Rants on ebola disinfection, the disease itself, handling of outbreak

kladner · 2014-10-19, 20:44

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...isited-dallas/

Quote:

An elementary school teacher in Maine has been placed on leave for 21 days, the incubation period of Ebola, after she visited Dallas to attend an educational conference. The teacher did not come into contact with anybody who had tested positive for the virus, but did stay at a hotel “exactly 9.5 miles away from Texas Health Presbyterian,” where Ebola patients have been treated.

EDIT: But then again, many are spreading paranoid terror for personal gain (of some perverse sort.)

George Will Spreads Misinformation About Ebola on Fox News
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...ge-will-ebola/

But do consider the source of, as well as the channel through which Will's slime is oozing.

Uncwilly · 2014-10-20, 00:30

Saw this and thought that it about sums up much of the media's reaction:
http://teamcoco.com/video/breaking-e...eatured-videos

This weekend I met someone from the region that is affected. When getting to know them they were shy to say what country their are from. I think that it is because the fear being shunned and branded as a carrier. They have been away from the area for months, so no big deal.

kladner · 2014-10-20, 00:47

That does an excellent simulation of media exploitation the situation. They obscure reality in favor of sensationalist endless-loop playback of, and excited commentary on inconsequential details.

Xyzzy · 2014-10-20, 02:00

http://www.accme.org/news-publicatio...es/ebola-facts

kladner · 2014-10-20, 02:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

http://www.accme.org/news-publicatio...es/ebola-facts

Thanks, Mike.

I have to say, those are some daunting protocols, even in this country. I cannot imagine being able to follow such requirements where basic medical supplies are hard to come by, and many health care workers have been lost to the disease.

I worked under isolation protocols in a cancer research hospital. The difference is, that isolation was for protection of immune-suppressed patients. The heavy suiting up only occurred in situations (rare) when it was necessary to physically enter a patient's room. Those working there changed into scrubs, put on hair covers, and put on shoe covers while stepping over the line marking the "clean zone" of the unit. You then immediately scrubbed. To pass anything, like meds to a patient, you pulled your mask up and gloved before handling anything patient-bound. You opened the upper part of a Dutch door and set the med cup across to the room side of the ledge. When the door opened, air blew in your face. This was laminar air flow to protect someone inside. This is reversed in contagion isolation, where you're trying to protect those outside.

Primeinator · 2014-10-20, 20:55

It is just crazy how quickly the media blows things out of proportion. Outlets here exploded the other week as "KU Medical Center treats Ebola patient" when it was pretty clear from the patient's clinical history that the risk of him actually having Ebola were pretty slim as the patient had been nowhere near the areas of Africa affected by the current outbreaks. In addition, his symptoms did not really match either. It ended up being a different tropical infection- probably typhoid as the patient had been treating typhoid patients before returning to the US.

Media version of a story: "Man viciously attacked outside his home by man-eating plant come alive is now being treated in local ICU."

What really happened: "Man trims roses bushes for neighbor elderly woman and accidentally cuts his thumb on a thorn. He is self-treating with a Band-aid."

kladner · 2014-10-20, 22:05

It's really simple.

Uncwilly · 2014-10-21, 00:21

More 'mericans have been married to Kim Kardasian than have died from ebola. I am not worried that either will happen to me.

ewmayer · 2014-10-21, 00:29

Re. the argument that much of the MSM is guilty of irresponsibly fanning unnecessary panic about the dangers of an Ebola pandemic. To be sure, there is likely no small amount of gratuitous “if it bleeds, it leads” oneupmanship at work there.

But — given the now-apparent woeful inadequacy of preparedness at both the leading-hospital and national-public-health level, it seems a bit of national panic is the only thing that will suffice to effect the needed changes.

So: would you rather we have our “pandemic panic wake-up call” now, when it seems that actually following existing pathogen-handling protocols – which very few major medical centers appear to actually have trained their staffs to do until now – looks like it will suffice to contain things, or later, when the inevitable “real deal” pandemic, the one with the “right mix” of ease of transmissibility and lethality folks like Laurie Garrett have been warning us about for decades, finally hits?

And I still wonder about things like: By this time next year, what percentage of medical staff at major “designated hospitals” (the ones alleged to be equipped to handle a patient like Duncan) will have had not only textbook training in isolation protocols, but actual practice putting on the needed gear and actually working something approaching a full shift while wearing it? Will such hands-on practice involve actual testing for efficacy, e.g. using harmless marker chemicals to test if a 100% seal was achieved and maintained? Will such training become a regular mandatory drill thing (say, at least once a year for all staff who might come into contact with a “hot patient”), or will it – as I suspect will happen – be a one-shot thing, and lapse afterward, as the inevitable complacency of human nature and profit-maximization of for-profit healthcare set in?

R.D. Silverman · 2014-10-22, 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by kladner

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...isited-dallas/

EDIT: But then again, many are spreading paranoid terror for personal gain (of some perverse sort.)

