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Patient with Ebola symptoms moved from Braintree health center to Beth Israel
By adamg on Sun, 10/12/2014 - 3:35pm
UPDATE, 10:30 p.m. The Boston Public Health Commission says:
After discussions with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Boston Public Health Commission and its partners have determined that the patient being evaluated at BIDMC does not meet criteria to be considered someone at high risk for Ebola. The BPHC will continue to monitor this situation.
The Havard Vanguard health center in Braintree was shut this afternoon after a man who'd recently returned from Liberia showed up with possible Ebola symptoms.
In a statement, Harvard Vanguard said the man complained of headaches and muscle aches.
Out of an abundance of caution we immediately notified authorities and the patient was securely removed from the building and put into an ambulance now headed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The building was closed briefly but has now re-opened. We are working closely with the Department of Public Health who will determine next steps.
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Comments
Let's hope
this is a false alarm.
Hopefully
Seeing how early ebola symptoms are identical to the flu, malaria, dengue, and many other illnesses, odds are it's something else.
Hopefully.
Yes but
He'd recently been to Liberia.
Ok
So ebola is higher on the differential. Depending on what this person's symptoms were, still could be any number of things.
There isn't really a need to completely panic until tests come back.
There isn't a need to panic anyway
Ebola has spread in Africa because they don't have a health care system that can deal with it. Despite decades of HIV, universal precautions are still difficult to observe.
If you are afraid of getting sick, go get a flu shot, and make sure that your vaccines for whooping cough and measles are up to date.
Influenza kills more people in the US each and every year than the total number of deaths from Ebola anywhere ever.
https://www.verywell.com/deaths-from-flu-2633829
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/history/chronology.html
Think about that.
A little Perspective
More Americans have been dumped by Taylor Swift than have died from Ebola.
(Hat Tip Reddit)
Now see....?
Injecting a little sense into this is no fun! Why, over at the Herald, they seem to think Ebola is part of Obama's plan to destroy the United States!
You know, because Ebola-Ebonics and Obama's Kenyan heritage? You got that?
Got it
Just like they blamed him for the high price of oil because he is "anti business".
Now that gas has fallen thru the floor they are blaming him for being anti-business again because the fracking companies need high oil prices to make money.
I certainly hope you're right that there's no reason to worry
But how come a nurse in Texas ended up with ebola despite wearing protective gear and taking all the proper precautions? I've had the flu several times and it's never killed me, thank God. But if I were to get ebola I don't really like my chances half as much, at least from what I've heard about it.
Not "no reason"
Little reason. Our main concern should be containing the African outbreak.
I would bet money that the inquiry will turn up that the workers and hospital did not follow universal precautions. This is something they should do anyway because other viruses can be spread the same way, but people get complacent and develop bad habits and diseases then spread to workers.
When the Canadians were battling SARS, they had healthcare workers get sloppy about protection, and they got infected. They put monitors in place to call people out on not taking proper precautions, and to not let under protected people into the patient room, and they got their epidemic under control. http://www.safetymanagementeducation.com/en/data/files/download/Document...
I should have bet money
And, here we go - looks like that incompetent hospital that turned Mr. Duncan away at least once was also struggling with the universal precautions during intake and for several hours after: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/dallas-nurses-ebola_n_5989250.html
It's the beginning of the end
It's the beginning of the end of the World..
Well then,
Let's party like it's 1899!
Oh, that's fucking reassuring...
"Seeing how early ebola symptoms are identical to the flu, malaria, dengue, and many other illnesses, odds are it's something else. "
Look, I have as much compassion as the next guy (unless it's Swirrly, then I probably have a bit less...), but my call on the subject is simple.
This patient is 'returning from Liberia". OK, maybe. I don't trust the government and the establishment for shit.
Is he an American that just returned or is he a Liberian that jumped a plane because he had the money for a ticket and figured he needed it? That guy in Texas should have, by rights, died in Monrovia. I hate to be a hardass, but that is why we have friggin quarantines, to protect the country from vicious killers like hemmoragic (ya, sp) fever. CDC, your job is to do, well, 'Disease Control'. I don't give a damn about my salt intake and I don't care about some little fat fuck drinking 22 OZ Cokes. Stop ebola and enteroviruses. Oh, totally NOT polio, just the same family. Set your damn priorities.
One of the problems here is the government is just plain bullshitting us, telling us 'it can't happen here' now the US count is at three. For now. The CDC goes off on how difficult it is to get, then a care giver at the Texas hospital gets infected.
Fuck all the snark, I'm on the front lines. Let's see how long it takes for the City to run out of N95 masks...
Ha!
If it becomes epidemic, you think it's the government's fault? As if the government has some control over nature? That worked real well with AIDS, wouldn't you say? If it happens, it happens and there isn't a damn thing any of us can do about it.
