PORT ANGELES — In the unlikely event that the Ebola virus reaches the North Olympic Peninsula, the regional health care system would be ready to respond, a public health expert said.
“We are prepared to deal with this if we have to deal with it,” Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, said Tuesday.
Ebola has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
But influenza is a bigger threat to the North Olympic Peninsula, Locke says.
Infection control at U.S. hospitals, including full-body, fluid-resistant protective suits for health care workers, should prevent an outbreak from occurring here, Locke said.
“We have the technology; we have the knowledge to prevent it,” Locke told the Clallam County Board of Health.
Two American nurses remain hospitalized after catching the virus from a Liberian man who traveled to the U.S. before showing symptoms and dying at a hospital in Dallas.
“We have two very unfortunate nurses who were exposed to that individual while providing care who became infected, which is something that really should not happen,” Locke said.
“We know how to prevent that from happening in this country. And for some reason, it didn’t get done.”
In the wake of the Ebola transmissions in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued more-stringent safety guidelines.
“The head of the CDC got a lot of grief by calling it a breach in protocol, but it had to be a breach in protocol,” Locke said.
“Protocol is to not contaminate. You cannot get infected unless you’re exposed to the virus. So something went wrong.”
Locke predicted that the two American nurses would survive.
“They are getting state-of-the-art treatment,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it’s not feasible to import that kind of technology to West Africa.
“What’s essential for West Africa is having treatment facilities so people who are severely ill can be isolated from their families and other people, and then safe burial of remains.”
Ebola is spread through contact with body fluids.
Olympic Medical Center, Jefferson Healthcare and Forks Community Hospital have infection-control procedures that would help rein in a virus like Ebola, Locke said.
“We have very dangerous infections that we see in hospitals that we need to contain all the time,” he added.
“We treat some of these antibiotic-resistant infections a lot like we treat Ebola.”
Health care workers nationwide are being retrained on donning and doffing full-body suits to prevent contamination.
As Locke sees it, Ebola presents two main problems: the outbreak itself and the “Ebola scare.”
“It’s dominating the news cycle, and it’s getting a lot of political attention,” he said.
“This is a real problem, too, but the problem is not that we have an Ebola outbreak in the United States.”
To put it into perspective, the U.S. death toll from influenza ranges from 4,000 to as many as 40,000 per year, Locke said.
“The death toll of Ebola in the United States is one,” he said.
Anyone traveling into the U.S. from Ebola-stricken nations is being monitored for symptoms for 21 days.
The virus is not contagious before early symptoms of fever, weakness and nausea and vomiting develop.
“It rapidly progresses, and the multiplication of the virus in your system is logarithmic,” Locke said.
“The level goes up to extraordinarily high levels.”
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula, held a Tuesday conference call with officials from OMC, Jefferson Healthcare, Forks Community Hospital and other regional hospitals on ongoing planning and preparations to handle any possible Ebola case.
Hospital officials reported they are providing training exercises on isolation techniques, screening patients and the proper use of personal protective equipment.
“Ebola is both a public health concern and an international security threat,” Kilmer said in a news release.
“In Washington state and across the country, it’s important we take the proper preventive measures to ensure the health of every American.”
Locke said the real danger from Ebola comes from people “taking care of people who are severely ill with Ebola and then disposal of human remains if a person should not survive.
“That’s where we see most of the transmission,” he said.
Although Ebola is “very controllable” in the U.S. and other developed nations, the mortality rate in West Africa is 50 percent to 70 percent, Locke said.
“But that’s in an area that has virtually no health care infrastructure,” he said.
“In western settings, especially with the kind of treatments and supportive services we have available, this is a very survivable infection.”
Health officials believe the international outbreak would “snuff itself out” if 70 percent of Ebola patients are treated in a hospital setting and 70 percent of the bodies of Ebola victims are properly disposed of, Locke said.
Beyond the lack of health care infrastructure, efforts to control the outbreak in West Africa are further impeded by dysfunctional and corrupt governments, Locke said.
“The only solution to this is a very aggressive international response to stop the outbreak,” he said.
“A world where there’s chronic Ebola is not something anyone wants to imagine.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
