So a few months ago the country was enthralled with the idea of a few patients, infected with the Ebola virus, coming to the United States. Up until this point, we had been safe from Ebola due to the fact that bats can’t fly over the Atlantic. Some people were completely indifferent, while others had seen Outbreak one too many times. Most were a healthy mix, somewhere in between, but what bothered me the most was both the lack of education and the poor information that was spreading more virulently than the virus could ever hope to.
First, I want to stress that I am a nurse, not a virologist, and hopefully throughout my post you will see that I am not pretending to be one. I have a Bachelor’s in Nursing and am currently a graduate student. I have worked extensively with Infectious Disease Specialists. I have been exposed to almost every infectious disease known to the modern world. I have taken courses in Biology, Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathophysiology, Advanced Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, and an assortment of others. However, I am not and will not pretend to be an expert, just an experienced professional. When it comes to an epidemic of any sort, my first focus is on the patient, protecting and healing them, my second focus is on protecting the community. I don’t care about which strain does what, or what we can do with in lab. As a nurse, I concern myself with the current patient and future possible patients. I feel the first thing we should examine is Ebola itself. It is foreign to the US, both literally and figuratively. What it does to people and how it harmonizes with nature are both things that most westerners have little concept of. It is a virus, not a bacteria. This means that it is not its own organism. It is actually much smaller and basic than you can imagine. It is nothing more than a few pieces of DNA/RNA and some proteins. No cell wall, no cytoplasm, no metabolic functions. This is both their advantage and their downfall. Viruses require a host. For this example I will use the HIV virus. HIV gets into the human body and invades the host’s white blood cells, T4 cells to be exact but I won’t get that involved. The proteins help get the virus into the cell and those few small sequences of DNA/RNA write themselves into the host DNA/RNA. Now instead of the white blood cell attacking invaders, it is nothing more than an HIV factory. All of its metabolic functions are redirected at producing more of the virus, which pours out of the white blood cell like a sieve until eventually the host cell dies. This is why HIV infected patients have poor immune systems. The virus re-writes the DNA of the host cells. This is not something we can stop. New viruses are pouring out of the white blood cells at a rate of millions a day. We cannot filter them out. We cannot “kill” a little chunk of DNA and we don’t know enough about the human genome to correct the DNA sequences. This is why a lot of viral infections like HIV, Herpes, and Hepatitis are life long infections. HIV invades the white blood cells, Herpes invade the nerve roots, and Hepatitis invades the liver.
Now that we have a better grasp of viruses, we will focus on Ebola a bit more. In tropical Africa, Ebola naturally lives in bats. It is nice to the bats and doesn’t cause them many issues. It is rumored that there are many viruses humans carry our entire lives and have no idea because they show zero symptoms. Therefore, they have never been studied. If this sounds crazy, just remember that it was in recent years the we discovered there was a virus behind cervical cancer. A virus that men can carry and spread without ever knowing they have it. Where the problem arises is that in tropical Africa, people like to eat bats. Sometimes they get infected with Ebola and it spreads. This process is called Zoonosis and can be true of bacteria or viruses. Racoons carry Rabies, Armadillos carry Leprosy, Birds carry the Flu, Bats carry Ebola.
