Hospitals focus on preparedness as risk of Ebola spread increases…” for what some consider inevitable — the arrival of the deadly virus here.”

Thursday, September 18, 2014
By Paul Martin

By Scott Dance
The Baltimore Sun
September 17, 2014

As health officials fail to contain West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, recent scares at two Baltimore-area hospitals highlight the need for hospitals here and across the United States to prepare space and equipment for what some consider inevitable — the arrival of the deadly virus here.

While experts say the chances of an epidemic spreading in the U.S. are low, there is a real possibility that someone could come down with Ebola after returning from a trip to Africa, they said. Hospitals routinely ask patients with flu-like symptoms whether they have visited that continent recently.

There have been no confirmed cases of Ebola here, but hospitals are tailoring existing plans for pandemics of other diseases, such as SARS and avian flu, to be ready for Ebola as the epidemic grows exponentially, already more deadly than all previously recorded Ebola outbreaks combined.

“If you look at the epidemic curve and the global travel, I think there’s a risk that we could” see an Ebola case, said Dr. Trish Perl, senior epidemiologist for Johns Hopkins Health System. “That’s what we’re trying to plan for.”

The Rest…HERE

Leave a Reply

Join the revolution in 2018. Revolution Radio is 100% volunteer ran. Any contributions are greatly appreciated. God bless!

Follow us on Twitter