Anxiety declared in Denver hospital: suspect dangerous virus

The threat of Ebola forced a Denver hospital to shut down operations and call in an emergency team of employees in protective suits who tested everything until it turned out that the suspect patient's test results were negative.

The Denver Medical Health Center said Sunday evening that the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment was testing a patient who was quarantined for suspected Ebola viruses, writes The Daily Mail.

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No special measures were taken until the patient came to 8.30 on Sunday morning with alarming symptoms, who had recently arrived from Congo. According to medical reports, he could have contact with patients during the recent outbreak of Ebola, which was declared terminated only on Wednesday. The patient was placed in isolation.

Denver Health Medical Center is one of only ten regional medical facilities in the United States to which the CDC refers patients for treatment of such cases. Emergency services in special suits were seen in the building on Sunday afternoon. The clinic was briefly suspended while ambulances were diverted to other hospitals, but normal operations at the center resumed within a few hours.

In a statement issued earlier Sunday, hospital officials said Ebola was considered a "potential but unlikely diagnosis." The hospital said there was no threat to other patients, visitors or staff as all necessary isolation protocols were in place.

The Ebola virus is fatal, but it spreads only through direct contact with human body fluids. The last significant outbreak that killed 33 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo only officially ended last week.

What is Ebola and how dangerous is the disease?

Ebola, or hemorrhagic fever, killed at least 11 000 people around the world after it was discovered in West Africa and quickly spread within two years. The pandemic was officially declared before January 2016, when WHO called Liberia free of the virus. The country, shaken by the civil wars that ended in 2003, suffered a lot from the fever, 40% of all deaths occurred there. Sierra Leone reported the largest number of Ebola cases, with almost all infected people being residents of the country.

Фото: Depositphotos

Where did it all start?

The analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the outbreak began in Guinea, which neighbors Liberia and Sierra Leone. A team of international researchers was able to trace the pandemic to a two-year-old boy in Meliana - about 400 miles (650 km) from the capital Conakry. Emil Huamuno, more commonly known as "Patient Zero", may have contracted the deadly virus while playing with bats in a hollow tree.

Figures show that about 29 000 people were infected with Ebola, which means that the virus killed about 40% of those it hit. Deaths were also reported in Nigeria, Mali and the USA, but on a much smaller scale (15 cases per three nations). Guinean officials reported an outbreak of a mysterious disease before WHO confirmed that it was Ebola.

The Ebola virus was first identified by scientists in the 1976 year, but the last flash eclipsed all the others recorded in history, the figures show.

How do people pick up a virus?

Scientists believe that Ebola is most often transmitted to humans by flat bats, but it can also be blamed for infecting antelopes, porcupines, gorillas and chimpanzees. The virus can be transmitted between people through blood, excreta and other bodily fluids and surfaces that have been infected.

Is there a cure?

WHO warns that there is no “proven treatment” for Ebola, but dozens of drugs are being tested for an equally devastating outbreak. There is hope: after the introduction of the experimental vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, 6000 people were protected from Ebola. The results of this vaccination are published in The Lancet magazine.

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