George Will Spreads Misinformation About Ebola on Fox News
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...ge-will-ebola/

But do consider the source of, as well as the channel through which Will's slime is oozing.

Did you hear the latest from Pat Robertson? He asserts that AIDS can be spread via contact with TOWELS.

R.D. Silverman · 2014-10-22, 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by kladner

Thanks, Mike.

I have to say, those are some daunting protocols, even in this country. I cannot imagine being able to follow such requirements where basic medical supplies are hard to come by, and many health care workers have been lost to the disease.

I worked under isolation protocols in a cancer research hospital. The difference is, that isolation was for protection of immune-suppressed patients. The heavy suiting up only occurred in situations (rare) when it was necessary to physically enter a patient's room. Those working there changed into scrubs, put on hair covers, and put on shoe covers while stepping over the line marking the "clean zone" of the unit. You then immediately scrubbed. To pass anything, like meds to a patient, you pulled your mask up and gloved before handling anything patient-bound. You opened the upper part of a Dutch door and set the med cup across to the room side of the ledge. When the door opened, air blew in your face. This was laminar air flow to protect someone inside. This is reversed in contagion isolation, where you're trying to protect those outside.

Yep. I've been in one. Isolation ward, that is. My neutrophil count dropped dramatically from chemo and
I was put in isolation. I was given immune system boosters and allowed to emerge after 2 days.

2014-10-20, 22:05	#7
kladner "Kieren" Jul 2011 In My Own Galaxy! 2²·43·59 Posts	How to tell if you've got the Big E It's really simple. Attached Thumbnails

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2014-10-20, 00:30	#2
Uncwilly 6809 > 6502 """"""""""""""""""" Aug 2003 101×103 Posts 29×317 Posts	Saw this and thought that it about sums up much of the media's reaction: http://teamcoco.com/video/breaking-e...eatured-videos This weekend I met someone from the region that is affected. When getting to know them they were shy to say what country their are from. I think that it is because the fear being shunned and branded as a carrier. They have been away from the area for months, so no big deal.

2014-10-20, 00:47	#3
kladner "Kieren" Jul 2011 In My Own Galaxy! 2²·43·59 Posts	That does an excellent simulation of media exploitation the situation. They obscure reality in favor of sensationalist endless-loop playback of, and excited commentary on inconsequential details.

2014-10-20, 02:00	#4
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 2·11·19² Posts	http://www.accme.org/news-publicatio...es/ebola-facts

2014-10-20, 20:55	#6
Primeinator "Kyle" Feb 2005 Somewhere near M50..sshh! 37E₁₆ Posts	It is just crazy how quickly the media blows things out of proportion. Outlets here exploded the other week as "KU Medical Center treats Ebola patient" when it was pretty clear from the patient's clinical history that the risk of him actually having Ebola were pretty slim as the patient had been nowhere near the areas of Africa affected by the current outbreaks. In addition, his symptoms did not really match either. It ended up being a different tropical infection- probably typhoid as the patient had been treating typhoid patients before returning to the US. Media version of a story: "Man viciously attacked outside his home by man-eating plant come alive is now being treated in local ICU." What really happened: "Man trims roses bushes for neighbor elderly woman and accidentally cuts his thumb on a thorn. He is self-treating with a Band-aid."

2014-10-21, 00:21	#8
Uncwilly 6809 > 6502 """"""""""""""""""" Aug 2003 101×103 Posts 29·317 Posts	More 'mericans have been married to Kim Kardasian than have died from ebola. I am not worried that either will happen to me.

2014-10-21, 00:29	#9
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 10110100111101₂ Posts	Re. the argument that much of the MSM is guilty of irresponsibly fanning unnecessary panic about the dangers of an Ebola pandemic. To be sure, there is likely no small amount of gratuitous “if it bleeds, it leads” oneupmanship at work there. But — given the now-apparent woeful inadequacy of preparedness at both the leading-hospital and national-public-health level, it seems a bit of national panic is the only thing that will suffice to effect the needed changes. So: would you rather we have our “pandemic panic wake-up call” now, when it seems that actually following existing pathogen-handling protocols – which very few major medical centers appear to actually have trained their staffs to do until now – looks like it will suffice to contain things, or later, when the inevitable “real deal” pandemic, the one with the “right mix” of ease of transmissibility and lethality folks like Laurie Garrett have been warning us about for decades, finally hits? And I still wonder about things like: By this time next year, what percentage of medical staff at major “designated hospitals” (the ones alleged to be equipped to handle a patient like Duncan) will have had not only textbook training in isolation protocols, but actual practice putting on the needed gear and actually working something approaching a full shift while wearing it? Will such hands-on practice involve actual testing for efficacy, e.g. using harmless marker chemicals to test if a 100% seal was achieved and maintained? Will such training become a regular mandatory drill thing (say, at least once a year for all staff who might come into contact with a “hot patient”), or will it – as I suspect will happen – be a one-shot thing, and lapse afterward, as the inevitable complacency of human nature and profit-maximization of for-profit healthcare set in?