this thing, it's gonna get him into the White House one way or the other.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[kelpdiver 2]

Andy9o8

***That would be my first choice. Nobody travels to the US from those areas without a quarantine.

Of course it requires full international cooperation & coordination. The guy connected thru Brussels.

US Customs should have the full flight history available, so those who fly home via Europe (most common) should be identifiable.

But the sheer number of travelers has to be considered, along with the number of potential diseases of concern. Houston, Atlanta, Newark, SFO, LA would need massive compounds of individual rooms and the staff to feed/clean. Completely inpractical, particularly for the actual risk and the best expected outcome (unsuccessful, and putting all travelers together just increases the spread of undesirable pathogens).

Ebola brings out a very extreme emotional response, but let's compare the toll of this outbreak to the annual million deaths in Africa to HIV, or the death toll every year to the common flu and the potential deaths to one of the super flus (swine, bird, etc).

[billvon 2,990]

>US Customs should have the full flight history available, so those who fly home via
>Europe (most common) should be identifiable.

AFAIK all major carriers have stopped flights to airports in West Africa, so that might not reveal too much. (Of course that just means they are using buses or whatever that do NOT show up on flight histories.)

[billvon 2,990]

>Excellent - and scary - point. WHY was this guy sent home the first time?

Probably because:

1) the "quick" test (ELISA) takes a while, so you have to "spend" an ER room for a few hours

2) there have been a lot of "o my god I have Ebola!" people showing up in ER's, so there's a bit of a "boy who cried wolf" phenomenon going on

This first real case might help with 2) although it will also likely increase the number of people with the flu who decide they have Ebola.

[Andy9o8 2]

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there have been a lot of "o my god I have Ebola!" people showing up in ER's,

Of course, that begs the question of how many of those also specifically mentioned, during the triage interview, that they had just returned from West Africa.

[billvon 2,990]

>Of course, that begs the question of how many of those also specifically
>mentioned, during the triage interview, that they had just returned from West
>Africa.

Right; that has to be part of the screening as well. In this case it looks like the nurse just plain didn't tell the physician.

[Andy9o8 2]

The story gets more bizarre:

"Have a speedy recovery. And oh, yes - you're under arrest."

Liberia intends to prosecute Duncan, assuming he recovers and returns home, for apparently answering No on a questionnaire asking if he had any infected relatives. (I haven't seen the questionnaire itself. But according to the news reports I've read, the person who infected him was a friend, not a relative.)

ETA - other stories I'm reading now are saying the questionnaire may have been more broadly worded. For example:
Did U.S. Ebola patient lie on airport questionnaire?

[JerryBaumchen 1,362]

Hi Andy,

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The story gets more bizarre:

Oh, crappola; you should have seen the local news here last night.

They opened with their typical BREAKING NEWS and it was all about how the very same airplane that brought this guy to the USA has been to Portland, twice. The two talking heads were coming unglued.

Then, of course, near the end of the segment, they mentioned that you could not get Ebola from the airplane because it requires contact to transmit.



Jerry Baumchen

[Andy9o8 2]

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the very same airplane that brought this guy to the USA has been to Portland, twice.

Can you catch Ebola on a plane?