Ebola coming to the US

[scrub-jay]

DH surprised me by saying he felt like it was a good move for the patients. He feels we have good containment here and that there is a low risk of spread. When he was a medical student, he did an optional 9 months of work in Africa. He described the medical care as "catastrophic". I'm sure someone here will jump in and say they experienced the exact opposite, but where he was in South Africa, the care was poor. He suggested that an American citizen deserved to return home to care that would be more likely to support him (like dialysis, etc).

So ... I was surprised. I thought he would be totally against it.

Kris

Out of curiosity, what does he say about Germany taking Ebola patients too? Disclaimer: I know nothing about Germany's healthcare system.

[PrincessFiona]

He is less informed on who they are taking and says "I would only take German citizens" because the cost is astronomical. He feels they have the capacity to contain the virus/treat the problems the same as they do here in the US. In other words, the German healthcare system is capable of containment /treatment to the same degree that we are.

[scrub-jay]

That's pretty much what I assumed. Thanks Dr. PF!

[LadyFoot]

Have you all seen this? Pretty interesting. I don't think I disagree with the choice to use this drug in these circumstances, but it does raise ethical questions. When is it okay to skip the general safety processes in place for drug experimentation?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/04/health...rum/index.html

[bobk]

I agree, it's very interesting. It seems worth trying to me as death is quite certain and rapid, so the patient doesn't have much to lose.

If these two people recover, I'm curious what the next steps are. Especially how long they need to be quarantined. I don't know much about ID. Can doctors ever be certain that there's no risk of them transmitting the disease to other people?

[rain_dancer]

If these two people recover, I'm curious what the next steps are. Especially how long they need to be quarantined. I don't know much about ID. Can doctors ever be certain that there's no risk of them transmitting the disease to other people?

I was wondering the same thing myself. Does anyone know of any cases of Ebola survivors returning to life in areas where the virus is not endemic?

On a related note, I saw that Mount Sinai has someone under watch for Ebola symptoms. think it was just fever and diarrhea at this point which, obviously, could be anything and has a 99.99% chance of NOT being Ebola. But still, kind of scary.

[WolfpackWife]

Bobk - I was wondering the exact same thing!

Semi related: did anyone see the video feed of Dr. Brantly coming into Emory? Dude walked into the hospital himself! I am guessing that's a good sign, but I wasn't prepared to see him walk on in!

[SoonerTexan]

Have you all seen this? Pretty interesting. I don't think I disagree with the choice to use this drug in these circumstances, but it does raise ethical questions. When is it okay to skip the general safety processes in place for drug experimentation?

Doesn't it happen all the time with compassionate use? This time last year my FIL shared an interesting dilemma they were dealing with in regards to a cancer drug. Definitely interesting questions

[LadyFoot]

Doesn't it happen all the time with compassionate use? This time last year my FIL shared an interesting dilemma they were dealing with in regards to a cancer drug. Definitely interesting questions

It might, although somewhere I read said that this even skipped over some of the compassionate use regulations.

I'm curious what they will do next if it really does work long-term for the two Americans. If they use it in Africa, it could be great. Or something could go wrong and it becomes "American company submits poor Africans to human drug testing." Or they wait and don't start using it there and it becomes "American company won't share life-saving drug with poor Africans." I'm sure the media will have fun with it regardless. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[MsSassyBaskets]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/health...12pVODtopPhoto

[SoonerTexan]

That's wonderful!

[MsSassyBaskets]

I think it's so cool. What an impressive accomplishment for science. I hope the experimental treatment they received can be successfully used more widely. It sounds like it was also used on three Liberians, who are also recovering. It sounds so promising.

[scrub-jay]

The Spanish priest who was flown to Spain was also given the treatment, but did not make it. This was poorly reported in the news.

[MsSassyBaskets]

The Spanish priest who was flown to Spain was also given the treatment, but did not make it. This was poorly reported in the news.

I hadn't heard that. Obviously N=6 doesn't mean much, but it seems promising nonetheless.

[scrub-jay]

I hadn't heard that. Obviously N=6 doesn't mean much, but it seems promising nonetheless.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28754899

It's also hard to say how effective it is when you also added much better medical care at the same time. I believe the WHO approved using the experimental drug in the impacted countries, the company is working to send 1000 doses, but I'm not sure how many to which countries.