How do they decontaminate ebola from the rooms, planes, ambulances, etc.

[Frustratedlady]

where a patient has been cared for or traveled in? How do they know that area is now safe?

I haven't heard or seen this discussed.

[zappaman]

1. Easy.

[PAProgressive28]

2. I don't know

But I suspect some here would find issue with their methods if they spent 5 hours explaining them.

[Kali]

3. good old clorox (chlorine bleach)

at least for some of the clean up I have read about. it is such a reliable disinfectant and is relatively safe to use, even on skin (diluted)

[kestrel91316]

10. Bleach is corrosive, but cheap. Any hospital grade disinfectant will do.

In my vet clinic we use Roccal-D, a quaternary ammonium disinfectant, Special cases might require dilute bleach.

[Uben]

4. There is a machine that emits a special light....

....that is used to sterilize some rooms/planes where pathogens are present. Not sure what it is called, but saw it a week or so ago on television. Supposed to be very effective.

[Daemonaquila]

5. It's an ultraviolet light.

UV is really good at cleaning up certain bugs. It's good as a 2nd round, especially, after good old bleach, just in case anything got missed.

[Frustratedlady]

7. Yes, I think I saw the same robot-type machine they have used for years,

but they were just speculating on whether or not that machine would be used for ebola. I am glad their is something like that available.

Good ol' bleach, too.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

6. Since it can only live for so long outside of the body, leaving those areas alone for safe period

of time and then thoroughly cleaning them could be an option.

[kestrel91316]

8. Latex gloves, disposable paper towels, hospital grade disinfectant.

It's not rocket science. Ebola is NOT a "hardy" virus.

[Divernan]

9. Investors share your concerns; airline stocks dropping.

It's not just a concern that someone with Ebola will be on your flight, but that someone with Ebola might have been sitting in your seat, using the lav, touching/coughing on/sneezing on your seat tray/overhead luggage compartment, etc., on an earlier leg of an aircraft's schedule.

(Reuters) - U.S. airline stocks tumbled again on Wednesday on renewed fears of a drop-off in air travel spurred by reports that a second Texas nurse had contracted the deadly Ebola virus and traveled on a U.S. airline flight.

Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) were down 7.1 percent $40.12 in mid-day trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Airlines American Airlines Group (AAL.O) shares were down 6.25 percent at $29.54. Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) shares were down 4.5 percent at $31.30. JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O) was down 3.8 percent at $9.84.

The shares also fell sharply on Monday on similar concerns about the potential spread of the disease from West Africa. The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, died at a Dallas hospital on Oct. 8. A nurse who cared for Duncan was diagnosed with the disease on Sunday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-usa-airlines-stocks-idUSKCN0I429U20141015

Planes are not cleaned between legs of some flights. Typically, deplaning passengers pass by those of us waiting to board. There's perhaps a 5 minute interval while cabin crew do a cursuroy garbage pick up. As to bleaching, that's not workable on seat upholstery.

[Frustratedlady]

11. Quite a huge puzzle, isn't it?

Of course, you also have the issue of how thorough the personnel responsible for decontaminating rooms, vehicles, planes, etc. perform their responsibilities. There are so many variables to consider in the whole process of prevention.

I guess we'll learn much more through the process and can only hope new cases don't pop up.

[Divernan]

16. Frontier Jet That Carried Ebola Patient Made Five More Flights

Here's a thread just posted on DU -
Purveyor (21,030 posts)

[div class="excerpt"

]Frontier Jet That Carried Ebola Patient Made Five More Flights
Source: LA TIMES

The Frontier Airlines jet that carried a Dallas healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola made five additional flights after her trip before it was taken out of service, according to a flight-monitoring website.

Denver-based Frontier said in a statement that it grounded the plane immediately after the carrier was notified late Tuesday night by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the Ebola patient.

Flight 1143, on which the woman flew from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth, was the last trip of the day Monday for the Airbus A320. But Tuesday morning the plane was flown back to Cleveland and then to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., back to Cleveland and then to Atlanta and finally back to Cleveland again, according to Daniel Baker, chief executive of the flight-monitoring site Flightaware.com.

He said his data did not include any passenger manifests, so he could not tell how many total passengers flew on the plane Tuesday

.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-frontier-airline-ebola-patient-20141015-story.html
1

[rustydog]

12. Go to the WEBSITES! My God FEMA has information, CDC has information

Your state public health department has the information.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill the bacteria. Using universal precautions and donning proper gear when treating these patients is what protects healthcare professionals. IF they deviate from the process in any way, they can cause themselves to be contaminated.

Cleaning planes, trains and automobiles is easy with the proper chemicals. READ for yourself, don't let anyone else tell you, the info is out there. Don't panic because two people who had bodily contact with the ebola victim has tested positive. THEY CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE BODY FLUIDS!

Calm down people.

[Frustratedlady]

14. I, for one, am not in panic-mode, I'm just curious.

Asking a question does not mean I am going ballistic, it simply means I am interested in the process with so many materials/surfaces involved.

