Health - TX

QUARTZ  by Grace Dobush                                         March 13, 2015

AUSTIN, Texas—Perhaps the most surprising and important product debuting at SXSW Interactive this year is a personal protective equipment (PPE) prototype for health care workers dealing with Ebola, a tangible result of the U.S. government adapting the culture of innovation and design thinking so key in the startup world.

A team from the U.S. Agency for International Development demonstrated the traditional Ebola suit and the new suit in a preview for Quartz....

REUTERS      by Lisa Rapaport                                                                                Feb. 19, 2015

Effectively monitoring people exposed to Ebola requires more than just checking symptoms. A quarantine plan also needs to help people keep up with work and school and pay for essentials like housing and food, a U.S. report concludes.

To understand the challenges encountered by ordinary citizens exposed to Ebola, a team led by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed concerns raised by people monitored as part of an Ebola cluster in Dallas last year.

If yet-to-be-identified contacts notice that those who come forward as Ebola contacts are shunned from society and quarantined in their homes, with no way to provide for themselves and their families, they will be less likely to come forward," said lead study author Dr. Charnetta Smith, a CDC epidemic intelligence service officer.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/19/us-cdc-quarantine-ebola-policy-idUSKBN0LN1HI20150219

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DALLAS MORNING NEWS  By REESE DUNKLIN and STEVE THOMPSON                                        Dec 8, 2014

The Dallas emergency-room doctor who missed signs of Ebola in a Liberian man who later became the first to die of the disease in the U.S. describes the fateful night for the first time.

Dr. Joseph Howard Meier told The Dallas Morning News that when he treated Thomas Eric Duncan in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, he was unaware that Duncan had recently arrived from a country ravaged by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He also said he did not realize Duncan had such a high fever.

"I was unaware of a 103-degree fever," Meier said in written answers to questions from the paper, released by his attorney. "It appears in the chart, but I did not see it...."

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ASSOCIATED PRESS                                              Nov. 7, 2014
WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. military officer has designated five U.S. bases where American troops would be housed and isolated for 21 days upon returning from Africa after serving in the Ebolaresponse mission, U.S. officials said Friday.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed a plan that lists Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, as bases where troops would be quarantined.

The U.S. also will use two bases in Italy and Germany for returning troops based in that region....

The plan exempts military personnel who travel to Africa for short-term visits and have very limited contact with people there, such as military staff traveling with a senior official who only stops in the country for a day or two...

In a related announcement, U.S. Northern Command has decided to train 30 more medical support personnel who will be available to help U.S. hospitals with any future Ebola cases. The personnel will begin training in San Antonio, Texas, later this month and will supplement a 30-member team that has already been trained and is ready to respond.