Cleaning With Ebola

Hazardous material crews prepare Oct. 3, 2014, to hang black plastic outside The Ivy Apartments in Dallas where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed when he began showing Ebola symptoms.

Bill for cleanup of Ebola-tainted apartment: over $100K (Kennedale, Texas): Hazardous cleanup companies get a lot of odd requests, but nothing prepared the crew at CG Environmental for this past week. A 15-person team spent the weekend decontaminating the Dallas apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, had stayed since coming Sept. 20 to the United States from Liberia. Duncan was hospitalized Sept. 28 but started showing Ebola symptoms four days earlier; he died Wednesday. "We were the first in, and we really had no clue what we were getting into," employee Dan Lee said.

The team went through two phases of decontamination, eventually removing enough material to fill 140 drums of what is now considered hazardous material. "We removed those (the family's mattresses) and started cutting those up, then moved to the bathroom and the closet and got everything touched by him," Lee said. "The lighting was poor in that house, to say the least, and it was definitely eerie."

They were instructed to strip the place bare, removing carpeting and window blinds. The drums of waste are expected to be incinerated this week. The potential what-ifs of treating such a sensitive space weren't lost on some of the crew. "I've got a wife, two kids," Garrett Eison said. "You hear 'Ebola.' You think Africa and deaths. It's like the plague. You try to stay away from it."

But Eison said most of the workers felt compelled to step in and help — with the proper safety equipment — because so few companies are equipped to handle such jobs. The company also does crime-scene cleanup, industrial cleaning and hazardous-waste removal. "Now that we've done one it should get easier, but we need to be cautious," Eison said.

Bleach, soap, sunlight or high temperatures will kill the Ebola virus, according to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Machine-washing clothes or bedding contaminated with Ebola will destroy the virus, and it survives only a short time on solid surfaces that are in the sun or have dried.

A sign on the door of the Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed with family warns that the unit remains quarantined.

The company was busy Wednesday night cleaning an isolation room at Texas Presbyterian Hospital Dallas where Duncan was treated before his death, according to Vice President Brand Smith. "We've been contacted by the hospital, and we've been contacted by several entities throughout the U.S. just for protocols — 'What do we do? How do we handle this?' " said CG Environmental's owner, Erick McCallum.

Workers won't be needed at an urgent-care clinic in Frisco, Texas, where Sgt. Michael Monnig, a Dallas County sheriff's deputy who accompanied health department officials to Duncan's apartment, showed up Wednesday saying he had Ebola symptoms. Test results returned Thursday show Monnig doesn't have the virus.

The high-profile jobs bring in big money for the company. The apartment cleanup alone is expected cost more than $100,000 although negotiations on a final figure are not finished. The state of Texas has said it will pick up most if not all of the expenses for the Dallas apartment decontamination.

The vaccine agenda - also read here.

Ebola Virus Infection: Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding. The disease, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever or Ebola virus, kills up to 90% of people who are infected.
 
Could There Be an Outbreak in the U.K.? 
With an Ebola case being diagnosed in Dallas, Texas and up to 100 persons likely to have been in contact, the threat of an outbreak elsewhere is not to be underestimated. Previously serious Ebola cases have only shown up in Central and West Africa but this is fresh evidence that Ebola can spread from country to country when people travel. So it is possible for it to reach the U.K. if an infected person travels here. Airline crews are trained to spot the symptoms of Ebola in passengers flying from places where the virus is found and crews are told to quarantine anyone who looks infected.
 
How Do You Get Ebola? 
Ebola isn’t as contagious as more common viruses like colds, influenza, or measles. It spreads to people by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, like a monkey, chimp, or fruit bat. Then it moves from person to person the same way. Those who care for a sick person or bury someone who has died from the disease often get it. Other ways to get Ebola include touching contaminated needles or surfaces. You can’t get Ebola from air, water, or food. A person who has Ebola but has no symptoms can’t spread the disease, either.
 
What Are the Symptoms of Ebola? 
Early on, Ebola can feel like the flu or other illnesses. Symptoms show up 2 to 21 days after infection and usually include:

•  High fever
•  Headache
•  Joint and muscle aches
•  Sore throat
•  Weakness
•  Stomach pain
•  Lack of appetite

As the disease gets worse, it causes bleeding inside the body, as well as from the eyes, ears, and nose. Some people will vomit or cough up blood, have bloody diarrhoea, and get a rash.
 
How Is Ebola Diagnosed?
Sometimes it's hard to tell if a person has Ebola from the symptoms alone. Doctors may test to rule out other diseases like cholera or malaria. Tests of blood and tissues also can diagnose Ebola. If you have Ebola, you’ll be isolated from the public immediately to prevent the spread.
 
