Louise Troh, “Feeling Alright…” Pham devoted Catholic, Duncan's Nurse, “Could have infected others."10/14/2014
The following Excerpt is from Los Angeles Times: In Dallas, officials were even faced with how to handle the ill nurse’s pet dog. Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey said officials had decontaminated the patient’s apartment and were looking for a location that would allow “proper monitoring” of the dog, a 1-year-old King Charles spaniel she referred to online as Bentley. “One and only one” person is known to have had direct contact with the nurse, Nina Pham, said Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Neither that person, who is being monitored, nor the dog has shown symptoms of illness. But Frieden said a “large number” of medical workers who worked with Pham while she was treating a Liberian man for Ebola could have been exposed to the deadly virus if they were affected by the same protocol breach that led to her illness. Pham became sick after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who was hospitalized at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sept. 28. He died Wednesday. “We need to consider the possibility there could be additional cases, particularly among the healthcare workers who cared for the … patient when he was so ill,” Frieden said. “We’re concerned and unfortunately would not be surprised if we did see additional cases among healthcare workers. “The thinking here is straightforward,” Frieden said. “If this one individual was infected … it is possible other individuals could have been infected as well.” As Frieden spoke, CDC experts at Texas Health Presbyterian were watching hospital staff as they entered and left Pham’s room, and as they donned and removed the protective gloves, masks, hoods and cloaks required to treat Ebola patients. Their goal was to learn what went wrong at the hospital, which is also facing questions about its treatment of Duncan on his first visit to the emergency room Sept. 25. Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20, complained days later of abdominal pain and a fever. Both are Ebola symptoms. The hospital has said a nurse followed CDC protocol in asking whether Duncan had been in Africa recently. Duncan said he had, but was sent away with a prescription for antibiotics. Three days later, he returned in an ambulance and tested positive for Ebola. A total of 48 people who had contact with Duncan are being monitored for fever or other symptoms until Sunday, the end of the 21-day Ebola incubation period. None has become ill. Duncan’s fiancee, Louise Troh, is among them. Reached by telephone Monday, she said she was “feeling all right” but feared her connection to Duncan would stigmatize her. “I don’t want people putting that on me, saying I have Ebola,” said Troh, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years. She has been isolated from most of her relatives since Sept. 28. “I’m hurt; I don’t have anyone to cry on,” she said. Frieden said officials didn’t know how many more people would need isolating as a result of Pham’s illness. He described Pham as “clinically stable.” Friends of the family said Pham, 26, graduated from Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth in 2006. Four years later, she graduated from Texas Christian University with a nursing degree, a university spokeswoman confirmed. A family friend, Tom Ha, described her as a “very devoted Catholic” for whom other people “always come first.” Her priest, the Rev. Jim Ngo Hoang Khoi of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Fort Worth, said she had received a blood transfusion from an Ebola survivor, according to her mother, Ngoc “Diana” Pham. A survivor’s blood contains antibodies to the virus. The World Health Organization has endorsed such transfusions, although their usefulness as a treatment is unproven. Dr. Kent Brantly has donated blood to two other Ebola patients. One has recovered and been released from the hospital; the other appears to be improving. We’re concerned and unfortunately would not be surprised if we did see additional cases among healthcare workers. – Thomas Frieden, CDC director Samaritan’s Purse, the aid group that Brantly worked for in Liberia when he contracted Ebola this year, confirmed he had donated blood plasma to Pham. He had also offered to donate to Duncan, Samaritan’s Purse said, but their blood types did not match. Pham is “very lucky” to be a match, her priest said. Ngo said Pham’s mother is staying at a hotel near the hospital and has been communicating with her daughter via Skype and cellphone. He characterized Pham as “very calm and hopeful.” The hospital said Sunday that one “close contact” of Pham had been “proactively placed in isolation.” Ngo described that person as a friend of Pham. Before Pham became ill, Ngo said, her mother had urged her to quit, saying the work was dangerous. She refused. “She was not scared to care for Mr. Duncan,” said Kim Tran, a parishioner and a friend of Pham’s mother. “I recall her words exactly,” Tran said. “‘Mother, I assure you I am OK. I am taking care of the patient. He needs me.’” Parishioners think about Pham often, Ngo said. “We keep her in our prayers every day.” