Another Ebola case in Texas

[BarrelofHobos 20]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0I40UE20141015

(Reuters) - A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said on Wednesday.

At least 4,447 people have died in West Africa in the worst Ebola outbreak on record, but cases in the United States and Europe have been limited. The virus can cause fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea, and spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

In Dallas, the worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, the state health department said.

"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," it said in a statement.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at an early morning news conference on Wednesday the second infected nurse lived alone and had no pets. He said local health officials moved quickly to clean affected areas involving the second nurse and to alert her neighbors and friends.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is doing everything it can to contain the virus, said Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources, which owns the hospital. "I don't think we have a systematic institutional problem," he said.

At the same news conference, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the county's chief political officer, said authorities are anticipating additional possible Ebola cases.

"We are preparing contingencies for more, and that is a very real possibility," Jenkins said.

Another nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, was the first person to have been infected by Ebola in the United States, and was diagnosed this weekend. She had cared for Duncan during much of his 11 days in hospital. He died in an isolation ward on Oct. 8.

The hospital said on Tuesday that Pham was "in good condition".

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that it was performing confirmation testing of Texas' preliminary tests on the new patient.

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said on Tuesday the agency was establishing a rapid-response team to help hospitals "hands on, within hours" whenever there is a confirmed case of Ebola.

Frieden has come under pressure over the response and preparedness for Ebola, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said U.S. President Barack Obama is confident of Frieden's ability to lead the public health effort.

Just in time for Halloween! Thoughts on the upcoming zombie apocalypse?

[Mentch 42]

I live in Dallas and people won't shut up about it. Everyone is either freaking out about it or making extremely unfunny jokes about how they have it (or don't have it). People need to shut up and leave it alone. You have an exponentially higher rate of dying of the flu on a daily basis than you do of ever contracting Ebola. There's a much higher chance of getting struck by lightning twice in the same spot than getting Ebola. And yet, people freak out when they see people at businesses wearing gloves to protect themselves and everyone around them. They're all thinking "wtf is wrong with them, what do they have?" It's gotten completely ridiculous and out of hand and people on Facebook and Twitter won't shut up about it or stop referencing articles that "there were 80 outbreaks last Tuesday". Funny thing is almost none of them know that just about all the articles they're posting are either fake or satirical

 

 

I don't care about Ebola at all and people need to stop making it out to be a lot worse than it is. Now AIDS, that's what they should be concerned about. That's a fucking problem

[Bucman 891]

Someone who visited Akron, Ohio had it and traveled out of Cleveland Hopkins airport. RIP Durst and Cuda.