CEDAR CITY – Even while stories about the Ebola virus continue to make headlines throughout the country, medical professionals in Southern Utah maintain they’re ready for whatever comes their way.
According to the Southwest Utah Public Health Department, Ebola is a virus named after the Ebola River in Africa, where the disease was first discovered in 1976.
The current Ebola epidemic in West Africa is reportedly the largest in history.
The Center for Disease Control recently confirmed a patient in Dallas who had traveled from Liberia had contracted the disease. News of the confirmed case in the U.S. has raised questions by the public and concern whether the country is prepared to handle an Ebola outbreak.
However, officials from both Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George and Valley View Hospital in Cedar City say Ebola is no different than any other communicable disease.
“We deal with communicable diseases on a daily basis so fortunately our program to treat Ebola is already largely in place. We don’t have to make a lot of changes in order to deal with this virus,” said Dr. Steven VanNorman, medical director for Dixie Regional Medical Center.
Dr. David Blodgett Director and Health Officer with the Southwest Utah Public Health agrees, arguing that while Ebola is nothing to scoff at it’s no worse than many other diseases.
And in some cases, not as bad.
“In fact, if you look at the number of people that have died from Ebola already which is nearly 4,000, which is a big number but 30,000 people die from influenza during this season and no one pays attention to that number,” Blodgett said. “Is it a nasty disease? Absolutely. But am I worried that it’s likely to be a problem? No.”
The CDC reports that as of Oct. 3, the total deaths resulting from the recent Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone is 3,431.
In those same countries there have been a total of 7,470 Ebola cases reported with 4,087 of those confirmed in the lab.
These countries have the highest confirmed cases of Ebola in the world and are also the only ones reporting a death toll.
Since the symptoms of the Ebola virus somewhat mimic the flu, Intermountain Health Care has put one new protocol in place specific to this disease, said Janet Malachowski, RN and Valley View Medical Infection Prevention Nurse.
“One of the things we’ve done is to emphasize in training increased vigilance in inquiring about the travel history of the patient,” Malachowski said. “We have to know if someone comes in to the ER with flu-like symptoms where they’ve been.”
If a patient is found to have traveled to Africa within the last 21 days, they will be immediately isolated from other patients with their own room and private bathroom, Malachowski and VanNorman said
“We have designated rooms to deal with blood-born illnesses that are spread through bodily fluids like the Ebola virus,” Malachowski said.
There is no test to confirm Ebola nor is there any medication to cure it, VanNorman said.
If after observing the patient for some time the doctor suspects the Ebola virus they will then contact the health department who will more than likely will call for assistance from the CDC, he said.
With better personal hygiene practices, sterile facilities and more medical resources, the U.S. is not likely to have the epidemic problem that Africa is currently dealing with, VanNorman said.
“Their culture lends itself to spreading the disease,” he said. “An example of that is how they deal with their deceased.”
The virus is also not likely to be anything close to the problem in Africa, VanNorman added.
Officials are cautioning the public from overreacting. They stress that flu-like symptoms are not a reason to start worrying.
“Unfortunately early Ebola is like early everything — body aches, fever,” VanNorman said. “The main thing is whether you’ve traveled recently or had reason to believe you were around someone else who recently traveled to Africa.”
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