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he visited Sunday with colleagues and relatives of the patient, whom he refrained from identifying. He called them “an intensely private but heroic family.” Jenkins said the patient was “a hero because she picked a field where she knew she could catch a virus from the people she is trying to help,” adding that she was dealing with her diagnosis “with grace.” Her co-workers are “quite emotional,” he said. “It’s one team, one fight. They’re going through a range of emotions right now: concern for a friend, concern for themselves. A lot of tears. … But they’re going about their jobs and integrating well with the outside specialists who have been brought in.” Pham is concerned about her dog, which county officials moved from her apartment to an undisclosed location, Jenkins said. “The dog is important to her, so the dog will be well cared for,” he said. In Spain, after a nurse was diagnosed with Ebola, officials euthanized her dog, despite public entreaties to save it. The CDC says there have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming ill with Ebola, nor of their transmitting the virus. “There is limited evidence that dogs become infected with Ebola virus, but there is no evidence that they develop the disease,” the CDC’s website says.” End of quote see above hyper linked title for full article. N4TM Commentary:For a kick, no an endorsement of the site, you can see what others are saying about “where the Duncan family are” here: ATS. People have some good questions about the validity of the Duncan case and now Pham. Before this Ebola crisis had hit the US I was already watching from afar and knew about the warnings the people in Liberia were receiving about eating Bats, wild animals and if I recollect, dogs were a concern (not about eating them but that they could carry the Ebola virus). Now the CDC says “pets cannot transmit the Ebola virus.”
Anyone notice some inconsistencies? In Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, whole families get wiped out. Workers who dispose of the infected bodies have begun to demand higher pay for the risk their taking, some medical ship was diverted AWAY from the infected countries. Their job is to go in and help and they changed course. Why? If this is a targeted assault, certain people will be allowed to die and infect while others will be cured by Kent Brantly’s blood (I hope he has bodyguards and no one is trying to jump him for his miracle platelets!) (cough-psy op). So, is Ebola Real? The people in West Africa are having to be convinced it is real. Google it. We were told when Obama was readying to fight “ISIL,” at the UN General Assembly; that, Ebola was “expected” to jump to 10k a week infected and that was three weeks ago. The WHO is reiterating this estimation. Is this bio-warfare? Is it a domestic dilemma? Ebola has been around for a long time, no one cared when it was “over there,” now that it’s here we have to “fight it?” How the heck did it magically get here in 2014 and not in 2008? 2000? 1997? Hmm? I heard some goofball on the news quoting some idiot, John McCain, that the CDC chief needs to be fired and what we really need is a “Health Czar.” ROTFL Really? Does the Zar posses Jedi powers!? How idiotic. If Ebola is real, if the current exposure the US is manifesting is real: it cannot be contained, it DOES spread through the air, the CDC is lying, and it’s a gnarly death. Scientists, biochemists, would know by now WHAT STRAIN Thomas Duncan had. They would have known last week. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/12/john-mccain-ebola-czar_n_5972988.html http://time.com/3480961/ebola-animals-transmission/ Quote from Time: The Ebola virus can be found across the animal kingdom, from bats and birds to pigs and porcupines. But there is a difference between having a disease and transmitting it to another animal—or another species. That’s at the heart of a controversial move by Spanish health authorities, who have obtained a court order to euthanize the dog belonging to a nurse who contracted the Ebola virus in Madrid, saying that available scientific knowledge suggests dogs can transmit the virus to humans. But how much do we know about which animals can catch and transmit the deadly virus?  Judge blocks disposal of Ebola victim’s burned belongings in Louisiana- LA Times http://news4themasses.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/louise-troh-feeling-alright-pham-devoted-catholic-duncans-nurse-could-have-infected-others/ Comments are closed.
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