When I said Westerners don’t really understand Ebola, the primary aspect that I am talking about is the patient. We don’t ever see what Ebola does. Our media is too censored, we hear how many died, and see people in haz-mat suits. Speaking of suits, we’ve all seen the pictures. Rubber gloves are adequate for AIDS and hepatitis, a simple mask (N95) stops Tuberculosis, but this requires space suits, just keep that in mind when you think its no big deal. So here is what happens when you catch Ebola, I figure you’re getting bored with reading right about now, so I’ll spice it up. First the virus gets into your system, I’ll elaborate on that later. Then, it hangs out for a few days, even up to 21, growing, multiplying at a rate of millions a day, and guess what, you’re infectious. Now at this point it would pretty much require a straight blood to blood interaction so the only real threat here is for IV drug users who share needles. Just like with the flu or hand foot and mouth disease, you can be spreading it to others before you show a symptom*(apparently not many see the *, so please read the elaboration at the bottom). Remember, nurse mind set, protect the community. At first it’s not bad, little nausea, some sweating, diarrhea, much like a stomach bug. But then the virus really starts to build up in your liver and adrenal glands, after it has saturated your blood cells, the lining of your vessel, your skin, and bones. Hepatocellular necrosis occurs, which is fancy term for your liver starts to decompose.Your liver is what regulates blood clotting. This causes your blood either clot up and turn to jelly in your veins, stay liquid and bleed profusely, or a combo of both. The adrenal glands then do the same, causing your blood pressure to drop. This requires lots of IV fluids to keep your circulating volume up. At the same time inflammatory cytokines are released which causes vascular leakage. Cells don’t do a good job of holding things together so it all becomes a bloody goop. Anywhere in your body that blood vessels are shallow, like your nose, ears, gums, throat, GI tract, urethra, vagina, rectum, all start oozing fluids and bleeding because the tissues that normally keep it contained are disintegrating. So now you bleed from every orifice, including your eyeballs. Every time someone or something touches you, your tissue gets damaged which further the cycle, so a shot in the arm can turn into a massive blood blister. Those who survive are left with massive scarring. Since the adrenals cannot keep your blood pressure up, and you are losing blood and fluids, we have to put IV fluids in to keep you out of hypovolemic shock. This in turn reduces your blood concentration, lowering your oxygen carrying capacity, which causes your heart to race. So you lay in bed, oozing fluids from everywhere, all while feeling like you just ran a marathon, with bloody diarrhea, oh and did I mention pain? Lots and lots of pain, but you can’t have any pain medicine because your liver and kidneys have failed. This why it pains me when I see this outbreak ONLY has a 50% death rate, when in Africa it is up to 90%…ONLY 50%. That is literally worse than cancer, and people are blowing it off. Imagine if cancer was infectious, and you lived in a country with zero cancer, and someone thought it would be a good idea to fly a few people in. I think there would be a different attitude.
The biggest part of the discussion is how Ebola is spread. I will say two things on the topic, no, it is not airborne, and yes, basic hygiene plays a HUGE factor. But while on the topic of whether it is or is not airborne, the definition of an airborne contagion is one that can freely float in the air, survive lengths of time, and infect someone else. VERY few things fit in this category, most have been eradicated, Small Pox, Tuberculosis, Measles. Things that are also NOT airborne, are the flu and the cold. For the flu, you have to come into direct contact with the patients body fluids. How then, do you explain why people catch it and have no idea how. Well for one, people can spread it before they show symptoms, just like Ebola, and one other HUGE factor…droplets….let that word really sink in. The virus may not be airborne, but the droplets are. I’m going to digress for a second and get back to HIV and Hepatitis, while I let droplets dwell in your mind. Everyone knows that HIV and Hepatitis are spread by blood contact, and sexual fluids, I don’t mean a drop of blood on the skin, or even a mucous membrane, it has to get INSIDE of you. This is why only gloves are required. HIV and Hepatitis are not found in urine, stool (Some forms of hepatitis are, but you have to eat the stool to get infected) saliva, sweat, tears, or mucous. This is where some viruses are different. The flu gets into your mucous and other secretions, Ebola tends to stay in the blood, but remember, every one of your bodily fluids are full of blood now. So a person with the flu sneezes, and now millions of little droplets (remember those guys?) shoot out of their nose at nearly mach 1, all across the room, same for a cough, all it takes is a little microscopic droplet to land in your eye, nose, mouth, or the unlikely scenario of an open wound, and you’ve now been infected, because you came in CONTACT with their bodily fluids. I see the word contact thrown around a lot, but most people think of mass amounts of contact with blood, but what they don’t realize is that contact also includes microscopic mucous and saliva droplets, each one chock full of Ebola. Bacteria can survive for long periods of time without a host because they are their own organism. They can feed on just about anything and be happy. Viruses lifespan without a host is much shorter. Their goal is to infect, replicate, and spread, if they cant replicate, they die. Measles only lives 2 hours. But Ebola, depending on what data you look at, can survive for several days.
