DEADLY VIRUSES PUT ER DOCTORS IN `THE HOT ZONE'.Byline: Andrew Bowser Bowser may mean:
The plot of the recent best seller ``The Hot Zone'' - which involves a deadly Ebola epidemic ravaging a Washington, D.C., suburb - is not so far-fetched, according to an infectious-disease researcher. A person carrying the Ebola virus Ebola virus (ēbō`lə), a member of a family (Filovirus) of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers. The virus, named for the region in Congo (Kinshasa) where it was first identified in 1976, emerged from the rain forest, where it survives in could enter the United States on an airplane and not develop symptoms of the disease for weeks, allowing ample time for the lethal infection to be spread to others, said Dr. David A. Talan, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Olive View-UCLA School of Medicine in Sylmar. ``These things are not as intangible and fantastic as you might imagine,'' he said. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are on the rise, from the so-called mad-cow disease in Britain to tuberculosis in the United States, he pointed out. Because of this, it is imperative that emergency-room doctors be able to quickly recognize symptoms so that they can provide the best care when infected patients show up in the ER, Talan said at a recent meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is the largest organization of emergency physicians in the United States. It was founded in 1968 and is now headquartered in Dallas,Texas. . Symptoms of infection with the deadly hantavirus hantavirus, any of a genus (Hantavirus) of single-stranded RNA viruses that are carried by rodents and transmitted to humans when they inhale vapors from contaminated rodent urine, saliva, or feces. There are many strains of hantavirus. , first identified in May 1993 in an American-Indian reservation in the southwestern United States, may look like flu symptoms to the untrained eye, Talan said. These include fever, muscle pain, headache, cough, nausea, nasal congestion nasal congestion ENT Difficulty in nasal breathing, due to an ↑ vascular thickness of nasal mucosa. See Nasal stuffiness. and sore throat Sore Throat Definition Sore throat, also called pharyngitis, is a painful inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the pharynx. It is a symptom of many conditions, but most often is associated with colds or influenza. . ``People infected with hantavirus don't really come in with much that would raise your eyebrow,'' Talan told a crowd of 200 emergency physicians at the meeting. As of January 1995, hantavirus infection had been identified in 102 patients in 21 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. in Atlanta. Animal rabies is increasing at a rapid rate, with the largest increases seen in the raccoon raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mts. and in deserts. population, Talan said. In 1994, six people in the United States died from exposure to animal rabies - the highest recorded rate since 1979. Emergency physicians need to be vigilant in identifying new and emergent diseases, especially in light of a recently passed welfare reform bill that give states greater discretion to deny Medicaid coverage to immigrants, said Dr. Larry Bedard, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. ``A lot of the new and emerging diseases come from Third World countries,'' he said. Since emergency departments must treat all emergency cases regardless of the patient's ability to pay, they are considered the ultimate safety net for those who can't afford medical insurance and are ineligible for Medicaid, Bedard said. In some states, ``the only place some immigrants will be able to go for care is the emergency department,'' he added. |
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