2nd Healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola

[Misty]

DALLAS (AP) — A second health care worker at a Dallas hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday.

The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was monitoring herself for symptoms of Ebola, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. The unidentified woman reported a fever Tuesday. She was in isolation within 90 minutes, Jenkins said.
Health officials said the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who was diagnosed with Ebola after coming to the U.S. from Liberia. Duncan died Oct. 8.

The department said a preliminary Ebola test was conducted late Tuesday at a state public health laboratory in Austin, Texas, and came back positive during the night. Confirmatory testing was being conducted at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Officials said the health care worker was interviewed to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures. It said others who had interactions with the worker or possible exposure to the virus will be monitored.
It's not clear how the second health care worker contracted the virus, and authorities declined to say what position she holds at the hospital or the type of care she provided.

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/ap_ab3cd5a9b32c450aa5a13e1a4a14c60e

 

[JustBonee]

Who needs to worry about ISIS, when we have this going on? ..

The 'experts' need to get their act together on Ebola procedure.

 

[Misty]

Who needs to worry about ISIS, when we have this going on? ..

The 'experts' need to get their act together on Ebola procedure.

So true, Bonnie. Today the National Nurses United union spokeswoman, made the statement that when treating Duncan that the nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.

The nurses alleged that:
— Duncan was kept in a non-isolated area of the emergency department for several hours, potentially exposing up to seven other patients to Ebola;
— Patients who may have been exposed to Duncan were kept in isolation only for a day before being moved to areas where there were other patients;
— Nurses treating Duncan were also caring for other patients in the hospital;
— Preparation for Ebola at the hospital amounted to little more than an optional seminar for staff;
— In the face of constantly shifting guidelines, nurses were allowed to follow whichever ones they chose.
“There was no advance preparedness on what to do with the patient, there was no protocol, there was no system,” Burger said.
Even today, some hospital staff at the Dallas hospital do not have proper equipment to handle the outbreak.

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/nurses-union-ebola-patient-left-in-open-area-of-er-for-hours/

 

[JustBonee]

I really feel bad for the medical people put in the position of having to deal with this. It all seems like guesswork in learning what is going on, and what to do next.

 

[QuickSilver]

I had a feeling the caregivers didn't have proper protection.. Ie hazmat suits... I'm sure they just had gowns, gloves.. perhaps leggings and booties.. and face shields. Not at all sufficient. I was glad to hear that the CDC is now going to send an experienced isolation team to any hospital caring for an ebola patient. That should have happened in the first place.

 

[Misty]

I had a feeling the caregivers didn't have proper protection.. Ie hazmat suits... I'm sure they just had gowns, gloves.. perhaps leggings and booties.. and face shields. Not at all sufficient. I was glad to hear that the CDC is now going to send an experienced isolation team to any hospital caring for an ebola patient. That should have happened in the first place.

I was surprised to read on CNN, Quicksilver, that there are only 4 hospitals in the country that have biochemical units and have been training for years to treat highly infectious diseases like Ebola. Emory University in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha are two of the hospitals.

 

[QuickSilver]

I was surprised to read on CNN, Quicksilver, that there are only 4 hospitals in the country that have biochemical units and have been training for years to treat highly infectious diseases like Ebola. Emory University in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha are two of the hospitals.

I'm not really surprised... After all... we never expected just a highly transmitable contagion to come here.. We have erradicated so many of the bad things.. small pox, plague, and even controlled measles and chicken pox. Who would have thought this? BUT.. that's no excuse.. even if a community hospital cannot handle the isolation and treatment, there should have been a better plan in place.. NOW there is.. with this team being dispatched with trained people and equipment. It's quite obvious now that standard protection gear used by hospitals is NOT enough..as evidenced by the two new cases.

 

[JustBonee]

I don't understand the reasoning for continuing to let planes fly from those infected areas to the states.

 

[WhatInThe]

So true, Bonnie. Today the National Nurses United union spokeswoman, made the statement that when treating Duncan that the nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.

The nurses alleged that:
— Duncan was kept in a non-isolated area of the emergency department for several hours, potentially exposing up to seven other patients to Ebola;
— Patients who may have been exposed to Duncan were kept in isolation only for a day before being moved to areas where there were other patients;
— Nurses treating Duncan were also caring for other patients in the hospital;
— Preparation for Ebola at the hospital amounted to little more than an optional seminar for staff;
— In the face of constantly shifting guidelines, nurses were allowed to follow whichever ones they chose.
“There was no advance preparedness on what to do with the patient, there was no protocol, there was no system,” Burger said.
Even today, some hospital staff at the Dallas hospital do not have proper equipment to handle the outbreak.

