Current Events
2nd US Ebola case confirmed -- in nurse who treated the first
Now comes word that the Ebola virus has struck again within the US, and where it was most expected to strike: the selfsame hospital that treated Ebola's first victim in America, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital made the announcement this morning (Sunday).
The Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Frieden told CBS News’ Face the Nation that indeed a Presbyterian Hospital caregiver contracted Ebola virus disease as a result of caring for the late Thomas Eric Duncan.
Duncan was from Liberia and had flown to Dallas to get married. He died at Presbyterian on October 8.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press today and explained that there was “an inadvertent breach of protocol” that led to the health worker being infected.
Dr. Fauci could offer no specific details of the suspected “breach,” but did allow that improper removal of personal protective clothing and equipment can lead to infection of health care workers. It could be as simple as touching an article of protective clothing or gear and then one's exposed skin, especially the face, to cause transmission of the virus, he explained.
CNN is reporting that this latest victim is a female nurse, who, according to Texas Health Resources chief clinical officer Dan Varga, was involved in Duncan’s second visit to the hospital. That would mean, Varga said, that this unidentified nurse would have been wearing full protective gear whenever she interacted with Duncan.
And, CNN also reports that yet another person, a “close contact” of the nurse, has been “proactively” isolated as well, according to Varga. Varga also says that the infected nurse is in “stable” condition. His full statement is here.
According to hospital, the nurse developed a low-grade fever Friday night and was isolated for testing. On Saturday, tests results confirmed the presence of Ebola.
“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
According to Forbes.com, health officials tracing this nurse's contacts and monitoring people who may have been exposed to her after she became symptomatic.
The Ebola death toll from the original outbreak in West Africa has now surpassed 4,000 lives and sickened as least twice that many.
Commentary
I come from a family of nurses, one of whom was an operating room and head nurse of a major Chicago hospital, and another who retired as an Air Force major.
As kids, I and my cousins used to object to our aunts' insistence on us constantly washing our hands. It seemed to us to be some kind of obsessive compulsion in them. (Kids are kids, you know). But after sitting through plain old 9th grade biology class and learning about the ever-presence of indiscriminate killer "germs," a light bulb turned on above my head. I discovered a begrudging appreciation for my aunts' "compulsion."
But this Ebola thing is beginning to defy even strict "protocols" of sterilization. It appears that the very "protective" gear meant to keep thee bugs at bay, may actually serve as the seamless vector for their transmission. The thing is, this disturbing development in Dallas comes in the face of and despite the many and constant assurances from President Obama to virtually all health care professionals that this would not -- could not -- happen here. We are told daily that our health care "system" and protocols are just too sophisticated, secure, redundant, and, well...just better than anywhere else -- especially West Africa. (Recall that the Titanic was supposedly "unsinkable," as well, right?)
But now that those selfsame hospital and health care workers, the pros, cannot protect themselves from these unforgiving and nasty critters, what realistic hope is there for the rest of us?
References
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/12/health/ebola/index.html
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2789825/Texas-health-care-worker-tests-positive-Ebola.html