why worry about ebola?

Ebola- Should We Care More?

doubt if this will be much use against anything but honeybees

     I am not a health expert and warn you ahead of time these are purely my thoughts on the disease and how it affects me. Then again the CDC- Center for Disease Control and their expert staff seem to be a bit wishy washy in setting guidelines and informing the public, instead we have to glean what we need to know from the newswires, and infer the rest. Personally I am going to take some safeguards to prevent my exposure to this disease. I have a fair understanding of medical procedures and the protocol involved with a disease such as this. Has the CDC up to this point taken the right steps in my opinion and can they do more? I will attempt to answer these questions and define the steps I am going to take to avoid the disease.

     Ebola seems to be a disease we are still learning from, and until we know all the answers I feel we need to take preventative steps to assure the majority of the population here in the United States and other areas affected by the disease have a chance of defeating it in its tracks. My understanding is that it can only be passed to another human through direct contact with fluids from an infected patient. People have normally been infected through direct contact with vomit and sputum from an infected patient, also this could also be from direct contact with blood. Blood loss doesn’t always appear as a major symptom of Ebola in some patients. Somehow a person must come in contact with the bodily fluids to become a victim to the disease according to the CDC. Protocol suggests that isolating the disease and confining the patients, and implementing a no contact order requiring full face masks, respirators, and full body suit along with decontamination procedures to assure the disease stays in place with the host patient, and anyone that has a prior history of contact, or care of the patient afflicted with the Ebola disease. This is going to be an expensive disease from the standpoint of what it costs in assuring the care staff remains unaffected by the disease they are trying to treat.

     My problem is the person who was treating the first patient who entered the United States and has died as a result of that disease. Were the safety procedures in place adequate to provide the care needed safely for the care giver to also protect themselves from that same disease? Apparently not. Had it been, the disease would have stopped at the host person and not transferred to the care giver. The CDC claims that the hospital failed to follow protocol without any real investigation before pointing fingers. Is it possible the standards set are not adequate? I would say they must not be, as I doubt the caregiver in this instance understood the severity of the disease and without fail sure would have followed protocol understanding the consequences to them. Who wants to die in such an apparent ugly way?  

    I feel that it may be an incorrect filter on the masks to limit air drops excreted by the host patient, or the droplet are allowed to accumulate on the filter face, or was it exposure to the eyes, where the disease could also enter another body quite readily. Was the patient restrained, and if not was their convulsions and body wrenching allowed to expose the care giver to a breach of their safety equipment. A possible tear in the suit or the face shield ripped off by the sick patient allowing the care giver to be exposed to fluids. Still considering all the protocol involving isolation procedures we must be looking at an exceptionally viral disease where we can afford to take no chances.

     Also wondering if the fact that Africans have lived in the presence of the disease for quite a while and may have built some immunity up to the particular strain , where as we in the United States have no immunity to it as we have no known occurrence of the disease in the U.S. prior to the Dallas case. I am wondering if we who live in this sterile environment we have created would not be more susceptible to the disease than any African national from the area affected by Ebola. Should we take additional steps to assure our safety?

    Personally I am going to find out all I can about this disease from a multitude of sources hoping to glean information from wherever including non-traditional sources like survival sites as you never know what is true and what isn’t. I think there is an air transmission of the disease and that the CDC is downplaying that possibility. Trying to not stir controversy and prevent panic as people who fly in planes would be especially vulnerable to being a recipient of the disease. This would require a certain perfect storm of events but as in the case of the care giver being susceptible despite all the safety precautions, I would say that being in a confined space and sharing the air with a contagious person would be enough to trigger that perfect storm of events.

    You can do as you please but I personally refuse to fly until all this is sorted out. Although the CDC is monitoring any person who came in contact with the Dallas man, these same people have subsequently been in contact with others. I also refuse to visit the Dallas area, and will probably restrict travel altogether for a while, or at least thirty days to see how many more cases come to light as we are still in the early stages of this outbreak, and would suggest anyone else to do the same especially by air travel regardless of where I live in the U.S..  It is a small inconvenience to ask of all, but may be necessary to stop the spread of Ebola. Why take a chance on something even our government isn’t sure of yet as their story is constantly changing, only to the worse possible scenario.

    To think that we are safe and that everything will be fine is kind of like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand to avoid seeing the threat that is out there. It’s too late once you have Ebola to hope for a positive treatment where you live and you will be fine. This could easily overwhelm our local hospitals and I am afraid to say, we may see an exodus of hospital personnel who would know better than anyone else, they are going to be on the frontline to also be infected and may just say the heck with that and quit . This would result in a tragic shortage of personnel to keep a handle on the outbreak.

      So in summing up what I think we all should do to help prevent the disease in five easy steps to assure we remain safe here in our part of the country:

1.      Avoid travelling in airplanes with shared ventilation systems.

2.      Avoid travelling to areas of known infection

3.      Keep yourself informed by a variety of sources. Don’t rely on one news source to provide an unbiased reporting of the spread of Ebola as a disease.

4.      Be suspicious of any signs of disease appearing in those you come in contact with, if you know they are travelling by air or visiting affected areas.

5.      If we can make thirty days without any new occurrence of the disease we may be safe here in the U.S. otherwise be vigilant in keeping yourself informed of how Ebola is progressing here at home.

     I am not writing this as a scare tactic, instead would hope that I make people aware of a really severe threat to our health here at home. We have the ability to prevent or arrest this disease in its early stages by being aware individually of what it means to the safety of all. I just ask you consider what I have said and maybe it may make a difference in our little part of our world.