October 16, 2014

A second Dallas hospital nurse, Amber  Vinson, who treated Liberian Ebola victim Thomas Duncan before his death has tested positive for the deadly virus, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital confirmed yesterday. Public health officials in Texas continue to monitor some 48 contacts of Duncan and the health care workers who treated him. However, that number is rising.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disclosed yesterday that Ms. Vinson flew on a commercial jet from Cleveland to Dallas on October 13. “She should not have traveled on a commercial airline,” CDC Director Tom Frieden subsequently stated. “The CDC guidance in this setting outlines the need for what is called controlled movement.” However, it was revealed today that Ms. Vinson did, in fact, contact the CDC before flying home to Dallas and reported that she had a fever with a temperature of 99.5 °F (37.5 °C). CDC officials did not stop her from boarding the plane because her temperature was below the range the CDC then categorized as dangerous. The CDC is currently attempting to contact the more than 130 passengers and crew aboard Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 on Monday.

Scientists remain unsure about the exact ways in which the Ebola virus (above) is transmitted. (Cynthia Goldsmith)

CDC Director Frieden has expressed regret about his agency’s initial response to the first Ebola case in Dallas. “In retrospect, with 20/20 hindsight, we could have sent a more robust hospital infection control team and been more hands-on with the hospital from Day 1.” The CDC has since issued stricter guidelines for U.S. hospitals with Ebola patients. The guidelines are closer to the procedures used by Doctors Without Borders, a Paris-based relief organization that is currently battling the Ebola epidemic that has killed some 4,500 people in West Africa.

Amber Vinson was flown last night from Dallas to Atlanta, where she entered Emory University Hospital. An American doctor and nurse, Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who contracted Ebola while working in Africa, were successfully treated at Emory in September. The physician who oversaw their treatment, Sean G. Kaufman, today condemned the earlier CDC guidelines as “absolutely irresponsible and dead wrong.”

Additional World Book article:

• Disease Detectives (a special report)
• The Origin of New Diseases (a special report)

October 13, 2014

A nurse who treated Liberian Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan before he died has been infected with the virus. The case is the first known transmission of the Ebola virus on U.S. soil. The unnamed woman is in stable condition in an isolation ward in a Dallas, Texas, hospital.

Tom Frieden, head of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated yesterday that while the nurse wore full protective gear while treating Duncan, there obviously had been a clear breach of safety protocol. He informed the media that the CDC will carry out a complete investigation into how the infection had occurred, focusing on two “high-risk procedures”–dialysis and respiratory intubation–carried out on Duncan before he died.

The first known transmission of the Ebola virus in the United States has been  reported. (Frederick Murphy)

The Ebola virus causes a hemorrhagic fever, an illness characterized by fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and massive internal bleeding. About 80 to 90 percent of all people who become infected die. The current outbreak, largely concentrated in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 people.

Additional World Book article:

• Disease Detectives (a special report)
• The Origin of New Diseases (a special report)

April 4, 2012

Rare twin supercells unleashed at least 18 tornadoes on the Dallas-Forth Worth metropolitan region. (A supercell is a massive low-pressure center characterized by a very large cumulonimbus cloud and long-lasting thunderstorm, often producing numerous and violent tornadoes.) The National Weather Service characterized the storms as among the most destructive in the area’s history. Twisters flung several massive semi-tractor trailers into the air and tossed a school bus across a road and into a diner. Hundreds of houses were severely damaged or leveled in the Dallas suburbs of Arlington, Lancaster, and Forney. In Arlington, an entire wing of a nursing home collapsed, forcing the evacuation of dozens of residents. The storms left thousands of households without electric power. Miraculously, there were no fatalities and relatively few injuries.

A supercell thunderstorm is a violent storm dominated by a single gigantic cell--a weather system made up of storm clouds and the winds associated with them. Rain and hail may fall for hours. (National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/National Science Foundation)

At the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, all flights were canceled, stranding thousands of passengers. Baseball-size hail pounded planes on the tarmac waiting for take-off. “The noise of ice . . . hitting the aluminum exterior of a 757 was as deafening as it was frightening,” noted one passenger.

Although the tornado season has just started in the United States, meteorologists point out that there have already been dozens of destructive twisters from Illinois to Texas.

Additional World Book articles:

• Safety (During a tornado)
• Storm