Monday, October 13, 2014

Ebola: Hospital mistakes blamed for US transmission

A US health chief has said a mistake was "clearly" made by hospital staff treating an Ebola victim in Texas, resulting in one member being infected.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that a female health worker tested positive for the deadly virus in Dallas.
CDC chief Dr Tom Frieden has promised a full inquiry into how the transmission could have occurred.
He said 48 other people who may also have had contact were being observed.
The health worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is now on an isolation ward and is said to be in a stable condition.
She had been treating Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, who caught the virus in his native Liberia and died on Wednesday.
The current Ebola outbreak, concentrated in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, has resulted in more than 8,300 confirmed and suspected cases, and at least 4,033 deaths.
In other developments
  • The health authorities in Sierra Leone say they are now treating more Ebola patients in the capital Freetown than in the eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun, where the first cases in the country were detected
  • European health officials investigating how a nurse in Madrid caught Ebola told the BBC they believe it was simply the result of an accident and the risks to the wider population remain very low
  • The UN special envoy on Ebola told the BBC the number of Ebola cases was currently increasing exponentially, but greater awareness would help contain the virus
Ebola patients treated outside West Africa*
Map showing Ebola cases treated outside West Africa
*In all cases but two, first in Madrid and later in Dallas, the patient was infected with Ebola while in West Africa.
'Clearly a breach' Dr Frieden said a full investigation would be conducted into how the infection had occurred.
"Clearly there was a breach in protocol," he told US broadcaster CBS.
 
The CDC investigation, he told reporters, would focus on possible breaches made during two "high-risk procedures", dialysis and respiratory intubation.
The health worker who was infected has not been able to identify a specific breach of protocol that might have led to her being infected, he said.
Dr Daniel Varga, of the Texas Health Resource, said she had worn a gown, gloves, mask and shield when providing care to Duncan during his second and final hospital admission.
Dr Frieden said education and training of health workers would be stepped up and efforts would be made to reduce the number of staff treating Ebola cases.
Police are guarding the apartment complex where the woman lives in Dallas as decontamination work is carried out.
Officials have been knocking on doors, making automated phone calls and passing out fliers to notify people within a four-street radius about the situation, while seeking to reassure local people.
No details of her identity or position at the hospital have been given, in accordance with family wishes.
Texas hospital where Ebola victim Thomas Duncan died, 9 October 2014 Duncan was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas
A police car stands outside the apartment complex of the infected health worker in Dallas, 12 October Police are guarding the home of the infected woman
A barrel labelled "biohazard" stands on a lawn outside the apartment complex of the infected health worker in Dallas, 12 October 
 A barrel labelled "biohazard" stands on a lawn outside the apartment complex of the infected health worker in Dallas
Staff in protective suits at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas, 8 October Staff at the Dallas hospital have been on alert for other cases after Thomas Duncan's death
US President Barack Obama speaks by phone from the White House to US Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell about the Ebola response, 12 October 
 US President Barack Obama discussed the Ebola response with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell by phone
Flight from Monrovia Duncan tested positive in Dallas on 30 September, 10 days after arriving on a flight from Monrovia via Brussels.
He had become ill a few days after arriving in the US, and went to the hospital in Dallas with a high fever.
line
But despite telling medical staff he had been in Liberia, he was sent home with painkillers and antibiotics. Duncan was later put into an isolation unit at the hospital but died despite being given an experimental drug.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. The virus is spread through contact with bodily fluids.

Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected
Ebola infograph
Source: WHO
Note: figures have occasionally been revised down as suspected or probable cases are found to be unrelated to Ebola. They do not include one death in the US recorded on 8 October.
line
How not to catch Ebola:
  • Avoid direct contact with sick patients
  • Wear goggles to protect eyes
  • Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated
  • People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months
Why Ebola is so dangerous
How Ebola attacks
Ebola: Mapping the outbreak
Tulip Mazumdar describes the protective measures taken by journalists covering the Ebola crisis
line
Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected
Ebola infograph


Source: WHO
  Note: figures have occasionally been revised down as suspected or probable cases are found to be unrelated to Ebola. They do not include one death in the US recorded on 8 October.
line
How not to catch Ebola:
  • Avoid direct contact with sick patients
  • Wear goggles to protect eyes
  • Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated
  • People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months
Why Ebola is so dangerous
How Ebola attacks
Ebola: Mapping the outbreak
line
Have you been affected by the Ebola outbreak? Do you think enough is being done where you live to fight the disease? Tell us your story. You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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