Nurse in Madrid tests positive for ebola

[Yo_Mama]

14. Well, the CDC lists someone in the room (three feet) for a prolonged period without PPE

as at risk, so maybe that's how.

It's clear that direct contact isn''t necessary when the patient is acutely infectious.

It could also have been from transference - for example, in taking off the PPE, in Africa they are first dousing the person with chlorine, so the person doesn't become infected by stripping off their infected protective wear. It could also have been from PPE people leaving the vicinity and going to another area where they disrobed who touched knobs/doors etc on the way and then another person who was not all garbed up touched those surfaces. Then there is dealing with the disposal/handling of the discarded PPE. There have to be multiple layers of isolation in order for this all to work perfectly.

However they knew the patient was coming days before, and they should have been totally prepared, so this is going to be a shock to everyone, CDC included. The western medical community will be awaiting the outcome of the investigation with some anxiety.

It's very very hard to have total sterilization in acute care settings. I am not sure that the "modern" western hospitals are going to do that much better than some of the hospitals in Africa, which are in many cases well set up.

Sorry someone snarked at you for expressing the reasonable and obvious thought.

Btw, I just came from a medical clinic, and this news was not making anyone any happier. We have had several people coming in the past week wanting testing because of what they believed was possible exposure, and we've had multiple calls in the last two weeks from families who have relatives who just arrived from Africa who wanted their relatives tested. None of which is possible, btw. The CDC case criteria exclude it, and Ebola testing is done only specialized labs. We are referring them to hospitals because they should be tested, but I don't think any of them are going to be tested.

This situation is not under control at all. Anyone who can get out of Africa who believes that they are at risk is heading straight for the US. Sooner or later, one of them will be infected. Sooner or later, one of them will not evidence clinical infection, but be shedding virus. There are always carriers.

Btw, of the ones who came in last, one was a professor of medicine, and one was a top pharmaceutical exec. So the "hysteria" is more prevalent among the highly qualified and knowledgeable than among those who watch Fox News. A crowd-think is forming on DU, but it's not a well-informed crowd-think.