Ebola patient improving significantly, Med Center official says

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Rick Ruggles / World-Herald staff writer

The Nebraska Medical Center biocontainment team feels for the Dallas nurse who has contracted Ebola, but exudes confidence in its own processes, the nursing director of that unit said at a Monday Q&A with reporters.

The 40 staffers of the 10-bed biocontainment unit feel safe and confident about their protocols and procedures, said Shelly Schwedhelm.

"We have had no moments of freak-out whatsoever," she said.

FULL short story at link.


Read more: http://www.livewellnebraska.com/ebola/ebola-patient-improving-significantly-med-center-official-says/article_c76696f0-5302-11e4-af42-001a4bcf6878.html

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Also see this post: Nebraska doctor writes about treating Ebola – 'the Super Bowl of infectious diseases': http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025662107

[Yo_Mama]

1. Maybe brincidofovir?

Because this seems a different clinical course?

I hope the Dallas nurse is getting it.

[femmocrat]

2. I hope they send her to Omaha.

Is she being treated at that same Dallas hospital?

[LisaL]

7. Her condition is stable. She recieved transfusion from Dr. Brantly.

Hopefully it stays that way.

[LisaL]

6. He also got a transfusion from Dr. Brantly.

So it's hard to say if brincidfovir made a difference for him.
This drug, while might be wonderful, was not designed for Ebola and didn't even go into animal trials for treatment of Ebola.
The only place it showed activity against Ebola is a test tube.
But that doesn't always translate into being useful in actual treatment of disease.

[Yo_Mama]

8. I know, but the transfusions are hardly proven either

It's all just theory and hope.

Maybe this guy got a very small initial exposure, which should help. Maybe his body is just particularly good at fighting it. Still, it's good news.

Reading between the lines, there's been a procedure change at CDC for testing suspected patients:
http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2014/08/21/us-hospitals-have-reported-68-suspected-cases-of-ebola

Since then, hospitals in 27 states have alerted CDC of possible cases. Of the 68 reported scares:

58 were deemed "false alarms" by the CDC;
Seven involved blood samples sent to the CDC that were tested and found negative for virus; and
Three involved blood samples sent to the CDC that were tested and the results are pending.

One of the pending cases involves a patient at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Sacramento who has been isolated in a negative pressure room while officials await blood test results. Another patient at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque has been isolated after suffering Ebola-like symptoms following a trip to Sierra Leone.

How the health system would respond if Ebola spread on U.S. soil

To determine whether an Ebola scare needs to be investigated, CDC first speaks with someone familiar with the patient's history to determine whether he or she needs to be blood tested, according to agency spokesperson Kristen Nordlund.

"If somebody had traveled to Guinea and came back and had a fever and has never been to a place where Ebola is transmitted, there's no reason to suspect there's Ebola just because Ebola is circulating in Guinea," says Nordlund, adding CDC takes suspected cases seriously but has to weed out some cases.

Which is good, but accounts for all the negative tests reported in the headlines.

[LisaL]

9. Yes, we don't know why exactly he is recovering.

[drray23]

3. they should just

Move all patients to those lvl4 facilities. Nebraska and emory. Both have 100 % success rate with no contagion of the staff.

[kestrel91316]

4. I'm starting to think that at least THAT hospital in Dallas is not up to the task.

They haven't trained their staff properly, or their staff is too lazy to bother doing things precisely as they've been taught.

[Yo_Mama]

5. LAZY?

Drink the coffee and wake up - no one is LAZY when you know you are dealing with something that could kill you. Nurses, who come into actual contact with patients far more intensively than doctors, are much more likely to contract infections from patients. They know this.

They aren't LAZY. In many hospitals they are OVERWORKED, and may have to choose between perfect procedure and not getting to patients who need care. But they aren't lazy.

They weren't just careless. They certainly don't have the same gear, facilities, training and staffing as they do in the hospitals that are specially set up to do this. The dedicated manpower devoted to caring for a patient in Emory or Nebraska just isn't available in a normal hospital.

[yellowcanine]

10. Really a statement based on ignorance. Nice blaming of hard working nurses and doctors.

Anyone who implies that a nurse who takes care of an Ebola patient is lazy truly is clueless.

All it takes is for a person to touch their face at the wrong time in the process of taking off protective gear. This is human nature. Yes, proper training can overcome this but it is a lot to expect that there won't be some breaches of protocol, particularly in the beginning.