So with all this information, lets have some role play, so that you can see exactly what this means, to a nurse, in the real world. Imagine it as a cheesy PSA or lifetime movie. You go to see your doctor because its that time of year, you need some blood drawn and refills of your blood pressure med. You sit patiently in the waiting room, thumbing a magazine while your 2-year-old plays with her toys. Like all two year olds, she touches everything, and everything goes in her mouth, toys, pens, her own fingers. She is a 22 lb drool factory and you love her to pieces. You see the doctor, get your goodies, and go home. A week later your angel starts vomiting blood and within 3 days she dies because her heart raced so fast it finally gave up while trying to maintain a blood pressure. Her eyes are blood red and demonic, her skin falls off in sheets. What you don’t know is that 3 days before your visit, someone thought they had the flu. It is October you see and they sneezed while thumbing through that very same magazine you thumbed through. The same thumb you grabbed her pacifier out of your purse with in the waiting room. The people caring for Ebola patients wear space suits, and burn the bodies, yet it still spreads. Here in America, we have much better protocols, and much better hygiene. So if it spreads, it will be contained much better. Still, it spreads prior to symptoms and survives will outside the body, just like the flu. Despite vaccines and good hand washing, thousands still get the flu every year. But while the flu kills 1-2% of its victims, Ebola kills 50% on a good day, and spreads the same way. So please, do not write it off as hype. It is a real thing and it is here.
The case in Dallas has been confirmed. The patient had contact with five children and adolescents prior to admission. Those five kids attend four of the largest schools in Dallas. One sneeze and we could already have thousands of people, who don’t know it yet, infected.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment.
Symptoms* I have had a lot of comments in regards to this. I picked my words carefully, but I never imagined getting thousands of views an hour, or my article getting picked apart, but I will try to elaborate now. I said spread, the virus, I did not say you were contagious. What I meant by this, was the summation of two concepts. To fully explain everything I could write a book, but this is meant to be short and sweet. The first concept is that of a fomite. We have established that the virus can survive for an unspecified amount of time outside the host, and we have established that sneezing/coughing is a perfectly logical method of transmission. So if patient A is infectious/contagious, they sneeze on patient B, but then patient B goes home and picks up their sisters 1 6 month old, who rubs his face, and licks all over your shoulder, he could very well have just orally consumed large quantities of the virus, therefore become patient C. Patient B never got sick, the virus never entered their system, yet they are responsible for spreading the virus to someone else. This is why the 5 exposed kids are so important, there may only be a 2% chance or whatever that they’ll get sick, but if they went to school, and each rubbed up against 500 kids in the hallways, you now have 2500 exposed kids, 50 of which will statistically become infected, 25 of which will probably die. No I do not have a source for the 2%, that is just an EXAMPLE number used to represent the relatively low likelihood of contracting the virus if exposed, granted the R0 factor of R2 is correct. Remember, heal the patient, PROTECT the community. The second concept of this is defining “symptom”. Lets assume it means anything other than your baseline condition. That means the first signs of being contagious, are also the more mild symptoms, sneezy, achy, nausea, flu-like symptoms. So who is going to wake up, feel a little under the weather, and think, crap, I have Ebola, better get quarantined, no, THAT’S how you start fear mongering and mass panic. Again, flu season is upon us, the initial stages of Ebola are like the flu, and its human nature to be in denial, so many people, if infected, would hope its just the flu and wait it out, they are not showing symptoms indicative of Ebola, but they ARE symptomatic of something, and therefore, by the CDC definition, would be contagious. Its also normal procedure for people to be symptomatic BEFORE seeking medical care, so technically, everyone will be contagious, BEFORE knowing they have Ebola. But like I said before, I omitted this lengthy explanation because I didn’t feel it was necessary for the point of the article.
