Ebola poses virtually no risk to most Americans, but hospital workers and their patients could face real danger if someone unknowingly infected with the deadly virus travels to the U.S. and comes to an emergency room here for care.
Many hospitals are poorly prepared to contain any pathogen. That’s why at least 75,000 people a year die from hospital infections. If hospitals can’t stop common infections like MRSA, C. diff and VRE, they can’t handle Ebola.
On July 20, Patrick Sawyer, an American working in Liberia, collapsed after an air journey from Liberia to Nigeria.
He had no idea he had Ebola, but five days later he died of it. He could have been getting off at JFK. At least 11 flights leave Liberia daily with connections to JFK.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s medical correspondent, says it’s a “real possibility” someone unknowingly sick with Ebola will fly to the U.S.
The Ebola outbreak has infected over 1,400 people, and killed 826 of them in three West African countries.
Last week, the World Health Organization issued guidelines for airlines. If a passenger is diagnosed with Ebola after the flight, all passengers on the same flight should be tracked down and tested.
As Ebola victims become sicker, they have vomiting, diarrhea, and internal and external bleeding. Those bodily fluids contain high concentrations of the virus, which can infect anyone exposed.
Airline cleaning crews are instructed to wear disposable gloves and wipe down arm rests, seat backs, trays and light switches if any passenger is sick.
Two Nigerian based airline companies and Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, already have suspended service to the affected countries. But Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Dr. Thomas Frieden rejects that approach.
“We’re not going to hermetically seal the borders of the U.S.,” he said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “We’re reliant and interdependent with the world for travel, for trade, for economy, for our families and communities.”