Doctor tests positive for Ebola in New York City

soundoff (3 Responses)

1. vercou
   

   Did you know that for the last 35 years since Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and a third strain of Ebola have been discovered there is one safety use that no one has mentioned in the last few months? In USAMRID the WHO in Africa ALWAYS prior to removing any protective clothing, whether a Bio Hazard suit, Jerry Suit or the layers that Dr Gupta (CNN) showed in video. The health / lab workers washed their gloved hands in bleach, EnviroChem or other decontamination liquids. When I had patients with Hepatitis or HIV + I did the same. Read “The Hot Zone” No need to panic, decontamination starts and ends with FULLY INFORMED healthcare workers. If you have virus filled hands, there is NO safe way to undress until you get as much virus, or in Dr Gupta's case chocolate sauce off, your double to triple gloved hands.

   October 24, 2014 at 10:42 am | Log in to Reply
2. whatifdave
   

   We have a few Ebola survivors now in this country. Are they no longer required to wear those protective gear and not risk getting Ebola again? We have a few US airports as Ebola entry points to screen for this disease. Why can't the CDC offer nice salaries and relocation pay for these survivors to screen the passengers? They would work the hours when passengers are arriving from Ebola rich nations.

   October 24, 2014 at 10:02 am | Log in to Reply
3. cpad
   

   Why was Dr. Spencer using public, mass transporation after having high-risk contact with Ebola patients? Why, at the NYC press conference, was no one asking this question? All I've heard from officials and press alike is lavish praise for how Dr. Spencer conducted himself.

   Contrast this with the scathing criticism heaped on Nurse Amber for using public transportation (flying), including a public rebuke from CDC director Friedman. Contrast this with the insistence of the CDC that Nurse Nina Pham must have breeched protocol in order to have become infected. I haven't heard any apology or retraction from the CDC regarding their mistaken public rebukes of these nurses.

   Back to Dr. Spencer, he stated he had felt fatigued previous to showing any change in temperature. Once the CDC determined that Nurse Amber had perhaps been feeling fatigued previous to her temperature going up, they declared that those were indeed "symptoms" and subsequently contacted all passengers on the plane that she took to Ohio.

   I don't understand why reporters are not questioning this. Which one is it? Is feeling "off" previous to spiking a temperature considered a sympton of Ebola? Is there any need for contact tracing and notification of people exposed to the patient during this stage? And what about those with high-risk exposure using public transportation and frequenting public spaces? Why is it that Dr. Spencer is being praised for "self-isolating" (clearly not the case) while Nurse Amber was publicly cut down for using public transportation.

   It could just be coincidence, but I'm disturbed at the contrast between the two nurses being publicly castigated and blamed for their predicaments, with no subsequent apology from the CDC, and the lavish, universal praise being heaped on the doctor for his conduct, with no one questioning whether it was safe, or was against CDC guidelines (as Dr. Friedman insisted it was) to be using public transportation.

   I write this not to criticize Dr. Spencer, who is a hero in every sense of the word (as are nurses who work with Ebola patients), but to question the wildly disparate messages being put out by officials and, subsequently, the press when no one questions these discrepencies.

   October 24, 2014 at 3:15 am | Log in to Reply