In early August, medical missionary Kent
Brantly became the first U.S. patient to be
treated for Ebola after he contracted the
disease in West Africa and was transported
to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
Soon after, the CDC published a document
titled “ Guidance for Safe Handling of Human
Remains of Ebola Patients in U.S. Hospitals
and Mortuaries ,” which states that the
“handling of human remains should be kept
to a minimum.”
Health officials say Duncan, 42, is fighting for
his life at Texas Health Presbyterian, where
he has been in an isolation ward since Sept.
28. He is in critical but stable condition, on a
ventilator, and receiving kidney dialysis. Last
weekend he started receiving an
experimental drug called brincidofovir.
Seven patients, including Duncan and
Brantly, have been or are currently being
treated for Ebola or exposure to the virus at
U.S. hospitals.
According to federal recommendations,
hospital staff should not attempt to clean
the deceased or remove any medical lines or
tubes. Instead, “the body should be
wrapped in a plastic shroud” and
immediately placed in two thick and
zippered leakproof bags for transport to the
morgue.
What this means for family is likely no
chance to mourn loved ones at a traditional
funeral service.
Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Jeffrey
Barnard, whose office handles the collection
and transportation of corpses, did not
immediately return calls seeking comment
for this story. An employee who answered
the phone at his office declined to say if
there was a plan should Duncan pass away.
“I can't give any information out,” the
woman told Yahoo News. “I have to end the
call.”
Dallas County has been the lead agency for
the Ebola investigation and containment in
Dallas, but Thompson said his local team
would defer to other experts if Duncan
succumbs to the disease.
“The state and the CDC will make a
recommendation on how the body will be
disposed of,” said Thompson, whose office
was criticized for being slow to
decontaminate the Dallas apartment where
Duncan stayed when he arrived in Texas
from Liberia.
The CDC recommends autopsies be avoided,
and that no embalming be performed.
It’s been a topic of discussion at the Dallas
Institute of Funeral Service, where Wayne
Cavender is an instructor and administrator.
“Since they don't have a good handle on
controlling the disease itself, they are
worried about an epidemic,” Cavender told
Yahoo News. “So that's one way to help
keep it from going further. Because if we
embalm, we are going to come in contact
with all the body fluids and everything. With
universal precautions we shouldn't, but
accidents happen on occasion.”
Instead, the CDC says, the “remains should
be cremated or buried promptly in a
hermetically sealed casket.” The casket must
secure “against the escape of
microorganisms” and have valid
documentation for being airtight.
“There's really not an airtight casket,” said
Cavender, who has been in the funeral
business for 28 years.
“The sealer caskets that they sell are not a
guaranteed-type of sealing issue. It's not
completely airtight because you have to
have a way to open them up and so forth.
It's not like it's vacuum-sealed,” he said.
But the CDC warns that at no point should
the sealed bags or casket be opened for
viewing.
Duncan had recently traveled to Dallas from
West Africa where the World Health
Organization estimates that Ebola has killed
more than 3,400 people this year. Health
officials say traditional African burials, in
which family members wash the body, has
caused the epidemic to spread faster.
Cavender said he fully supports the CDC’s
stringent standards for this country, but
knows it could cost a family a proper
goodbye.
“Everybody needs to bury their dead and
have a funeral and viewing if that’s what
they want,” he said. “That's the government
saying you can't do that. It's very
unfortunate for the family in that case.”



Source: Yahoo! News

It is high time others learnt from Nigeria. 'Ordinary' Ebola that we curbed without hassle. God Bless Nigeria.

Sanchez01:
It is high time others learnt from Nigeria. 'Ordinary' Ebola that we curbed without hassle. God Bless Nigeria.

Did I hear you say Nigeria curbed Ebola without hassle
Not!
The panic this Ebola disease sent to Nigerians-the rich, the poor and the down trodden was
nothing to write home about.
Everybody in the society suddenly became afraid of one another cos nobody knows the potential victim.
Thank God through concerted efforts of all Nigerian, Ebola was kicked out of our country.

Anyway.. God Bless Nigeria for the success finally.. The panic, the stress, but finally, we sent ebola packing.. Kudos to Health officers and medical staffs