On September 20th, Thomas Eric Duncan traveled back to the U.S. from Liberia unaware that he was carrying the Ebola virus back with him. Mr. Duncan developed symptoms on September 24th and went to Texas Presbyterian Hospital for treatment. After seeking treatment for his symptoms, the doctors sent home from the hospital on September 25th after spending one night in the hospital. A few days later, Duncan returned to the hospital with the same symptoms. On September 30th, Mr. Duncan’s Ebola test was confirmed positive. Without realizing that Mr. Duncan was in the highest risk period for transferring the virus, nurses Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson continued to treat him without taking the correct precautions to protect themselves against exposure.
After one week of treatment, Mr. Duncan passed away on October 8th. Three days later, Ms. Pham tested positive for the Ebola virus. Ms. Vinson also tested positive for Ebola after flying back from Cleveland to Dallas. According to reports by the Center for Disease and Control, World Health Organization, and Doctors Without Borders, at least seventeen people have now been treated for Ebola in Europe and the United States. Most of these cases involve health and aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and were brought back to their home country in order to receive treatment for the virus.
On October 19th, most of the people who had direct or indirect contact with Mr. Duncan while he was infected with the virus were told by officials that they were no longer at risk for contracting the disease. This included his fiancée Louis Troh. There were about 50 people who involved, and there was a 21-day monitoring period to make sure they did not develop symptoms.
Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus was initially thought to have originated in gorillas based on the fact that outbreaks began in Africa after people ate gorilla meat. Scientists now think bats are the originals source for the virus and humans caught it by ingesting food that the bats had drooled or defecated on. According to Doctors Without Borders, the current outbreak is believed to have started in a village near Guéckédou, Guinea, where bat hunting regularly occurs.
The C.D.C. says that symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained hemorrhage or bleeding. Symptoms may develop anywhere between 2 to 21 days after exposure, but the average is 8 to 10 days. There is currently no treatment that has been approved by the FDA. An individual’s recovery from the virus depends on supportive clinical care and the patient’s immune response. If a person is able to recover, they will develop antibodies to the virus that will last for at least ten years.
The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person, so there is no risk of transmission from people who have had exposure to the virus but have not shown any symptoms. If a sick person were to cough, they could potentially infect someone who has been sprayed with saliva. The virus is also present on the patient’s skin only after symptoms develop, which is another way to easily spread the virus.
According to the C.D.C, the virus can survive for a few hours on dry surfaces and can also survive for several days in puddles or other collections of body fluids, but bleach solutions can kill it.
As of October 12th, the C.D.C. reported a total of 8,997 cases in West Africa since March. Guinea, Liberia, and Sierre Leone have widespread transmission, while Nigeria has reported one localized transmission case and Senegal has had only two travel related cases. Both Senegal and Nigeria have not had a spread of the virus since the cases have been reported. The current epidemic is the largest in history with over 4,400 people deaths having already occurred during the outbreak. The World Health Organization reported that the number of new cases could reach 10,000 per week by December.
According to the New York Times, new federal guidelines for hospitals will be issued requiring personal protective equipment that completely covers all parts of the skin in order to prevent the spread of the virus at hospitals.
The original recommendations that were used during the treatment of Mr. Duncan were based on protocol provided by the World Health Organization designed for treating people in Africa instead of American hospitals.
The Pentagon has also stated that a 30-person military medical team will be assigned to respond to any additional Ebola cases in the United States.
Beginning Monday October 27th, under new regulations issued by the C.D.C., all travelers who have gone to Guinea, Sierra Leone, or Liberia will have to provide home and email addresses, telephone numbers, and contact details for themselves for at least one friend or relative and will have to report to their local health department once a day for the next 21 days and report evening and morning temperatures and list any other symptoms.
The U.S. government and health department will continue to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the Ebola epidemic throughout the country.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TELEGRAPH