Morristown doctor home in quarantine after treating Ebola in Africa
By JILL MCNEAL
6 News Anchor/Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - An East Tennessee doctor treating Ebola patients in West Africa has just returned home after being evacuated by the aid group he was working for. The CDC issued a new warning Thursday advising Americans to avoid non-essential travel to the region.
Dr. Alan Jamison is a retired pediatrician from Morristown. He flew in from Liberia Wednesday night and is now quarantined at his home, waiting to see if he shows any symptoms of the deadly virus.
Ebola now has been blamed for more than 700 deaths in four West African countries, the worst outbreak in history. Dr. Jamison arrived in Liberia to treat patients on July 7, only to be pulled out this week for his own safety.
The pictures of dying patients and doctors in head to toe protective suits are alarming. The fatality rate for Ebola in West Africa right now is about 60 percent.
“It’s quite traumatic. I do come to tears when a patient dies or when I have to speak with the family and counsel them after the death of a loved one,” Dr. Jamison told us through Skype.
He has traveled to disaster zones all over the world since he retired five years ago. When he got the call to treat Ebola patients in Liberia, he didn’t hesitate.
“It’s something that I do. It’s part of my life,” he said.
Dr. Jamison was working in the same hospital Ebola unit as American Dr. Kent Brantly, who is now fighting the deadly disease himself in Liberia.
“The risk was becoming greater and greater, and the concern is if I were to contract the infection while I was there, I would not have facilities available for a better level of treatment that are available in the United States,” he said.
The group Dr. Jamison was volunteering with, Medical Teams International, decided to pull him out of the danger zone.
“I felt like I’d left things undone,” he said.
Dr. Jamison says the American health care system is well-prepared to treat any signs of Ebola that might surface in this country.
“The people in the United States should be very thankful for the blessings that they have. It’s a great deal different in other parts of the world. I don’t believe fear of the Ebola should be something that prevents people in the United States from going about their daily lives,” he said.
Dr. Jamison says his temperature was taken at the airport before he was allowed to leave the country. He says he’s feeling fine so far, but he is in contact with the CDC and will remain quarantined at home for the next week and a half. That will make 21 days since he last treated a confirmed Ebola patient, the maximum incubation period.
Ebola has no vaccine and no specific treatment. It can’t be spread through casual contact or breathing the same air. It requires direct contact with bodily fluids. The World Health Organization says patients are only contagious once they start showing symptoms.
Maybe it was at some point. With hordes of invaders entering the US with unknown health histories, really long waits for many people to get health care, and many people avoiding the health care system entirely, I can't understand how that statement would still apply.
What happens when (not if) Ebola spreads into war torn areas and/or refugee camps, with horrific living conditions? What happens when these "children" from Central America and other areas with problems from all over the globe show up in US schools in a few weeks?
We'll probably be safe if we avoid situations where potentially pandemic diseases can spread. Also, it'll be important to maintain very high nutrition and cleanliness standards. Not everybody can do that.
So the doctor has no symptoms, only exposure through his work in Africa.
It’s an overabundance of caution, which is a good thing.
Thanks for posting.