Ebola Surveillance Thread

Free Republic Threads ^ | August 10, 2014 | Legion

[Smokin' Joe]

I have spent a little time compiling links to threads about the Ebola outbreak in the interest of having all the links in one thread for future reference.

Please add links to new threads and articles of interest as the situation develops.

Thank You all for you participation.

[Black Agnes]

I think it might be a matter of what insurance (ie, obamacare) is willing to pay for.

[Shelayne]

Yeah. They had to get a court order to hold him because he refused to stay under quarantine, and legally they couldn’t hold him against his will. They put him in Psych until they could get the order to quarantine him.

That is my understanding from the various information on this out there.

[Black Agnes]

Wonder if he’s symptomatic yet.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ebola in Spain: Nurse 'infected in Madrid'

[wrench]

“This Spanish HCW likely used local Spanish pblic transportation to get to the hospital where she reported the high fever.”

In Madrid, that would be the subway

[Smokin' Joe]

Ebola alert in Salzburg: Young Africans in quarantine [Austria]

[Smokin' Joe]

WH ‘reassessing’ Ebola screening measures

[Smokin' Joe]

Why Ebola Probably Won't Go Airborne

[Smokin' Joe]

US Journalist Believes He Got Ebola While Cleaning Infected Car

[Shelayne]

To the public the authorities were saying that he is probably not infected and is little risk to the public, but for the court order, they had to present him as a potentially dangerous Ebola patient.

With all their posturing, the wording in this motion sound as if the CDC thinks he is likely Texas Ebola Patient #2... if one (or more) of Louise’s family doesn’t come down with symptoms first.

If he were symptomatic, that would be very alarming, as they had reported that there were indications he was heading to the State Fair, before they found him again.

[Shelayne]

It seems they are keeping that under wraps for now, while they start the contact tracing.

[Smokin' Joe]

Amnesty for Ebola

[Smokin' Joe]

Cruises Change Itineraries Due to Ebola Concerns

[Smokin' Joe]

New Concern Worldwide as Nurse in Spain Gets Ebola

[Smokin' Joe]

Passenger with Ebola symptoms removed from plane at Orlando International Airport

[exDemMom]

I wouldn’t bet anything on that. Hospitals reuse equipment that has been used to process and analyze infectious samples all the time. The only equipment I have ever heard of that is not sterilized, but is discarded, is equipment that has been in contact with tissues from a prion patient. That is because prions are resistant to all of the sterilization techniques that normally destroy infectious agents. There is no way to make equipment safe to use after contamination with prions.

Ebola is just a virus, and is susceptible to common sterilization procedures.

[PA Engineer]

"familyop" posted this link on the Amnesty for Ebola Thread.

COMMENTARY: Health workers need optimal respiratory protection for Ebola

Editor's Note: Today's commentary was submitted to CIDRAP by the authors, who are national experts on respiratory protection and infectious disease transmission. In May they published a similar commentary on MERS-CoV. Dr Brosseau is a Professor and Dr Jones an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The Authors argue convincingly that HCWs require maximum protection and deconstruct the misinformation about airborne versus aerosols. They argue convincingly that it is an "aerosol-transmissible disease", requiring maximum respiratory protection for HCWs.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ebola Doctor: 6 Months Ago Ebola Experts Would Have Said Current Outbreak Would NOT Happen (VIDEO)

[Dark Wing]

Pictures from the UK Daily Mail shows the Spanish nurse in an air tight glove box for transportation. The Spanish are taking NO Chances over Ebola being airborne.

[exDemMom]

It looks like a PAPR ad to me.

The Authors argue convincingly that HCWs require maximum protection and deconstruct the misinformation about airborne versus aerosols. They argue convincingly that it is an "aerosol-transmissible disease", requiring maximum respiratory protection for HCWs.

None of the references in that article support their argument that Ebola could be airborne. One *can* get Ebola by breathing infected particles (droplets), which transiently become propelled into the air through mechanical actions, for instance, by pulling contaminated sheets off a bed. Those artificially generated droplets, however, are not true aerosol particles, and acquiring Ebola in that manner constitutes "close contact" transmission, not airborne transmission. In many past outbreaks, children who lived in the same home as an Ebola victim did not get sick, while the person caring for the victim did. Airborne diseases transmit across a distance and across time (you can get measles by breathing air in a room where someone with measles was present hours before you).

If Ebola were an airborne transmissible disease, people would be able to stick N95 masks on Ebola patients to contain the virus, and not worry about space suits. Caregivers would be able to use standard PPE instead of space suits. Because Ebola is a bloodborne pathogen, the requirements for PPE for anyone working close with the patient are quite stringent--but they are not needed for someone who does not get close to the patient. Also, if Ebola were airborne, it would have drastically different symptoms, since it would infect, and disrupt normal function of, respiratory cells rather than the connective tissue cells that it is known to infect.

It is really important to understand the difference between an airborne transmissible disease, and one that is bloodborne with a possible secondary route through droplet transmission. The measures needed to stop spread are very different in each case, and measures to stop one kind of transmission will be ineffective to stop another kind of transmission.