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Hospitals should ‘think Ebola,’ CDC director says

CDC: U.S. has to rethink the way it addresses Ebola infection control

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                            Oct. 13, 2014

By Connie Cass

DALLAS --Every hospital must know how to diagnose Ebola in people who have been in West Africa and be ready to isolate a suspected case, Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday.

He said the CDC is working to improve protections for hospital workers after a nurse caring for an Ebola patient in Dallas became the first person to become infected with the disease inside the U.S.

‘‘We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control,’’ Frieden said, ‘‘because even a single infection is unacceptable.’’

The CDC is scrambling to interview all staff of the Dallas hospital who could have been exposed to the patient, a Liberian man who became sick after traveling to the United States and died at the hospital. Anyone at risk will be monitored, he said.

‘‘We need to consider the possibility that there could be additional cases, particularly among the health care workers who cared for the index patient’’ — the Liberian man — ‘‘when he was so ill,’’ Frieden said.

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FIVE ITEMS ON EFFORTS TO IMPROVE TRAINING FOR HEALTH WORKERS

Scroll down for the stories and link to CDC check list

CDC TAKES NEW STEPS TO IMPROVE TRAINING FOR HOSPITAL WORKERS

NEW YORK TIMES                   Oct. 13, 2014
By Pam Belluck

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking new steps to help hospital workers protect themselves, providing more training and urging hospitals to run drills to practice dealing with potential Ebola patients.

In response to the news that a health care worker in Dallas had contracted Ebola, a spokeswoman said the agency would also issue more specific instructions and explanations for putting on and removing protective equipment and would urge nurses and doctors to enlist a co-worker or “buddy” to watch them do so....

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Obama orders CDC probe in 2nd Dallas Ebola case to move ‘as expeditiously as possible’

WASHINGTON POST

                                    October 12, 014 

President Obama received two briefings on the diagnosis of a second Ebola case in Dallas, according to White House officials, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) urged the president to appoint a "czar" to coordinate the administration's response to the disease.

Obama was briefed Sunday morning by Lisa Monaco, who serves as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and is overseeing the interagency response to the disease. Later, according to White House officials, Obama also discussed the situation with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

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Ebola Protocol Was Likely Breached In Texas, Medical Officials Say

HUFFINGTON  POST                     Oct.12, 2014      11:08 AM
By

The Texas health care worker who contracted Ebola after providing care for an infected patient likely breached safety protocols, health officials said Sunday.

"Certainly there has to have been an inadvertent, innocent breach of the protocol of taking care of the patient within the personal protective equipment -- that extremely rarely happens," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. "We've been taking care of Ebola patients since 1976. Groups like Doctors Without Borders who do that almost never have an infection, because of the experience of doing this."

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Extra caution amid Ebola screening at NYC airport

USA  TODAY                    Oct. 12, 2014

Melanie Eversley and Marisol Bello,

NEW YORK — As federal officials at New York's Kennedy International Airport stepped up efforts to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus with extensive screening of passengers arriving from countries hit hardest by the outbreak, passengers and employees were taking their own precautions.

Maria Uruchimadecriollo cleans a bathroom JFK Terminal 4 international arrivals in Jamaica, NY. Uruchimadecriollo is wearing a mask that her husband bought for her yesterday, with the hope that it would keep her safe from the Ebola virus. This is the first day that the airport will begin screening passengers for Ebola coming in from the affected areas in Africa.(Photo: Jennifer S. Altman, for USA TODAY)

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection screened travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, taking their temperature and observing them for other Ebola symptoms.

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U.S. lacks a single standard for Ebola response

USA TODAY                                   Oct. 12, 2014

by Larry Copeland

ATLANTA — As Thomas Eric Duncan's family mourns the USA's first Ebola death in Dallas, one question reverberates over a series of apparent missteps in the case: Who is in charge of the response to Ebola?

The answer seems to be — there really isn't one person or agency. There is not a single national response.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emerged as the standard-bearer — and sometimes the scapegoat — on Ebola.

Public health is the purview of the states, and as the nation anticipates more Ebola cases, some experts say the way the United States handles public health is not up to the challenge.

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/12/examining-the-nations-ebola-response/17059283/

CDC workers analyze Ebola details in the CDC's Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta.(Photo: David Tulis for USA TODAY)


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Dallas health worker who tested positive for Ebola wore ‘full’ protective gear

WASHINGTON POST                                                      OCT 12, 2014

DALLAS, TEX--  In the first apparent case of Ebola transmission in the United States, a Texas hospital worker who treated an Ebola-stricken Liberian man has tested positive for the deadly virus.

A police car drives past the entrance to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. (LM Otero/AP)

The preliminary test result was announced early Sunday, four days after the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas; the diagnosis has not been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The Problem With Ebola In The Media

MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA      THREE PERSPECTIVES

FORBES                                       Oc. 11, 2014

By Alic G. Walton

The Ebola situation in West Africa is clearly not good. The death toll is rising, and people continue to become infected.....

But the reality is that for people in America and other places outside of West Africa, the risk is still quite low. Caution is important, obviously, and airports and hospitals are taking measures to screen people and protect the public.

 The real issue is a different one: Our fear of Ebola has become many times worse than the problem.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/10/11/the-problem-with-ebola-in-the-media/

Mobile Phones, Social Media Aiding Ebola Fight

 U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT         Oct. 20, 2014

By Tim Risen

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CDC Develops Ebola Modeling Tool While WHO Trains Health Workers

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY               Oct. 9, 2014

 By Kylie Bull, Managing Editor

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a dynamic modeling tool called Ebola Response that allows for estimations of projected cases over time in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

 The Ebola Response modeling tool can construct scenarios to illustrate how control and prevention interventions can slow and eventually stop the Ebola epidemic. Importantly, it can help public health and other planners make more informed decisions about emergency response resources to help bring the outbreak under control. The new tool allows input of data reflective of the current situation on the ground in affected countries and communities.

 The Ebola Response modeling tool is intended to help local governments and international responders generate short-term estimates of the Ebola situations in countries, districts and villages. The tool, in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, is to be made freely available online.

Meanwhile, in Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) has established a new training program for health workers on Ebola care.

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CDC director calls for action to stop Ebola from becoming “the world’s next AIDS”

WASHINGTON POST                                                   Oct. 9, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to the AIDS epidemic at a conference Thursday morning at the World Bank.

"In my 30 years in public health, the only thing that has been like this is AIDS," Frieden said at a conference at the World Bank attended by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Guinean President Alpha Condé, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde and representatives of governments and not-for-profit organizations around the world....

"We have to work now so that this is not the world's next AIDS," Frieden warned....

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/09/cdc-director-compares-ebola-to-aids/

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