EBOLA. IN USA. .....Frieden says it’s possible, although not very many people would be at risk. “It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual … could develop Ebola in the coming weeks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here, Frieden said. Frieden has been clear that no one on the flight to the united States would have been at risk because the patient wasn’t sick yet when he flew. The patient had been staying with family and not at a hotel, and in the affected countries in West Africa, family members, caregivers and health care workers who tend to patients have the highest risk of infection. “We have identified all the people who could have had contact with the patient while he was infectious,” Frieden said. “It is only someone who is sick with Ebola who can spread the disease.” advertisement And Ebola only spreads in bodily fluids, not in the air. “Ebola is a virus. It’s a virus that is easy to kill by washing your hands. It’s easy to stop by using gloves and barrier precautions,” Frieden said. “The issue is not that Ebola is highly infectious. The issue with Ebola is that the stakes are so high. People are infectious with Ebola when they are sick.” How did he get infected? CDC and Texas health officials are not giving details about the patient. But he would have to have been in close contact with someone who was sick with or died from Ebola in Liberia. Ebola spreads in bodily fluids such as blood, vomit or diarrhea. And those fluids have to get inside your body through the mouth, eyes or nose, or in a cut or via a needle stick. The virus doesn’t spread in the air and it cannot persist on surfaces like flu viruses can. How long until were sure its not spreading? Anyone who might have had direct contact with the patient after he started feeling sick — family members and health care workers, for example — will be watched for 21 days to make sure they don’t start to develop a fever or other symptoms. If they do, they’ll be immediately isolated and tested to make sure they don’t infect anyone else. People at highest risk will be asked to take their temperatures at least once a day. The Dallas mayors office says the EMS crew members who transported the patient have been quarantined, just to be safe. People infected with Ebola usually start to show symptoms within about eight days, but the longest known incubation period is 21 days. No one is known to have developed Ebola infection after that long a time. advertisement Ebola’s been around for decades and doctors understand it pretty well. People do not infect others after they get better, and they do not seem to always be particularly infectious early on in the disease — when they first get a fever, for example. The virus has to build up in the body. The most infectious people are those just about to die or who have just died, which is why burying Ebola victims is especially dangerous. Frieden said the patient left Liberia on an overnight flight Sept. 19. Frieden says theres no chance he could have infected anybody on the flight because he would have been checked for fever before leaving Liberia and also when he arrived in the United States. Can we be sure this won’t set off an epidemic in the U.S.? Doctors are confident that Ebola cannot spread far in the U.S. People with Ebola get very sick very fast and it’s difficult to conceal, so they will almost certainly seek medical care. Hospitals and clinics know to look for the symptoms and staffers will take the right precautions right away — isolating the patient, wearing gloves, gown and mask and disposing of any potentially infected materials properly.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 03:45:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015