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A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died last week, has tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test, the state’s department of health said in a statement.
9 comments
2 |
team_fukit Oct 12, 2014 11:12:43am |
yeah i just read the comment section at AP, no one comments there usually but today they’re all frothing
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Charles Johnson Oct 12, 2014 12:04:07pm |
This is a preliminary test, though - doesn’t look good, but it’s not conclusive yet. And this is a nurse who had very close contact with Duncan, so it’s exactly the kind of person it might spread to. The CDC says there was a “breach in protocol,” although they haven’t been specific about what that means.
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aagcobb Oct 12, 2014 12:47:12pm |
re: #3 Charles Johnson
This is a preliminary test, though - doesn’t look good, but it’s not conclusive yet. And this is a nurse who had very close contact with Duncan, so it’s exactly the kind of person it might spread to. The CDC says there was a “breach in protocol,” although they haven’t been specific about what that means.
As I understand it, though of course this isn’t confirmed, it probably involves a breach in protocol while removing protective clothing after close contact with Duncan. And of course lack of confirmation means nothing to the Right; everyone going to the hospital with a fever is a confirmed case of Ebola to them, just like the imaginary ISIL fighters on the Mexican border.
P.S. The Texas hospital didn’t have the training and experience for Ebola.
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Vogon Poetry Oct 12, 2014 3:29:04pm |
Things that need to be clarified with this case and the exposure that so far haven’t been addressed.
1) Was this from the initial contact from the first time Duncan went to seek medical attention, or was this from the second contact with the hospital.
2) Was this someone from the ER, ambulance, or from the ICU/isolation ward staff? This is perhaps the most critical question since people who are in an ICU/isolation situation are more likely to know what they’re dealing with, versus someone in an ambulance or ER where the emergency personnel, nurses, and intake staff don’t quite know what they’re dealing with - and it could be anything from the flu to Ebola.
And now we’ve got to deal with contact tracing for all the new patient’s potential contacts.
But what we know will happen is that the right wing will go nuts on zero information.
| 6 |
Vogon Poetry Oct 12, 2014 4:37:56pm |
re: #5 lawhawk
The nurse apparently was involved in the second hospital visit in the ICU/isolation.
The missteps with the first patient and now the infection of a caregiver raised questions about assurances given by U.S. health officials that any American hospital should be able to treat an Ebola patient and that the disease would be contained.
At a briefing in Atlanta, Frieden said that at some point during Duncan’s treatment, “there was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection.” He added that officials were “deeply concerned” by the infection of the worker.
President Barack Obama asked the CDC to move as quickly as possible in investigating the incident, the White House said.
Dallas police stood guard outside her apartment complex and told people not to go inside. Officers also knocked on doors, made automated phone calls and passed out fliers to notify people within a four-block radius about the situation, although Dallas authorities assured residents the risk was confined to those who have had close contact with the two Ebola patients.
The worker wore a gown, gloves, mask and shield while she cared for Duncan during his second visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, said Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources, which runs the hospital.
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Lumberhead Oct 12, 2014 5:08:45pm |
re: #6 lawhawk
Thanks for the updated information. The delay in telling us what happened is naturally leading to speculation but I understand the need to wait until they are sure about things before releasing anything to the public. Unfortunately that only gives the fearmongers (read: media) room to work people up.
8 |
lostlakehiker Oct 12, 2014 5:42:00pm |
The difference between fearmongering and warning lies in whether the dangers being warned of materialize after the warnings are ignored.
In West Africa, early confidence was misplaced, and warnings were slow to go out. Anybody who sounded the alarm, if there was anybody, must have been dismissed as a fearmonger.
Here, and for sound reason, we expect that notwithstanding this very unfortunate lapse, our methods will prevail and without any extensive chains of transmission. That expectation is reasonable and well grounded in past experience. But it is not a law of nature. There is an outside chance that we are overconfident. The precautionary principle, famously invoked by Pascal, goes that when the consequences of being wrong are incalculable, it’s a bad idea to proceed as though you can’t possibly be wrong, even supposing the odds are stacked heavily in your favor.
For now, we had best proceed on the premise that we just might have underestimated the risks. Perhaps the protocols are not so easily observed by rookies as they are by veterans, for instance.
| 9 |
Vogon Poetry Oct 12, 2014 5:48:11pm |
re: #8 lostlakehiker
Doctors Without Borders sounded the alarm that the epidemic was getting out of hand back in April. The WHO downplayed their warnings, and the international community also largely ignored it, right up until it began crossing borders into new areas - primarily Nigeria (which has managed to contain the spread and appears to be Ebola-free after several weeks). The Nigeria case made the WHO and others realize that flights out of West Africa could bring the cases closer to home, and that began to get people focused.
The problem is that the focus is still not accompanied by sufficient efforts or funds to contain the problem. Too few doctors and too few beds/care facilities for those who might have the disease, and too many people who continue to infect caregivers who don’t have access to proper gear.
That’s why the health experts are warning on a doubling of cases every three weeks.
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