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/nurses-union-ebola-patient-left-in-open-area-of-er-for-hours/

This comes from several things including drills that never amounted anything. Unused/forgotten training. Ignorance and believe it or not some of these health care workers who might be young didn't see enough movies and tv like Outbreak or see the news footage of gas attacks in places like Iraq. I still think a lot of health care workers are their to mail it and collect a paycheck. If I was a health care worker and I knew there was Ebola patient I would've researched more than a doctor in med school. Too many think 'not me' even when it's staring them in the face.

 

[QuickSilver]

I've been a nurse for 40 years. We are trained in universal precautions and the different types of isolation... We train on how to put on gowns, masks, gloves.. etc and to most it's 2nd nature.. BUT not once...was I ever trained in the doning and doffing a Hazmat suit.. I don't know who has? Perhaps ER nurses, but maybe not.. I know for sure ICU nurses are not. They may watch a 5 minute online powerpoint... but that is no where near enough. And what good is that if there isn't any equipment anyway?

 

[AprilT]

What they really have to up the ante on is getting together a large batch of a vaccine, because I'm afraid this virus isn't likely going to be contained as easily as they thought. It had been stated earlier that these teams over here didn't have the proper training in how to suit up and then decontaminate themselves after contact, The heads are only now truly copping to their part of not being more proactive in getting people out to the Dallas facilities to insure proper procedures were being followed. Seems those at the helm were living in a bubble like so many when it comes to thinking not in our backyard.

this one has hospital workers speaking out on the case:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/health/texas-ebola-outbreak/index.html

http://www.mrt.com/top_stories/article_8ee2aeba-543b-11e4-b939-3f0dcc33c12d.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/15/4235096/oct-15-the-latest-news-on-ebola.html

 

[Ameriscot]

This is beginning to sound like one of those horror movies where the whole world gets sick! Nothing in the UK, yet.

 

[QuickSilver]

This is beginning to sound like one of those horror movies where the whole world gets sick! Nothing in the UK, yet.

OR the Steven King novel... "The Stand"

 

[Vivjen]

We have had one; flown back; but he has recovered, and no cases from it.

 

[QuickSilver]

I understand France has one now.

 

[Twixie]

This is beginning to sound like one of those horror movies where the whole world gets sick! Nothing in the UK, yet.

No...not yet! Apparently there are guys standing in airports...politely asking anyone who has arrived from the stricken regions if they would mind having their temperature taken..

Usual UK mess up!

 

[Vivjen]

Not as bad as US; our one case has recovered: nobody else infected.

 

[JustBonee]

Now this .. the whole thing would be comical if it wasn't so serious:


The CDC and Frontier Airlines said Wednesday that the second health care worker had travelled from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday aboard flight 1143. Health officials are alerting the 132 passengers who were on the same flight.
Infected Ebola patients are not considered contagious until they have symptoms. The airplane's crew said the nurse had no symptoms of Ebola during the flight. But the CDC is asking the passengers to call the health agency so they can be monitored.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ebola-outbreak-dallas-nurse-took-frontier-airlines-flight-before-becoming-ill-1.2798937

 

[Twixie]

You do realise that the UK is expecting 12,000 students from the stricken areas to take up University studies here soon?

 

[Misty]

You do realise that the UK is expecting 12,000 students from the stricken areas to take up University studies here soon?

A Texas College, Navarro College, is denying admission to applicants from countries with confirmed Ebola cases, Trixie. That would be risky I would think with all those students from those areas going to your university.

 

[Kitties]

This woman should have never been allowed to fly. This, to me, shows how they are dropping the ball all over the place.

Universal precautions obviously doesn't work with this devastating disease. I work in long term care but I've taken care of patients who were HIV positive and full blown AIDS and I haven't worried. Just been cautious. I'd be terrified of this.

 

[Misty]

I don't understand the reasoning for continuing to let planes fly from those infected areas to the states.

I'm with you, Bonnie, I don't understand why planes are being allowed to fly here from those infected areas either. Thanks for the map. It's being predicted by WHO, that 10,000 cases a week are expected in those area's by The end of this year.

 

[Vivjen]

If you stop people flying; how are the aid agencies going to get in and out?
MSF are the only people who have bothered to help so far; at last UK, US France and Cuba are beginning to do something...

 

[QuickSilver]

Whats to stop someone from flying into another country.. and THEN to the US? And they can always lie about having been in West Africa.

 

[Vivjen]

Surely it is better to test everybody as they leave; which is happening, and then keep an eye on them when they arrive; 21 days max; if you have a temp; then quarantine and isolation.