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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDisturbing. The Spanish nurse was only in the room twice and had protective gear on.
She must have done something wrong. 
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29516882
The nurse had twice gone into the room where Mr Garcia Viejo had been treated, to be directly involved in his care and to disinfect the room after his death. Both times she was wearing protective clothing.
Madrid healthcare director Antonia Alemany told reporters that according to the information available: "The nurse went into the room wearing the individual protection gear and there's no knowledge of an accidental exposure to risk."
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JustAnotherGen
(31,781 posts)When she was taking the gear off. . .
City Lights
(25,171 posts)boomer55
(592 posts)
librechik
(30,674 posts)except for the MANY care workers who got it while wearing protective gear.
sure, it's next to impossible--no need to panic. Just wear your-- d'oh!
can we all quit pretending we know everything about ebola and are comfortable to predict we will never have a problem here?
boomer55
(592 posts)AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)Not according to many virologists. Not according to ebola experts. and not according to many epidemiologists. You just posted in a thread of mine which establishes that saying you would only pay attention to Dr. Frieden who is not an expert. You are going on what he says, and Dr. Frieden has a vested interest in calming the public.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)We don't know, for instance, whether or not some individuals might in fact be able to shed virus prior to fever. We think not, but there is no proof they cannot.
We also don't know how soon and how much virus appears in each bodily fluid day by day. Does it show up in saliva before urine, for instance?
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025632558
I predict this will create time wasting arguments back and forth among the "experts",
when what should happen is, on the chance this info is correct, health workers should act as it is.
Oooops, I am sorry won't cut it if these guys above are correct.
Plus, it would explain how people who have had little contact with obviously Ebola patients are not ill. like the phographer who came down with it
after 72 hours with a news team.
A team which said it was being ultra careful to not have any contact, to carry out precautions.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)to be quite frightened of Ebola in spite of our supposedly Ebola-proof healthcare system.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)and how even trained people act in crisis to be very cautious about any serious disease outbreaks.
Just today I watched several well meaning medical people, each of whom thought they were being responsive to a potentially serious case,
mis-comunicate in treatment coordination which resulted in the patient not getting prompt care.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)are able to follow procedures to a "T", and no faith that we fully understand how contagious this is.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)They really don't know what they're talking about.
Epidemiologists would agree, without wanting to cause a panic, that viruses mutate in ways that aren't understood.
We can prepare for last year's virus and then this afternoon, BAM, what worked before doesn't work now.
That's how they roll, they mutate to become more viable and the only preparation is to know that there's no guaranteed way to prevent spread.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)You need only look at FOX News to realize that there's been a problem. And even some of the more mainstream media channels have been guilty of some of that, too, it seems.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)The problem is that in the end stage, Ebola is incredibly messy. Body fluids exit the body and are everywhere. I would say that exposure occurred during the clean up of the patient's body fluids, which at that point where highly concentrated with Ebola virus. It doesn't take much when it comes to direct contact.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)One virus particle is all it takes. They are microscopic, invisible. Humans touch hands to faces all the time out of unconscious habit. Opportunities abound.
libnnc
(9,996 posts)I don't post much anymore, but I just wanted to say that.
You don't BS and I appreciate it.
pnwmom
(108,959 posts)
tblue37
(65,227 posts)The nurse had alerted the ministry of a slight fever on 30 September and been checked into a hospital in Alcorcón, on the outskirts of Madrid, with a high fever on Monday. She was transferred to Carlos III hospital early on Tuesday morning.
El Mundo reported that it was the nurse who asked to be tested for Ebola, having to insist repeatedly on being tested before it was done on Monday.
While staff at the Alcorcón hospital were waiting for the test results, the nurse remained in a bed in the emergency room, separated only by curtains from other patients, hospital staff told El Mundo. Their version of events clashes with that of health authorities, who have said the patient was isolated from the first moment <emphasis added>.
The woman was on holiday at an unknown location when she began showing symptoms. “We are drawing up a list of all the people she may have been in contact with, including with health professionals at the Alcorcón hospital,” said Alemany, estimating that more than 30 people were being monitored for any sign of symptoms <emphasis added>.
pnwmom
(108,959 posts)has been exposed to Ebola.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)they often sacrifice accuracy for speed. She was not wearing the recommended protective suit, now being reported also.
I wish her healing.
pnwmom
(108,959 posts)So how could they not have her wearing protective clothing?
This article, published 6 minutes ago, says she WAS wearing protective clothing. And so does the NY times article. So the truth is still murky.
Where did you read that she wasn't? I've been googling and can't seem to find that information.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/07/after-nurse-contracts-ebola-spanish-health-workers-raise-concerns-about-protective-equipment/
The first case of Ebola transmission outside of West Africa has raised questions about how a nurse at a Spanish hospital contracted the virus and whether sufficient protocols were in place to protect health workers there.
