Many people have asked how can a cameraman with no direct contact to Ebola patients get infected with the Ebola virus. Here’s the answer from the horses mouth so-to-speak.

Those who are paying attention will note Mr Mukpo is specifically describing aerosolized exposure to the virus.   We have previously explained how Bloodborne Pathogen training day #1, Rule #1, specifically warns about this risk when cleaning OPIM (Other Potentially Infectious Material) such as vomit, urine, feces, saliva and/or blood. 

(Via ABC News) The American journalist with Ebola who arrived at a Nebraska hospital today believes that he may have gotten infected when he got splashed while spray-washing a vehicle where someone had died from the disease.
Ashoka Mukpo arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center this morning after being flown directly from Liberia.
“He’s strong and his symptoms are not more advanced then when he talked to us before he left which is a relief,” his father Dr. Mitchell Levy said at a news conference today. He said his son has a fever and slight nausea.
“Likely he will go into the next phase where his symptoms will be more severe,” Levy said.
Levy said that his son is “not certain” when he got the disease, but believes that he could have gotten infected by some of the spray back that came when he was using chlorine to disinfect a car.
“It was a vehicle that somebody had died in,” Levy said. (more…)

The more the Ebola crisis is attached to President Obama, the more likely he then becomes to lift a finger and do something about it. Hence, the best thing we can do to insure someone in government takes this as seriously as the general public does – is to firmly attach the concern to the Obama administration.
(CNN) — A second Ebola patient to be treated at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha will arrive there early Monday morning, the center said in a statement. The patient is believed to be an American freelance cameraman who worked for NBC.
Ashoka Mukpo was diagnosed with Ebola on Thursday. He left Liberia on a specially-equipped plane Sunday and was headed to Nebraska, the network reported.
Upon arrival, the patient will be immediately taken to a remote part of the airport away from passenger areas, where an ambulance will wait for transport to the hospital. (more…)

“Ladies and Gentlemen: Please secure your trays tables and seats into their upright and locked positions, along with any vomit or Other Potentially Infectious Materials for our flight staff to pick up as we prepare for arrival to our final destination”…. “And, as always, the staff of United Flight 998 would like to thank you for remaining calm as we transport the Ebola virus to a destination near you”.

NEW YORK – A United Airilines flight from Brussels was met by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials today at Newark Liberty International Airport after a passenger on board believed to be from Liberia exhibited possible signs of Ebola.

The passenger was traveling with his daughter on United Flight 998 and both were removed from the plane by CDC crew in full hazmat gear.
A senior federal official said the passenger was exbihiting “flu-like symptoms.”
Other passengers remained on the plane while the two were being removed. (more…)

Hey, wait a minute, what’s with the respirators? We were told there’s no risk of airborne Ebola.  Secondly, gee, how’d you like to be a neighbor, or live in the same building…. Yikes.  Would you stay?

DALLAS – A hazmat team finally arrived on scene today to sanitize the contaminated apartment where the Ebola victim’s family have been quarantined under police guard as it was revealed ten people are being considered ‘high risk’ for the deadly virus.

Louise Troh, her son Timothy Wayne, 13, nephew Oliver Smallwood, 21, and his friend Jeffrey Cole, have been legally ordered to stay inside the Dallas apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Duncan became contagious last weekend.
The Dallas Fire Department’s hazmat crew and a private cleaning company were both at the apartment complex on Friday afternoon – close to 24 hours after Texas authorities promised to deal with the shocking oversight. The clean-up was expected to take around three hours. (more…)

In addition to the Ebola outbreak confirmed in Dallas Texas, health officials in both Kentucky and Washington DC are now reporting they have each isolated patients from West Africa who are exhibiting Ebola Symptoms.

WASHINGTON DC – A possible case of Ebola is being investigated at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Friday. “We’ve admitted a patient in stable condition following travel to Nigeria who is presenting symptoms that could possibly be Ebola,” university spokeswoman Kerry-Ann Hamilton told The Hill. She added that the patient has not tested positive. The patient is reportedly under quarantine. (link)
Meanwhile In Kentucky – […] Two patients have been hospitalized with Ebola-like symptoms, according to Fayette County Health Department officials. The locals doctors have quarantined the possible Kentucky Ebola patients as a precaution, noting the potential public threat caused by the release of Texas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan. (link)

Everybody say Pla-a-a-ague! “Pla-a-a-ague“….
Now wave your hands all up in the air – and spread the plague like you just don’t ca-are!

I’m sorry folks, but Bloodborne Pathogens 101 teaches day #1, Rule #1, that you do not use high velocity pressure to clean up OPIM (other potentially infectious materials) when dealing with bloodborne pathogen clean-up.  Why? Because you run the risk of aerosolizing the virus.
And the Centers for Disease Control says:

“nothing to worry about folks, this could never happen here in the U.S.A “....

Seriously?

More confirmation of what we suspected from the outset. Ebola man intentionally left Liberia knowing he was infected, and came to the U.S. for treatment.

WASHINGTON – Liberian authorities say they plan to prosecute the man infected with Ebola who brought the disease to the United States, saying he lied on his airport health questionnaire.

With an Ebola crisis raging in West Africa, passengers leaving Liberia are being screened for fever and are asked if they have had contact with anyone infected.
On the questionnaire obtained by The Associated Press, Thomas Eric Duncan answered ‘no’ to those questions. (more…)

Liberian officials said the U.S. case was inevitable and unsurprising. “It means the entire world is not safe,” said Liberian assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah in an interview on Wednesday.
“It means we should all be making frantic efforts to stop Ebola in West Africa,” he said.
Mr. Nyenswah and other Liberians are hoping that the U.S. case will help to mobilize more global resources to fight Ebola in West Africa, where the epidemic originated earlier this year. “It’s a clear indication that Ebola has no boundary,” said Thomas Siakor, a 32-year-old university student and bread vendor in Monrovia. “It can kill anyone.”

(more…)

What we had suspected was the case is now confirmed by the New York Times.  Patient Zero, Thomas Duncan, came to the U.S. knowing he was exposed to Ebola and seeking treatment.

MONROVIA, Liberia — A man who flew to Dallas and was later found to have the Ebola virus was identified by senior Liberian government officials on Wednesday as Thomas Eric Duncan, a resident of Monrovia in his mid-40s.

Mr. Duncan, the first person to develop symptoms outside Africa during the current epidemic, had direct contact with a woman stricken by Ebola on Sept. 15, just four days before he left Liberia for the United States, the woman’s parents and Mr. Duncan’s neighbors said.
In a pattern often seen here in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, the family of the woman, Marthalene Williams, 19, took her by taxi to a hospital with Mr. Duncan’s help on Sept. 15 after failing to get an ambulance, said her parents, Emmanuel and Amie Williams. She was convulsing and seven months pregnant, they said.
Turned away from a hospital for lack of space in its Ebola treatment ward, the family said it took Ms. Williams back home in the evening, and that she died hours later, around 3 a.m. (more…)