Yup.
If it becomes epidemic, you think it's the government's fault?
The learned experts tell me it's not aerosoled. If that's a word. So, yup.
As if the government has some control over nature?
They have control over air travel.
That worked real well with AIDS, wouldn't you say?
No I wouldn't.
If it happens, it happens and there isn't a damn thing any of us can do about it.
Um, see Swirlly's comments. She has it all under control. Except for the bad lettuce. But at least they solved the mystery.
You are free to be a fool
You are also free to express your uninformed opinions.
You are also free to not bother finding examples, citations, epidemiologic studies, or surveillance data from CDC or WHO where the sorts of quarantines that you are so inexpertly suggesting did any good at all.
Good thing that "toxic ignorance" isn't a risk factor for Ebola, though. Then we would all really be in trouble.
But hey, what can the CDC possibly know about what works and what doesn't compared to some untrained commenter on the internet?
Oh, and "having compassion" is not the same as "making people feel better about their dangerously uninformed misconceptions".
BTW, here's some info on N95 masks: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490606
I'm just a fool...
You are also free to express your uninformed opinions.
Hey, I try. I'm just not really smart. But I do find it difficult to believe a damn thing the government says.
You are also free to not bother finding examples, citations, epidemiologic studies, or surveillance data from CDC or WHO where the sorts of quarantines that you are so inexpertly suggesting did any good at all.
Well, if the Texas guy wasn't allowed on an airplane (people lie, go figure) then the other health care provider would be Ebola negative right now. Oh, I was impressed with the clean-up. Power washing the stuff...
Good thing that "toxic ignorance" isn't a risk factor for Ebola, though. Then we would all really be in trouble.
The ad-hominem attack. Ignorance? I know a bit about it, but I'm just a layman muddling along.
But hey, what can the CDC possibly know about what works and what doesn't compared to some untrained commenter on the internet?
Um, they've done such a stellar job so far.
Oh, and "having compassion" is not the same as "making people feel better about their dangerously uninformed misconceptions".
I defer to your superior, um, everything.
BTW, here's some info on N95 masks: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490606
I already know about them. I was questioning wether there will be any around in a month. Wait till the flu season gets rolling. This place is going to be a three ring circus.
Perhaps an angry fool?
Get your mask and report back to us when the circus starts.
Yep
If you are so angry that the CDC isn't "doing their job" (which, by the way, they are doing an excellent job), maybe you should be angry that their funding has been cut over the last several years. Oh wait that would still mean trusting the government and since you have some irrational fear of experts that still wouldn't do anything.
No one is going to run out of N95 masks, as ebola is not airborne. This is not going to be a repeat of SARS because ebola is not a respiratory disease. And hey, with each "suspect" ebola case, we see our emergency planning at work, and so far that looks pretty good.
Are There
Any nude pics of you wearing one?
Link please!
Compassion...
What does "That guy in Texas should have, by rights, died in Monrovia" mean? He didn't have any symptoms when he left Liberia. And who gets to judge where other people have a right to die?
The news
needs to stop with reporting unconfirmed cases. Most of have been false, and it desensitizes people over time with all these false alarms. Eventually people will stop paying attention.
PS
Not knocking AdamG btw
Hard not to report
While I agree in theory, in practice it would be hard not to report this. Harvard-Vanguard was evacuated and briefly closed, which would start rumours flying anyway; and then the back entrance to BIDMC was a zoo this evening, with emergency services and HAZMAT-clad providers in clear view of the street. If the situation weren't reported, people would be asking questions anyway.
That having been said, there is absolutely no excuse for irresponsible reporting, such as the NECN bullshit described below. I wish we as a nation had any idea how to report on science and medicine in a clear, comprehensible, and appropriate fashion. The alarmist stuff they do does nothing to educate or raise awareness, it only causes fear; and that's fear makes people do bad, stupid things.
Alarmist
It pisses me off that NECN has chosen to illustrate this report with a file photo of workers in Africa carrying a body bag, just to amp up the scare factor.
Updated post
With statement from Harvard Vanguard.
Speaking of alarmist
CNN had a headline this week
EBOLA: The ISIS of Biological Agents.
Yet they wonder why nobody watches them any more!
No one from those countries
No one from those countries should be allowed to travel to the U.S. without a proper 21 day quarantine period. As well, only military and medical people should be allowed to travel there. This is too serious. Also, Media should not be allowed to go to those countries and return without a quarantine period. Just my opinion.
Just to be clear
We don't know that the guy has Ebola yet. There are a lot of other things that could cause headaches and muscle aches.
Boy
I can't wait for cold and flu season.. it's going to be hysteria
UMM
It's cold and flu season now....
and also
Ebola is only contagious through bodily fluids. He made it into isolation without having displayed vomiting or diarrhea, ect. So the risk of infection to others at who have had contact with him to this point is negligible.