The nurse became infected at Madrid's Carlos III hospital while treating Manuel Garcia Viejo, a priest who contracted the virus in West Africa. The woman, a "sanitary technician," entered Garcia Viejo's room only twice, according to Spanish officials.
In one case, she entered the room to change his diaper; another time, after he had died, she entered to collect his belongings, according to Mercedes Vinuesa Sebastian, Spain's public health director. Both times, the nurse wore personal protective equipment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/world/europe/after-its-first-ebola-case-spain-seeks-to-prevent-spread-of-virus.html
The husband, identified by the newspaper as Javier, said his wife, identified as Teresa, had told him that she followed all the safety instructions set by the hospital and did not know how she could have become infected. The case is worrisome because Spain is a developed country that is expected to have the rigorous infection control protocols needed to fight the spread of Ebola.
pnwmom
(108,959 posts)whatever they were at her hospital.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spanish-nurse-teresa-romero-ramos-followed-all-protocols-and-has-no-idea-how-she-contracted-ebola-9781373.html
In a brief interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the nurse was asked how she may have fallen ill, to which she replied: "I really can't say, I haven't the slightest idea."
Asked whether she followed the safety protocol, Mrs Romero Ramos said: "Yes, I did."
SNIP
In a statement, the Madrid College of Doctors said: "Given that both the transmission methods and the methods of prevention are well known, it is clear that some mistake was made."
Rafael Perez-Santamaria, head of the Carlos III Hospital in Madrid, where a team including Mrs Romero Ramos treated the two missionaries, said medical staff were "revising our protocols".
barbaraj
(80 posts)we've been shown how flushing without closing the lid has infected toothbrushes in their stand. So while quite possibly, she changed one diaper, at that time she needed respiratory protection. While not airborne in the sense of a sneeze, as someone here just said, it's a disease full of exited fluids. I'm not sure how , if they are able to breathe in air through those masks, they couldn't breathe in viral particles.
Spazito
(50,165 posts)Ebola: Infected Spanish nursing aide touched face with glove
snip
In Madrid, Dr. German Ramirez of the Carlos III hospital said Romero remembers she once touched her face with protection gloves after leaving an Ebola victim's quarantine room.
Health officials say Romero twice entered the room of Spanish missionary Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of Ebola on Sept. 25 — once to change his diaper and again after he died to retrieve unspecified items. Ramirez said Romero believes she touched her face with the glove after her first entry.
"It appears we have found the origin" of Romero's infection, Ramirez said, but he cautioned the investigation was not complete.
more
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ebola-infected-spanish-nursing-aide-touched-face-with-glove-1.2792055
brentspeak
(18,290 posts)than the CDC is admitting.
Spazito
(50,165 posts)If she rubbed her eye, etc, the transfer would be in line with fluid transfer as has already been stated as the way ebola is spread.
brentspeak
(18,290 posts)then the public is right to be afraid.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)linens.
Is the public doing that? Are they sticking their hand into infected bodily fluids and then rubbing their eyes?
brentspeak
(18,290 posts)Touching linens is equivalent to drinking/injecting infected blood?
If simply touching an infected person's clothes and then rubbing one's eyes is enough to transmit the disease, expect a pandemic.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)When people die, their sphincters relax, leading to feces and urine being released into their clothing and linens. Cleaning a dead body and removing the contaminated clothing and linens, yes, you come into contact with that stuff. If you then rub your eyes with your contaminated hand, voila.
That is why so many have been infected as the majority are caregivers, taking care of other ill people. They get infected in this exact manner. And a reason why more equipment, including gloves, and education is needed as they do not have proper equipment and their culture included a lot of touching, including cleaning, patting, kissing, the dead. Why do you think it has spread so much in the 3 W African countries? This reason.
Spazito
(50,165 posts)when she had changed his diaper.
"Health officials say Romero twice entered the room of Spanish missionary Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of Ebola on Sept. 25 — once to change his diaper and again after he died to retrieve unspecified items. Ramirez said Romero believes she touched her face with the glove after her first entry."
The diaper would contain both feces and urine as diarrhea is one of the symptoms of the disease.
B2G
(9,766 posts)One, she has repeatedly denied having any idea how she became infected. Why is she just now 'remembering' this? Color me skeptical...the Spanish authorities are under tremendous pressure to explain this transmission.
And two, why in the hell aren't medical personnel wearing full protective facemasks that would make touching their face impossible??
Spazito
(50,165 posts)the Spanish authorities that question.
As to the woman remembering it now, it certainly is possible she didn't remember touching her face as that is not always done after thought, it is more often an unconscious act. I certainly don't remember touching my face this morning but I have no doubt I did.
B2G
(9,766 posts)Again, skeptical.
Spazito
(50,165 posts)what you may have done to contract it. I know I would. First one would go through all the more likely scenarios where one might have transferred it and after discarding those as a possibility then reach back into one's memory for other possibilities.
I find it reasonable.