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News breaking in Dallas - "The day before she went to the hospital with Ebola symptoms, a Dallas nurse was flying halfway across the country on a commercial jet with 132 other people."
News breaking in Amarillo. "A patient showing ebola-like symptoms was isolated at Baptist Saint Anthony's Hospital." The patient was later confirmed to NOT have ebola.
Ebola.
With the flu season edging and symptoms on the rise, the outbreak of ebola is now causing feverish fear.
Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding. The disease, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever or Ebola virus, kills up to 90% of people who are infected.
According to Frieden, MD, director of the CDC, "Ebola is scary. It's deadly. It's unfamiliar. With concerns on the rise, basic information on the disease has been compiled to reveal FACT.
How Do You Get Ebola?
Ebola isn't as contagious as more common viruses like colds, influenza, or measles. It spreads to people by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, like a monkey, chimp, or fruit bat. Then it moves from person to person the same way. Those who care for a sick person or bury someone who has died from the disease often get it. Other ways to get Ebola include touching contaminated needles or surfaces. You can't get Ebola from air, water, or food. A person who has Ebola but has no symptoms can't spread the disease, either.
What Are the Symptoms of Ebola?
Early on, Ebola can feel like the flu or other illnesses. Symptoms show up 2 to 21 days after infection and usually include:
High fever
Headache
Joint and muscle aches
Sore throat
Weakness
Stomach pain
Lack of appetite
As the disease gets worse, it causes bleeding inside the body, as well as from the eyes, ears, and nose. Some people will vomit or cough up blood, have bloody diarrhea, and get a rash.
How Is Ebola Diagnosed?
Sometimes it's hard to tell if a person has Ebola from the symptoms alone. Doctors may test to rule out other diseases like cholera or malaria. Tests of blood and tissues also can diagnose Ebola.
If you have Ebola, you'll be isolated from the public immediately to prevent the spread.
How Is Ebola Treated?
There's no cure for Ebola, though researchers are working on it. Treatment includes an experimental serum that destroys infected cells.
Doctors manage the symptoms of Ebola with:
Fluids and electrolytes
Oxygen
Blood pressure medication
Blood transfusions
Treatment for other infections
How Can You Prevent Ebola?
There's no vaccine to prevent Ebola. The best way to avoid catching the disease is by not traveling to areas where the virus is found.
Health care workers can prevent infection by wearing masks, gloves, and goggles whenever they come into contact with people who may have Ebola. Those caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus should apply extra infection control measures to prevent contact with the patient's blood and body fluids and contaminated surfaces or materials such as clothing and bedding. When in close contact (within 1 metre) of patients with EBV, health-care workers should wear face protection (a face shield or a medical mask and goggles), a clean, non-sterile long-sleeved gown, and gloves (sterile gloves for some procedures).
Laboratory workers are also at risk. Samples taken from humans and animals for investigation of Ebola infection should be handled by trained staff and processed in suitably equipped laboratories.
According to a nurse working in an Amarillo-based dialysis center, wishing to remain anonymous, "We received a memo today advising all nurses to be aware and to be vigilant with hand washing. The general public needs to be aware that it is out there but there is really no need for mass hysteria that the media is seemingly creating. Wash your hands and don't travel to West Africa - at the very least, try not be in confined spaces with people who have traveled there," she states. "Washing your hands is the SINGLE most important part of keeping yourself healthy!" National Notes: Frieden states, the fact is the single most important thing we can do to protect people in this country and all around the world from Ebola, is to stop it at the source in Africa. That's why we surged. In just two weeks, we put 50 staff on the ground, in the four affected countries. We're helping them to do a better job, finding, isolating and stopping the outbreak, because that can be done. We've stopped all previous outbreaks; we'll stop this one too. Of course, if you've traveled to one of the places where Ebola is spreading and you develop a fever, then of course you need to be seen promptly, you need to tell your health care workers, a healthcare provider, that you have been in that area, you may have been exposed, so you can be safely treated and rapidly tested."
He says the key is the travel history. To be very clear about where you've been and when. If you were in Sierra Leone, Guinea and/or Liberia within the past 21 days, then if you have a fever or nausea or vomiting, you should be assessed and assessed carefully.
The FDA gives assurance that it has been working behind the scenes and in conjunction with the World Health Organization to help with the Ebola crisis. "Basically the problem that we all have is that diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for Ebola are all in the investigational stage. However, we are also are very interested in making sure as we provide access to these investigational products, that we also gather evidence so that we understand how they work, and then they can be made more widely available.
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