Spanish nurse with Ebola takes turn for worse

The Globe and Mail ^ | 9 Oct 2014

[11th_VA]

The health of a Spanish nurse with Ebola worsened on Thursday and four other people were put into isolation in Madrid, while the country’s government rejected claims its methods for dealing with the disease weren’t working and blamed human error.

SPAIN: SITUATION HAS ‘DETERIORATED’

Teresa Romero, 44, is the first person to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa, after becoming infected by a Spanish priest repatriated from Africa with the disease. In total seven people are in isolation, though only Romero has tested positive for Ebola. The others include the nurse’s husband and two doctors who cared for her. Three other people were released from the isolation unit late on Wednesday after testing negative.

A health official at the Carlos III Hospital where Romero is being treated said on Thursday: “Her clinical situation has deteriorated but I can’t give any more information due to the express wishes of the patient.”

The European Commission asked for an explanation of how Romero’s infection happened in a high-security ward.

German Ramirez, one of the doctors at the hospital where Romero is being treated, said on Wednesday she had told him she touched her face with her protective gloves.

On Thursday another doctor, who cared for Romero and is among those now in isolation, said the sleeves on the protective suit he wore while handling her had been too short. In a letter to healthcare authorities, published by national newspaper El Pais, the doctor detailed treating Romero during a grueling 16-hour shift during which he was not told she had the Ebola virus. He said he only learned of this via the press.

[Smokin' Joe]

How I wish she might not have inadvertently touched her face. That is tragic...an itch may cost her her life.

I have suspected this as a transmission means since medical people were dying in Africa.

We all make unconscious actions which could lead to infection if we unknowingly contacted the bodily fluids of someone infected, or the fomites left behind.

Try going so much as an hour without touching eyes, nose, lips, or eating something without thoroughly washing your hands after touching any surface not continually in your direct control (which could have been contaminated by others).

Once you start thinking about it, yes, a touch could kill you with Ebola, or give you the latest bug, be it the flu, a cold, a norovirus.

You don't have to become a complete germophobe, but try it to become more aware. Relax, play the game, and see how many times you 'die' in an hour...

Most people would be stunned, but being aware ( and making little changes in your habits) might save you from the next case of office sniffles if nothing else.

[Smokin' Joe]

Dogs around the hot zone of one of the outbreaks in Africa were tested, and roughly 38% showed seropositive for the virus. They remain asymptomatic and could function as a carrier.

As gross as it is, dogs were seen eating corpses (dogs are scavengers/hunters in nature) in the slum areas during the lockdown (West Point slum), and see dead human as just another source of meat if they are hungry.

Sad to say, but assuming contact with the owner, euthanizing the dog is the prudent thing to do.