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Ebola - More Questions Than Answers By Capt Hal Strunk, USN RetPhD Epidemiologist 11-8-14 |
| Friends... Last night Dr. Patricia Doyle, an epidemiologist, and I were on the Jeff Rense Program (rense.com, RenseRadio.com) discussing Ebola and the diseases cropping up in the United States that have been imported by the "children" who were recently brought into the country through our southern 'border' with Mexico by the Obama Administration. However, let's just talk about Ebola for now. With the news that five US bases - and perhaps one in Italy, and one in Germany - prompts a host of new concerns. Let me spell out a few... 1. Our commitment in Africa will soon be for eighteen months, with 6 months rotations for the troops.. 2. The military bases chosen for Quarantine here are all inland, which means that returnees will fly in. 3. Those bases are Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, Fort Bliss, Joint base Fort Lewis/McChord AFB. Joint Base Langley/Fort Eustis, VA. There might also be one chosen in Italy and one in Germany (if the populace will allow it) 4. While most of the troops have supposedly had NO contact with sick people, some likely have. Especially lab techs running tests. 5. Conceivably on a planeload of 250 soldiers, might there be one or more who are incubating and shedding viruses? 6. If so, air circulating inside the airplane can carry Ebola. It is a virus, as is the common cold. (And that is not the only disease that is worrysome in West Africa). 7. What about the crew? Pilots, loadmasters, medical personnel? What about possible contamination of the plane. Remember the Frontier Airlines plane? It had to be sanitized and decontaminated before returning to service. 8. How is this on-base Quarantine going to work? Will there be no family visits for three weeks? Who is going to serve or bring in three meals a day? If base staff enter the Quarantine area, will they be allowed to leave it? (Reminds me of a joke....sailor shows up at the base clinic after a three-day port call saying he's sick. So they draw his blood, take urine and stool specimens for the lab, and they put him in an isolation room. The results come back and he has GASH. The medical staff is in a quandary as to what to do with him, but for three days they are feeding him pizza. He complains and asks what the problem is, and the doctor says you have GASH. He asks what that is and is told that he has Gonorrhea, AIDS, Syphilis, and Herpes. Then he asks why he is only getting pizza to eat, three times a day. The doctor replied that "pizza is the only thing we can slide under your door.") 9. Yesterday, I learned that the US Public Health Service is sending in seventy physicians to treat the patients. These are officers of the commissioned corps. They wear uniforms and look like Naval officers. As such, they go where ordered, whether it is an Eskimo village, a Navajo reservation or West Africa. Our Surgeon General is usually an Admiral of the USPHS. How is their quarantine going to work? In short, there are more questions about Ebola than answers. We may be the only nation that can help to eradicate this epidemic but it wasn't well thought out before we were sent in there. Capt Dr. Hal Strunk, PhD USN Ret Go Navy !! Military names 5 US bases for quarantines of Ebola mission troops http://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon-names-military-bases-as-ebola-troop-quarantine-sites-1.312898 Military names 5 US bases for Ebola mission troops http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EBOLA_MILITARY?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-07-14-12-59 |
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