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466 postsEbola is a disease caused by an ebolavirus. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Victims bleed both within the body and externally. From 1976 through 2013, the World Health Organization reported a total of 1,716 cases. In 2013 an outbreak started in Guinea, spreading to neighboring African countries and infectied doctors, some of who were transported back to the US for treatment. The virus continues to claim victims as it spreads to more countries.
Africa Command commander Gen. David Rodriguez tells a Pentagon briefing that U.S. personnel will handle lab samples from Ebola patients. The majority of the 3,000-4,000 personnel deployed will not have direct contact with patients.
The health and safety of the team supporting this mission is our priority.
Rodriguez had previously said some U.S. personnel would have direct contact with patients, but later clarified the remark.
Duncan is pronounced dead at 7:51 a.m. at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where he was admitted Sept. 28 and has been kept in isolation. Texas officials are monitoring 10 people who had direct contact with him while he was symptomatic, as well as 38 others who may have had contact. None have shown symptoms of the disease to this point. They will be monitored for 21 days, the normal incubation period for the disease. Hospital:
Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle. Our professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving his passing. We have offered the family our support and condolences at this difficult time.
Monnig, a sheriff’s deputy who served a quarantine order to the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan was staying, is being examined at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for possible exposure to Ebola. Monnig, although not in direct contact with Duncan, exhibits symptoms and history that warrant testing. Dallas County Sheriff’s Office:
The deputy expressed concern and we directed that deputy to the Dallas County Health & Human Services for care. We now wait for further information as medical staff attends to the deputy.
WHO European director Zsuzsanna Jakab says that while more cases will spread in Europe, the continent should be well prepared to control the disease.
Such imported cases and similar events as have happened in Spain will happen also in the future, most likely. It is quite unavoidable … that such incidents will happen in the future because of the extensive travel both from Europe to the affected countries and the other way around. The most important thing in our view is that Europe is still at low risk and that the western part of the European region particularly is the best prepared in the world to respond to viral haemorrhagic fevers including Ebola.
CDC Director Tom Frieden, who is unofficially leading the U.S. response to Ebola says the virus becoming airborne is a possible but unlikely outcome in the current epidemic:
The rate of change [with Ebola] is slower than most viruses, and most viruses don’t change how they spread. That is not to say it’s impossible that it could change [to become airborne]. That would be the worst-case scenario. We would know that by looking at … what is happening in Africa. That is why we have scientists from the CDC on the ground tracking that.
The disease kills roughly half the people it infects, and lacking a vaccine or cure, its traceable chain of transmission through bodily fluids is one reason officials believe they can contain it.
A Spanish nurse is reported to be the first person contract the virus outside Africa. Health Minister Ana Mato says the woman treated Viejo at a Madrid hospital before he died of the virus. The woman went to the Alorcon hospital in the Madrid suburbs with a fever and was placed in isolation. The infection is confirmed by two tests and she was admitted Sunday. The fever was her only symptom. Madrid director of primary health care Antonio Alemany says authorities are drawing up a list of people she had contact with.
International aid workers recruit survivors to give courses to medical workers. Shevan Jacob, a WHO trainer who worked on previous Ebola outbreaks in Uganda and the DR Congo:
We tell the health workers that our role here is to protect and save lives … Many are afraid, they all have lost colleagues to the disease
Training takes two weeks including three days of theory classes, two days in a mock ETU, and working for five days in a real unit with a mentor.
Duncan has worsened and is in critical condition, Texas Health Presbyterian says. The hospital doesn’t provide other details.
CDC officials walk a man believed to be traveling from Liberia off United flight 998 at Newark after he falls ill. A source says the man had been vomiting. He is quarantined with his daughter, who appears to be about 10, at University Hospital.
CDC Director Frieden says a travel ban would make it harder to get supplies to west Africa. African Union aid workers experienced difficulty getting aid to Liberia:
Their ability to get there was delayed by about a week because their flight was canceled and they were stuck in a neighboring country
Chicago-based LifeSecure supply shop owner David Scott says he has shipped about 50 Extended Infection Protection kits worth $149.95 packages in the last two weeks with sales spiking in the three days since Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola. The kits include respirators, eye protection, gloves and biohazard bags. Scott:
People don’t tend to think about these things until they’re in the headlines, then they panic-buy.
