Gotta sound off on this Ebola threat to the U.S. since we now definitively have the first Ebola case from Africa. There’s a lot of interesting facts to the way this poor mans initial and secondary examinations were handled, like why, when he walked into an emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on September 26, a nurse asked him about his recent travels while he was in the emergency room. The patient said he had traveled to Africa. BUT…that information was not fully communicated to the medical team. Great screening, folks. The man who had flown from Liberia to the United States about a week earlier, underwent basic blood tests, but not an Ebola screening, and was sent home with antibiotics. He was in contact, while infected, with his 5 kids and they all dispersed to several different schools. Two days later, on September 28, the man, still ill, returned to the facility where it was determined that he probably had Ebola. He was then isolated and he tested positive for the virus Tuesday. Here’s my real question so far largely unaddressed by medical professionals on the news. They discuss the practice of the airlines disinfecting seats, arm rests, pull-down trays on airplanes, etc., to “assure” people that even if those surfaces were touched by someone with Ebola, the virus would be rendered incapable to infect others by sanitization. So….what happens when an infected (yet asymptomatic) person sneezes or coughs on the plane? Airplanes use a recirculating air system, so when one passenger has the sniffles and sneezes in economy, those droplets will be transmitted right up to the pilot in the cockpit, which brings me to my point. I once read a pilot from a large commercial airline say that he always travels with his Neti Pot, sterilized water and saline solution. He stated that as soon as he touches down, he goes to the rest room in the airport and irrigates his nasal passages to lessen his chance of getting a cold or the flu from the other passengers sneezes and coughs. Hey....we are dealing with Ebola here....not the common cold, but the principle is the same, and I have YET to hear a health professional address the probability of the virus migrating through the plane via the recirculating air system and the possible consequences....how that contaminated air could infect others on the flight breathing the same recirculated air over and over again. Its a scary thought.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:37:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015