ADDENDUM: Sadly, I feel the need to point out that the title of this blog is “Ebola, A Nurse’s Perspective”, not “A Nurse’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse”, or “How to Become an Ebola Expert in 15 minutes”. It could just as well be “Hamburgers, A Chef’s Perspective” and no one would be hounding me over grammar, a misplaced comma, or wanting citations as to why I say it should be on the grill 5 minutes per side of 7 minutes per side. The point is those things are irrelevant to the goal of the article, this is MY perspective (a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.) I don’t have to prove anything, the point of my article is to take what the uneducated (in a medical sense) journalists say, what the talking heads on TV say, and then let you know what the people say who are on the front lines. That’s like discrediting your grandads account of what happened when he stormed Normandy beach, because its not what your history teacher told you. Have I experienced Ebola first hand? Nope, have I experienced a WHOLE lot of other things that the majority of the population has not? You bet your ass I have, and I felt the need to take the time to hopefully help other people out a little. So please keep that in mind, I’m not perfect, but my experiences are my experiences, and I wanted to share them with you, to let you inside the head of a nurse for a minute.
dtolar 
I appreciate your perspective. Excellent writing and it really does help me understand a few things about Ebola!
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Nurse to nurse..great explanation! Article should open eyes!
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Thank you for the article. Good information. My wife is an OR nurse and tells me basically the same thing. Much better than the CDC which will “conduct a study and report the feasibility of action” By the time they act, we could all by infected.
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Thank you for your very educated information. It’s not an opinion. It’s factual. I’m a retired nurse and I took care of AIDS patients. Personally I don’t think AIDS even compares to Ebola in that Ebola is far more aggressive and kills faster. I will share your blog because it’s the first thing I’ve read that even makes sense and is truthful. Americans rely too much on our medical community and expect them to “fix” things. Well I have MS and I have long lost faith that it’s ever going to be fixed in my lifetime. I can only hope that a cure will be found soon. Which brings me back to cures and AIDS. We don’t see AIDS in the media too much anymore. People forget, they get too comfortable. I must ask those who are in a panic over Ebola – are you practicing safe sex? Something to really think about folks. Because it’s still out there and Americans are still being diagnosed every day with it. Stay safe. Be aware of your surroundings. And advocate for yourself and your loved ones!!
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This is a great info peice, This all sounds like the 80s talk over AIDS, Gov. did not pass on all info as how AIDs was past from one to another and befor we new it, it mushroomed. Just in a fue weeks it has gone from It cant get to the US too It cant be transmited here to we dont know?, now this is the CDC im talking about. How you put it out there is how some put it out there at the start but the CDC said not so. I think when you get that Degree you should be head of the CDC. What you put forth was easy to understand, Thank you.
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Scary but informative. Thank you
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For the love of god it’s a he not a she! Thanks for the article by the way…
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You had the same idea as me! 🙂
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Don’t get your knickers in a twist. There is nothing in the article that indicates the author is a man or a woman, so save the heart attack for something that really matters like the fact that ebola virus is now in this country.
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Except for the fact that in multiple comments, the nurses states that he is, infact, a male. It’s rather annoying!
But “knickers in a twist”…. that’s cute! Now give me a second while I go pick out my wedgie 🙂
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People……HE….. the nurse is a HE!!!!!!!
PS…. GREAT ARTICLE!! Forwarded to all my fellow nurses! 🙂
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I think it is amazing that we have a couple of cases of a very dangerous disease which is controllable and the country wants to crawl under their bed and hide from the world, shut down the boarders and wait for the second coming…. all the while many of those same people are not vaccinating their children or maintaining good health in general. Dallas has much larger problems than Ebola, there are out breaks of measles, flu and whooping cough all which kill many more than Ebola.
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Sorry but you are wrong Jeff, and by the sound of your post, you are a liberal with his head stuck in the sand. Ebola is not being controlled, the citizens of Africa are dropping left and right with no cure in sight. If this keeps up, the continent of Africa will be left to the animals. The flu, whooping cough, and measles do not kill like Ebola does, what a joke that is, actually it’s pretty comical making a statement like that thinking the flu, measles, and the whopping cough of all things kills more than Ebola.
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I sincerely appreciate your time and perspective. Thank you
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I appreciate your very informative article. I have been trying to “ignore” the panic so I, too, would not begin to panic and worry for my family and loved ones, although I have been doing a lot of praying for the victims and for our country, our families, our friends. You have given me more to think about and, unfortunately, to worry about, but I thank you for your concern and your willingness to give us your perspective.
