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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDallas Ebola patient vomited outside apartment on way to hospital
Dallas Ebola patient vomited outside apartment on way to hospital
By Lisa Maria Garza
DALLAS Wed Oct 1, 2014 9:54pm EDT
(Reuters) - Two days after he was sent home from a Dallas hospital, the man who is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States was seen vomiting on the ground outside an apartment complex as he was bundled into an ambulance.
"His whole family was screaming. He got outside and he was throwing up all over the place," resident Mesud Osmanovic, 21, said on Wednesday, describing the chaotic scene before the man was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday where he is in serious condition.
Texas health officials said that up to 18 people, including five children, had contact with the Ebola patient after he traveled to the United States from Liberia in late September. The children had gone to school early this week but have since been sent home and are being monitored for symptoms.
Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva, which health experts say limits its potential to infect others, unlike airborne diseases. Still, the long window of time before patients exhibit signs of infection, such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea, means an infected person can travel without detection.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0HP2F720141002
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)LostInAnomie
(14,428 posts)Or, tried to spray it with a hose and splattered it everywhere. Or, stepped in it and tracked it into their home where they tried to clean it up.
Or, any of the other 1,000 ways it could work out badly for everyone.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)humanity and let the earth heal itself. This big beautiful doesn't deserve us.
LostInAnomie
(14,428 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Yuck. I can't stand even seeing people's loogies on the sidewalk (spitting is so fucking foul, and with ebola it's downright dangerous).
boomer55
(592 posts)Ebola can also survive outside the host for a significant period of time -- as long as a couple of days -- at room temperature. "That's why infection control is such a huge part of this," Bhadelia said. "If you have sterilization of equipment, if you have availability of disinfectant, things like IVs ... and if you're able to clean all those environments and isolate patients effectively, the outbreak would never take a foothold." This is why places with good infection control and medical infrastructure face absolutely no risk for outbreaks from this pathogen, she added.
PCIntern
(25,342 posts)As the radiation from a banana a la Fukushima.