When the hazmat team decontaminates the apartments, do they just wipe down

[mfcorey1]

or are all of the individuals personal items such as photo albums, computers and things of that sort destroyed? I know used linen and clothing has to be destroyed, but what other personal items are subject to being destroyed?

[NutmegYankee]

1. I would imagine there is no need to do so.

A wipe with a sterilizing agent should do the trick.

[randome]

2. No, they bring this guy in on every single location.

If he can't do the job, then we should all panic and second-guess the competence of professionals.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[5X]

3. I've been wondering the same thing,

particularly about their electronics. Cell phones, laptops. You can't just wipe down a laptop, too
many nooks and crannies. Laptops I work on are often gross, covered in detritus and food bits.

edit to add: I repair electronics, mostly laptops, but also game consoles and tv's. My job is in Tulsa,
not that far from Dallas, could see a scenario where the laptop of a health worker from Dallas could
end up being repaired in Tulsa.

[kestrel91316]

4. I think Duncan's apartment was gutted, probably at the request of management.

I think unless someone is having explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, that is complete overkill.

Dumb to destroy clothing and bed linens which can be laundered and put in a clothes dryer. Ebola would be deader than dead after that. But then somebody would be all freaked out over the washing machine. Because, you know, bleach hasn't been invented yet. And it's all irrelevant if the patient wasn't even sick yet when in contact with most of those clothes.

At any rate, I betcha the nurses' homes are NOT being gutted.

[Cal Carpenter]

5. It really shouldn't be necessary to destroy everything

I mean, I suppose if I had projectile-vomited or had diarrhea directly on my computer/photo album/etc, I probably wouldn't want to keep it anyway, but ebola doesn't live that long out of the host, even if it is in a pile of vomit. Leave everything alone for a week or two and it's gone.

How long does Ebola live outside the body?

Ebola is killed with hospital-grade disinfectants (such as household bleach). Ebola dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours; however, virus in body fluids (such as blood) can survive up to several days at room temperature.

[uppityperson]

7. I'd treat it like my kid's room when they had head lice. Wash hot, dry hot, everything that could,

wipe up with bleach water everything that I could, then close it off for a month and let any remainders die.

[MillennialDem]

6. They could also just zap it with UV

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/us/germ-zapping-robot-ebola/index.html

[panader0]

8. From what I've read of these machines, they seem the best solution.

[rainbow4321]

9. Everything was removed and is going to be burned

Now to the stupidity part. Dallas County officials allowed Duncan's family to take some stuff with them when they left the apt to go be quarantined. There are pics of the family leaving with items such as headphones, the lady had a ball cap, and other items. Then the cleaners retrieved the family bible and a hard drive later to give to the family.

Um, so they feel the need to incinerate everything yet they allow family to take stuff.

One of the isolations that is required for Ebola is contact isolation. In true contact isolation NOTHING is allowed out of a room where the patient stays. Nothing. Be those items are at risk of having whatever bug on them that the patient has. Even of they want more ice water, we have to go get some other kind of container, fill it with ice water, and take it in. You CANNOT take the initial ice water jug OUT of the room.

Yet there they were...taking items out of the apartment where it was deems by the county that everything had to be burned.

And then there were the pics of county officials going into the apt with NO protection. Contact isolation protection requires gown and gloves when entering an infected person's area. Yes, Duncan was already out of the place but everything in that apartment (even floor and rugs) could have residual body fluids on them.

[uppityperson]

10. They could have locked it up for a month. Not something available for hospitals, but for an apt?

After cleaning what could be cleaned, taking out highly contaminated bed, they could have just locked up everything else for the time it takes the virus to die outside the body. This is not like c diff, but will die outside a body.

Contact isolation is not required by anyone simply entering an infected person's area.
Anyone entering the room -- who may touch the patient or objects in the room -- should wear a gown and gloves. per http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000446.htm