First Ebola Case Confirmed in US - Texas

[MuffyBee]

I wonder how Ebola may affect the cruise industry?  If commercial airplanes are a potential problem, what about cruise ships? 

[MuffyBee]

I wonder how Ebola may affect the cruise industry?  If commercial airplanes are a potential problem, what about cruise ships? 

Well, I went to look at the news for cruise ships and it's already affecting the industry.  We have a thread for cruise ships:
CRUISE SHIP - MISSING PERSONS, News, etc...
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=25.0




Here is where I posted an article regarding Ebola in the above thread for those interested in contributing or reading:
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=25.msg1595236#msg1595236

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/26796965/texas-am-advising-officials-on-ebola-victims-dog
Texas A&M advising officials on Ebola victim's dog
October 15, 2014

Dallas nurse Nina Pham has become the face of Ebola in the U.S. and a social media photo showing Pham and her dog raises concern for her pet as well.

The City of Dallas says Bentley, the year-old King Charles Spaniel is being monitored at the decommissioned naval air base, Hensley Field near Dallas.

Dr. Eleanor Green is dean of the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine.

"What we know is that there have been no reports of dogs developing clinical signs of Ebola virus. We also know there have been no reports or any evidence of transmission of Ebola virus from dogs to people," Green said at a press conference at A&M on Wednesday.

Since Texas A&M has the only college of Veterinary Medicine in the State of Texas, they're part of the team that's advising on Bentley's care. They say there are many unanswered questions.

According to the CDC, monkeys and bats in Africa have been known to carry Ebola. But there haven't been any reports of dogs or cats getting sick in that part of the world either.

The City of Dallas says Bentley was given comfortable bedding and toys to play with while at the air base.

A&M says the school isn't directly involved with Bentley's care but they are part of a team of experts developing protocol on Bentley and future situations like this. Dr. Green says the dog is being treated with the utmost caution.

"What that means is in quarantine and handled just like a human patient with Ebola virus would be handled. We do that to make sure that the public is safe and secure and to make sure that this dog is safe, secure and handled humanely," Green said.

And there's still much to be learned.

"What we can learn is that in this period of quarantine which will be at least 21 days, we will learn whether or not he sheds the virus. We will also learn hopefully whether or not he develops the antibodies to this virus," she said.

Dr. Green says she hopes Bentley won't get sick and they don't think he will but she says their work is important.
 


There's been an outpouring of support from around the world for the dog, so the city has set up a fund to help Bentley and other pets in similar situations in the future.

To donate to the fund, visit DallasAnimals.org.

video

[MuffyBee]

This is just crazy.    

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/26793235/ebola-patient-recently-flew-on-frontier-airlines
CDC OK'd Ebola patient to fly ahead of Frontier Airlines flight
October 15, 2014

DALLAS - Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed with FOX 4 Wednesday night that they told Ebola patient and Dallas health worker Amber Vinson it was safe for her to fly Monday. Vinson had called and asked if it was OK to fly since she had a low grade fever at the time.

However, that information differs from what Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said earlier Wednesday - he said that Vinson should not have been on the Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth.

"The second health care worker reported no symptoms and no fever; however, because at that point she was in a group of individuals known to have Ebola, she should not have traveled on a commercial airline," Frieden said.

Frieden also said it was extremely unlikely that passengers could contract the disease because the health care worker was not vomiting or bleeding.

Frontier Airlines announced that public-health officials were notifying the 132 passengers on Monday night's Flight 1143. The airline's crew reports that the woman showed no symptoms during the flight.
 

[MuffyBee]

I wonder how Ebola may affect the cruise industry?  If commercial airplanes are a potential problem, what about cruise ships? 

Well, I went to look at the news for cruise ships and it's already affecting the industry.  We have a thread for cruise ships:
CRUISE SHIP - MISSING PERSONS, News, etc...
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=25.0




Here is where I posted an article regarding Ebola in the above thread for those interested in contributing or reading:
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=25.msg1595236#msg1595236

Aaand....

http://www.wfaa.com/story/travel/news/2014/10/17/cruise-ship-ebola/17401823/
Worker who may have handled Ebola specimen on cruise
October 17, 2014

A health care worker who may have handled a specimen from the Liberian man who died from Ebola in Dallas is on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

Industry giant Carnival says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified it late Wednesday that a passenger on the Texas-based Carnival Magic was a lab supervisor at the Dallas hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan died from the disease earlier this month.

