Important Message

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM BAYHEALTH
10.05.2014

A child from Liberia was brought to the Bayhealth Kent General emergency department on Saturday, October 4. The ED staff completed an initial assessment following the recently updated Centers for Disease Control guidelines for identifying suspected cases of Ebola.

After the assessment, and out of an abundance of caution, the child was admitted to a private isolation room and all CDC guidelines regarding specimen collection, transport, testing and submission for person under investigation for Ebola are being followed.

The State of Delaware Office of Infectious Disease was notified of the admission, who subsequently notified the CDC.

The child is past the 21 day maximum incubation period and it has been determined by the CDC that the likelihood of Ebola infection is extremely low. Since the likelihood is low, the CDC declined to test this child for Ebola.

The patient will continue to be observed in the hospital until the CDC and the infectious disease physician determine it is safe for the patient to be discharged from the hospital.

This patient is past the incubation period and as of tonight is symptom free. Working with state and federal officials, Bayhealth is committed to patient safety and protecting public health.

14 Comments on "Important Message"

  1. What’s the important message? There’s a healthy child in the hospital?

  2. Frank Knotts says:

    Exactly FDR, if you are watching social media there has been a rash of overreaction to this story with people saying there is a case of Ebola in Dover, it is important to get the facts out to stave off panic.

  3. fightingbluehen says:

    Why not temporarily suspend flights from ebola stricken areas? It’s clear that screening is not enough. They are relying on questionnaires for Christ’s sake. At least automatically quarantine everyone who comes from those areas for a time, if they absolutely must come here.

    I would imagine that it wouldn’t take too many infected people to breach the system before it would overwhelm the CDC’s protocol for stopping an epidemic.

    Just seems like common sense to me. Then again I’m just a landscaper, so maybe someone smart can explain it to me.

  4. fightingbluehen says:

    Yes, FDR. It appears that the Nigerians are doing a stand up job containing ebola in their country.

  5. fightingbluehen says:

    The CDC dropped the ball when they failed to respond in a timely manner, when it came to the cleaning of the residence where the Liberian Ebola victim was located, as well as the ambulance that carried him.

    You wonder how the hell this could happen? You probably figured, as I did, that the CDC would be instantly arriving in hazmat suits when confronted with this type of situation.

    Well, when you see where they have been focusing their energy, it all seems a little more clear as to why they dropped the ball. Instead of focussing on keeping us safe from a global pandemic, they have been focused on….that’s right you guessed it….. GLOBAL WARMING.

    Here is the mission statement from cdc.gov

    The mission of CDC’s Climate and Health Program is to:

    1) lead efforts to identify vulnerable populations to climate change,

    2) prevent and adapt to current and anticipated health impacts, and

    3) assure that systems are in place to detect and respond to current and emerging health threats.

    The program has 3 core functions:

    1) To translate climate change science to inform states, local health departments and communities;

    2) To create decision support tools to build capacity to prepare for climate change; and

    3) To serve as a credible leader in planning for the public health impacts of climate change.

  6. Dave says:

    Just to be complete, since I know you did not just intend to cherry pick one mission statement that caught your eye (and note that this is only a partial list, but a better list than your sample of one.

    The same division responsible for climate change is also responsible for:

    Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects
    Air Pollution and Respiratory Health
    Asthma: A Public Health Response
    Clean Water for Health
    Climate and Health Program
    Environmental Public Health Tracking
    Health Studies
    Radiation Studies

    Now you can see where they have really been focusing their energy as opposed to the one item you discovered.

    The mission of the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) is to promote health and quality of life by preventing, controlling, and eventually eliminating tuberculosis from the United States, and by collaborating with other countries and international partners in controlling global tuberculosis.

    The mission of the One Health Office is to facilitate, sponsor and coordinate research and program activities that seek to attain optimal health for people and animals through an integrated approach considering the interrelatedness among humans, animals, and the environment in which they live.

    Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch (BSPB) Mission Statement
    1.Provides assistance in control of endemic and epidemics disease, and exploits opportunities to improve control and prevention of bacterial zoonotic diseases and mycobacterium infections other than tuberculosis;
    2.Provides subject matter expertise for preparedness and emergency response for anthrax, brucellosis, melioidosis, and glanders;
    3.Provides reference and diagnostic activities for agents causing these diseases and for the identification of unknown bacterial isolates associated with human diseases;
    4.Conducts laboratory research for improved laboratory identification and subtyping of bacterial zoonoses and identification of novel bacterial pathogens;
    5.Develops, implements, and evaluates domestic and international prevention strategies for these diseases;
    6.Collaborates with other CDC NCs, NCZVED divisions, state and federal agencies, Ministers of Health, WHO, PAHO, private partners and other governmental organizations involved in public health.

