Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

State Health Officials Work With Hospitals on How to Treat Ebola

Connecticut state health officials have been working to prepare if there were to be a case of Ebola in Connecticut and they are working with hospitals so they could identify and treat patients, according to the governor’s office.

This comes amid reports that the first person to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States was sent home from a Texas hospital and did not received proper treatment until his nephew called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to NBC News.

Gov. Dannel Malloy’s office released a statement on Thursday saying the risk of an Ebola outbreak in the United States is low, but state Health Commissioner Dr. Jewel Mullen briefed him on the Ebola situation and staff from the Department of Public Health have received guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 

“CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden reassured the public that by upholding strong health care infection control measures and public health practices, the U.S. can ‘stop Ebola in its tracks,’” Malloy said in a statement.  “Our state health department has been working and communicating with federal and state partners to ensure those strong measures and practices are in place here in Connecticut.”

The man diagnosed with Ebola in Texas traveled from Brussels to Washington, DC last month, then took a connecting flight to Dallas, according to reports and local health officials said there is no evidence that Connecticut residents are at risk.

“Based on everything presented on yesterday’s CDC briefing, I do not believe that the patient diagnosed in Texas puts Connecticut residents at higher risk,” Mullen said.  “We have expected that given the size of the West African epidemic, there would eventually be someone diagnosed in our country.”

Officials from the state Department of Health have asked Connecticut hospitals to ensure they can detect a patient with Ebola, protect healthcare workers so they can safely care for the patient and respond in a coordinated fashion. 

The hospitals will have to fill out a detailed checklist for Ebola preparedness and return it to DPH later this month.

“Any acute care hospital in the state, by following well-defined, standard infection control measures and with the use of proper personal protection equipment, is capable of caring for an Ebola patient,” Mullen said in a statement.  “We would not need to designate particular hospitals to care a patient who is infected.”
 

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