Carnival says the unnamed woman has been placed in isolation on the ship and has shown no signs of illness.
 
Carnival says it is in close contact with the CDC, and "at this time it has been determined that the appropriate course of action is to simply keep the guest in isolation on board."

The Carnival Magic is on a seven-night cruise to the Western Caribbean that began Oct. 12 in Galveston, Texas. The ship called at the island of Roatan, Honduras on Wednesday and Belize City, Belize on Thursday. It's scheduled to visit Cozumel, Mexico today and return to Galveston on Sunday morning.

Belize's 7 News reports the Belize government refused a U.S. request Thursday to let the Dallas health care worker disembark in Belize so she could be flown home by air ambulance from a local airport.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/17/texas-ebola-health-care-workers-travel-ban/17424465/
Travel ban for Texas health care workers in Ebola case
October 17, 2014

Texas health officials have ordered any person who entered the room of the first Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital not to travel by public transport, including planes ship, buses or trains, or visit groceries, restaurants or theaters for 21 days, until the danger of developing Ebola has passed.

The instructions, issued by the Texas Department of State Health Service late Thursday, cover more than 70 health workers involved in providing care for Thomas Duncan, the Liberian national who became the first patient to test positive for Ebola in the United States.

Duncan died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

The hospital workers were ordered to undergo monitoring twice a day, including one face-to-face encounter.

The health department said anyone failing to adhere to the rules "may be subject to a communicable disease control order." The health workers were asked to sign a written acknowledgement of the directions when they appear for monitoring.

The new rules were issued in the wake of reports that one of the hospital nurses who treated Duncan -- 29-year-old Amber Vinson -- later flew to Cleveland and then took a return flight Oct. 13 on Frontier Airlines despite having a low-grade fever, indicating the possible onset of Ebola.

Vinson, who tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday, was hospitalized in Dallas and later transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Another nurse, Nina Pham, 26, was the first nurse to test positive and has been transferred to the National Institute of Health hospital in Bethesda, Md.

Before Thursday's order, the health workers involved in the Duncan case had only been asked to self-monitor for symptoms of infection after two nurses were diagnosed with the virus.

The order, signed by David Lakey, commissioner of the state health department, said any of the health-care workers affected can stay at the hospital to facilitate monitoring for the three-week period.

In a related case, a health care worker who may have handled a specimen from Duncan was reported to be on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

Industry giant Carnival says it was notified late Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that a passenger on the Texas-based Carnival Magic was a lab supervisor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Carnival says the unnamed woman has been placed in isolation on the ship and has shown no signs of illness.

Hospital officials and the CDC came under harsh attack at Congressional hearings Thursday over Vinson's trip on a commercial airliner within days of treating Duncan.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, confirmed to Congress Thursday that she called the CDC and asked for permission to fly. He was told that she reported no symptoms when she called, although it has been determined that she had a low-grade fever.

Eight people in northeast Ohio were in voluntary quarantine because they had contact with Vinson, who visited family in the Akron area last weekend before flying from Cleveland back to Dallas.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/lago-vista-schools-to-be-disinfected-as-ebola-prec/nhk78/
Lago Vista schools to be disinfected as Ebola precaution
October 17, 2014