Sales of $124.89 disposable DuPont Co. (DD) Tyvek suits surged 233% in 24 hours to 2:19 p.m. New York time on Amazon.com and DuPont, based in Wilmington, Delaware, says it has tripled production of some items used for Ebola protection and has
worked hard to shift products geographically and made a available a broader range of styles suitable for various treatment levels.
Sales of 3M Co.’s (MMM) particulate respirators, starting at $22, were up 4,004% according to Amazon’s data. Soap.com, a site owned by Amazon, said hand sanitizer sales jumped 20% this week.
Five schools in Dallas are set to install Wello Inc.-made WelloStation temperature monitoring devices to detect fluctuations in students’s body temperatures. Wello Inc.:
The WelloStation measures your body’s core temperature using a patented, non-contact and non-invasive process. An elevated body temperature is the number one indicator of infection. WelloStation quickly screens for fevered individuals so you can either prevent them from entering or perform additional medical checks.
#BREAKING #Dallas company to install 5 remote temperature monitor to 5 schools w/potential #Ebola exposure @Wello_Inc pic.twitter.com/jskawu3UZf
— Sebastian Robertson (@srobertsontv) October 3, 2014
Hospitals around the U.S. have reported 100 cases of Ebola-like symptoms since July. A CDC official says many hospitals remain unsure about how they are supposed to react when a suspected patient shows up. Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, which has treated several Ebola patients from West Africa, has provided information and advice to hospitals, many of which are struggling with a lack of awareness about safety protocols and fear among some workers who feel ill-prepared. Washington-area health officials say they are trying to identify gaps in preparedness plans.
Mukpo’s mother, Diana, says his virus is in the ‘early stages’ and she is optimistic he will be cured.
At one point he was trying to help decontaminate a car. He had most of the protective gear on, but he thinks something might have splashed on his body at that point. That’s one possibility, but really, one doesn’t know fully.
NBC says 33-year-old American freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo has contracted a ‘low amount’ of the virus and is quarantined in Liberia and will be flown back to the U.S. Mukpo had been on assignment in Monrovia with Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman and three other NBC News employees. His prognosis is good. Staff note from NBC News President Deborah Turness:
We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients. We are also taking all possible measures to protect our employees and the general public.
The rest of the crew, including Dr. Snyder, are ‘being closely monitored and show no symptoms or warning signs’ but will be flown to the U.S. and quarantined for 21 days.
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62 doctors and 103 nurses from Cuba arrive in Sierra Leone after more than two weeks of training with international experts at a Havana hospital specializing in tropical diseases. Another 296 Cuban doctors and nurses will go to Liberia and Guinea after training. Deputy Health Minister Madina Rahman:
We have 165 medical officers, qualified health professionals that are here to help us in the fight against Ebola. As we know we need as much healthcare and professionals as possible. This will make a dent in the fight, we need more if we can get more
Liberia requires journalists to obtain official permission to cover many aspects of the outbreak under new rules aimed at protecting patient privacy. Journalists can be arrested and prosecuted if they fail to get written permission from the health ministry before contacting Ebola patients, conducting interviews or filming or photographing healthcare facilities. Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant minister of health and head of Liberia’s Ebola Incident Management System:
We have noted with great concern that photographs have been taken in treatment centers while patients are going in to be attended by doctors. That is invasion of the dignity, privacy and respect of patients. Ebola patients are no different from any other patients. We should do that (report) under permission so that we don’t just take pictures or send out stories of naked people (in a way) that does not respect their privacy.
The office of Dallas County DA Craig Watkins is considering state charges of aggravated assault against Duncan:
We’re dealing with the issue that he may have knowingly exposed individuals in Dallas County to the Ebola virus. We’ve prosecuted individuals, for knowingly exposing individuals to HIV – which is aggravated assault.
Initial Ebola tests of a prisoner at Cobb County Jail in Atlanta return negative. The area where the inmate was quarantined has been cleaned and the jail has lifted a ban on local agencies bringing in new inmates. Prison authorities are waiting for further test results, and the prisoner has been transfered to another medical facility.
Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, Maryland, says a patient is in isolation with ‘flu-like symptoms and a travel history that matches criteria for possible Ebola.’ Lab results indicate the patient has another illness.
We are working closely with the Montgomery County Health Department and State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) as well as the CDC to manage this case and to ensure we continue to be prepared to care for patients with Ebola symptoms.