'His Father Had Lied to Us': German Doctor Shares Harrowing Ebola Encounter

Spiegal ^ | 9-9-14 | Katrin Elger

[dynachrome]

On the Monday morning in question in mid-August, we were sitting together when one of the doctors told us that the child's stepmother had come during the night to take over for the father of the sick boy.

A Father's Lies

The doctor started growing nervous because what the woman shared with him didn't sound good. Melvin-Vincent's grandmother had just died of Ebola. The boy had been living with the elderly lady and his fever broke out after her burial.

His father had lied to us.

At that moment, it became clear to all of us that it wasn't just malaria that was robbing the child of his strength. It's possible the boy had been lying in our packed admissions ward for days with Ebola, highly contagious and sharing a single bed with two other children. The laboratory results confirmed our suspicions.

We acted immediately. We cleared out the ward, moved the child to an isolation station and brought the other children into their own beds. At the time, it was pouring rain and we had to look for a dry place where we could burn the bedding and clothing. Everything was contaminated. But with torrential rains pouring out of the sky, don't even bother looking for a dry spot for a fire. In the end, we had to build an oven just to do the job.

We quickly began the so-called "tracing," documenting who had come into contact with the boy with Ebola. It was only at that point that we became conscious of the full scope of the drama. Six of the eight doctors providing care in the station had touched the child, as had at least 25 nurses.

[dynachrome]

No one would lie about ebola, right?

[dynachrome]

Russian roulette with 5 cartridges.

[dynachrome]

From the article:

“People who are ill and left to fend for themselves no longer stand a chance of survival. Nobody is willing to help them, and understandably so.”

[driftdiver]

I took a lot of heat for saying g a single patient with ebola in a miami hospital could infect thousands. How many people touched this boy. How many touched those people after they became contagious? How many patients did those doctors touch? How many did those nurses touch? It’s goes on and on. If only 10 percent catch ebola the number gets huge quickly.

[Slump Tester]

The father needs to be forced to care for the boy. After all, he wasn’t worried about exposing anyone else to the kid.

[pfflier]

It's possible the boy had been lying in our packed admissions ward for days with Ebola, highly contagious..."

Well now, that's a different narrative.

[dynachrome]

My own doctor told me “oh, it’s hard to catch”. I don’t think he is volunteering for Africa anytime soon, however.

[PapaBear3625]

I took a lot of heat for saying g a single patient with ebola in a miami hospital could infect thousands. How many people touched this boy. How many touched those people after they became contagious? How many patients did those doctors touch? How many did those nurses touch? It’s goes on and on. If only 10 percent catch ebola the number gets huge quickly.

To those who doubt you: MRSA.

[driftdiver]

Half of men and 30% of women don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom. Even after a bowel movement.

your average gas pump handle has Ecoli among other things. If this gets out nothing here will protect us.

[patriot08]

Yet they keep coming from Africa...

[greeneyes]

Shouldn't the medical personnel take precautions immediately, until they get conclusive evidence that it's not Ebola?

If I was a Dr. or Nurse working in an area known to have cases of Ebola, I wouldn't be assuming it was something else no matter what I was told by family and friends.

[greeneyes]

Have you seen this yet?

[Black Agnes]

Yes. At some point, in this country, there will be lawsuits for such behavior.

[Black Agnes]

The issue with assuming everyone has ebola is the availability of the PPE suits. Those are in short supply. Not to mention those hospitals are likely not airconditioned. No MD or nurse could survive a full ordinary shift in one of those in an unairconditioned environment.

[Eagles6]

Look at the thousands of school kids coming down with Enterovirus 68 across at least half the states. Some in ICU on ventilators.

Only 100 cases in the US since it was identified in 1962 now thousands of cases right after the tens of thousands of unscreened illegals were shoved into the nation's public skuls.

If you see a link then you're a racist!

[greeneyes]

If I was a doctor or nurse in that environment, I’d be wearing the protective gear, or I wouldn’t be seeing patients.

Wonder if they could break their shifts down into shorter periods with a rest period. Is there even the capacity to run a window air conditioner in one room where they could go to take a break and cool off?

If they can’t take the proper precautions then the only real solution is the EYAM choice.

[null and void]

The game of Ebola Roulette continues...

*click* spin *click* spin *click* spin…

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...

[null and void]

Me too. And the conehead is still at it.

[driftdiver]

It’s a 100 degrees and the humidity is 98%. They don’t have air conditioning.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Hello, lying father of the stricken boy. Say “Hi” to my friends Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. Two to the head, two to the heart. It is probably too merciful and end for such a miserable man as yourself, but that’s the kind of guy I am.