With smultiple stories in the news about Ebola, you may be understandably concerned about the extremely unlikely possibility of a case of Ebola presenting in our community. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is prepared for such an event. And we’d like to share some important information about this disease and our planned response.
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a severe acute viral illness with an extremely high fatality rate. It is often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
How does Ebola spread?
Ebola spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact through skin and/or mucous membranes with the blood, secretions, or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
Ebola’s incubation period (the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms) is 2 to 21 days. People become contagious once they have symptoms and the illness can last many weeks. People who survive will become non-contagious and develop immunity to the virus.
How Would I Know if I Have Ebola?
The best defense against Ebola is to be well-educated about the signs and symptoms, and to practice good hand hygiene and infection control measures similar to what we would recommend everyone should be doing routinely during cold and flu season.
Because the initial symptoms aren’t much different than those of the flu, people may be understandably concerned about symptoms that are quite common in the fall and winter. When screening for Ebola it is important to know that it is the co-occurrence of a set of symptoms, travel history and/or known or suspected exposure that triggers cause for concern.
Under BMH’s screening model, a patient presenting with a fever over 100.4 degrees, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite and in some cases, bleeding who ALSO has a recent travel history (within 21 days of symptom onset) to West Africa (including Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone) OR who has been exposed to a person with known or suspected Ebola is a patient who would be isolated and tested immediately.
In the unlikely event that you or someone in your family meets all of those criteria you should immediately call your physician to receive instructions. You should NOT go directly to the physician office or to the hospital.
Is BMH Prepared for the Possibility of Ebola in Our Community?
Yes. BMH has existing practices and protocols in place for all infectious disease outbreaks. Additionally:
- We have convened an internal Ebola Task Force to ensure that our staff and volunteers are well-educated about Ebola and that our protocols with other hospitals, first responders, public safety, and other public health partners are well-established.
- The BMH Ebola Task Force receives daily updates on all developments from the CDC, WHO, VDH, and VAHHS. We are training our staff about Ebola with a series of hospital-wide meetings to ensure absolute clarity at every level of the organization about our prevention and response protocols. Department heads and supervisors will continue to reinforce infection control protocols as well as conduct a daily safety huddle.
- In our years of working in close collaboration with Entergy Vermont Yankee and VT Dept. of Health, we have trained and drilled extensively on public health scenarios. Our Emergency Department is equipped with all the necessary tools and personal protective equipment. Our staff is prepared to respond to a wide range of public health emergencies.
- BMH is committed to working with our sister agencies to educate our community by sharing information through columns like this one and providing links to accurate and timely information about Ebola. Resources that may be helpful to you are:
o World Health Organization (WHO)
o Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
o Vermont Department of Health (VDH)
Ebola is certainly a serious and deadly disease. But the likelihood of a case presenting in our community is extremely low. If such an unlikely event were to occur, we are prepared to respond.
The author of this post, Kathleen McGraw, MD, is Chief Medical Officer at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.