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Texas Health Care Worker Tests Positive for Ebola

It's hard to believe that somebody ill enough to be diagnosed with ebola would feel like flying to the US, then go to the hospital and accept the hospital sending him home. You think he would have insisted they treat him for a deadly disease he knew he had.

There is also information out there that says he did not lie and did not know he had ebola when he came to this country. It would be interesting to know which story is true. The media is putting out both stories.

I did see a link that the person that sent him home was not a doctor but a nurse. Nurse practicioner? I've been seen or had my wife diagnosed by three nurse practicioners and none were worth a damn. The first one misdiagnosed ring worm as the measles (picked it up on my chest from a bench press in college), the next one misdiagnosed Swimmer's Itch on the wife after we had been swimming in our pond and refused to consider it, and the third couldn't cut out a wart on my finger if her life depended on it. But when the doctor showed up he removed it in a couple of seconds with the same tool.
 
But if they were recently in Africa that should have been a red flag.

'Why? In the year 2010, we had 1.6 million African immigrants. Should every one of them be subject to suspicion that they have ebola?
Assuming he followed proper procedure (which for all we know, he supposedly did), then why would you be suspicious of any African immigrant?
 
Greetings, MMC. :2wave:

Why would he lie? It's probably worse than we're being told. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would commit a "protocol breach" at this point! If you were dealing with a deadly disease that has no cure, would you be careless? :thumbdown:

Exactly... Blame the victim care giver before facts are discovered. Doctors say it was a breach in protocol that caused the transmission of the disease but have provided no proof. More CYA it seems to me. In the mean time a highly contagious and deadly virus is in Texas.

If you were a medical professional would you want to treat an Ebola patient now?
 
'Why? In the year 2010, we had 1.6 million African immigrants. Should every one of them be subject to suspicion that they have ebola?
Assuming he followed proper procedure (which for all we know, he supposedly did), then why would you be suspicious of any African immigrant?

That's a ridiculous question. No, every immigrant from Africa shouldn't be suspected of having ebola. Any person who has recently been to Africa and is experiencing symptoms at all, similar to flu or ebola, should be tested for ebola.
 
This virus and more importantly it's social implications cannot be avoided

Wrong... Allowing people into the US from countries known to have transmission of the virus was supremely idiotic.
 
Where do you draw the line? Incubation is 21 days, and you are only infectious once symptoms (which resemble flu) are present. There are many indirect routes to the USA, which is a long expensive way away from West Africa. Why would anyone without a connection want to come? The number of people who can afford the trip is very small, the number of alternative destinations is very large, and effective treatment (should they need it) is a lot nearer than the US. Once more your surrounding oceans protect you.

The oceans? :lamo

Seek treatment in the US? Sure so Ebola can be transmitted to our health care workers.

Your rationale is so 19th century.
 
'Why? In the year 2010, we had 1.6 million African immigrants. Should every one of them be subject to suspicion that they have ebola?
Assuming he followed proper procedure (which for all we know, he supposedly did), then why would you be suspicious of any African immigrant?

And you don't think it reflects very poorly on Duncan's intellect that he flew to Liberia when there's been reports for three months of an Ebola outbreak?
 
"Why is this in our national interest? Be specific."

May we speak of these separately?
1) "The virus. . .cannot be avoided."
Really? How have we avoided the virus up until now?

2) "Its social implications cannot be avoided."
What are the viruses social implications?

I think he's confusing Ebola with AIDS.
 
I wonder what's wrong with Americans today that they can't see the importance of protecting American citizens from a plague. Maybe they're worried that by restricting travel from west Africa, we're moving in the direction of putting a limit on immigration, if that's the case then please put your own politics aside and understand that there comes a time when you have to protect yourself.
 
The US has treated patients prior to Duncan, and none of those healthcare workers contracted ebola. The matter needs to be researched. At what stage did the nurse treat him? Did she treat him before or after he was diagnosed and sent home?

Also note, the media is known for blowing stories like this out of proportion. A few months ago it was camel flu or something like that from mostly Arab nations, and before that, it was swine flu.


Μολὼν λαβέ;1063859849 said:
The oceans? :lamo

Seek treatment in the US? Sure so Ebola can be transmitted to our health care workers.

Your rationale is so 19th century.
 
And you don't think it reflects very poorly on Duncan's intellect that he flew to Liberia when there's been reports for three months of an Ebola outbreak?
I know nothing at all about his intellect. My understanding is that he lied when asked about possible exposure. If immigration policies ard adherred to, and immigrants provide accurate information, there should be no reason for concern.
 
I wonder what's wrong with Americans today that they can't see the importance of protecting American citizens from a plague. Maybe they're worried that by restricting travel from west Africa, we're moving in the direction of putting a limit on immigration, if that's the case then please put your own politics aside and understand that there comes a time when you have to protect yourself.
I have no problem with halting immigration, especially from Africa.
 
A hospital doesn't have the power to do that. We can isolate a patient that is admitted for care, but we can't isolate families, friends, or other people that the person has come into contact with. Besides that, and as I said earlier, the guy reportedly lied on the paperwork that he filled out prior to coming here. There is no reason to think that ebola was here, if the travel was legal. Just because he was from Liberia, there was no reason to think he had ebola, assuming that his travel was legitimate.

He should have never been allowed in the US because of where he came from, period. That he was allowed to come here, Ebola is here too.
 
