US Ebola fears grow

The Hill ^ | October 1, 2014 | Elise Viebeck

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Fears are rising about the spread of Ebola in Texas after health officials revealed an infected patient had come into contact with nearly 20 people over the weekend.

Health officials said they are working to track down every person who came in contact with the patient, who has been identified in multiple media reports as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia. He remains in serious condition at a Dallas hospital.

Duncan could have passed the virus to as many as 18 people between Wednesday, when he began to show symptoms of Ebola, and Sunday, when he entered medical isolation at Dallas Presbyterian.

Five of the people he came in contact with were children who attended school this week, local health officials said at a press conference without identifying the patient by name. Those people are now being kept at home in case they become ill.

Government officials from Dallas to the White House sought to maintain calm Wednesday, assuring the public that the virus is not easily transmitted and will be contained.

The chances of an Ebola epidemic in the United States are “incredibly low,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “The reason for that is that it is not possible to transmit Ebola through the air. ... The only way that an individual can contract Ebola is by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is exhibiting symptoms.”

The assurances from the administration weren’t enough for some Dallas residents, who began pulling their children from school.

Earnest said the administration was not planning travel restrictions or additional airport screenings to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We’ve provided guidance to pilots, flight attendants and others who are responsible for staffing our transportation infrastructure to ensure that if they notice individuals who are exhibiting symptoms ... that the proper authorities are notified,” he said.

“In light of this incident, the administration has taken the step of re-circulating our guidance ... to make sure people are aware there is an important protocol that should be implemented.”

In Texas, nine experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working with local health officials to identify any new Ebola cases.

People who came in contact with Duncan will be monitored for the next three weeks to see if any of them develop symptoms of the disease, officials said.

A bevy of new details were revealed Wednesday about Duncan, his travel from Liberia and his care in the United States.

The delivery driver is in his mid-40s and lives in Monrovia; he was sharing a home with a pregnant woman who was sick with Ebola, The New York Times reported. He apparently helped her travel to the hospital four days before his flight.

Duncan was not exhibiting symptoms at the time of his travel, and officials insisted he could not have infected fellow passengers. He came through Brussels en route to Dallas, a detail revealed Wednesday by a Canadian health official.

After arriving in Texas, Duncan did not seek medical care until Friday. Though Duncan told a nurse he had been traveling in Western Africa, the hospital sent him home with antibiotics, thinking he had the flu.

On Sunday Duncan was admitted and placed in medical isolation at the hospital after showing more severe symptoms.

As information is slowly released, officials have been seeking to tamp down fears that Duncan’s case could cause an outbreak.

The government has neither confirmed Duncan’s identity nor revealed his flight information, maintaining that none of the other passengers on his flight could have been infected.

“If you want to do what’s good by your viewers, you will tell them it’s zero chance” of getting Ebola from a person without symptoms, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Wednesday.

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever that initially looks like the flu. Transmitted through contact with blood, urine or other bodily fluids, it kills roughly 1 in 2 people it infects.

While several people have been brought to the United States to be treated for Ebola — including doctors who were infected while fighting the outbreak in Africa — the Texas patient is the first confirmed case of the virus in the United States.

“Ebola is a serious disease. ... It is a severe disease which has a high-case fatality rate,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden on Tuesday when announcing the infection to the nation.

“Still, there are core, tried-and-true public health interventions that can stop it.”

This story was updated at 7:51 p.m.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

4-5 days prior to departing Liberia, Mr. Duncan had direct contact with a 19-year old pregnant girl “convulsing” in the final stages of Ebola. He rode in a taxi with her in the backseat, then helped carry her home when the Ebola clinic was full. She died of Ebola hours later.

He either came to the US in hopes of better medical care, or to purposely transport Ebola to Texas. This is no accident.

source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3210086/posts

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The infected man flew to Brussels (on Fox and Friends this morning - I believe they said he had a 7 hour layover there) and then on to D.C. (for a 3 hour layover) and then on to Dallas.