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Thank you! I found this to be very informative while not being preachy or condescending.
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Reblogged this on chinacat110's Blog.
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Thank you for this. I’m also a nurse and very much appreciate a post that is so informative about the disease… this is the FIRST I’ve read that outlines it so well. Kudos to you for taking the time to share your thoughts. You know this is going to go viral (excuse the pun), don’t you? I read it via a friend and colleague on Facebook, and I’ll be sharing it too. Thank you, again. Stay safe. 🙂
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great perspective. Thank you for taking the time to write this. I do have a question…”50% death rate in U.S.” Is that only because the others that were infected in the Dallas case haven’t died? Or is there someone that has contracted the virus in the U.S. That has lived?
Because, of the publicized cases…there are 3?
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Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this Ebola virus. Well written, facts, honest, and direct. May God bless you and keep you safe. I learned so much.
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Very informative very good piece of work WISH more could read this
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I am not a nurse. I do not have any medical training at all. What I have a lot of though, is common sense.
Failing medical credentials but using common sense, this nurse’s comments are *exactly* what I have been telling my grown kids and friends. I even used an example the poster used before I even read this post.
Ebola is not airborne. But sneeze and cough droplets *are* airborne. Someone sneezes, a droplet lands on a table, a chair, a glass, a sofa, a whatever. Person touches the table,, glass, sofa, whatever. Person rubs their nose, rubs their eyes, raises their glass and takes a sip or coincidentally takes a deep breath at the same time the person sneezes/coughs.
Not airborne? Well please politicians, under the right conditions it’s most certainly airborne.
Thank you for telling it like it is Ms. Nurse whoever you are. Your report is spot on!! .
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Finally something that makes sense!
Thank you for taking the time to inform the general public. I for one, really appreciate it.
Good luck to you in your career.
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Very well written explanation, informative without being either preachy or vague. Deeply appreciate you taking the time to share some facts and what they mean. ~~ from a brand new nursing student
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Thank you for a well crafted, understandable summary of the seriousness of the situation … now if only that snippy little obama-loving virologist Shepard Smith would read this before launching into his next lecture on how foolish we are to be so concerned.
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Very good article I now know a little more about this horrible viris
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VERY PROUD OF YOU CINDY,THANKS FOR THE WAKE-UP
DAD
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I think you are such a special person! 1. For helping us get pass the “talking Heads” 2. For being a great nurse! I’m sure we all appreciate this. Thank you.
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thank you so much for the information. I too am very dishearted with the media coverage and wish we had someone with direct experience with this disease as the person in charge of protecting us.
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Thank you so much! glad I wasn’t crazy on my ideas of this !!
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So enlightening. Thank you. I had no idea just how much agony these patients suffered before dying, without their loved ones, in isolation with only the medical team to comfort them. My heart breaks for them, for their loved ones, for this nation, for this world. I am genuinely afraid.
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Thank you for this article, it was very factual and unbiased. I try to explain this conceot to others and they blow it off and say no that doesnt make sense. If being in thw medical field has taught me anything at all, it is that disease spreads….even with the best equipment avaliable. That one sneeze may have wiggled its way into somehwere that it just survived and spread. The biggest problem I see in the very long incubation period where they are still contagious 21 days is a very long time to be around people. I dont want to freak people out, but I do however want people to be informed and protect themselves and others.
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You are a GREAT person to do this!!! Spot on. I have shared this on Facebook with several people!! Be proud of yourself for keeping the first thing we learn in nursing school RATIONAL going 😉 people please wash your hands…
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Great post and thank you. I am a 23 yr veteran firefighter and currently at an international airport. We have been in the media recently and not once on the news did I hear the FULL and CORRECT information that we as the first responders were givers on scene. It is my belief that government officials are trying to keep the “hype” to a minimum. These medical calls are coming in daily now and it’s not going to stop coming into flu season. Stay vigilant and wash those hands. *The “air droplets” point is VERY valid…
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So glad you ebola-rated on this issue.
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As a nurse to nurse…very well written and your examples should make the public understand more easily. Thank you for your extraordinary writing ability.
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Thank you.