Also I might add that the BU bio lab has clearance to work with Level 4 agents, so Ebola may already be in Boston.
Sweat
Sweat us a bodily fluid that can be left more easily.
Stop licking random people
If you are licking random people, stop and it won't be a problem.
Seriously - if you aren't a close family member of a victim or a caregiver or other physically close person (e.g. intimate partner or young child), this will not be an issue. To infect, those fluids have to reach a break in the skin or the mucous membranes found around your eyes, mouth and nose.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/09/12/346114454/how-do-you-ca...
http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S142.full
Meanwhile, one person coughing on an airplane can infect a substantial number of passengers with influenza: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/7/10-1135_article
Here's a wonderful graphic on disease transmission rates for a number of diseases (hint: Ebola is pretty far down the list)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-co...
check out latest cdc website on transmission
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/qas.html.
Nigeria
Nigeria has managed to clamp down on the spread of ebola there with a healthcare system very many rungs below the one we have here, with millions living in slums with little sanitation so counterpoint - you're being paranoid.
The same people
Who were stocking up on "doomsday seeds" back in 08 are the ones who will be panicking again.
Maybe I can head to Home Depot and pick up some garden seeds for a buck or two and package them as Ebola Survivor Seeds. I can charge $99 just like the doomsday seed hucksters.
I wonder how much Glen Beck charges as spokesman?
That doesn't work
People will travel over land to get to non-quarantine countries and fly out from there. Or fly to another country and continue their journey. If they are infected, they will spread the virus further.
That trick never works.
True, but nothing else seems
True, but nothing else seems to work and it will make people feel better. Look at the response in the US. We now have the very astute, highly trained members of the TSA taking the temperatures of arriving passengers (in addition to confiscating cupcakes).
Experts (yes look it up) say that this is a meaningless gesture that will not identify anyone stricken with ebola. But it makes people feel better thinking that we are doing something. This goodness will allow the masses to return to their shopping malls, their myspace.com's, and Amanda Bynes psych watch.
\\ I for one welcome our viral overlords.
MySpace?
Um okay..........
(Slowly backs out the room)
Thanks Swirl
yeah I agree. It won't help it and won't stop it. TIME Magazine did an article about how closing the borders and stopping flights from Africa would hurt it.
It's a silly idea that just won't work and will just make matters worse.
On a side note, this 'solution' keeps getting brought up in comments sections under news stories. Along with 80-million other stupid ideas.. I'm in more fear how irrational people have been about this and their 'thoughts' than the actual virus itself. Sad, I fear the idiots more than I do the virus. I've gotten to the point where I cringe reading the comments section (and facebook posts) about it because people have just gone from stupid to stupider about it.
I hate to tell ya folks, you're gonna die. I guarantee it. It may not be Ebola right now, but you will eventually die.
Yep
Less irrational fears for me are dying of a secondary pneumonia or ARDS after getting a cold or flu bug on the MBTA or contracting Legionella in some hotel while travelling abroad because of an ill-maintained hot water system.
That second one was a concern when I was at an international conference and everyone started getting some upper respiratory crud ... and then there was that Mexico conference where we traced the stomach bug outbreak to the cucumber soup on Thursday lunch.
Us card-carrying epidemiologists can totally freak ourselves out rather easily ... but then we collect data, or consult the literature for information, and everyone calms down.
But if it saves the life of
But if it saves the life of just one child...!!!
*high five*
For my fellow card-carrying epidemiologist. :)
Over land?
Last time i checked we didn't have bike paths going to Africa.
That's like saying it's
That's like saying it's better to NOT lock the doors to your house because burglars will break into your neighbors' houses if they don't have easy access to yours.
Not really
More like saying that even if you lock the doors, a burglar may find the key when he robs your neighbor's house - or under that rock out front.
Not sure why it means to not lock the door
Closing borders - or locking the house - will not stop all people trying to escape. But less we're playing the game where even one is too many, then the more hurdles is preferable. It will reduce from anyone who chooses to come to the subset who chooses to come and was able to make the travel overland (or able to find the key under the rock).
By that reasoning, this means we should cut off flights to infected countries. They may travel over land to a country that does allow, that still means less will be able to pull it off.
I'm currently not too worried about Ebola killing off me and everyone I know. But I can't agree to dismiss such actions like not allowing flights - at least on the reasoning you gave.
How about countries with flu? Or measles?
Would you support the same restrictions on travel to countries where there is influenza and measles?
If not, why not?
good to look at cdc website
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/qas.html
Post updated with statement by public-health officials
Probably not Ebola, they say.
No
It is saying that it doesn't work.
What?
What doesn't work? Where are you getting that inference?
Adam's interpretation is correct, cause that's what the statement says.