    Poxvirus and Rabies Branch Mission Statement
    1.Provides epidemic aid, consultation, surveillance, and epidemiologic and/or ecologic investigations of poxvirus and rabies associated diseases both domestically and internationally;
    2.Conducts research studies on the microbiology, molecular biology, and pathogenesis of poxvirus and rabies infections;
    3.Provides reference/diagnostic services domestically and internationally;
    4.Develops, evaluates, and improves methods for diagnosing poxvirus and rabies associated diseases;
    5.Serves as one of two WHO Collaborating Centers for Smallpox and other Poxvirus Infections and as a WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Rabies;
    6.Provides consultation and laboratory training to state and local health departments, and other national and international organizations;
    7.Responds to requests for information and assistance regarding poxvirus and rabies associated diseases and their prevention, control, and treatment from CDC, health care providers, academic institutions, state and local health departments, other government agencies, and the general public;
    8.Collaborates with government agencies, domestic and international academic institutions, and the private sector in developing novel diagnostic assays and vaccines for poxvirus and rabies associated diseases; and
    9.Maintains the Bioterrorism Laboratory for poxvirus response and research.

    Prion and Public Health Office (PPHO) Mission Statement
    1.Serves as the lead federal office for monitoring the occurrence of human prion disease in the United States;
    2.Conducts epidemiological investigations, studies and multiple methods of surveillance to increase understanding of human prion diseases and selected diseases of unknown etiology (e.g., Kawasaki syndrome) for the purpose of informing disease control policies;
    3.Facilitates the study of brain autopsies by skilled pathologists of clinically diagnosed and suspected cases of human prion disease in the United Stated to enable early recognition of the emergence of any new prion disease(e.g., variant CJD and possibly human chronic wasting disease);
    4.Provides prion disease consultations to clinicians, state and local health departments, other federal agencies and national and international organizations, including epidemic aid support as needed;
    5.Disseminates information and advice to the public on preventing or reducing the negative public impacts of prion diseases and selected diseases of unknown etiology;
    6.Serves as a DHCPP statistical analysis unit, collaborating with and supporting studies, investigations, and surveillance activities of epidemiologists and laboratory researchers;
    7.Provides statistical consultations and collaborates with researchers on local, national and international public health morbidity and mortality studies that require expertise in manipulating and understanding large public health datasets;
    8.Provides statistical and epidemiologic training opportunities for EIS officers and other personnel in CDC sponsored programs.

    Infectious Disease Pathology Branch (IDPB) Mission Statement
    1.Provides histopathology, molecular pathology, and ultra structure reference/diagnostic support and epidemic aid to state and local health departments, other federal agencies, and national and international health organizations;
    2.Collaborates with other CDC and non-CDC infectious disease laboratories to investigate outbreaks of infectious diseases of unknown etiologies and identify new pathogens;
    3.Develops, improves, evaluates, and applies special immunohistologic, ultrastructural, and/or nucleic acid probe technologies for detecting microbial agents and/or expressed gene products in tissue specimens or tissue culture;
    4.Conducts basic and applied research into the pathogenesis of infectious diseases;
    5.Provides intramural and extramural technical and professional expertise for assistance in training in infectious disease pathology and molecular approaches to the identification of specific nucleic acid sequences and special antigens in tissue specimens; and
    6.Serves as the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference Pathology of Hemorrhagic Fevers and other Infectious Diseases.
    This is some really long text to take up some space for Firefox and force the page to take up 100% of the available screen width. This style should not be deleted.

    Chronic Viral Diseases Branch (CVDB) Mission Statement

    To control and prevent chronic neoplastic of viral infections as well as chronic fatiguing illnesses of unknown etiology (such as chronic fatigue syndrome) through excellence in the design and execution of population-based epidemiology and laboratory studies addressing the totality of these problems with the best methods from multiple disciplines.

    Specifically, CVDB:
    1.Conducts surveillance and hypothesis-driven clinical studies of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS);
    2.Develops novel genomic and proteomic laboratory assays to be used in studies of CFS;
    3.Develops bioinformatics techniques to elucidate the pathophysiology of CFS and similar medically unexplained illnesses;
    4.Develops, executes, and evaluates medical and public education programs to decrease morbidity associated with CFS;
    5.Conducts laboratory-based epidemiologic studies of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer to enable effective control and prevention;
    6.Conducts research concerning human immune responses to HPV, CFS, and other related unexplained or chronic illnesses;
    7.Develops, evaluates, and improves reagents/methods for rapid diagnosis of HPV, CFS, and other related unexplained or chronic illnesses;
    8.Provides epidemiology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, diagnostic serology/virology, and immunology consultation and collaboration to national and international organizations concerning control and prevention of CFS, cervical cancer, and related chronic or medically unexplained illnesses; and
    9.Provides expert assistance and consultation to national and international investigators and organizations regarding sequelae of viral infections.

