Ebola Watch: US And Europe Act After The Horse Has Bolted
Bellevue Hospital nurse Belkys Fortune, left, and Teressa Celia, Associate Director of Infection Prevention and Control, pose in protective suits in an isolation room, in the Emergency Room of the hospital, during a demonstration of procedures for possible Ebola patients, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.
EBOLA Watch: a look at reproting on Ebola in the news.
The Star focuses on one pupil:
Britain in a state of panic as Ebola virus hits UK school
That’s sounds horrific. We’re doomed! Of course, it’s tabloid hype:
The concerns over Ebola have spread to British schools after a nine-year-old boy was prevented from joining a primary school over fears he had the virus. Kofi Mason-Sesay was barred from the classroom after parents complained the youngster may have contracted Ebola whilst living in Sierra Leone. Parents at St Simon’s Catholic Primary, near Stockport, Greater Manchester feared he was a health risk to the 168 pupils.
Seems a shrewd idea to have the lad checked, no?
Kofi’s mother Miriam, an aid worker who teaches English in Sierra Leone, says her son had been treated “like a leper” despite receiving the all-clear after undergoing medical screening.
So. He was checked. He does not have Ebola.
“We are being treated like lepers and it’s very sad,” she said.
No, you’re not. You’re being treated like people who might have come into contact with an Ebola victim. And leprosy can be treated.
“The school and its governors have been extremely supportive but I’m afraid they’ve been put under undue pressure by an aggressive minority spreading panic and ignorance about this virus. I like to think I am a reasonable citizen and mother and there is no way I would be wandering around with my nine-year-old if he had Ebola.”
Better to be cautious, no? Sky reports:
A Spanish nurse being treated for ebola has said she did not tell doctors she had been in contact with the virus and only found out she had the disease after reading the news online. Theresa Romero is in quarantine in a Madrid hospital after she was diagnosed with the virus, which she contracted while cleaning up after Spanish missionary Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died from the disease.
She’s alive. The New York Daily News:
Theresa Romero and her husband are at a hospital in insolation, although only she has shown symptoms and has been diagnosed with Ebola. Officials said Tuesday that they will euthanize their dog, fearing that it might have contracted the disease. Two petitions are urging the Spanish government to reconsider killing the animal.
The dog’s dead:
Fury erupted after a government health spokesman confirmed that Teresa Romero Ramos’s dog, Excalibur (inset), had been destroyed. The animal was put to sleep inside Mrs Romero Ramos’s home in Alcorcon, which was disinfected before the animal’s body was taken away in a white van to a nearby incinerator. Demonstrators who mounted a vigil outside to try to stop the move shouted ‘murderers’ and several threw themselves on the ground as the vehicle left (above).
She hasn’t ‘slightest idea’ how she got Ebola:
The woman, named by Spanish media outlets as Teresa Romero Ramos, told the paper she took the right precautions in helping to care for a Spanish missionary who was infected with Ebola in West Africa and who died after being brought to the hospital where she worked.
Was she worried she might have contracted the disease after helping with his care?
“Well, no, not at all,” she told El Mundo. . . .
Five people were under observation in a hospital Wednesday — the woman’s husband, judged to be at high risk of infection; a nurse from the same hospital admitted Wednesday morning after showing symptoms; another nurse’s assistant who worked on the same team as the infected woman and was admitted late Tuesday with a fever; a nurse who has tested negative for the virus and is expected to be discharged Wednesday; and an engineer who returned from Nigeria, who also has tested negative and is set to be discharged.
Tiem to educate and equip:
Dr. German Ramirez of the Carlos III hospital in Madrid said Romero remembers she once touched her face with protection gloves after leaving an Ebola victim’s quarantine room.
Health officials say Romero twice entered the room of Spanish missionary Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of Ebola on Sept. 25 — once to change his diaper and again after he died to retrieve unspecified items. Ramirez said Romero believes she touched her face with the glove after her first entry.
“It appears we have found the origin” of Romero’s infection, Ramirez said, but he cautioned the investigation was not complete.
Romero was said to be in stable condition Wednesday. Health authorities in Madrid have faced accusations of not following protocol and poorly preparing health care workers for dealing with Ebola.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Romero said she thought “the mistake was on taking off the suit. I see it as the most critical moment in which it could have happened, but I don’t know for sure.”
“I haven’t got a fever today, I feel somewhat better,” she told the newspaper.
In an earlier interview published by Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, she said she had followed safety protocols as part of the team treating two priests infected with Ebola.
Her husband Javier Limon told the same newspaper that his wife went on vacation after Garcia Viejo died. She started feeling sick with a low fever Sept. 30 but still took a career advancement exam with other candidates. Health authorities say she did not leave the Madrid area during her vacation.
Time to close the borders?
Yes, says one expert: “Infected men and women may not be contagious on the plane, but they could wreak havoc when they arrive.”
First Death in the US: Dallas Ebola Patient Dies.
The respo0nse: U.S. to Begin Ebola Screenings at 5 Airports.
The Sun says the virus has no truck with national boundaries:
A 57-year-old nurse is being tested for suspected Ebola in Australia after returning from West Africa. The unnamed woman returned to the country at the weekend after working as a nurse treating people stricken by the deadly virus in ravaged Sierra Leone.
The Times says we should be vigilent:
Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, insisted that Britain’s specialist ebola unit “probably has the most experience in western Europe in dealing with highly infectious diseases”.
However, he added: “We are one of the most international countries in the world. We need to be prepared. Ebola is one of the most serious health emergencies of recent years. We are taking it incredibly seriously.”GPs, hospital doctors and other health professionals have been put on “high alert” to look out for anyone with flu-like symptoms who could have contracted ebola. Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, circulated new guidance on the key steps needed to identify potential sufferers.
Patients with unexplained fevers should be asked whether they have travelled to affected countries. Posters will be put up in airports to inform anyone coming in from an infected area to phone a helpline if they have concerns.
During an emergency Cobra meeting in Downing Street yesterday, Dame Sally disclosed that hundreds of nurses and doctors would be flown to Sierra Leone to help staff the new medical units which are being set up by military personnel.
That’s it?
In the US, President Obama ordered Homeland Security officers to inspect all travellers for “general signs of illness”, while from this weekend people arriving from ebola-affected countries will have their temperatures checked and face detailed questioning.
That’s it? What about quarantine?
New York hospital officials assure they are ready for Ebola outbreak after first U.S. patient dies.
Posted: 9th, October 2014 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
