Two Health Workers Now Infected With Ebola

[SGOS]

http://news.yahoo.com/second-texas-healthcare-worker-tests-positive-ebola-090736415.html

(Reuters) - A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement on Wednesday.

The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, the department said.

"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," the department said.

The news comes just days after another nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, became the first person infected by Ebola in the United States while caring for Duncan during much of his 11 days in the hospital. He died on Oct. 8.

That makes 4 cases in the US so far, but those are the only known infections.  We don't have the best medical care in the US, although it's fair, and the CDC is no doubt working hard on containing this, but I still have to wonder if this thing is going to get out of control.  Before ebola hit the US, the seriousness of this disease was frequently pointed to as a worst case scenario for a worldwide pandemic.  But now that it's actually happening here, we are hearing, "No, no.  Everything is under control.  Those people in West Africa are uneducated and careless.  It won't happen in the US."

Really?  Really?  We will soon see how educated and cautious Americans are when the evil of this thing is fended off with magical incantations in church prayer.

[Mike Cl]

http://news.yahoo.com/second-texas-healthcare-worker-tests-positive-ebola-090736415.html
That makes 4 cases in the US so far, but those are the only known infections.  We don't have the best medical care in the US, although it's fair, and the CDC is no doubt working hard on containing this, but I still have to wonder if this thing is going to get out of control.  Before ebola hit the US, the seriousness of this disease was frequently pointed to as a worst case scenario for a worldwide pandemic.  But now that it's actually happening here, we are hearing, "No, no.  Everything is under control.  Those people in West Africa are uneducated and careless.  It won't happen in the US."

Really?  Really?  We will soon see how educated and cautious Americans are when the evil of this thing is fended off with magical incantations in church prayer.

Either the Dallas hospital is full of stupid nurses who can't follow instructions, or ebloa is a bit stronger and easier to transmit than we have been led to believe.

[hrdlr110]

^yep,that!

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Hint: Stay out of hospitals with crosses and religious sounding names..
I tell ya.. Big shock it happened in of all places, Texas..

[Mermaid]

Either the Dallas hospital is full of stupid nurses who can't follow instructions, or ebloa is a bit stronger and easier to transmit than we have been led to believe.

Or the people taking care of the Ebola patients don't really understand the quarantine protocol because facts are still evolving. It's a not a virus that is all that familiar to anyone. All the fingerpointing in the world isn't going to change the fact that it's here, and instead of blaming Obama (which is basically all I've seen in the comments of articles), perhaps it would be in everyone's best interest to concentrate on isolation procedure.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

What? NOT blame Obama? That's almost treasonous! No, the only solution is to blame Obama and have Rick Perry lead the nation in prayer from an undisclosed location..

[Munch]

I say it couldn't be a better time to fence off Texas from the world.

[SGOS]

I had a Doctor's appointment this morning, and I asked him what he thought about ebola in the US.  He became pretty agitated.  I never heard him swear before.   He said that the CDC is not being honest about having everything under control.  He said the US is totally unprepared to deal with it.  He named 4 hospitals in the US that could, but none of the rest would be able to safely treat it.  He was very negative about the way it's being handled.  He said taking people's temperatures when they arrive from West Africa is an attempt to make people feel safe, but it's an inadequate precaution.

[josephpalazzo]

I've said it many times and will repeat: Give Texas back to Mexico. But now I realize that Texas is so full of incompetent people that most likely Mexico doesn't want it back.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Yeah, this is one of those times where I think clamping down on airport traffic and going all Gestapo on potential disease carriers is warranted. You do not fuck around with Ebola.

[josephpalazzo]

Yep, you have better odds of surviving cancer than ebola.

[Solitary]

Now for the bad news: Death, if it occurs, is typically 6 to 16 days from the start of symptoms and is often due to low blood pressure due to fluid loss. Sharing needles can transmit it.  Sharing a joint, pipe, or bong, can also. And of course blood transfusions. Any body discharge such as feces, urine, and blood can also. Vampires beware!

And now for the good news: Ebola viruses can be eliminated with heat (heating for 30 to 60 minutes at or boiling for 5 minutes. On surfaces, some lipid solvents such as some alcohol-based products, detergents, sodium hypochlorite (bleach) or calcium hypochlorite (bleaching powder), and other suitable disinfectants at appropriate concentrations can be used as disinfectants.

Also, it can't be transmitted through the air unless someone coughs on you, kisses you, or cries tears on you. So keep her happy! The chances of getting it, or how you can get it, are the same as for AIDES. You can't get it off a toilet seat as far as I know---use the paper cover in rest rooms since some idiots keep the toilet seat down when they pee. Have a nice day! Solitary

[Hijiri Byakuren]

The chances of getting it, or how you can get it, are the same as for AIDES.

Except worse, because any bodily fluid will do the trick.

[Munch]

Except worse, because any bodily fluid will do the trick.

Which begs the question on how the others got infected. We're these nurses wiping the spittle from him, or blood, or from cleaning his bed sheets?

[SGOS]

Which begs the question on how the others got infected. We're these nurses wiping the spittle from him, or blood, or from cleaning his bed sheets?

Yep, there was probably vomit and diarrhea around.  I wonder how many other health workers in that hospital have been infected.