Hellobee Boards

@bluestriped bee: Oh, I didn't realize that (about his citizenship)! That definitely could play a factor in things. Still, scary that all our medicine and advancements couldn't save him.

@bluestriped bee: I'd say it was probably because his case was so advanced (he was sick for 8 days or so) before he received medical care. He also didn't receive the same investigational drug as some Americans who have been repatriated for treatment. It is very sad, though. Hopefully none of his (50?) close contacts will become ill!

@FliegepilzHut: Oh, he was sick for 8 days before getting treatment and he didn't get the investigation drug? I didn't know.

ETA: Not sure if this is confirmed but I found a timeline on Yahoo. http://news.yahoo.com/timeline-first-case-ebola-diagnosed-us-231611262.html

@IRunForFun: Any way you look at it, it's a rough illness. But I'm glad there are some promising treatments (and hope for a vaccine!) in addition to the supportive care route!

@bluestriped bee: Yeah, apparently the experimental drugs that had been used to treat the missionaries who contracted ebola (and recovered) had run out! There is a newer experimental drug that eventually was given to the ebola patient in Dallas and is also being given to the NBC reporter in Nebraska, but it took a while to get it to the Dallas patient because it had only been tested on animals so far and needed a rush approval.

Just catching up on this thread... flu is NOT airborne, guys Measles is, but not flu.

@IRunForFun: I hope they can make some more soon because it seems to have been pretty effective. I read that one of the missionaries is donating blood to the NBC reporter to hopefully pass on the antibodies, which is pretty interesting. Hopefully it works, or at least gives him a boost!

@IRunForFun: Thank you! I hadn't realized that they'd actually run out of the other drug.. That makes more sense to me now.

@MrsSCB: That sounds like an innovative approach! Hope it works! Do you know...does that mean the NBC guy was having bleeding complications related to his infection? Or are they just going to try to give him plasma/antibodies?

@FliegepilzHut: it sounds like just for the antibodies. This article says the missionary also received a transfusion from a survivor while being treated: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/08/camerman-ebola-transfusion/16906983/

@FliegepilzHut: Right - it's spread by respiratory droplets - ie someone has to sneeze in your mouth But the virus doesn't physically stay in the air like measles.

@bluestriped bee: Yes sorry, Mrs. KMM said on page 1 "it's not airborne like the flu" which set off my fear-radar.

@Freckles: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

@FliegepilzHut: Thanks - that's exactly what I was getting at. I just misspoke re: the flu being truly "airborne".

Although I do want to point out that there is evidence of the flu being airborne. It just isn't the primary mode of transmission (the primary mode is large-particle respiratory droplet transmission as @JoJoGirl described).

http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2013/01/15/catchingtheflu/

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2013/02/study-airborne-flu-viruses-may-play-big-role-transmission

I'd be doing a big duck and cover if someone with Ebola started sneezing / coughing near me. With any disease people carry different viral loads and there's enough evidence of some airborne droplet transmission that I wouldn't be taking any chances because technically the size of the droplet might be too small.

@MamaG: Yikes!

@MrsSCB: I'm in Tarrant county, the FW side of DFW.

Yes, two healthcare workers are now in isolation. Ebola is now on my radar. And Nina's boyfriend is also in quarantine for observation. Her boyfriend is from the other side of the metroplex. I'm ready to invest in a bubble for my family.

This is getting crazy. I feel like the first patient should have been transported to one of the specialized units in one of the hospitals equipped to deal with Ebola (Emory, Nebraska, etc). I just read that for the first 3 days the nurses in Dallas wore sub-par gowns that left their necks exposed.

@Boheme: see, that's scary, because a patient could come in right this minute with Ebola and what the heck would you do? Lock them in a room and call the CDC? Yeesh... major props to you and all the health care workers out there!

@lizzywiz: It's extremely easy to infect yourself taking off the gear (ie the patient is nowhere around). There are rigid protocols for how to take off face mask, how to take off gloves etc - otherwise if you touch *anything* with bare hands, you are walking around waiting to touch your eye and get infected. If the nurses weren't super diligent to begin with, and then weren't 100% following instructions in taking the stuff off, it's not impossible to see how they got infected. Plus apparently one was a dialysis nurse which is an EXTREMELY invasive/bloody procedure.