A third American has contracted Ebola while working in Africa, and
reports indicate that he never even treated any patients that were
diagnosed with the disease. According to NPR, Dr. Rick Sacra has worked
in Liberia as a physician since 1995, and more recently offered to help
at hospitals overwhelmed with patients due to the Ebola crisis. But Dr.
Sacra somehow caught the virus without ever treating a single Ebola
patient, and experts aren't sure how.
The 51-year-old family
physician signed on with the Christian aid group SIM back in the late
1980s and, between 2008 and 2010, served as the group's acting medical
director of ELWA Hospital in Monrovia. Before that, he had served as
SIM's Liberia director, only to more recently volunteer in the
obstetrics ward at ELWA Hospital's main facility.
This facility
is separate from the Ebola ward, where Ebola patients are currently
being treated in supposed isolation. But Dr. Sacra began to come down
with symptoms indicative of a possible Ebola infection, including
elevated temperature. Dr. Sacra voluntarily quarantined himself over the
weekend, monitoring his own temperature, but eventually opted to be
sent back to the U.S. for treatment.
"Rick called and said 'I'm
ready to go,'" stated SIM President Bruce Johnson to reporters at a
recent press conference. "They [Sacra and another doctor who was not
identified] knew the risks going in."
Ebola clearly can't be contained, even in 'isolation units'
During his time at the obstetrics ward, Dr. Sacra had reportedlyfollowed all the guidelines issued by both the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and Doctors Without Borders for dealing
with possible exposure to Ebola.
He had worn all the appropriate protective gear, masks and other
equipment that authorities insist is adequate to prevent infection.
But
a CDC-issued Ebola test came back positive, and Dr. Sacra was
eventually flown back to the Nebraska Medical Center at the University
of Nebraska, after first undergoing treatment at ELWA. Today, he is
reported to be in "sick but stable" condition and is being held in a
so-called "biocontainment unit" at the Midwest facility.
"Our
patient is sick but stable and we are taking appropriate care of this
patient," stated Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of infectious diseases at the
hospital, during a recent news conference. "We know that he is seriously
ill with a virus that has a very high mortality rate associated with
it. We are looking for alternatives to some of our experimental
therapeutics right now."
Containing Ebola spread may no longer be an option
With all of these infected individuals being flown in and out of theU.S. for treatment, it is only a matter of time before the disease
escapes a "biocontainment unit" and spreads within the general
population. Doctors Without Borders has already publicly admitted to PBS
that the world is "losing the battle to contain it," and another public
health official told the news organization that "the window is closing"
to contain Ebola.
A simulated prediction model compiled using data from the World Health Organization (WHO)
reveals that the U.S. had about a 5 percent chance of importing an
Ebola outbreak on September 1. But by September 22, the probability
jumps to 18 percent, a 360 percent increase.
"What is happening
in West Africa is going to get here," stated Alessandro Vespignani,
author of the study that made this prediction, to NPR. "We can't escape
that at this point. ... Sooner or later, they will arrive."
More details about Vespignani's study are available here:
NPR.org.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.npr.org
http://www.nbcnews.com
http://www.nbcnews.com
http://www.pbs.org
http://www.npr.org
http://science.naturalnews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment