outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

<3 cnn.com

EBOLA IN DC & MARYLAND

UNNECESSARY IRONIC ALL-CAPS HAVE INFECTED ILX

Let me know when DC ebola fatalities exceeds http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/traffic-fatalities

RIP Thomas Eric Duncan

My office sent out an Ebola advisory note to everyone today advising that we don't travel to countries with outbreaks. Thanks for the tip guys! I guess I should reconsider that vacation to Liberia.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O4ADBA8

mmhmm

I mean, ebola is transmitted through fluid contact, so it might, or it might just make you a prepper

How long can ebola just hang out on surfaces and remain contagious?

Also, have any of the usual right wing subjects started calling him Barack Ebola?

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/obola-explained

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/By-n99jIMAESe_o.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/us/texas-health-worker-tests-positive-for-ebola.html

yup

Are ebola patients always protected by dancing police officers?

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/10/13/us/13ebola1-web/13ebola1-web-articleLarge.jpg

that's like a mile from where i used to live. ebola pls

Plane grounded at lax for over two hours now bc a passenger is displaying flu-like symptoms and has had contact w someone from Africa. A twitter user @gingerhazing is one of those stuck on the plane and is livetweeting it

twitter user and up and comic comics artist! Not to diminish her ebola paranoia liveblogging contributions

Yes after posting that I swiped left on her profile and found that out. lol at how out of touch with my own field I am.

All clear I guess-- moral: do not barf in public if you or people around you have anywhere you need to be anytime soon

boy, do some people really mistrust the federal government

and/or racist

stop me if you've heard this one

"they're doing it on purpose to seize power during a crisis"

or this one

"obama's endangering american lives because he identifies with africans more than americans"

oy.

i wonder if someone at the hospital didn't follow protocol, or if the protocols were lacking. either way: scary. feel terrible for the nurse.

the hospital claims she was, but they've been pretty disgustingly dishonest about a few things already so it's hard to take their word for it. i think i read something earlier today that said the CDC was disputing that this was the case. (and not to get too realpolitik, but i found it pretty shocking that the CDC would call out the hospital like that so quickly.)

that said it should be understood that caring for patients with ebola is not risk-free and that adherence to guidelines minimizes the risks of transmission but does not eliminate them. viruses are small and can thwart event the best-laid plans. even removing protective gear can be hazardous -- in fact it's thought that this is where a large part of the danger lies, in exposing oneself while taking off contaminated PPE

@gingerhazing says it turns out it was just a scare, passenger does not have ebola symptoms other than vomiting, did not actually have contact with anyone from west africa just someone from south africa (miscommunication).

I was actually pondering how these workers can safely remove the suits, because whenever I use cleaning gloves I puzzle over how to take them off without just getting the same bleach on me that I was trying to avoid all along. Do they take some kind of shower in the gear first?

iirc they spray the suits down with bleach solution before they take them off. and i think the way they take off the gloves and booties is to peel them off by rolling them inside out from the ends. there's probably some similar principle in how they get the suits off.

here

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/pdf/ebola-ppe-cleaning-crews.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/ppe-poster.pdf

the thing with these things is that adherence is crucial to minimizing risk, but in practice it's just not realistic. there will be lapses. it's incredibly fatiguing to do over and over, and humans will make mistakes, even if their lives and the lives of their patients depend on doing it right

cf The Checklist Manifesto

Though I don't doubt that the people treating the ebola patient used every tool available to minimize their exposure risk.

16 Members of Doctors Without Borders Infected with Ebola, Nine Dead

read today the number of new cases could reach 10k/week by december

that's pretty scary

1918 flu pandemic still scarier imo

bubonic plague still scarier imo

cool contest guys

ya i was beng tongue in cheek if not obvious

plagues POO

Last night a guy on the train got up, put his umbrella on an empty seat, went out between the train cars, and proceeded to loudly vomit for about three stops. I guess that was preferable to throwing up in the train but I wonder about the people walking below.

― Immediate Follower (NA), Wednesday, October 15, 2014 2:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ding ding ding - we have a winner for Chicago Ebola vector

― BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, October 15, 2014 2:48 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NPR's man in Texas, speaking to the BBC, pretty squarely put the failure to contain ebola in Dallas (to whatever extent) at the feet of the Fed gov, specifically the CDC. This is one thing I do not want to federal gov't to sleep on and get wrong, the way they do with everything else. Which makes me realize, yes, we are all doomed.

btw the NYT had a story about how the Liberian military is trying to "rebrand" themselves by being helpful in this crisis, which i guess is necessary if you're best known for shooting govt officials.

not sure i understand why this is the CDC's fault

Because they apparently left it up to the local hospital to handle it without providing much (any?) support or establishing/enforcing standard guidelines for putting on, taking off or cleaning equipment/suits.

For example, apparently in Africa the procedure is no one puts on or takes off protective gear without a trained third party witness present. This was not happening in Dallas, not least because I don't think anyone there was specifically trained in current ebola procedure.

the CDC has been issuing guidelines on what to do since practically day 1 ... easily googleable

but is oversight of that hospital the CDC's job or is that the texas health departments?

Asked why the CDC didn’t send a team as soon as Duncan was diagnosed, Frieden said: “We did send some expertise in infection control but think in retrospect, with 20-20 hindsight, we could have sent a more robust hospital infection control team, and been more hands on at the hospital on day one about exactly how this (case) should be managed. We will do that from now on any time we have a confirmed case.”

http://time.com/3507807/ebola-outbreak-cdc-dallas/

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The CDC has announced that the second healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola — now identified as Amber Joy Vinson of Dallas — traveled by air Oct. 13, the day before she first reported symptoms.
The CDC is now reaching out to all passengers who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth. The flight landed at 8:16 p.m. CT.

I get that life goes on, but you'd think anyone who had been directly caring for an ebola patient would wait for the incubation to pass before getting back to business, given that it is a tremendously fatal, very contagious disease with no cure or specific treatment.

yikes. this has made me leery of even interacting with people who've been travelling to/from Dallas. I'm taking part in an academic conference in a few weeks, and by nature those things bring together people who have come from (and traveled through) all sorts of places. I recognize that at present the risk of contracting ebola is infinitesimal compared to being, I dunno, hit by a car on my way to work, but thanks to the media (?) I can't help but worry.

a union of nurses in Texas has come out with a statement, apparently drafted by nurses at the Dallas hospital that treated the initial Ebola patient, saying that there were no effective protocols to avoid contamination. if that's even close to true there could be a lot more infections before this settles down, not to mention a raft of very pricey lawsuits and a lot more fear among the public.

Apparently the plane took five trips before being taken out of service:

However, according to Flighttracker, the plane was used for five additional flights on Tuesday before it was removed from service. Those flights include a return flight to Cleveland, Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL), FLL to Cleveland, Cleveland to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), and ATL to Cleveland.

On the plus side, re: the first nurse, who is now in good condition:

Nina Pham was diagnosed with the virus over the weekend and remains isolated in good condition. Pham’s dog — a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Bentley — has been taken into custody and is being cared for at an undisclosed location.

There was a report that the hospital's vacuum tube system was used to send samples from the ebola patient. You don't need to google CDC guidelines to know that was probably the wrong thing to do.