Ebola is here, Dallas, Texas

[Road Guy]

Well since the first Ebola patient was in Atlanta a month + ago, If it had lived through the wastewater stream it would have already hit the Chattahoochee river which is the drinking supply for south GA and parts of Alabama and Florida so wouldn't there be some other dead / infected people by now? They (Emory) was connected to the DeKalb County Treatment Plant (which is probably more inept than the group you work for in the islands)....

 

[Dleg]

That is not the concern - the virus truly is not expected to survive the treatment process. The concern is the sewer collection system, between the toilet and the treatment plant. Generally that is not a concern because it is reasonably secured from contact with humans and the environment. But "reasonably" may not be enough with something this virulent. "Sh!t happens" in a sewer system... workers have to clean bar screens. Vacuum truck operators clean sewers and aerosolize sewage. Pumps fail, or pipes clog and cause overflows. Animals (vectors) live inside many sewers, despite diameter restrictions.

 

[Dleg]

And just to add to that, before anyone starts panicking, this means that there still is no concern that ebola wastes from hospitals will contaminate rivers, groundwater, or other sources of drinking water and recreation. Not only in theory, but there is no epidemiological evidence that the disease spreads in that fashion, despite it occurring in places with notoriously bad sanitation.

 

[Road Guy]

If you go "into" a sewer treatment plant what do you wear?

 

[Dleg]

This is a question that has also been asked....

But also to be clear, sewage treatment plants are loaded with pathogens, many of which are far more hardy and infectious. Treatment plant workers are (supposedly) trained and equipped to prevent infection.

In practice, I see many workers with essentially no PPE... maybe rubber gloves and rubber boots.

 

[NJmike PE]

I've recently inquired quite a bit. I have a colleague who is involved at the municipal level. I'm being told that here in NJ it is up to the governing sewer authority to mandate additional restrictions on hospitals regarding pretreatment. Nothing on the state level has it as a requirement. This is disturbing to me. Like Dleg said my concerns are the in between periods of of the hospital and the STP. Not to mention the animal situation. They live in and move around in the sewers. And the animals can contract and transmit this shit. Once that starts happening it will be near impossible to tract this thing.

 

[Road Guy]

Then I would say they are either dumb or suffering from a lack of leadership....

My wifes work they stuffed a trifold on their lockers and said "training will be coming" That was 2 weeks ago, that is similar for her friends that work in "big time" hospitals ..... They (workers) are asking for better equipment and the hospitals are failing to do anything because the CDC has said they don't need the hazmat type suits (which is what the Emory / CDC type places use)...

If my wife still worked in the ER or in a respiratory floor I would already have instructed her to quit. They are truly going to be the frontline...

 

[NJmike PE]

That's a shame. Like I said earlier about the nurse who was interviewed. Someone needed to speak up on their behalf. I just home the hospital doesn't shit can her as a result

 

[Road Guy]

its a high turn over industry - nurses with experience have about a hard a time finding a job as a college girl does in getting laid.. she knows nurses that have been fired for stealing meds who get a new job in about a week..

 

[NJmike PE]

True but the whistle blower label tends to change things.

 

[NJmike PE]

Either way, I coming her, your wife and any other nurse person in the medical treatment profession.

 

[Road Guy]

At least maybe Ebola in the hospitals will keep patients annoying ass families from coming into the hospital..

if your family member is ever in the hospital, don't annoy the nurses, steady stream of family coming in is annoying as shit.. don't ask them to get you coffee, juice etc. my wife is to nice to say no, but most of her coworkers spit in the coffee of people who ask them to go get them a cup..

 

[NJmike PE]

I would never have even asked such a thing. People have balls

 

[Road Guy]

people are just rude......

 

[NJmike PE]

Seriously. Over the last 5 years, between births and trips to the er because of the kids having high fevers or what not, I've never ever considered such a thing. If I needed something I got it myself. They've offered me things, food etc, but I've never asked for it.

 

[Dark Knight]

 

[Dleg]

I attended a state (territory!)-level meeting today about the Ebola response plans. Very interesting - the state public health folks (doctors) saying repeatedly that we need to be ahead of CDC, because they have backtracked so many times now. The overall emphasis was that we need to be more conservative than the CDC is telling us to be. That, and the best strategy for not scaring away commerce (tourism) is to show that we have very strict procedures in place to prevent an Ebola case here. Still sort of scary stuff, when you are listening seasoned docs, who all proclaimed that they had been through SARS and MERS, saying that this Ebola outbreak is a "game changer" and "nothing will be the same after this".

 

[Road Guy]

What have we been paying billions of dollars into the CDC for?

Did you know they didn't even come to Dallas for several days after they were contacted?

 

[Dleg]

Yep.

 

[matt267 PE]

If you go "into" a sewer treatment plant what do you wear?

RG, industry standard is "gloves when you may contact wastewater or sludge in any form." It is also recommended to keep work clothes separate from home clothes when laundering and to frequently wash your hands.
This is in the training manuals put out by CSU Sacramento and the EPA (ISBN 1 884701 46 9)