SHORELINE — Harborview Medical Center in Seattle has agreed to treat American patients sickened with Ebola who need to be evacuated from West Africa — one of five U.S. hospitals to do so, health officials said Monday.
There are no Ebola cases in Washington now, but the state is preparing.
A state Department of Health lab here can test blood samples from potentially infected patients. It’s one of 13 labs nationally that can conduct molecular diagnostic tests for the virus, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health.
Ebola has sicked 7,470 and killed 3,431 people in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
That said, the risk to the general public in the U.S. is very low, Lindquist said.
“This is not the first Ebola outbreak in the history of the world,” he said. “They’ve been controlled” previously.
The outbreak in West Africa continues to grow. By the end of January, it might sicken as many as 1 million people, said Dr. Jeff Duchin, who oversees communicable disease issues for Public Health-Seattle &King County.
During the present epidemic, the potential need to evacuate American Ebola-infected patients to the U.S. could last weeks or months, he said at a news conference on Monday.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently contacted Lindquist about finding a local hospital which specialized in infectious diseases and could care for Ebola patients evacuated to the U.S. for treatment. Lindquist said Harborview was “the logical choice.”
To date, Ebola-infected patients evacuated to the U.S. have been treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Ebola’s symptoms include a fever of 101.5 degrees or greater, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding or bruising. They can occur two to 21 days after exposure.
Health officials say all hospitals and medical practices across the state should be on alert for Ebola symptoms, which can be similar to those of other viruses. Health-care workers also should ask about the travel history of ill patients, Duchin said.
That travel history was missed by a Dallas emergency room. A man infected with Ebola, who traveled on an airplane from Liberia, was sent home after initial treatment. He later returned, far sicker, and was hospitalized. His health has deteriorated. On Monday he was in critical condition.
Local hospitals throughout the state should be prepared to treat Ebola-infected patients, health officials said. “We’re expecting all our health care facilities to be ready,” Lindquist said.
Ebola is not an airborne disease, so, unlike colds, it cannot spread through sneezes or coughs. People can become infected when they come into contact with the blood, urine, sweat or vomit of an infected patient, or if they have contact with needles or syringes that have been contaminated with the virus, according to the CDC.
Ebola is far less contagious than mumps or measles, Duchin said.
Infection control in the presence of Ebola is the same as other infectious diseases, said Dr. Timothy Dellit, Harborview’s associate medical director.
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Snohomish County’s largest hospital, has a plan to deal with patients who might have been infected with Ebola, said hospital spokeswoman Cheri Russum. The hospital also has sealed rooms where patients would be treated until Ebola could be ruled out.
Gary Preston, who heads the hospital’s infection-control committee, said a test was recently conducted to see how quickly local, state and federal health officials could be notified if an Ebola case is confirmed. Health officials “were on the line in 30 minutes,” he said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
