Univ. of Kansas Hospital increasing protective gear after Ebola scare

41 KSHB Kansas City ^ | 10/15/2014 | 41 Actions News Staff

[aimhigh]

A day after a close call with a patient showing Ebola like symptoms, but testing negative for the potentially deadly virus, the University of Kansas Hospital is taking extra precautions. Wednesday a second test confirmed the patient does not have Ebola.

The hospital ordered 1,000 one piece, disposable hazmat suits. Suits are equipped with a face mask, elastic at the hands and feet, which blocks anything from coming in through the suit.

[aimhigh]

Don't panic, these are just for Halloween. /sarc/

[SpaceBar]

Handling ebola patients sounds like just the job for robots that we’ve been told for the last year will make every job obsolete.

[Grampa Dave]

A question being asked by a lot of freepers, "Excuse my language, but how in the **** are the hospital personnel contracting Ebola while supposedly in protective gear "

The answer to this critical question is shown below. The woman/HCW in the protective gear is/was wearing the CDC's recommendation for protective gear.

Below is a photo of the deputy as he was being admitted to the Dallas hospital. Look at the lack of coverage by the so called Haz Mat gear around the HCW's throat.

Thanks to Black Agnes for posting the link to the picture below.

However, in the birthplace of PC ism, Great Britain HCWs had even worse recommendations re Haz Mat garb for the UK’s medical workers.

Think of the VA and its problems when you think about the CDC. Both are controlled and staffed by elite ivy league type liberals, who really aren't that concerned with doing their job properly. They are concerned about increasing their budgets and span of control instead of good results.

[aimhigh]

EBOLA Protective Kit, Zaire ebolavirus kit - includes Tyvek suit, eye protection, 2 Surgical masks, 2 Pairs of gloves, booties, Duct tape and plastic bin for easy storage

Yours for only $35.00 plus shipping. I expected them to cost more.

[Grams A]

Handling ebola patients sounds like just the job for robots...”

Your post is the first I’ve heard of anyone mentioning them for this purpose. Wishing we had a whole host of them to send to Africa instead of our so very vulnerable human military members. Seems like an excellent use for something like that.

[SpaceBar]

This is 2014. We should have complete isolation tanks with fully articulated robotic hands piloted by the best doctors in the world with google glass. Yet we’re trapped in a cuban nightmare of mops and spraying down workers with bleach.

[SpaceBar]

I’m just guessing here, but it can’t be too difficult to get a robot in there to change a friggen bed pan, given current advances in robotic technology.

[SpaceBar]

The japanese probably already have something that would do the job, make love to you, and smell like fugu.

[Rome2000]

Biosafety Levels 1-4

We’ve known that breathing in or touching infectious/infected material is probably bad since before germ theory, but it wasn’t until 1943 that our first formal guidelines and laboratories for technician separation from the infectious agent were set up. It was the 1960s before the first conference to standardize personal protection equipment (PPE) guidelines.

These days we have 4 basic safety levels when working with biological agents: Biosafety Levels (BSL) 1-4

BSL 1 includes well-understood agents not known to regularly affect adult humans, and which present a minimal level of hazard to the technician. Canine hepatitis, non-pathogenic strains of E. coli, and other non-infectious bacteria. Aside from standard healthy-living procedures (washing with soap etc), laboratory equipment is decontaminated via autoclave between uses, protective gloves, and sometimes protective goggles are required.

BSL 2 includes many of the milder infectious diseases that we know about, such as Salmonella, measles, mumps, MRSA, C. difficile, and hepatitis A, B, and C. These are sometimes serious illnesses, but are not easily aerosolized in a laboratory setting. When aerosols may be formed, biological safety cabinets are used, extreme care is taken with sharps, access to the laboratory is limited during work, and all technicians are trained in pathogen handling procedures.

BSL 3 includes dangerous pathogens that can cause potentially lethal infection, such as Yersinia pestis (black plague), rabies, SARS, tuberculosis, tularemia, and yellow fever. Laboratory personnel have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially lethal agents, and are supervised by competent scientists who are experienced in working with these agents. All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials are conducted within biological safety cabinets, specially designed hoods, or other physical containment devices, or by personnel wearing appropriate personal protective clothing and equipment. The laboratory usually has special engineering and design features, such as restricted access, double-door entrances, and sealed penetrations. BSL 3 laboratories are sometimes called warm zones.

BSL 4 includes the most lethal and exotic agents that there are no cures or vaccines for, such as Ebola, Lassa, Argentinian hemorrhagic virus, and smallpox (smallpox for its extreme virulence, despite its vaccine availability). When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a positive pressure personnel suit, with a segregated air supply, is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a level four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a biosafety level 4 (or P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release. Agents with a close or identical antigenic relationship to biosafety level 4 agents are handled at this level until sufficient data is obtained either to confirm continued work at this level, or to work with them at a lower level.

Members of the laboratory staff have specific and thorough training in handling extremely hazardous infectious agents and they understand the primary and secondary containment functions of the standard and special practices, the containment equipment, and the laboratory design characteristics. They are supervised by qualified scientists who are trained and experienced in working with these agents. Access to the laboratory is strictly controlled by the laboratory director.

The facility is either in a separate building or in a controlled area within a building, which is completely isolated from all other areas of the building. A specific facility operations manual is prepared or adopted. Building protocols for preventing contamination often use negatively pressurized facilities, which, even if compromised, would severely inhibit an outbreak of aerosol pathogens.

BSL 4 labs are hot zones.

https://www.tumblr.com/search/bsl%204

[Rome2000]

Check out this quote from some guy on Tumblr:

Can we please just STOP playing the semantics game when we talk about Ebola transmission?!? When I think to all the fail-safes and levels of decon that are required in a BSL-4 lab just to open a tiny vial, and they have people oozing virus out of every pore sitting out in the open in a freakin’ HOSPITAL, I want to climb into a bunker.

[bgill]

Real ones do.

[Grams A]

Ya think? I have often wondered why we didn’t hear more about any company looking at using robots for all kinds of activities instead of putting people at danger. Maybe they already are and we just don’t know about it. Would be a good place for the likes of the Gates and Zuckerbrod’s to spend their money on instead of spending it trying to get guns eliminated or electing more liberals.