Experts warn Ebola scares will spike
Disease fears, flu season could fuel public alarm
Disease fears, flu season could fuel public alarm
The
public should brace for a steady, terrifying stream of false alarms
like the ones at Logan International Airport and a Braintree health
clinic as the onset of flu season combined with ever-heightening Ebola
vigilance will prompt dramatic medical responses involving quarantines
and hazmat suits, local infectious disease experts warned yesterday.
“People are going to come back from West Africa, people are going to develop flu-like symptoms, and every single one of those is going to get treated like a potential Ebola,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “The greater part of valor here is you isolate them, you test them, and you make sure they are Ebola-negative before you let them back into the community. I think we’re going to end up doing that more and more. I think we’re in for a pretty tough time of managing this until the epidemic subsides in West Africa.”
For the second straight day yesterday, Boston-area residents were hit with foreboding images of medical teams in protective suits as first responders removed five passengers with “flu-like symptoms” from a flight from Dubai. Ebola was ruled out for all five last night.
Boston health officials yesterday sought to gird residents for such scenes.
“We recognize that over the ensuing weeks residents may observe infection control measures that are used to isolate potential suspect cases of Ebola out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Huy Nguyen, interim director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said at a press conference yesterday. “There are, however, no confirmed cases of Ebola in Boston.”
The record outbreak has claimed more than 4,000 lives in West Africa.
The commission said yesterday that three to four people in Boston have been screened for Ebola in recent weeks, but none had the disease. Officials repeatedly stressed Ebola can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids — most commonly vomit, blood or feces.
A man who recently visited Liberia and complained of muscle and headaches at a Braintree clinic Sunday was in good condition yesterday but in isolation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The hospital said its initial evaluation showed the likelihood of the man having Ebola is “extremely low.”
In Dallas, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for a rethinking of how hospitals treat suspected Ebola patients after a nurse — one of a team of 70 who cared for the only man to die of the virus in America — contracted it herself.
Every hospital must know how to diagnose Ebola in people who have been in West Africa and be ready to isolate a suspected case, CDC director Tom Frieden said: “Think Ebola.”
The CDC is working to improve protections for hospital workers, he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said federal health authorities should consider requiring that Ebola patients be sent only to highly specialized “containment” hospitals.
Local hospitals expressed confidence yesterday that safeguards and procedures are in place to protect health care workers. Paul Biddinger, director of the Emergency Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, said 10 simulation drills are scheduled this week for staff to review procedures, including the delicate removing of protective suits.
“There is no other daily provision of medical care in the United States for which we need to be as perfect,” Biddinger said. “I think we are all concerned with trying to make this process as seamless and as fail-proof as possible.”
“People are going to come back from West Africa, people are going to develop flu-like symptoms, and every single one of those is going to get treated like a potential Ebola,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “The greater part of valor here is you isolate them, you test them, and you make sure they are Ebola-negative before you let them back into the community. I think we’re going to end up doing that more and more. I think we’re in for a pretty tough time of managing this until the epidemic subsides in West Africa.”
For the second straight day yesterday, Boston-area residents were hit with foreboding images of medical teams in protective suits as first responders removed five passengers with “flu-like symptoms” from a flight from Dubai. Ebola was ruled out for all five last night.
Boston health officials yesterday sought to gird residents for such scenes.
“We recognize that over the ensuing weeks residents may observe infection control measures that are used to isolate potential suspect cases of Ebola out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Huy Nguyen, interim director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said at a press conference yesterday. “There are, however, no confirmed cases of Ebola in Boston.”
The record outbreak has claimed more than 4,000 lives in West Africa.
The commission said yesterday that three to four people in Boston have been screened for Ebola in recent weeks, but none had the disease. Officials repeatedly stressed Ebola can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids — most commonly vomit, blood or feces.
A man who recently visited Liberia and complained of muscle and headaches at a Braintree clinic Sunday was in good condition yesterday but in isolation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The hospital said its initial evaluation showed the likelihood of the man having Ebola is “extremely low.”
In Dallas, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for a rethinking of how hospitals treat suspected Ebola patients after a nurse — one of a team of 70 who cared for the only man to die of the virus in America — contracted it herself.
Every hospital must know how to diagnose Ebola in people who have been in West Africa and be ready to isolate a suspected case, CDC director Tom Frieden said: “Think Ebola.”
The CDC is working to improve protections for hospital workers, he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said federal health authorities should consider requiring that Ebola patients be sent only to highly specialized “containment” hospitals.
Local hospitals expressed confidence yesterday that safeguards and procedures are in place to protect health care workers. Paul Biddinger, director of the Emergency Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, said 10 simulation drills are scheduled this week for staff to review procedures, including the delicate removing of protective suits.
“There is no other daily provision of medical care in the United States for which we need to be as perfect,” Biddinger said. “I think we are all concerned with trying to make this process as seamless and as fail-proof as possible.”
