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Valued Contributor
Posts: 1,320
Registered: ‎01-31-2012

How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

CHICAGO (AP) — Fever? Headache? Muscle aches? Forget about Ebola — chances are astronomically higher that you have the flu or some other common bug.

That message still hasn't reached many Americans, judging from stories ER doctors and nurses swapped this week at a Chicago medical conference. Misinformed patients with Ebola-like symptoms can take up time and resources in busy emergency rooms, and doctors fear the problem may worsen when flu season ramps up.

That's one reason why doctors say this year it's especially important for patients to get their flu shots: Fewer flu cases could mean fewer Ebola false alarms.

"The whole system gets bogged down, even if it's a false alarm," Dr. Kristi Koenig said during a break at the American College of Emergency Physicians' annual meeting.

Since the first Ebola diagnosis in the U.S., on Sept. 30 in a Liberian man treated in Dallas, doctors say they've had to reassure patients with many fears but none of the risk factors.

Examples shared by those attending the meeting include:

—An Ohio patient who thought she had Ebola because her husband had worked in Dallas, but not with the Ebola patient.

—A New Mexico woman who sought ER testing for Ebola because she had visited Africa two years ago.

—Two Alabama patients who worried they were infected after traveling through an airport in Atlanta, the same city where Ebola patients were treated.

Those Alabama patients had intestinal symptoms but no contact with Ebola patients nor recent travel to Ebola-plagued countries in West Africa, and they were sent home after doctors consulted with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Dr. David Pigott, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

More: http://apnews.myway.com//article/20141030/us-med-ebola-flu-advice-3a53ac6975.html

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,126
Registered: ‎06-20-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

That was bound to happen.

It's flu season and early symptoms of Ebola (and many other illnesses) mirror flu symptoms.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,488
Registered: ‎04-18-2013

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Unless everyone gets on the same page with this it's only going to get worse.

Super Contributor
Posts: 750
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Good Grief.

The hospital emergency rooms should post huge signs at the entrances that state:

"If you are exhibiting flu-like symptoms and have NOT been in direct/intimate contact with an Ebola patient NOR have you been to West Africa in the past year, you will not be seen in this Emergency Room. Go home and make an appointment to see your doctor."

There's a limit to coddling idiots. They shouldn't be allowed to tie up precious resources with their nonsense.

Money doesn't talk; it swears. --Bob Dylan
Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,918
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

I don't know where that came from but it makes no sense to me whatsoever because a person who walks into an ER with flu like symptoms and a high fever and has NOT travelled from or had close contact with another who travelled from such a country...will not have any risks for Ebola. So, the person who made that up really needs to rethink it. People aren't going to wake up with a sore throat and a fever and think "I have Ebola". But it is important for everyone to get a flu shot....so they won't get and spread....the flu. Which does clog up doctor's offices and ER's.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,450
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Yes, I'm more "fearful" of the flu germs flying around in public places, like at work, the supermarket, etc., than I am of catching Ebola.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 11,367
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Since my thread was poofed, I hope kdgn stops by because I may have an answer to her question:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/diagnosis/index.html

The way I read this document, the virus doesn't show up in your blood until you are symptomatic.

Super Contributor
Posts: 2,234
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

I was about to post this on the poofed thread and thanks to Marp & kdg on the blood test info.

Makes me wonder about the test or ability to detect that isn't FDA approved yet . . . how quick it could detect it?

I guess they "fast-tracked" approval . . .

The Ebola virus, while incubating, is at such a low level in the blood that it likely would not be detected by the FilmArray test, he said. It might be detectable a day before symptoms appear, but "almost certainly not" three weeks before symptoms appear.

The FilmArray and Ebola tests have been used at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where four patients with Ebola have been treated. Doctors there could track the level of virus in their patients’ blood day-by-day, Rasmussen said.

About 1,000 FilmArray machines are already in use in 300 U.S. hospitals.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,026
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

How about doing what is possible first?

Start with Public Service Messages that educate people. I would think that would be more effective than telling people to get flu shots when many don't want them.

_____ ,,,^ ._. ^,,,_____
Respected Contributor
Posts: 11,367
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

On 10/30/2014 Qwackertoo said:

I was about to post this on the poofed thread and thanks to Marp & kdg on the blood test info.

Makes me wonder about the test or ability to detect that isn't FDA approved yet . . . how quick it could detect it?

I guess they "fast-tracked" approval . . .

The Ebola virus, while incubating, is at such a low level in the blood that it likely would not be detected by the FilmArray test, he said. It might be detectable a day before symptoms appear, but "almost certainly not" three weeks before symptoms appear.

The FilmArray and Ebola tests have been used at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where four patients with Ebola have been treated. Doctors there could track the level of virus in their patients’ blood day-by-day, Rasmussen said.

About 1,000 FilmArray machines are already in use in 300 U.S. hospitals.


Thanks Qwacker. Unfortunately certain posters took my thread political and got it removed.