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As many commentators undoubtedly will say, additional cases are to be expected. However, it's a problem that both in Texas and Spain, the people infected have b
by oskarth 12y ago
As many commentators undoubtedly will say, additional cases are to be expected. However, it's a problem that both in Texas and Spain, the people infected have been health workers. Health workers that are supposedly well-protected and well-informed about Ebola specifically (at least the spanish nurse was, it's not clear in this case yet).
Now it's true that there are more bodily fluids in a hospital than outside, but given all the protection and procedures, is the difference so big that a health worker is at a much bigger risk than a person who happen to sit next to someone infected on a bus?
There are two cases as I see it. Either it's likely that other people, non-health workers, have been infected. We just don't know about it yet, or it has been decided that it's not in the public's interest to know. Or the protective measures are so bad, the disease so misunderstood or hard to protect against, that health workers effectively can't protect themselves against the risk.
Either case, it's a big problem. In the west too.
- Retric 12y ago"It is not clear whether the health worker who tested positive came into contact with Mr Duncan when he first showed possible symptoms or when he was re-admitted to hospital." I suspect they where infected before Duncan was known to have Ebola. There are two ways to suppress transmission, treat everyone as if they where infectious or isolate people before they become infectious. Unfortunatly it's simply a numbers game on average does someone infect more or less than 1 person.
- tsotha 12y agoYou suspect, but you don't know. The Spanish nurse was infected while she was treating a patient known to have Ebola. Regardless, one thing is clear - this strain of Ebola is far more contagious than earlier strains, and it still falls about in the middle of the normal range in terms of lethality (20% - 80%). If this genie gets out of the bottle it's going to be really bad. EDIT: At the press conference they said the person was wearing protective gear in all contact with the patient, which seems to me like it would have to be after he tested positive.
- Retric 12y agoSo far there have been 3 US patients that have infected 1 person that's bad, but no real reason to panic. The real risk is if the number of new infections is greater than the number of existing cases.
- tsotha 12y agoThere has to be a middle ground between the blasé attitude US authorities are taking and panic.
- girvo 12y agoWhat makes you think it's blasé? I'm not an American, but from what I've seen from here in Australia your government appears to be taking it seriously, and straddling that middle ground rather well.
- steveklabnik 12y agoMy understanding was that she was infected from touching her eyes shortly after decontamination. I've had really bad allergies for the past few weeks, and have involuntarily rubbed my eyes so many times in that period, I empathize with this a lot. This was said a few comments up: > Health workers that are supposedly well-protected and well-informed about Ebola specifically (at least the spanish nurse was, it's not clear in this case yet). Humans are fallible. I do stuff that I intellectually know is stupid all the time, and those are conscious decisions, not even borderline-reflexive ones like touching your face if there's a random itch.
- tomjen3 12y agoI do stupidish things too - but I don't work with _ebola_.
- eterm 12y agoFrom the article, "But despite telling medical staff he had been in Liberia, he was sent home with painkillers and antibiotics." I think it's probably a fair suspicion in this case.