A Texas official had announced a couple of days ago that a new treatment strategy will be implemented. New patients in Dallas diagnosed with the Ebola virus will be transferred to the three top infectious-disease centers in the United States.
This announcement follows the national scrutiny of Ebola virus cases at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital which is a Dallas facility that has admitted three Ebola patients and revealed it had made certain mistakes in its treatment of the first Ebola patient in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan. Duncan succumbed to the disease and died last October 8.
The two other nurses who contracted the virus from him have already been transferred. Each nurse was transported to one of the top national centers that specialize in handling and treating contagions.
United States' Judge Clay Jenkins said in a briefing, "We're intaking and sending away from Presbyterian now with an idea that Ebola-positive care will be somewhere else."
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is currently collaborating with Texas as well as other hospitals to coordinate a patient placement plan. They are also planning to issue stricter guidelines to protect the nation's medical staff after the contamination happened. In the meantime, while working on the transfer plans, more than 70 health workers are currently being monitored for potential Ebola contact.
The patients will be transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, or St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana. All the mentioned hospitals have top-level biocontainment units.
The new CDC guidelines are being prepared for release. Former White House official Ron Klain is coordinating the response of the government to Ebola amid criticisms to the CDC at a congressional hearing for its careless handling of the Ebola cases.
Protocols were questions after how the Presbyterian Hospital handled the first Ebola patient, which left much room for exposure.
The newest CDC guidelines will have more specific recommendations, like having medical workers to cover all of their skin and use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer on protective gloves. The dressing room should also be set up outside medical-care areas Hospital will also have to implement a buddy system where workers look at each other put on and take off protective equipment.
