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Volunteers of the Democratic Republic of Congo Red Cross, wearing personal protective equipment, load the casket containing the body of an Ebola virus victim at the morgue of the\u00a0Rwampara health center, into a vehicle for transfer to a cemetery as part of safe and dignified burial operation aimed at preventing the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n
Jospin Mwisha\/AFP\/TNS<\/p>\n
Twelve years ago, a man from Liberia came to Dallas to visit his family. He developed symptoms of Ebola and infected two of the nurses caring for him before he died. Both nurses survived.<\/p>\n
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That remains Texas’ last brush with Ebola. Now, as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to neighboring Uganda, resulting in more than 800 confirmed cases and nearly 200 deaths, could the U.S. be at risk for another case? How prepared is Austin?\u00a0<\/p>\n
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What are Austin health groups doing to prepare?<\/p>\n
Austin Public Health and local hospitals and emergency services agencies have been having “table talks,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County’s public health authority. These calls have included sharing updates from the CDC and addressing how different groups are preparing in case Austin gets a case.<\/p>\n
“The current risk for this is low,” Walkes said.<\/p>\n
St. David’s HealthCare said its hospitals have been conducting simulation training\u00a0to ensure the hospitals are prepared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Baylor Scott & White Health said its teams prepare throughout the year for many scenarios by hosting drills, practicing with emergency communication systems and\u00a0other steps.<\/p>\n
Ascension Texas did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has limited which airports people can fly into from the infected areas, and those airports conduct health screenings for Ebola. Currently, those airports are Washington Dulles in Washington, D.C.;\u00a0Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International; George Bush Intercontinental\u00a0in Houston; and John\u00a0F. Kennedy\u00a0International in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Marie Roseline Darnycka Belizaire, a World Health Organization epidemiologist, said that airport screening is a good first step. She also recommended hospitals and doctors offices train on how to recognize Ebola and how to treat it safely while not spreading it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The U.S. has capacity to identify hospitals where we can have highly infectious\u00a0diseases,” she said. A refresher on how to recognize the disease, which can be similar to malaria at first, and a reminder on how to put on and take off personal protection equipment also should be done, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The biggest prevention\u00a0step the U.S. can take right now is to provide more funding to help contain the outbreak to where it is, Belizaire said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What are the symptoms of Ebola viruses?<\/p>\n
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.<\/a> It does not spread through the air like COVID-19 or the flu.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Symptoms can take\u00a0two\u00a0to 21 days to appear after contact, though typically happen around day eight to 10.<\/p>\n Fever Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Diarrhea Amber Vinson, a Dallas nurse who was treated for Ebola in 2014,\u00a0was one of two nurses who became infected while caring for a sick man from Liberia.<\/p>\n Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n What’s happening in Africa?<\/p>\n “This is a very rapidly evolving outbreak,”\u00a0Belizaire, who is on the ground in\u00a0the Democratic Republic of Congo, said last week. In previous outbreaks, a typical day would have 25 new cases. In this outbreak, WHO is seeing 90 to 120 suspected cases a day, she said. People immediately get two tests for the disease, an initial test and then a follow-up test two to three days later. Only about 64.5% of the contact tracing needed to isolate people and do testing has been done, she said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The cases are spread in\u00a0three areas of the DRC, she said, and one area of Uganda, but the area of\u00a0the DRC with 94% of the cases is also an area where ongoing conflict has occurred and where official and unofficial displaced persons camps are, she said. Those factors make the disease hard to contain and hard for health providers to work safely or transport necessary supplies for containment.\u00a0<\/p>\n This area is also where refugees often are crossing on foot to other countries, making an outbreak difficult to contain.\u00a0<\/p>\n As of last weekend, the World Health Organization is reporting 782 confirmed cases and 178 deaths in\u00a0the DRC, and 19 cases and two deaths in Uganda.<\/p>\n How is this Ebola different than previous Ebolas?<\/p>\n This Ebola is the Bundibugyo strain, which is not the common Ebola strain of past outbreaks. This strain does not have a vaccine, yet,\u00a0though worldwide efforts are underway to create one based on previous vaccine technologies.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “There is a rapid escalation (of cases),” said Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. In the 2018 outbreak, it took 22 months to contain the outbreak and that was with a vaccine, Hatchett said. The 2018 outbreak was the Zaire strain, which has a vaccine.<\/p>\n The mistakes of other Ebola outbreaks, including 2014, was the world’s inability to contain it. In that outbreak,\u00a0Hatchett said, “the world collectively did not scale its response until things had spun completely out of control,” he said. “The most important thing for America to do is scale its response on the ground. It hasn’t yet spun completely out of control. “<\/p>\n The Bundibugyo strain does not appear to be as deadly as the more common Zaire strain,\u00a0which was up to 90%. Past Bundibugyo outbreaks have had a death rate of about 30%, according to\u00a0the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is Ebola Austin’s greatest health threat right now?<\/p>\n While Ebola is troublesome because of the death rates, Walkes said she was more concerned locally about dehydration, heat exhaustion, mosquito-borne illnesses<\/a> such as West Nile virus, and the influx of people coming to Texas for the World Cup who might have heat-related illnesses or food-borne illnesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
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