Another ebola goof, imho

[CathyA]

I just heard on the news that a doc who was treating ebola patients in Africa came back to NYC 10 days ago and didn't self quarantine and now he's in hospital with 103 fever. He rode a cab last night to a bowling alley. What the heck is wrong with these medical people??? They have no sense. And why wasn't he put in quarantine?

[bae]

What is the protocol for quarantine when working with Ebola patients?

I work with patients with Hepatitis, AIDS, and all sorts of fluid-transmittable things and I don't have to quarantine as a regular thing, only if there are boo-boos.

[bae]

Here they are:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/inf...endations.html

Did this doc violate those guidelines?

[CathyA]

It's called common sense!

[jp1]

What's called common sense? Following the guidelines and if a booboo happens then self quarantining? Yes, I'd agree that that's common sense. Expecting every medical professional to assume that they have exposed themselves despite following the guidelines is not.

[Packy]

Let's face it: If you had been exposed to Ebola, would you rather sit home & wait for the onset of the disease, and the likelihood of a gruesome death; or would you rather go out and eat pizza(sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, piled high with mozzzzerelllly Cheeeeese) and do some Bowling? Easy choice, right?

[bae]

It's called common sense!

So, every time we respond to a patient with a fluid-borne disease, we should ignore the established protocols, and just quarantine ourselves, the ambulance, the chopper, the trauma center, the hospital, the .... - because of "common sense"???

[CathyA]

Oh Bae..........yes, we know over and over that you work with AIDS, hepatitis, leprosy, burlap rickedy poopus, etc., etc.

And yes, I AM saying that it IS common sense if someone has been working with ebola patients they should self-quarantine for 21 days. It should be mandatory. I'm thinking that's what the new CDC rule even is.

Let's think about this.......This guy has been all over the place. The very night before his temp was 103, he rode in a cab, went bowling and who knows what else.
Now, many places have to be disinfected, Hazmat people are hard at work, hospital people are hard at work, the CDC team is hard at work, and who knows how many people are now at risk and are going to need to be "self-quarantined". All this money/resources because he didn't self-quarantine.

This is not hepatitis or Aids........this is a virus that can kill within days
.
You thought I was crazy for worrying about the guy who jumped the White House fence........and they ended up "letting go" the Secret Service chief because of this.

You disagreed with me when I had concerns over the way they were handling ebola in Texas and then everyone concerned (CDC especially) thought the same and changed the rules.
I'm starting to think I could say anything and you would disagree.
Give me a break...........this doctor had no common sense or concern for the others he put at risk, and now look at the mess he's created.

And I don't care how many links to "Protocol" you show me........if the behavior causes lots of problems for lots of people, then it's not a good protocol.
You're not the only one with medical experience bae. I just don't constantly bring it up.

[Miss Cellane]

I'm not so sure it would be possible to self-quarantine easily in most of the US.

I'm single, live alone. So the family/roommate problem wouldn't affect me. But let's say I'm a doctor (I'm not, just an example) who's been treating Ebola in Africa. I come home to the US.

My apartment has no food, because I've been gone for a month. There are no supermarkets in my area that deliver. How do I get food? Toilet paper? Remember, I'm stuck in my apartment for 21 days. Who is going to buy the food and bring it to me?

How am I earning an income while I'm in quarantine? Many doctors and nurses volunteer to go over to Africa to help. Will my regular employer pay me while I'm in quarantine? The volunteer organization I served with? Anyone? I still have rent or a mortgage to pay, bills to pay, food to buy, other on-going expenses.

And what if I get sick? Will all my possessions now be destroyed, because I was quarantined in my own home?

And where would someone with a family go for quarantine, because they sure couldn't go home and risk infecting their children/spouse/partner? Who will pay the hotel bill for that? Will the hotels allow someone to self-quarantine in their building?

Self-quarantine is a nice idea, but it is simply not practical. If we need to quarantine people, we have to have facilities for this. And right now, we really don't. And we need to decide who will foot the bill for the quarantine.

[jp1]

We also need to remember, though, that the night before he had the fever he was probably not emitting bodily liquids all over the place. Just like aids and hepatitis this disease is not transmitable except through bodily fluids. The difference from them and Ebola is that Ebola progresses to the point that the body ejects highly contagious fluids. It's not a coincidence that the only people in the US who have come down with it are medical workers who were in direct contact with very sick patients. By the time people are worryingly contagious they are likely too sick to be out bowling and such.