BREAKING NEWS: Ebola alert as Boston hospital is evacuated

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2790233/ebola-alert-boston-hospital-evacuated-patient-recently-traveled-west-africa-begins-virus-like-symptoms.html

BREAKING NEWS: Ebola alert as Boston hospital is evacuated after a patient who recently traveled to West Africa begins to show virus-like symptoms

Harvard Vanguard Medical Center in Braintree was evacuated this afternoon
Patient who recently traveled to West Africa complained of symptoms
'Ebola protocol is in place,' said Joe Zanca of Braintree Fire
Police, fire officials, emergency services and hazmat team responded

By Jill Reilly for MailOnline and Josh Gardner for MailOnline

Published: 15:09 EST, 12 October 2014 | Updated: 15:16 EST, 12 October 2014

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An Ebola alert is underway in a Boston hospital after it was evacuated and a patient isolated with a possible case of the virus.

According to officials, Harvard Vanguard Medical Center in Braintree was cleared this afternoon after a patient who recently traveled to West Africa began to complain of symptoms related to the illness.

The man is now being isolated based on his medical complaints, fire officials said.
According to officials, Harvard Vanguard Medical Center (above) in Braintree was evacuated this afternoon after a patient who recently traveled to West Africa began to complain of symptoms related to the illness (file photo)
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According to officials, Harvard Vanguard Medical Center (above) in Braintree was evacuated this afternoon after a patient who recently traveled to West Africa began to complain of symptoms related to the illness (file photo)

'Ebola protocol is in place,' said Joe Zanca of Braintree Fire.
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'We don't know if he actually has Ebola.'

Police, fire officials, and emergency medical services responded to the scene, along with a hazmat team, Zanca said.

Earlier today it was revealed that a Texas care worker has tested positive for the disease.

If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.
Dual mission: First responders guard the Dallas apartment of the infected nurse as health officials fanned out in her neighborhood Sunday in a mission to both calm fears and gain information
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Dual mission: First responders guard the Dallas apartment of the infected nurse as health officials fanned out in her neighborhood Sunday in a mission to both calm fears and gain information
Growing fears: A woman looks out of her window from an apartment building next door to the apartment building of the infected nurse
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Growing fears: A woman looks out of her window from an apartment building next door to the apartment building of the infected nurse
Pamphleting the neighborhood: A notice is left on the front porch of a house across the street from the apartment where a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital lives and tested positive for Ebola in Dallas
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Pamphleting the neighborhood: A notice is left on the front porch of a house across the street from the apartment where a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital lives and tested positive for Ebola in Dallas

Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the diagnosis shows there was a clear breach of safety protocol and all those who treated Thomas Eric Duncan are now considered potentially exposed.

The worker wore a gown, gloves, mask and shield while she cared for Duncan during his second visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, said Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources, which runs the hospital. Frieden said the worker has not been able to identify a specific breach of protocol that might have led to her being infected.

Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia to visit family on Sept. 20, first sought medical care for fever and abdominal pain on Sept. 25. He told a nurse he had traveled from Africa, but he was sent home. He returned Sept. 28 and was placed in isolation because of suspected Ebola. He died Wednesday.

Liberia is one of the three countries most affected by the ongoing Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 4,000 people, almost all of them in West Africa, according to World Health Organization figures published Friday. The others are Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Briefed on the crisis: President Barack Obama speaks on the phone with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, to get an update on the response to the Ebola diagnosis in Dallas, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC Sunday
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Briefed on the crisis: President Barack Obama speaks on the phone with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, to get an update on the response to the Ebola diagnosis in Dallas, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC Sunday

Texas health officials have been closely monitoring nearly 50 people who had or may have had close contact with Duncan in the days after he started showing symptoms.

The health care worker reported a fever Friday night as part of a self-monitoring regimen required by the CDC, Varga said. He said another person is in isolation, and the hospital has stopped accepting new emergency room patients. Frieden said officials are now evaluating and will monitor any workers who may have been exposed while Duncan was in the hospital.

'We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility,' said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. 'We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.'

Dallas officials knocked on doors, made automated phone calls and passed out fliers to notify people within a four-block radius of the health care worker's apartment complex about the situation, though they said there was no reason for neighbors to be concerned.

Dallas police officers stood guard outside the complex Sunday and told people not to go inside. One said an industrial barrel outside contained hazardous waste taken from inside the building. Nearby residents periodically came out of their homes to ask about the commotion.

