Man isolated DC testing for Ebola

[dragon]

DC now

A patient with Ebola-like symptoms is being treated at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., a hospital spokesperson confirmed late Friday morning.

The patient had traveled to Nigeria recently.

What You Need to Know: How the Ebola Virus Is Spread

That person has been admitted to the hospital in stable condition, and is being isolated and tested. The medical team is working with the CDC to determine whether the patient has Ebola.

"In an abundance of caution, we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient," said hospital spokesperson Kerry-Ann Hamilton in a statement. "Our medical team continues to evaluate and monitor progress in close collaboration with the CDC and the Department of Health."

Hamilton did not share further details about the patient, citing privacy reasons, but said the hospital will provide updates as warranted.

The D.C. Department of Health released a statement shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, saying that the department has been working with the CDC and Howard University Hospital to monitor "any patients displaying symptoms associated with the Ebola virus."

There are no confirmed cases of Ebola in D.C., said the statement.

Ebola in Dallas: What We Know About the 1st U.S. Case

As public health advocates had warned, the raging Ebola outbreak in West Africa has begun to affect Westerners, though the disease is difficult to spread casually.

Thursday, news broke that a freelance NBC cameraman covering the outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia had tested positive for Ebola after experiencing symptoms of the disease.

The cameraman, Ashoka Mukpo, had been working with chief medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman. NBC News is flying Mukpo and the entire team back to the U.S. so Mukpo can be treated and the team can be quarantined for 21 days.

Snyderman told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that she and the rest of her crew have shown no signs of the disease and have taken precautions while covering the outbreak, including washing their hands with bleach.

The crew are quarantining themselves as a precaution.

Dallas Ambulance Crew Who Brought Ebola Patient to Hospital Is Quarantined

Ebola is contagious only when infected people are showing symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who have been exposed to Ebola will show signs of it within 21 days of exposure, the CDC said.

"There is no risk to people who have been in contact with those who have been sick with Ebola and recovered, or people who have been exposed and have not yet shown symptoms," said Dr. Thomas Frieden of the CDC.

On Tuesday, the CDC confirmed the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States. The patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, flew from his hometown of Monrovia, Liberia, and through Brussels, Belgium on Sept. 20 before entering the United States via Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. He then traveled on to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Duncan, a Liberian man with family in the United States, first went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sept. 25 but was sent home. He returned to the hospital via ambulance Sunday.

On Friday, he was listed in serious but stable condition.

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[dragon]

maybe we should isloate all travellers coming from africa

[Alferd Packer]

Or, maybe you just don't roll around in the saliva, blood, sweat, semen, urine, or feces of someone who has recently been to western Africa, and you'll probably be fine. Somehow.

[Mr Bean]

Or, maybe you just don't roll around in the saliva, blood, sweat, semen, urine, or feces of someone who has recently been to western Africa, and you'll probably be fine. Somehow.

Which means in DC saliva and sweat is pretty damn hard since it's a drained malaria swamp and thus humid and hot pretty much year round. If you ride the metro in DC your going to get something on you. Not as bad as some places where using the metro consists of a full body feel up by between 40 to 200 people per train ride.

[Simon_Jester]

I think precautionary quarantine is a very good idea at this point, even if it's not something we're accustomed to doing.

[Broomstick]

maybe we should isloate all travellers coming from africa

You know, if disease breaks out in Moscow we should isolate people coming from Portugal because they're both in Europe.

Africa is a pretty damn big place - how about we just discuss possible travel restrictions for affected parts of Africa? Personally, I'm in favor of monitoring, banning travel for people who are definitely sick, and quarantine where appropriate for public health rather than based on fear.

[Ekiqa]

I think precautionary quarantine is a very good idea at this point, even if it's not something we're accustomed to doing.

Especially as the guy from Liberia lied on his declaration, and entered the country knowing he was infected. Considering that his chances of survival are better in the US, I can see why he did it, but that just means that others will attempt it as well.

Or just not issue visas for people from the effected regions until the shitstorm is over.

[dragon]

False alarm. I have a feeling we will be seeing more false alarms as time goes by.

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WASHINGTON (WJLA/ABC News) - Two people who were hospitalized in isolation units at D.C. area hospitals on Friday have been declared to not have Ebola, officials confirmed Saturday. One of the cases turned out to be malaria.

Howard University Hospital in D.C., where a possible Ebola patient is in isolation. (Photo: U.S. National Library of Medicine)

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One of the patients was being treated at D.C.'s Howard University Hospital, while the other was was admitted at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Montgomery County, Md.

The Howard patient, who had just returned to the U.S. after visiting Nigeria, was listed in stable condition with "symptoms that could be associated with Ebola," a hospital statement said.

The Shady Grove patient had "flu-like symptoms and a travel history that matches criteria for possible Ebola," officials there said in statement. But they added the individual was "showing signs of improvement" over the past 24 hours. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital released a statement Friday night saying its patient had malaria, not Ebola.

Federal health privacy laws prevented the hospitals from providing further details about the two individuals.

Both hospitals said the Centers for Disease Control and local health departments had been notified of the potential cases and were working with them on "appropriate infection control protocols."

D.C. Department of Health officials were quick to emphasize, "At this time, there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in the District of Columbia.” Montgomery County health officials said similar.

Though the scares have put some on edge, the cases are not unique. After issuing an alert to hospitals and medical providers in July, the CDC has looked into approximately 100 Ebola scares in 33 states, as of Oct. 1, the agency said.

Among those, the CDC has tested the blood of 15 possible Ebola patients and found only one patient who tested positive, according to Dr. Beth Bell, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. That patient is Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man diagnosed in Texas. (He flew there via Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.)

"We're striving for perfection, but what we continue to do is redouble our efforts and ... use this as learning experience," Bell said.

Diagnosing the deadly virus can be difficult. The early symptoms of the Ebola virus, including fever chills and abdominal pain, are similar to many other diseases and can be difficult to diagnose correctly.

After a hospital or state lab identifies a possible Ebola case based on both travel history and symptoms, they notify the CDC. CDC officials then talk to someone familiar with the patient's history to determine whether blood testing for the virus is necessary, CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told ABC News.

CDC officials discuss symptoms and determine whether the patient may have been exposed to the virus. A person can be exposed to the virus if they buried the body of an Ebola patient, lived in the same home as an Ebola patient or was a health care worker.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine in Tennessee, said it is not surprising that only a small percentage of the patients investigated had a blood test to check for Ebola.

There are diseases that can appear similar to Ebola, but are far more common in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone where the Ebola outbreak started, Schaffner noted. Doctors might end up contacting the CDC before finding out a patient actually has fever due to tuberculosis.

"You have to be mindful this could be malaria or typhoid fever. That's your job to sort all those things out," said Schaffner. "Your threshold for getting a blood specimen is dependent on the answers to those questions. You kind of have a decision algorithm in your head."

Schaffner said he would not be surprised if there are a rash of new calls to the CDC from hospitals or state labs in the next few days and weeks in light of the intense media coverage of the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S.

"Having all those inquiries come into the CDC are very, very indicative of the fact that the medical care community are on the alert and thinking about [Ebola]," Schaffner said. "It keeps all of us on our toes."

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[Broomstick]

I don't view some false alarms as a problem. It means medical personnel are paying attention, and it also means we're not having an massive influx of ebola patients. Both are good things.

[Simon_Jester]

I can say from first hand experience that the scares have percolated down to the teenagers at at least one high school in the DC metropolitan area.