Ohio tightens treatment protocol for Ebola

October 17, 2014 at 12:10a.m.

Staff/wire report

COLUMBUS

State health officials on Thursday recommended Ohio hospitals conduct drills this week to practice how they would interact with a potential Ebola patient and use protective equipment such as gloves, masks and suits.

They also asked that hospitals evaluate whether they have adequate supplies of such gear and reach out to the Ohio Department of Health if they need help to ensure they do.

At a congressional hearing Thursday in Washington, Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he remained confident in the ability of the U.S. health care system to combat Ebola.

“Working with our partners, we have been able to stop every prior Ebola outbreak, and we will stop this one,” he said. “We know how to control Ebola, even in this period.”

State health officials are urging anyone who had direct contact or was in close proximity to the Texas health care worker diagnosed with Ebola to take extra precautions over the next three weeks.

Even those who were not in direct contact but were in the vicinity of the Dallas woman during her five-day stay in the state are being urged to monitor their health more closely.

The nurse, 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson, visited family in the Akron area last weekend, then flew back to Dallas from Cleveland on Monday. She was diagnosed with Ebola the following day.

Vinson had treated the Liberian man who died of the disease in a Dallas hospital.

As a result of her travel to Ohio, Gov. John Kasich was among a host of officials who received calls Thursday from President Barack Obama to discuss steps the administration has taken in response to this latest threat. And the president conceded Thursday it “may be appropriate” to designate an Ebola “czar” — a single individual to head the administration effort.

The Ohio Department of Health issued the “stronger recommended quarantine protocols” for local health departments responding to confirmed or suspected cases of the virus in the state.

The guidelines include urging anyone who had direct contact with someone infected, “including a brief contact such as a handshake without personal protective equipment,” to be quarantined from contact with others for 21 days.

Also, health officials recommended anyone who came “within a three-foot radius ... of the infected individual for a prolonged period of time” to check temperatures and potential other symptoms twice a day for three weeks.

Those who develop symptoms, including “an oral temperature of 100.4 degrees or greater, or ... muscle aches, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea or bruising/bleeding,” should contact their doctor for further testing.

ODH also is activating a 24-hour-a-day call center to answer Ohioans’ questions about Ebola and the recent events in Ohio. The number for Ohioans to call is 1-866-800-1404.

Health officials said there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in the state.

EIGHT QUARANTINED

But a health official says at least eight people in Northeast Ohio are quarantined and being monitored because they had contact with her. The Summit County Public Health medical director says the group includes five people in her county. Two are in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland.

And Lucas County Health Department officials said Thursday that two people from Erie County in northwestern Ohio were possibly exposed to the virus by Vinson on the flights. Erie County Health Department epidemiologist Kelley Bemis said one person was on Vinson’s Oct. 10 flight out of Dallas and a different person was on her return flight Monday. Bemis would not name the people, identify their gender, or say where they reside in Erie County. Health officials consider both people to be “extremely” low risk in terms of their exposure because they were not seated near Vinson.

Summit County health officials said Thursday that Vinson was conscientious and limited her movements in Ohio but did visit a retail bridal store.

They say the store was closed Thursday as officials evaluated and updated quarantine guidelines.

Two hospital systems in Cleveland and a hospital in Canton said 18 of their nurses were on Vinson’s Friday flight to Cleveland after attending a nursing conference in Dallas. They were believed to have a low risk of exposure but are on paid leave for 21 days as a precaution.

At the time of the shared flight, the infected nurse had no symptoms, and health officials have said Ebola does not spread until a patient exhibits symptoms.

At Kent State University, three employees related to Vinson have been asked to remain off campus for three weeks. Vinson didn’t visit campus during her recent trip, the school said. It isn’t identifying the related employees.

Akron’s school superintendent said one of its elementary schools would be closed the rest of the week and cleaned after the district learned that a parent of a student spent time with Vinson last weekend.

Solon City Schools in suburban Cleveland canceled classes in two buildings Thursday after it learned a staff member might have flown on the Frontier Airlines plane.

WKYC-TV reports the Solon Middle School staff member was not on the same flight but possibly flew on the same plane as Vinson. The district sent an email to parents Wednesday saying the middle school and an elementary would be closed and disinfected.

The district says officials don’t believe the staff member is a risk because she didn’t come in direct contact with Vinson.

WASHINGTON HEARING

In Washington, Republican lawmakers indignantly criticized the government response to the arrival of Ebola on U.S. shores in a tense hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Top health officials defended their actions as public unease grew over the possibility of the deadly virus spreading widely here — something the officials insisted was a remote possibility.

“People are scared,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “People’s lives are at stake, and the response so far has been unacceptable.”

But even as Frieden offered reassurances, he raised alarms of his own about threats to this country if the raging epidemic in West Africa, which has already killed more than 4,000, cannot be stopped.

“There are no shortcuts in the control of Ebola and it is not easy to control it. To protect the United States we need to stop it at its source,” he said.

“One of the things I fear about Ebola is that it could spread more widely in Africa. If this were to happen it could become a threat to our health system and the health care we give for a long time to come.”

Vinson was cleared by the CDC to travel on the commercial plane after registering a slightly elevated fever, officials disclosed Wednesday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told lawmakers Thursday that the first nurse to fall ill, Nina Pham, was being transferred to the NIH in Bethesda, Md., for treatment. The second nurse, Vinson, has been transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta near the CDC.

Lawmakers in the packed hearing room had tough questions on hospital protocols and travel restrictions. Several Republican lawmakers pushed hard for a travel ban for people who’ve been in West Africa.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, called on the U.S. State Department to temporarily ban travel visas for citizens of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea until the outbreak has been contained and American safety can been assured.

“I have urged Secretary of State John Kerry to ban travel visas for the West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak,” Ryan said. “I am proud of the countless American doctors, nurses and health professionals who are putting themselves in harm’s way to provide humanitarian aid the region and I applaud those who are selflessly assisting these nations and understand the need for safe transportation to the region, but we cannot continue to risk American security by allowing open travel into the United States by West African citizens while this health crisis persists. A visa ban is a reasonable measure to help limit Americans’ exposure to this virus.”

The administration opposes a travel ban. Frieden and Fauci said that such an approach would not be effective because it would just push people to travel to the U.S. via more circuitous routes that couldn’t be traced, and would hamper efforts to keep tabs on those arriving.