Ebola Dallas Patient - A nurse was one of the several people in the Dallas Hospital with close contact to the Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, and has tested positive to Ebola virus on Sunday.
The Ebola Dallas new patient's name is Nina Pham and is a 26 year-old nurse, as CBC has stated. The odd part of the case is that the nurse had her protective gear on and still got infected.
Apparently, the issue arose from the lack of removing the gear correctly. There is a particular way to put the gear on and off, so that the skin of the person who wears it won't be directly exposed or touch the gear in any sort of way.
One of the ways, includes: the gloves should be removed as a first instance, following by the goggles or face shield, then comes the protective gown, which should be removed from the inside out and as a last step, the mask or respirator come off.
It is also part of the rule that if the hands touch or get contaminated in the process, they should be washed after every step. As a matter of fact, it is recommended that they are washed either way to prevent further.
These steps which look and seem simple, are not so when it comes to the actual practice. Getting no part of the skin to touch the gear in any sort of way is actually tricky and unfortunately, what most exposes a person to Ebola.
Another unfortunate fact is that the people that are most exposed to Ebola and are potential patients are the same people who care for Ebola patients. Meaning, the doctors and nurses are next in line.
This fact brings worry among the staffs in hospitals. The nurses, for one, are extremely preoccupied and asking for further training to be done in order to ensure some sort of security for the staff.
"We are seeing that hospitals are not prepared. They are not doing active drilling and education they need to be doing," expressed Bonnie Castillo, director of the Registered Nurse Response Network, as the Washington Post noted.
It's being implicated by most nurses in the USA that hospitals need to change the tactics and they should be warned more thoroughly of every risk, as lately it has been shown that the Ebola patients are becoming nurses.
Not only in the USA, now the new and first American official Ebola patient is Nina Pham, but in Spain a nurse was the one who fell ill and even her dog had to be euthanized as a protective measure for the rest of the community.
It turns out that Nina Pham, USA's nurse, also has a dog that apparently could have contracted with Ebola as well, but it wasn't euthanized like Spain's case. Instead, he is in quarantine by staying in the nurse's apartment and being watched on.
"This is a new twist. The dog's very important to the patient and we want it to be safe," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings shared and ABC noted.
Ebola is a disease that is shaking up the world, to put it in simple terms. The dog from Spain wasn't positively diagnosed with Ebola, but it seems that dogs can contract a disease without showing any symptoms.
The authorities in Spain took prevention as a priority and euthanized it, even if they weren't sure about the dog possibly carrying the disease or not. A whole campaign opened between the people to "save" the dog.
Most were against the authorities' actions because of the simple fact that the dog hadn't been positively diagnosed, and Twitter was scattered with #SalvemosaExcalibur (Let's save Excalibur) hashtags.
Still, the dog was eventually euthanized. To keep this media hailstorm in USA from happening, the authorities are acting differently and hence, keeping the dog in the Dallas apartment.
Getting back to the health worker, who is now an Ebola patient in the Dallas Hospital, she is staying in the emergency room isolated. The events conducting to her contracting the disease unfolded on Friday.
She drove herself to the Dallas Hospital and reported a low fever. She was seen and tested, and later on Sunday it was a fact that she contracted the Ebola virus.
"That health worker is a heroic person, providing care to Mr. Duncan," Judge Clay Jenkins from Dallas said at an interview.
And she is indeed, after not only caring for Duncan, but also trying her best not to be a threat to the rest of the community and approaching the emergency room as soon as she feared that she could indeed be the next Ebola patient in Dallas.
About the community, there is fear.
"Please be advised that a health care worker who lives in your area has tested positive for the Ebola virus," was announced to the neighbors through 911 back calls and written notices on their doorsteps.
Police and the CDC have approached the apartment and took all positive measures to quarantine the place as well, not to have any more Ebola patients in Dallas.