acilities after a family associated with the school district visited a surgical patient at the Dallas hospital where an Ebola-infected nurse is being treated, according to a health advisory sent to parents late Thursday.
In the letter, school officials said a family associated with district — not students — had recently visited a surgical patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
Representatives for the hospital and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured the school district there is no risk of exposure Thursday, school officials said.
“None of our surgical patients have had any contact whatsoever with any of our isolation patients, nor with the staff caring for those patients,” a hospital representative told the school district on Thursday.
School district authorities said they decided to conduct a deep disinfecting of all the district’s facilities Friday and during the coming days to ensure the safety of students and staff.
The district has not scheduled any closures, officials said.
Three Belton schools remain closed Friday after a family of four traveled from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday on the same flight with Dallas nurse Amber Vinson, who tested positive for Ebola.
The school district in Belton, about 60 miles north of Austin, ordered buses and campus buildings at North Belton Middle School, Sparta Elementary and Belton Early Childhood School to be disinfected on Thursday.
The four family members are in voluntary quarantine inside their home until Nov. 3., district officials said.
A Belton city spokesman said Thursday that several people from Texas were in a 3-foot “contact zone” with Vinson during the flight, but their whereabouts were unclear.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/city-travis-county-resident-was-on-flight-with-ebo/nhmBW/
City: Travis County resident was on flight with Ebola-infected nurse
October 17, 2014

The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department is monitoring a Travis County resident who was on the same flight as a Dallas nurse who has tested positive for the Ebola virus, according to the city.
The resident, a student at the University of Texas who has not been identified, was not in close proximity to the nurse and is “considered low risk,” the city said in a statement Friday. The student is being cooperative and health officials will be testing him or her for any symptoms, the city said.
“All passengers on Flight 1143 have been evaluated for exposure and risk, and this individual was determined to be of lower risk than others who were in closer proximity to the carrier of the virus,” Dr. Phil Huang, medical director for the Health and Human Services Department, said in the statement. “While the individual has presented no symptoms, and poses no immediate risk to others, they have agreed to follow our recommendations and cooperate with our office to monitor their condition.”
University President Bill Powers said the student, who lives in a private home, is not going to class or campus activities “in an abundance of caution.”
“The student was not seated in the zone of concern on the plane, is not showing any symptoms, is monitoring body temperature, and is in daily contact with health officials,” Powers said. “Health officials do not believe there is any health risk to campus at this time.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/world/2014/10/19/us-gets-blood-sample-from-woman-monitored-on-ship/17543409/
Cruise ship returns to Texas, Ebola scare ends
October 19, 2014

The health care worker aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship who was being monitored for signs of Ebola passed a blood test and was allowed to leave with other passengers when the ship docked Sunday in Texas, health officials said.

"We are able to confirm that the (Ebola) test was negative," Galveston County Health Authority spokesman Kurt Koopman said in an email to USA TODAY shortly after Carnival Magic docked in Galveston.

The woman had handled specimens from the nation's first confirmed Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

"The Galveston County Health Authority has made the assessment that there is no evidence of a public health threat to cruise passengers or to Galveston County. The passenger and her travel partner have been allowed to disembark without restrictions," county health officials said in a statement.
 
A Coast Guard helicopter had flown to the ship Saturday and received samples from health care worker for testing in Austin.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/26863967/nurses-dog-tests-negative-for-ebola
Nurse’s dog tests negative for Ebola
October 22, 2014



Dallas health officials say Ebola patient Nina Pham's dog has tested negative for the deadly disease.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Bentley has been in quarantine since Pham's diagnoses last week. Dallas Animal Services has been overseeing his care.

Samples taken from him on Monday show he does not have Ebola. New samples will be taken and tested at the end of his 21-day quarantine period.
 

[cw618]

i thought this interesting...

@ 12:06, she talks about some could info on airborn,
and Eric Duncan, and a man from Nigeria to liberia,and as sick as
they were no one around them contracted the ebola virus

RAW: MetroHealth news conference on Ebola
19 Action News
http://youtu.be/mStyPxiQ9ro?t=12m6s

[cw618]

a google search of ....ebola diverted fights....
brings up some crazy news, i fear the world is about to go into panic mode
some ebola links info

Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease)
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/

 @ www.internationalsos.com flight info by country and an ebola facts lists
Anticipate travel disruption due to Ebola-related flight bans, health screening measures
The authorities in several countries have implemented entry restrictions to curtail the spread of Ebola from countries that have Ebola cases, while air carriers have restricted flights or modified schedules. Flights serving destinations inside and outside Africa may also be subject to diversion or delay with little or no warning in order to quarantine passengers suspected or claiming to be exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms.
Travel Briefing
Entry restrictions
https://www.internationalsos.com/ebola/index.cfm?content_id=435&

more flight restrictions in usa

Flights from Ebola hotspots can fly to only 5 US airports
By Chris PerezOctober 21, 2014 | 1:10pm
http://nypost.com/2014/10/21/flights-from-ebola-hotspots-can-fly-to-only-5-us-airports/

[cw618]

25 October 2014 Last updated at 00:10 ET
ShareFacebookTwitter
Two US Ebola nurses free of virus

Two nurses infected with Ebola while caring for a dying patient in Dallas have been declared free of the virus.