Nurses see the full picture by being educated, trained and working at the patient’s bedside. We are the infantry soldier against the war with contagious organism.
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Thank you for taking time out of your life to write this and get the word out there for everyone to read.Its all great information and im glad that i was able to read up on this,I have been so freaked out since it has hit the US and no one really is talking about it,Great job,Thanks again
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5 days ago I went to the doctors. While sat in the waiting room I picked up a magazine. I have now been in bed for 3 days with a sickness bug. Can you imagine what is going through my head.after reading your page.
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Thank you. I’m scared! Went to a lab yesterday for routine tests – and leafed through magazines in the waiting room. Now, I have no desire to leave the sanctity of my home – no desire to travel – anywhere. And I pray for our soldiers who are being sent to Africa. Darlene
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I have studied biomedical intervention and nutrition for years since my 2 children were diagnosed with Autism. We are building our immune system using the latest breakthrough in gene expression. The products are all natural and change the way we respond to bacteria and virus. Please view the research in the website regarding the science of gene expression and how these products work. Educate yourself and make an informed decision about antioxidant levels directly affecting how long we live. Please feel free to contact me with questions. Kim @ dougkim1997@hotmail.com
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Thank you very much for being honest. I am currently in nursing school. A lot of people have asked me why I would want a job working with people who are sick. People who have many different illnesses,some incurable? Why would I want to volunteeraly go put myself in danger? My answer has always been the same. It doesn’t scare me. My want to help people out weighs the dangers in my mind. However I must be honest. Since Ebola has made an appearance my nerves have become a little shaken up. Nurses are a special kind of person. I don’t say this because I am working on becoming one, I say this because nurses put themselves in the middle of these types of things and don’t hesitate to help where they are needed. So thank you. Thank you for being honest and brave. You are a special soul.
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This is ridiculously WRONG. I encourage everyone to seek information from specialist who DO have a wealth of experience with Ebola like the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION at who.org. You cannot contaminated anyone with Ebola until the symptoms begin and that has been seen countless times in Africa. Stop creating fear and truly educate. You clearly don’t have experience with tropical diseases but write a blog to scare the heck out of folks on a disease that has been controlled many times in the past including in Nigeria this year!!!
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Did it ever occur to you that the CDC’s primary concern is not to panic people, which often cause more damage and spread of diseases than the actual disease itself. I thought your number one concern was your community,
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Tying not to start a panic is one thing, but the CDC’ s initial dismissive attitude was nearly as damaging than sounding the alarm. Assuring we had “nothing to worry about”, when in fact we actually do need to react with concern certainly will do nothing to prevent a panic should it spread more than it already has.
The best approach is containment, and the CDC has already made a series of errors that have breached containment. The first error was bringing two health care workers here for treatment (actually it was for experimental treatment in a controlled environment). In addition to being a risk of accidental spread (lab accidents have led to Ebola deaths in the past), it sent the message that we were open for businesses for better care and treatment than could be obtained in West Africa.
That led to a second error…believing that a questionnaire and a thermometer were enough to screen against the spread outside of Africa. That led to another fatal mistake on Ducan’ s part in that he (and Al Sharpton) believed he would or should get that same level of treatment at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas as one would expect at a DVD sponsored site.
Then the CDC demonstrated a series of errant advice from the level of protection required to whether self-monitoring is appropriate, to allowing at least two (that we know of so far) potentially infected medical workers not only travel, but one half way across the country to Cleveland and back and the other to leave the country on a cruise ship. It would be one thing if they disobeyed advice, but all of these breaches were condoned by the CDC!
Perhaps we have seen all that will be infected from one initial exposure incident, but the CDC has acted irresponsibly thus far. How is that instilling the confidence necessary to prevent panic?
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I agree with you completely. The CDC has certainly shown us what they are all about. Unfortunately…not much!
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Thank you for taking the time to share this very informative article with the masses. I have been a nurse for almost 40 years. Never had such an appreciation for infectious disease as I have had in recent years. Your article should be sent to all the news outlets so people can see what we are really dealing with.
Thank you again!!