Have they scrubbed all the places he touched in those locales? Do they have any idea who he came in contact with during this 27 hour transit?

Doubtful.

[Savage Beast]

If Americans think Ebola is scary—just wait until smallpox makes its reappearance—in an unvaccinated population!

[LibsRJerks]

But hey now .... As long as we retain free and unfettered access to all forms of birth control and free abortions with taxpayer dollars , well Ebola virus is just something we’re all going to have to learn to live with — its a global world were living in, ya know?

[Buckeye McFrog]

It is incredible that this was overlooked on this man's first ER visit.

I dunno.....

Intake clerk making a buck over minimum wage. Harried nurse at the end of her shift after running like a headless chicken. Resident coming to the end of his 18 hour shift.

Seems pretty plausible to me.

[null and void]

The game of Ebola Roulette continues...

*click* spin *click* spin *click* spin…BANG!

Eeeee-bolllll-aaaaaa ping!

Bring Out Your Dead

We’re gonna need

a bigger cart!

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

[Chgogal]

FYI

Very interesting read.

[the OlLine Rebel]

The disease itself is very scary. May be manageable here, but certainly caution is needed.

I am more concerned about the enterovirus. It is all over, I wouldn’t doubt because of damned illegals, just like bed bugs. And it can be bad enough for some to be deadly. Although, I’d still like to know who suffers most and dies, because “compromised” people are more likely to die. Basically healthy people often don’t have to be hospitalized.

[DouglasKC]

It is not clear how Patient Zero was screened at the airport. All we know is that he did not have a fever or symptoms when he got on the planes and was therefore not contagious, thus, no one in the airports in Liberia, Brussels, or Texas need worry. And I have a bridge to sell you…
But what if he took a Tylenol before he went to the airport for a headache or an aching knee? That would have masked a fever, so it is possible he (or someone else on the plane who was exposed and took a Tylenol) was actually symptomatic and contagious. One sneeze into your row-mate’s Pepsi, and the virus is on the prowl, with a chaotic chain of events unleashed......."

This is what I don't get. How are they absolutely certain he wasn't exhibiting symptoms and/or shedding the virus? There is no way to tell. The only way we'll know is in a week or so we have a WHOLE bunch of cases of Ebola cropping up from among the people in the airports and planes he was on. By then it's way too late. Out of an abundance of caution they really needed to start tracking people down that were really close to him. Ticket agents, those in seats around him, etc. etc.

But either they're not doing that or else they're doing it quietly.

[Gator113]

I am waiting for him to come down with a fever.

[catfish1957]

I’m waiting to hear who Obama blames. Will this be Bush’s fault again?

Nope, Obola will own this epidemic ...lock stock and barrel.

[yorkiemom]

“Spokesman Josh Earnest said that current anti-Ebola measures, which include screenings in West African airports and observation of passengers in the United States, will be sufficient to prevent the “wide spread” of the virus........”

Observations of passengers? That worked really well with this guy. He had to beg to be isolated.

[jetson]

The CDC should strap trackers on every ankle of every person that had contact with Duncan as well as quarantine.

[yorkiemom]

“But either they’re not doing that or else they’re doing it quietly.”

Coward-Pivan works better if there is chaos and panic.

[Black Agnes]

http://www.examiner.com/article/siga-technologies-gets-tentative-contract-for-smallpox-antiviral

[riri]

Can you imagine being the guy (or gal) or sat next to him on the plane? I’d be in full hypochondriac mode. (:

[daisy12]

There is also the possibility that the healthcare workers who had contact with him did not clue into the fact that Liberia is in Africa.

Many, many people, including the quote unquote educated, do not keep up with world events.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!

[Justa]

“The White House said Wednesday it will not impose travel restrictions or introduce new airport screenings to prevent additional cases of Ebola from entering the United States.”

So, their policy fails but they claim it’s successful by moving the bar from Ebola infected coming into the US to “wide spread” of the virus.

These people are a-holes who want to kill people.