  7. fightingbluehen says:

    The point is that there are resources being dedicated to something that most likely doesn’t even exist, while at the same time, they can’t even execute a basic function of the CDC, which is to make sure someone shows up in a hazmat suit.

  8. fightingbluehen says:

    If someone looked into it, and found that the CDC is dedicating a disproportionately high amount of funds and resources to their climate change program, in lieu of the current situation, it would be a big story I believe.

  9. Dave says:

    When I get a chance I’ll pull their budget and let you know much they are spending. It won’t be exact because they don’t use phrases like “global warming”

  10. Dave says:

    P.S. Protocols do not call for hazmat suits in every situation

  11. fightingbluehen says:

    “they don’t use phrases like “global warming””

    No, it’s the CDC’s Climate and Health Program, but it’s all based on global warming or “climate change” as they now say. I’ve tried looking through the PDFs for the allocations, but had no luck in the 5 min that I dedicated to it.

    BTW, I just used the “hazmat suit” comment as sort of an idiom to basically mean standard operating procedure, or just plain showing up.

  12. Dave says:

    2012 – $8.165M
    2013 – $6.714M
    2014 – $6.995M
    2015 – $6.995M President’s Budget Proposal

  13. fightingbluehen says:

    Those seem to be the numbers, but when you look at the expanded mission statement of this CDC program it doesn’t even seem feasible that the budget allowance would even cover the travel costs of the program, much less the implementation. Maybe there is nothing to see here. I’ve been wrong before.

    To translate climate change science to inform states, local health departments and communities.
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Priority Actions

    Enhance the science base to better understand the relationship between climate change and health outcomes
    Identify locations and population groups at greatest risk for specific health threats, such as heat waves
    Provide technical advice and support to state and local health departments, the private sector, and others in implementing national and global preparedness measures related to the health effects of climate change
    Projects /Activities

    Work with the state and local agencies to translate climate science into health policy for action both regionally and locally
    Expanding the climate change research foundation
    NASA/ROSES project; using NASA data and models to improve heat watch warming systems
    Local climate change and health indicator project; Travis County, Texas
    Vulnerability assessments for climate-related environmental hazards

    To create decision support tools to build capacity to prepare for climate change.
    —————————————————————————————–
    Priority Actions

    Track data on environmental conditions, disease risks, and disease occurrence related to climate change
    Communicate the health-related aspects of climate change, including risks and ways to reduce them, to the public, decision makers, and healthcare providers
    Develop and implement preparedness and response plans for health threats such as heat waves, severe weather events, and infectious diseases
    Expand capacity for modeling and forecasting health effects that may be climate-related
    Promote workforce development by helping to ensure the training of a new generation of competent, experienced public health staff to respond to the health threats posed by climate change
    Projects /Activities

    Funding Opportunity Award (FOA) for state and local health departments (assessment, planning, adaptations and capacity building)
    Funding of a Climate Module within the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT)
    Creation of the Adaptation Guidebook for State and Local Health Departments
    Code Red Heat Alert Training
    Extreme Heat Media Toolkit
    EPHLI Project (air Quality respiratory Disease)
    NCAR /CDC Postdoctoral Fellowship
    Research scholarships
    APHA Dissertation Awards
    Webinar Series: “Climate Change: Mastering the Public Health Role”

    To serve as a credible leader in planning for the public health impacts of climate change.
    ————————————————————————————————–
    Priority Actions

    Provide leadership to state and local governments, community leaders, healthcare professionals, nongovernmental organizations, the faith-based communities, the private sector and the public, domestically and internationally, regarding health protection from climate change effects
    Serve as a credible source of information on the health consequences of climate change for the U.S. population and globally
    Develop partnerships with other government agencies, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, universities, and international organizations to more effectively address U.S. and global health aspects of climate change
    Projects /Activities

    Participation on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to develop IPCC special report on extreme events and extreme impacts related to climate change
    Participation on Inter-Agency Workgroups of the US Global Change Research Program
    Health impacts anticipated from climate changes incorporated into the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, released in 2007

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