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Hepatitis is, simply put, an inflammation of the liver. It is NOT categorically viral or lifelong. The commonly known “lettered” heps are; however, as a nurse, surely you’re familiar with toxic or “drug induced” hep? Unfortunately, stumbling upon misinformation in a piece like this was enough to discredit you and prevent me from reading further.
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Viral hepatitis is often if not always referred to hepatitis rather than Hep B or Hep C ….Even by my aunt that required a liver transplant from contracting hepatitis B as an ER nurse…or a former co-worker that died two years from liver failure after contracting hep B as an orderly at a psychiatric nursing home…neither knows how or when they were exposed! I am vaccinated against Hep B, but we can’t exactly receive one for Ebola now can we?
Amy, If you refused to continue reading simply due to a nominal technical error, you are really a close-minded individual. If you work in the medical field, please tell me where so I can be sure not to go there for treatment and by chance have you as my caregiver with that attitude!
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BTW, if you didn’t read any further, how can you comment on the merit of the rest of the content?
If I come across as snarky here, maybe it is because I am getting a little tired of hearing people more or less limiting themselves to the knowledge being appointed to you by people in some official capacity and accept it on their authority alone.
These people are administrators…I don’t care which field you work in from medical, law enforcement, education, to manufacturing, retail, or construction…how many of your “bosses” are well versed in the actual job you do? How many have recent experience in it? The government officials are no different, maybe actually worse due to the fact they are often appointed as a result of political favors rather than actual merit.
We have become so focused on specialization that we only want to listen so-called experts, often throwing basic common sense out the window. Limited information is what leads to misinformation which leads to distrust which makes it all that more important that we do our own research and share it on forums like this.
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Amy, your response to Hepititis is correct, and I understand why you would want to easily discredit the rest that is written; however, it isn’t entirely wrong, and it is informative.
I think, because of the subject, we naturally start to pick it apart. I would encourage that you elaborate and educate on what you know, that others do not, as this nurse has tried to do.
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For what its worth, I think you were well spoken and clear. I agree Americans feel to ‘safe’. I hope this article, teaches most as you intended.
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Thank you for your concise, very understandable by anyone examples of how & why this disease is a real threat to be taken seriously. I am a nurse, with infection control experience, and I am appalled by the information being fed to the public by CDC and other agencies that are supposed to be our “go to” experts in matters involving potential pandemic capabilities. There have been so many instances of contradiction on the why and how Ebola is spread that I doubt anyone believes anything being reported in the news media. If only we had someone associated with these “expert” agencies with your ability to grasp and explain the disease process and what is necessary to keep it from spreading we would be light years ahead of where we are now!
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I AM A C.N.A AND I TRULY APPRECIATE THE HEADS-UP AND BEING EDUCATED.THANK YOU
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“Direct contact” definitely means something different to the public than to nurses. I hear “contact precautions” and remember having patients with MRSA: A cart filled with PPE and a new disposable suit every time I entered the room. It’s no wonder that the virus spreads like it does in Africa–21 day incubation period is a long time, and disposable gowns get expensive, if they’re even available. Thank you for spreading some real information, and for being a good, responsible nurse.
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Great article! Straight truth unlike what is told via the liberal news!
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Phenomenal post… very easy to understand, and extremely useful in moving forward with practicality.
Thank you!
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Thank you for this article, I appreciate it and agree that the media is putting the wrong information out to the public to see. I also agree that the public needs to be more informed about what Ebola really is and how it affects us, as well as how it has already affected Africans for years. What I am NOT seeing, however, is any precautions to take against it. We have made it seem that, now that Ebola is in the United States, no one is safe. There are some saying this is the next plague and it will wipe out the majority of the population. There are also other posts I have seen claiming that they have a cure, and have been using it on the few infected people in the U.S. and that that is why there is one survivor. You mentioned the standard good hygiene and washing your hands, but is there really nothing more drastic that we can do to prevent this “plague-Like” virus from our loved ones? I will be the first to say I am not nearly educated enough about this topic, that is why I am asking you!
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Thank you very much for this article. It was very informative and eye opening. Being a mom of 3 children this virus scares the hell out of me. I know I cannot protect my kids from everything, but this spreading virus makes me wish I home schooled them. God bless and stay safe.
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