[Divernan]

18. Asking logical questions doesn't equal panic;burying one's head in the sand does.

Last edited Thu Oct 16, 2014, 04:36 AM - Edit history (1)

Clearly, a major problem is that there's been no definitive research (CDC for one has had its' budget cut every year for many years) determining when and how Ebola is spread, and even if there had been such research done, viruses are constantly mutating, so that past research could quickly become irrelevant.

Given that fact (which was repeatedly emphasized in 2 classes I took at the Univ. of Pittsburgh on infectious diseases), and the Big Brother/paternalistic attitude common in government of hiding info because the public "can't handle it", I think a realistic person would indeed question both the value and honesty of info provided by official agencies. As to FEMA, the agency's website, at fema.gov, when queried on EBOLA response, consistently refers back to the guidelines from CDC.

What virologists don't like to talk about

The possibility of an airborne-transmissible Ebola virus is one "that virologists are loath to discuss openly but are definitely considering in private," wrote Osterholm. In its current form, the virus spreads only through contact with bodily fluids, he noted, but with more human transmission in the past few months than probably occurred in the past 500 years, the virus is getting plenty of chances to evolve.

"Each new infection represents trillions of throws of the genetic dice," he said.

"If certain mutations occurred, it would mean that just breathing would put one at risk of contracting Ebola. Infections could spread quickly to every part of the globe, as the H1N1 influenza virus did in 2009, after its birth in Mexico."

Osterholm added that public officials are reluctant to talk about this risk because they fear being accused of screaming "Fire!" in a crowded theater. "But the risk is real, and until we consider it, the world will not be prepared to do what is necessary to end the epidemic."

As evidence of the risk, he noted that Canadian researchers in 2012 showed that Ebola Zaire, the species in the West African epidemic, could spread by the respiratory route from pigs to monkeys.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/experts-raise-specter-more-contagious-ebola-virus

[Divernan]

20. Do forgive me for not relying on underfunded, understaffed & hyper-defensive CDC

And according to the FEMA website, FEMA is completely relying on CDC guidelines.

Second Ebola Nurse Told CDC About Slightly Elevated Temperature Before Flight

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-nurse-told-cdc-slightly-elevated-temperature-flight/story?id=26218029

The second nurse who has been diagnosed with Ebola told the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention she had a slightly elevated temperature prior to flying to Dallas from Cleveland, Ohio, but wasn't "told she couldn't fly" since she didn't meet the threshold for a fever, a CDC official told ABC News.

Amber Vinson, 29, a nurse at the Dallas hospital where an Ebola patient had died, was identified today as the second health care worker at the hospital to contract the deadly virus. She told the CDC her temperature was 99.5 degrees, which is below the 100.4 reading for a fever.

"She flew into Cleveland to prepare for her wedding. She came in to visit her mother and her mother’s fiance," said Toinette Parrilla, director of Cleveland Department of Public Health.

Vinson stayed at her relatives' home while visiting Ohio and those relatives are employees of Kent State University, the school said in a statement. "She did not step foot on our campus," Kent State President Beverly Warren said.

The relatives were sent home from the school and asked to monitor themselves for the next 21 days, school officials said.

[pugetres]

13. For porous material, foams, fabrics, lots of nooks and crannies, etc...

Gas/steam/vaporized chemicals are probably the route they would use.

The Renton Monkey House was sealed from the inside and gassed with formaldehyde the first time sick monkeys were found.

[Frustratedlady]

15. Thanks, interesting. eom

[Divernan]

19. Extremely expensive for airlines:they won't do it unless forced to by govt. regs or public demand

If this disease mutates such that the disease is airborne and/or victims become contagious before they are symptomatic, that would mean each plane being "fumigated" so to speak between each leg of its schedule. The process itself would be expensive, and scheduling would be greatly impacted. How long would it take for a gassed interior to become safe for human occupancy again?

[Recursion]

17. Bleach, mostly. And sunlight if practical

I don't think any virus known can survive those

[TorchTheWitch]

21. Copious amounts of chlorine

Basically known as bleach. Sunlight also kills it eventually, though with any surface or area that may have become infected including the protective clothing of caregivers they need to be sprayed or doused with a chlorine solution to immediately kill it.

Doctors Without Borders use plastic packs strapped to the back with a hose and sprayer to spray possibly infected clothing, floors, walls, bottoms of boots, etc. They appear to hold a few gallons and are probably rather heavy. Buckets of the chlorine solution are also used to clean up copious areas of bodily fluids or just splashed all over the interior of an ambulance (most of the space where the rider is has no upholstery or carpeting anyway, andy upholstery or carpeting in non-patient areas are probably sprayed).

[Live and Learn]

22. Alcohol or bleach from what I understand work wonders on Ebola.

Anyone who is worried should carry some and use it liberally before touching and of their own mucous membranes.

It really is easier said than done. People don't realized how often they touch their faces (especially, nose, mouth and eyes) a day.