Μολὼν λαβέ;1063859883 said:
He should have never been allowed in the US because of where he came from, period. That he was allowed to come here, Ebola is here too.
Well, I will repeat (once again) stopping immigration is fine with me. My point is that there was no reasonable suspicion of ebola, if proper immigration policies had been followed.
 
You keep ignoring the fact that Ebola is not contagious when the carrier is not showing symptoms.

You seem to think being non-symptomatic is no big deal. If you have Ebola, the symptoms will eventually appear.

Dressing like this to prevent the transmission of the virus didn't seem to help. Just ask the health care provider in Texas.

RT_ebola_health_workers_jt_141012_16x9_992.jpg
 
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The US has treated patients prior to Duncan, and none of those healthcare workers contracted ebola. The matter needs to be researched. At what stage did the nurse treat him? Did she treat him before or after he was diagnosed and sent home?

Also note, the media is known for blowing stories like this out of proportion. A few months ago it was camel flu or something like that from mostly Arab nations, and before that, it was swine flu.

Seems like you would know the answer to your question before posting it.

So a medical professional contracting Ebola is blowing this story out of proportion? You need to keep up.

She treated Duncan, the Ebola patient, after his second visit to the emergency room, on Sept. 28, and was “following full CDC precautions,” including wearing a gown, gloves, a mask and a protective face shield.

A CDC epidemiologist has interviewed her, and, so far, there is only one other person who may have had contact with the worker since the symptoms developed, and that individual is under active monitoring, Frieden said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...as-eric-duncan-has-tested-positive-for-ebola/

Interesting how the interviewer didn't mention a breach of protocol regarding the nurse treating an Ebola patient. I wonder why?
 
Well, I will repeat (once again) stopping immigration is fine with me. My point is that there was no reasonable suspicion of ebola, if proper immigration policies had been followed.

Sure there was, he came from a country known to have transmission of the virus. This is Ebola, not a head cold.

Some people just don't seem to understand the magnitude of this contagen.
 
I know nothing at all about his intellect. My understanding is that he lied when asked about possible exposure. If immigration policies ard adherred to, and immigrants provide accurate information, there should be no reason for concern.

"Immigrants provide accurate information".........that's funny, I don' care who you are.......won't have to watch Jimmy Fallon tonight to get my laughs. Are there seriously people this naive out there......God help us all Tiny Tim.....
 
I have no problem with halting immigration, especially from Africa.
That would be disasterous. It would spark massive public panic in and out of the US, cost our economy dearly and practically kill our image and influence worldwide.

Μολὼν λαβέ;1063859906 said:
Dressing like this to prevent the transmission of the virus didn't seem to help. Just ask the health care provider in Texas.
Μολὼν λαβέ;1063859950 said:
Some people just don't seem to understand the magnitude of this contagen.
Ha! Ask any doctor: Procedures just aren't followed in hospitals. Why do you think medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America? To err is to be human, and no one, medical professional or otherwise, takes procedures seriously enough. The caretakers who got sick weren't let down by their equipment, but made stupid mistakes, like touching their face.

Futhermore of course no one is panicking. Obviously. Ebola is a weak virus that is killed by soap and water. Hepatitis, for example, is far more durable and I'd be far more worried about that. A nickname of ebola, the "Caretaker's virus," stems from how it is only transmitted via bodily fluids. Thus it's tendency to only infect caregivers, who are working with the sick.

The only reason Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guiana are struggling is because they're among the most dysfunctional and poorest countries in Africa. Their medical facilites don't have running water. Compare that to the cases imported into Nigeria, which beat out ebola in a pinch.
 
With all of our power and might we are never prepared - it is quite pathetic.

Yup...Spanish flu, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Ebola...all pathetic.
 
I know nothing at all about his intellect. My understanding is that he lied when asked about possible exposure. If immigration policies ard adherred to, and immigrants provide accurate information, there should be no reason for concern.


Lol! That's like expecting politicians to tell the truth as well. Whenever people have personal gain at stake, they will mold the truth to serve their own self interest, even when it means potentially giving plague to innocent people, as Duncan has illustrated.

It sounds to me like Duncan was one of these people who think Ebola isn't a threat, their are many people on these boards who have voiced similar opinions. They think that because they heard some doctor on NPR say that there's nothing to worry about that it's business as usual. Well other so called experts said that Fukushima was nothing to worry about too.
 
So either the virus is more contagious than we are told or the worker was sloppy or his gear was defective.

The latter. Most of these people are barely trained on these protocols and suits. They have little to no real life experience.

She either made a mistake putting on the gear or taking it off.
 
Yup...Spanish flu, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Ebola...all pathetic.

America has become purely reactionary and not proactive in dealing with potential problems. It's like when someone calls the police to say that someone is stalking them and the police tell them there's nothing they can do until their stalker hurts them. We must always protect the rights of the victimizers first and foremost.
 
America has become purely reactionary and not proactive in dealing with potential problems. It's like when someone calls the police to say that someone is stalking them and the police tell them there's nothing they can do until their stalker hurts them. We must always protect the rights of the victimizers first and foremost.

Yes. And it is not 'partisan.'
 
Bingo.

I'm going with more contagious.

Ebola has always been considered a Class 4 organism. That hasnt changed. But many healthcare workers are not trained in those protocols and have little to no 'actual' experience with the gear and suits. It's unlikely it's more contagious. Human error is much more likely.
 
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