Nebraska hospital prepares for new Ebola patient

[nitpicker]

Source: CNN

Nebraska hospital prepares for new Ebola patient

From Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent
updated 10:49 PM EST, Thu November 13, 2014

(CNN) -- A surgeon infected with Ebola will be transported from Sierra Leone to The Nebraska Medical Center for treatment, a U.S. government official familiar with the situation said. The doctor, a Sierra Leone national and legal permanent resident of the United States, is expected to arrive this weekend, most likely Saturday, the official said.

The official said it's not known whether the doctor was working in an Ebola treatment unit or some other type of hospital. The surgeon is married to a U.S. citizen and has children, the official said.
(snip)

In a statement Thursday night, a spokesman said the hospital is still awaiting official confirmation about whether it will treat another Ebola patient. First, hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson said, air ambulance crew members will evaluate the patient when they arrive in Sierra Leone.

"The members of the crew will determine whether the patient is stable enough for transport -- if he is, he would arrive in Omaha sometime Saturday afternoon," Wilson said in a written statement. "We will update you on the status of this patient as more information becomes available."
(snip)

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/13/health/nebraska-ebola-patient/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[bigdarryl]

1. Isn't it about time this country ban medical personnel from going over there working

I don't mean to be non caring for the suffering over there but this is getting ridiculous

[SheilaT]

2. Three, maybe four people who went there have been infected.

Of course we should ban medical personnel from going over there.

Really, are you out of your fucking mind?

[Warpy]

3. Yeah, like that's going to work.

Viruses know no borders, Slick. Ebola will be here from time to time as long as the huge outbreak is happening in western Africa or anywhere else. Brave medical people will volunteer to go over there and try to stop it, meaning they're actually doing something about it instead of pretending lines drawn on a map will protect them.

Your best hope is that medical professionals are refining their procedures to try to cure people who are sick with it while collecting data that will help research into drugs and eventually a vaccine. That's your best hope, right there, people who are brave enough to confront it in person.

Thinking you can legislate it away, wall it out or otherwise escape it is utterly boneheaded.

Just be grateful it's very hard to catch. You're much more likely to hit the lottery.

I hope the doctor has a speedy recovery. I also hope non medical people get over their panic, it's much deadlier than the disease is.

[bananas]

4. No - the exact opposite - we have to send a lot more medical personnel there to stop it.

There are two things we need to do:

1) Stop it at the source - which means sending a lot more medical personnel there.

2) Mandate proper equipment and policies at US hospitals.

[bananas]

5. Scientists predict 1 to 130 new US cases through December, can't predict next year.

For next year, "projections depend entirely on what happens in West Africa. One scenario is that the surge in assistance to the region brings the epidemic under control and cases peter out in the U.S. A second scenario involves Ebola spreading unchecked across international borders."

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2014-11-01-US-Ebola-How-Bad-Can-It-Get/id-e14a2808f4c24117b50df1bdcda81665

Nov. 1, 2014 10:27 AM ET
Scientists try to predict number of US Ebola cases
By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Top medical experts studying the spread of Ebola say the public should expect more cases to emerge in the United States by year's end as infected people arrive here from West Africa, including American doctors and nurses returning from the hot zone and people fleeing from the deadly disease.

<snip>

This week, several top infectious disease experts ran simulations for The Associated Press that predicted as few as one or two additional infections by the end of 2014 to a worst-case scenario of 130.

"I don't think there's going to be a huge outbreak here, no," said Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University's medical school. "However, as best we can tell right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a handful of cases."

<snip>

The foreseeable future extends only for the next few months. After that, projections depend entirely on what happens in West Africa. One scenario is that the surge in assistance to the region brings the epidemic under control and cases peter out in the U.S. A second scenario involves Ebola spreading unchecked across international borders.

"My worry is that the epidemic might spill into other countries in Africa or the Middle East, and then India or China. That could be a totally different story for everybody," Vespitnani said.

<snip>

[ColesCountyDem]

6. That is precisely the wrong thing to do.

The only way to stop this outbreak is for the Western world to send MORE medical personnel, equipment and medicines to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The lack of these things, combined with fear, are already causing people to flee the area, endangering an additional 15 border nations.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

7. Yes, you don't mean to be non-caring, but that's what it sounds like.

As of this time there is NO person in the US infected by Ebola. Why bring this up?

[karynnj]

8. No - If the epidemic is not contained in the areas it is now in, it will spread and be a MUCH

more difficult international problem. Consider what would have happened had the Reagan administration dealt with AIDS both in the US and in Africa. How many fewer lives would have been lost.

[jwirr]

9. So we just let this infectious disease continue to grow across the globe and think we are going to

be the country that is exempt? The only answer is to stop it in its tracks where it is at. And that means our volunteers help alongside the volunteers from the rest of the world. By the way no one single medical professional who has been brought back here has spread the disease. They have all been safely transported to specialized hospital units and given good care. What would really be ridiculous is that we just ignore this disease until it reaches every country in the world.

[uppityperson]

10. I have little to add beyond what others have said already except huge fail for this post

MORE are needed to stop the outbreak where it is happening. You may not mean to be non caring but that sure is what your post sounds like. Let the epidemic continue to spread, let thousands more get sick and die, ban medical personnel from helping to contain it because what? That'll keep us safe?

[KMOD]

11. I'm hoping for him to have a full recovery

Seems he is critical at this point.

"Although the patient’s exact condition won’t be available until doctors here evaluate him after he arrives, information coming from the team caring for him in Sierra Leone indicates he is critically ill – possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States," the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, said in a statement.

His evacuation was at the request of his wife, a U.S. citizen who lives in Maryland and who has agreed to reimburse the U.S. government for any expense, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/15/us-health-ebola-usa-surgeon-idUSKCN0IZ0DY20141115