Ebola In Your Town: What's The Plan?

Photo: A microscopic view of the Ebola virus. Image via Shutterstock.

By Patch Staff

This week, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States: Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, was diagnosed with the virus in Dallas, Texas.

Within a few days, Texas officials announced that up to 100 people may have been put at risk for Ebola exposure through contact with Duncan or those near him, in part because health workers missed chances to connect Duncan’s symptoms with his recent trip to West Africa.

The rapid response included a team of interviewers and health professionals who tracked down and checked up on Duncan’s contacts, a process that underscored the seriousness of the highly infectious virus that spreads exponentially, has already killed thousands of people in West Africa and has put millions more at risk.

Related: Liberians Urge Americans to Shed Complacency About Ebola

The response also highlighted the enormity of resources needed to at least contain the virus while raising questions about the ability of health facilities around the United States, particularly those in less-populated pockets of the country, to identify, isolate, treat and research symptomatic patients.

“The level of outbreak is beyond anything we’ve seen — or even imagined,” said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, after returning from Africa last month, later adding this prophetic warning: “For every day that this continues to spread in West Africa, the likelihood of someone getting infected and transmitting it elsewhere increases.”

Do you think Ebola is a serious health risk in the United States? Do you feel that your local health care organizations and hospitals would be prepared in the event of an outbreak? Let us know in the comments below.

William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, told The Daily Briefing that almost every U.S. hospital has emergency plans in place to tackle potential cases of Ebola. Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, for example, has been preparing for the disease for two months. Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla. has been preparing for the possibility of an Ebola patient for a couple of months now and have a hospital task force led by the epidemiologist and chief nursing officer and is made up of a cross section of hospital departments, according to Kim Savage, the hospital’s communications director.

The problem: that risk is minimized only when procedures are followed, and the Texas case illustrated the inherent difficulty of treating a “new” health hazard.

When Duncan was first taken to the hospital — when he was contagious — CDC protocols were not followed, and he was sent home, undiagnosed but contagious, The Times reported.

“It was a mistake. They dropped the ball,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the paper. “You don’t want to pile on them, but hopefully this will never happen again. ... The CDC has been vigorously emphasizing the need for a travel history.”

The CDC dispatched a nine-person epidemiology team to Texas to contain the disease, Time Magazine reports. The procedure to contain the disease is extremely labor-intensive and includes close monitoring and interviewing those who may have come in contact with the patient.

In this case, that includes Duncan’s immediate family members who have been given a strict public health control officer legally compelling them to stay at home until Oct. 19, the date marking the end of the incubation period.

Ebola, a non-airborne virus, is spread through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. Multiple news organizations have reported that people should not worry about an outbreak in the U.S. following news of Duncan’s diagnosis.

According to the CDC, Ebola, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare and deadly disease caused by one of the Ebola virus strains, which can cause disease in humans and nonhuman primates.

Despite the disease being non-airborne, other viruses that are spread in similar ways have infected hundreds of people in short amounts of time.

In March 2014, Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey experienced a stomach virus outbreak that rapidly affected over 300 students and teachers, which was about 20 percent of the school’s population, according to Pix 11.

Similarly, hundreds of students from Princeton University and nearby colleges in Mercer County, New Jersey contracted norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal illnesses, in February 2012.

At the peak of norovirus, about 400 students from Princeton University, Rider University, The College of New Jersey and Mercer County Community College reported norovirus symptoms, NJ.com reported.

Andrew Price-Smith, Director of the Global Health Program in Colorado Springs told ABC Affiliate KOAA in Colorado Springs that he expects to see a few more cases in Texas but is confident the federal government will lock it down and doesn’t see the disease spreading outside of Dallas.

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According to the CDC, the signs and symptoms of Ebola include:

• Fever (greater than 38.6°C or 101.5°F)
• Severe headache
• Muscle pain
• Weakness
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal (stomach) pain
• Unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)
• 2 to 10 days after exposure

Tips to Protect Yourself:

• Wash hands frequently or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Avoid contact with blood and body fluids of any person, particularly someone who is sick
• Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids
• Do not touch the body of someone who has died from Ebola
• Do not touch bats and nonhuman primates or their blood and fluids and do not touch or eat raw meat prepared from these animals
• Avoid hospitals where Ebola patients are being treated. The U.S. Embassy or consulate is often able to provide advice on medical facilities

Matt Ford, Feroze Dhanoa, Yvanna Saint-Fort, Paige McAtee and Caitlyn Fitzpatrick contributed reporting to this story.