Health

Amid the fear of the Ebola outbreak, US health workers have staged rallies against the lack of proper training for medical staff when treating possible Ebola patients. Nurses from throughout California poured into the streets in bright red T-shirts, carrying placards that read "Stop Blaming Nurses." A Texan nurse, who treated Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, before he died, has been infected with the virus. Authorities are blaming the hospital staff, saying breach in safety protocol resulted in the second infection. Representative for the US largest nurses union, Bonnie Castillo, said hospitals in the US are not ready for the outbreak, nor are they prepared to protect the people who may be called to fight the deadly infection in the affected countries.

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

13.Oct.2014

Hits: 2365

Write comment (0 Comments)

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

13.Oct.2014

Hits: 2169

Write comment (0 Comments)

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

13.Oct.2014

Hits: 2221

Write comment (0 Comments)

The case of a Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a dying Liberian patient shows that the US needs to rethink how it addresses infection control as an outbreak of the virus spreads beyond West Africa, a top health official said Monday. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said health authorities are still investigating how the nurse became infected while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan in an isolation ward at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Duncan died last week and the nurse is the first person to contract the virus on U.S. soil, taking concerns about containing its spread to new heights. She is “clinically stable,” Frieden said, and the CDC is monitoring others involved in Duncan’s care in case they show symptoms of the virus. “We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control. Even a single infection is unacceptable,” Frieden told reporters. “The care of Ebola is hard. We’re working to make it safer and easier.”

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

13.Oct.2014

Hits: 2698

Write comment (0 Comments)

The first Ebola cases will soon emerge in the UK according to the government’s chief medical officer, who said the country should expect “a handful” of people to fall ill with the disease in coming months. Dame Sally Davies issued her warning on Saturday following a national exercise to test Britain’s readiness for an Ebola outbreak amid growing criticism that government priorities for dealing with the threat are seriously misplaced. Davies said: “It will not be surprising if we have spillover into this country so I would expect a handful of cases in the next few months. This vitally important exercise gave a very realistic test of how prepared the system is to deal with a case of Ebola. Today has included a variety of scenarios involving personnel from hospitals, ambulance services and local authorities around the country.” While the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, announced – after chairing a simulated meeting of the emergency Cobra committee as part of the test – that the exercise had been reassuring and “extremely useful”, other politicians and scientists described government plans as futile. The eight-hour exercise involved actors simulating symptoms of Ebola with one person “collapsing” in a Gateshead shopping centre and being placed in isolation at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, and was held as a preamble to the introduction of screening for the virus at large airports and terminals. But many experts have voiced serious misgivings about the introduction of screening, ordered by David Cameron as part of the UK’s contingency plan against Ebola, which has killed more than 4,000 people in west Africa.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

12.Oct.2014

Hits: 2431

Write comment (0 Comments)

A hospital worker in Texas who treated a patient who died of ebola has tested positive for the disease. The unnamed healthcare worker from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was isolated after reportedly they had a "low grade fever" on Friday, a statement from the Texas Department Of State health Services said. "We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," Dr David Lakey, the department commissioner, said. "We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread." The diagnosis came as the US began screening patients entering through John F Kennedy airport in New York.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

12.Oct.2014

Hits: 2240

Write comment (0 Comments)