Kara Lutley, who lives a half-block from the complex, said she never received a call or other emergency notice and first heard about it on the news.

'I'm not overly concerned that I'll get Ebola,' she said.
New US Ebola case caused by breach of care protocol
Wasn't high risk: Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person to die of Ebola in the United States last week. One of the healthcare workers treating him tested positive over the weekend and was not even a part of the originally identified 'high-risk' group
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Wasn't high risk: Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person to die of Ebola in the United States last week. One of the healthcare workers treating him tested positive over the weekend and was not even a part of the originally identified 'high-risk' group

Officials said they also received information that there may be a pet in the health care worker's apartment, and they have a plan in place to care for the animal. They do not believe the pet has signs of having contracted Ebola.

Frieden on Sunday raised concerns about the possible breach of safety protocol and told CBS' 'Face the Nation' that among the things CDC will investigate is how the workers took off protective gear, because removing it incorrectly can lead to contamination.

Investigators will also look at dialysis and intubation, in which a tube is inserted into a patient's airway so a ventilator can help with breathing. Both procedures have the potential to spread infectious material.

Health care workers treating Ebola patients are among the most vulnerable, even if wearing protective gear.

A Spanish nurse assistant recently became the first health care worker infected outside West Africa during the ongoing outbreak.
SPREAD OF A DEADLY PLAGUE: HOW WILL AMERICA CONTAIN EBOLA?

WHEN IS EBOLA CONTAGIOUS?

Only when someone is showing symptoms, which can start with vague symptoms including a fever, flu-like body aches and abdominal pain, and then vomiting and diarrhea.

HOW DOES EBOLA SPREAD?

Through close contact with a symptomatic person's bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen. Those fluids must have an entry point, like a cut or scrape or someone touching the nose, mouth or eyes with contaminated hands, or being splashed. That's why health care workers wear protective gloves and other equipment.

The World Health Organization says blood, feces and vomit are the most infectious fluids, while the virus is found in saliva mostly once patients are severely ill and the whole live virus has never been culled from sweat.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said Sunday that a health-care worker who provided hospital care for the first patient to die from Ebola in the United States has tested positive for the virus. The worker was not identified and it was unclear what level of care the worker provided or when the health worker came into contact with the patient. If the diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of Ebola being transmitted in the U.S.

WHAT ABOUT MORE CASUAL CONTACT?

Ebola isn't airborne. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said people don't get exposed by sitting next to someone on the bus.

'This is not like flu. It's not like measles, not like the common cold. It's not as spreadable, it's not as infectious as those conditions,' he added.

WHO GETS TESTED WHEN EBOLA IS SUSPECTED?

Hospitals with a suspected case call their health department or the CDC to go through a checklist to determine the person's level of risk. Among the questions are whether the person reports a risky contact with a known Ebola patient, how sick they are and whether an alternative diagnosis is more likely. Most initially suspicious cases in the U.S. haven't met the criteria for testing.

HOW IS IT CLEANED UP?

The CDC says bleach and other hospital disinfectants kill Ebola. Dried virus on surfaces survives only for several hours.



She helped care for a missionary priest who was brought to a Madrid hospital. More than 370 health care workers in West Africa have fallen ill or died since the epidemic began earlier this year.

Ebola spreads through close contact with a symptomatic person's bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen.

Those fluids must have an entry point, like a cut or scrape or someone touching the nose, mouth or eyes with contaminated hands, or being splashed.

The World Health Organization says blood, feces and vomit are the most infectious fluids, while the virus is found in saliva mostly once patients are severely ill.

The whole live virus has never been culled from sweat.

Duncan, the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola, came to Dallas to attend the high school graduation of his son, who was born in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast and brought to the U.S. as a toddler when his mother successfully applied for resettlement.

The trip was the culmination of decades of effort, friends and family members said. But when Duncan arrived in Dallas, though he showed no symptoms, he had already been exposed to Ebola. His neighbors in Liberia believe Duncan become infected when he helped a pregnant neighbor who later died from it. It was unclear if he knew about her diagnosis before traveling.
Ebola victim: Mr Duncan carried Ebola with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on September 20 and fell ill several days later


Ebola victim: Mr Duncan carried Ebola with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on September 20 and fell ill several days later