Turns out that the hospital was told at the first visit that this man had just arrived from Liberia when they asked for a SSN. Despite all the heightened awareness of Ebola, no one thought it might be Ebola in a guy who just got off a plane from Liberia?

And this isn't a dinky little community hospital. This hospital has a Level One trauma center and is in the heart of a major US city that receives many international flights from all over the world.

News is now reporting a second possible case, presumably one of his caregivers. And news is also reporting that he had contact with at least five school age children.

The Dallas case is noteworthy because it gives us an idea of what future domestic responses will look like in the days and weeks ahead.

There does not seem to be any plans to transfer this person to any of the special biocontaiment units that other Ebola patients have been admitted to, so perhaps future domestic cases will also be handled close to where they are diagnosed. I guess that probably puts more burden on hospitals in cities with populations from Ebola-stricken countries since those cities are the most likely to be where future cases are diagnosed.

I already posted an article that mentions that the disposal of Ebola-exposed medical waste is very difficult or even impossible for US hospitals under current regulations, even at the CDC's special unit that cared for Dr Kent Brantly. I have not seen any news since then that this problem has been remedied or clarified at the regulatory level. I'm curious how Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital deals with this issue.


From here and here.