One of them, Nina Pham, met President Barack Obama at the White House, hours after being discharged.

The governors of New York and New Jersey have ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for anyone in contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.

The move comes a day after a doctor, Craig Spencer, returned from Guinea and tested positive for Ebola in New York.

Anyone arriving from affected West African countries without having had confirmed contact with Ebola victims will be subject to monitoring by public health officials.

The plans go beyond anything so far announced at a national level by the Obama administration.

People in New York City have expressed concern that Dr Spencer used public transport and restaurants before being diagnosed.

more and video
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29749283

[cw618]

Doctor in New York City Is Sick With Ebola
By MARC SANTORAOCT. 23, 2014
 
A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea became the first person in the city to test positive for the virus Thursday, setting off a search for anyone who might have come into contact with him.

The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in isolation at the same time as investigators sought to retrace every step he had taken over the past several days.

At least three people he had contact with in recent days have been placed in isolation. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which dispatched a team to New York, is conducting its own test to confirm the positive test on Thursday, which was performed by a city lab.
 
While officials have said they expected isolated cases of the disease to arrive in New York eventually, and had been preparing for this moment for months, the first case highlighted the challenges involved in containing the virus, especially in a crowded metropolis. Dr. Spencer, 33, had traveled on the A and L subway lines Wednesday night, visited a bowling alley in Williamsburg, and then took a taxi back to Manhattan.
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/nyregion/craig-spencer-is-tested-for-ebola-virus-at-bellevue-hospital-in-new-york-city.html?_r=0

[cw618]

NYC's first Ebola patient in isolation amid city jitters
Kevin McCoy and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 1:45 a.m. EDT October 25, 2014

video and long article

 
NEW YORK — The nation's most emblematic big city is coming to grips with Ebola as a doctor who tested positive for the deadly virus remained in hospital isolation Saturday while officials traced his recent travels, quarantined his fiancée and close friends and sought to tamp down health concerns.
 
"There is no cause for alarm," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Friday afternoon news conference where he indicated no additional Ebola cases had been reported in the city's five boroughs.

"There is no reason for New Yorkers to change their routines in any way," added de Blasio.
 
Seeking to reassure the millions of residents and daily visitors to the five boroughs, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said Spencer knew he would not be deemed contagious and a potential threat to others unless he spiked a fever and experienced other Ebola symptoms.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/24/new-york-city-ebola-mayor-isolation-hospital-subway/17823575/

[cw618]

NJ official: Female health care worker who'd been in Africa isolated with fever
By Ray Sanchez, Jason Hanna and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
updated 11:02 PM EDT, Fri October 24, 2014
video @ link
 
New York (CNN) -- One day after New York officials announced a Doctors Without Borders physician had tested positive for Ebola, another person who treated patients in West Africa developed a fever and was put in isolation at a northern New Jersey hospital.
The second health care worker, a woman who hasn't been identified by name, did not have any Ebola symptoms upon arrival Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey health department spokesman Donna Leusner said.
Yet things changed in the hours that followed. According to Leusner, "This evening, the health care worker developed a fever and is now in isolation and being evaluated at University Hospital in Newark."
That woman is being tested for Ebola, according to a government official who is receiving updates about the situation.
 
Unlike Dr. Craig Spencer, the 33-year-old now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in nearby New York City, this second health care worker is not confirmed to have Ebola.
n fact, there have been far more examples in recent weeks of suspected Ebola cases than actual ones in the United States. For all the scares, only four people -- starting with Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who died in a Dallas hospital, followed by two Dallas health care workers who'd treated him, lastly Spencer -- so far have been diagnosed with the deadly virus in the United States.
more, long article
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/24/health/new-york-ebola-case/index.html