What Preventative Action Should I Take?
Common sense precautions such as mantaining good hygiene and cleanliness is important and travel to areas that are known to be affected is not advised. As always prevention is better than cure and certainly in this case as a cure is not yet guarenteed. Surface disinfection and hand sanitising with suitable accredited products is strongly advised.

Double Escape For Window Cleaner & Son

“It all began when Sean found a lump on his chin,” says full-time mum Loretta. “I hadn’t even noticed it. But working as a window cleaner Sean has regular customers and a couple of them had asked him about it.”

Happy families again after two cancer battles: Sutton Coldfield mum Loretta Haughey thought her life was falling apart when both her partner Sean and young son Ryan were diagnosed with cancer just four weeks apart. “It all began when Sean found a lump on his chin,” says full-time mum Loretta.

“I hadn’t even noticed it. But working as a window cleaner Sean has regular customers and a couple of them had asked him about it.” Loretta’s partner Sean Connolly, 46, visited his GP surgery but was told by a locum-doctor that the lump was nothing to be concerned about. However, one of Sean’s customers, a radiographer, told him that she was concerned that the lump was suspicious and pressed him to look into it further.

Just a couple of weeks later Sean and Loretta, 32, were told that the swelling was in fact a symptom of non-Hodkins lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. The couple, whose son was just 22 months old at the time, were in a state of shock, but were relieved to find that they had caught the cancer early. “Around the time that Sean was having tests at hospital, Ryan had also become poorly,” explains Loretta. “He had a temperature, was pale and had a lump on his tummy. It bothered me.”

Worried, Loretta and Sean, who have been together for 14 years, then took toddler Ryan to the GP surgery where Ryan was examined by another locum-doctor. The doctor told me that the tummy lump was a hernia and nothing suspicious,” says Loretta. “But a couple of weeks later we decided we wanted a second opinion as his temperature had still not subsided.” At that time Ryan’s temperature was over 40 degrees and he was taken into the children’s ward at Good Hope Hospital, after the family visited the out-of-hours Badger Clinic.

After being kept in overnight, Ryan was given an ultrasound scan which revealed a mass on his kidney. “The consultant told us there was a tumour on his kidney, but didn’t say the word cancer at that time. “Our world just fell apart. “We had gone to the hospital thinking he might have a virus and now we were getting transferred to the oncology ward at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

Ryan had a biopsy which confirmed that he had a Wilms tumour, a type of cancer of the kidney. The little boy would need pre-operative chemotherapy in an attempt to shrink the tumour and harden the tumour to facilitate surgery. But the chemotherapy would make the tiny tot feel very poorly and Loretta and Sean could only sit by his bedside, as he would feel too ill to move around the ward.

“At the time we felt utterly devastated,” says Loretta. “I felt angry that this could happen not only to my partner but our beautiful, innocent baby boy. “I remember coming home from hospital the day after we had been dealt this devastating news about Ryan. I went to his room to pack some clothes and I looked in his cot and burst into tears. “I was terrified my baby had been handed a death sentence and remember thinking he may never sleep in his little cot again.”

Meanwhile, Sean began 12 sessions of radiotherapy treatment at Little Aston Hospital. Fortunately, he was able to arrange his appointments in order to be at Ryan’s bedside as much as possible. “People would ask me how I was coping and I honestly don’t know,” admits Loretta. “You get given dates and appointments and you just focus on the next date that you are given.” On July 19, Ryan was then ready for surgery to remove the tumour, as well as his left kidney. It was after the operation that his parents were told the cancer was at stage three, meaning that the tumour had spread beyond the kidney, and Ryan would require a further 26 sessions of chemotherapy.

Finally, in May 2012, Ryan finished his treatment, and since then his regular scans have been coming back clear. Sean has also been given the all-clear. “We survived the whole thing in a blur,” says Loretta. “We would take each day as it came and focused on keeping our gorgeous boy well and as happy as possible.”

Now Loretta admits that the family have a new perspective on life, and are trying to raise as much money as possible for the new cancer unit appeal at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, which aims to raise £4 million to update the cancer unit facilities at the hospital. “We have learned to appreciate life and our family time together,” says Loretta.

Now the family are working hard to raise money for the cancer unit appeal, with Loretta and some of her close family raising £4,500 by running the Birmingham Half Marathon last year. “We are eternally grateful for what they have done for us,” says Loretta. “This is why we feel it is so important to raise money towards the cancer centre appeal so that the oncology ward and day clinic can be revamped so it is modernised, brightened and made more comfortable for the many children and families who will be given the devastating diagnosis of childhood cancer.”

Non Hodgkin lymphoma

The most common symptom of non Hodgkin lymphoma is one or more painless swellings in the neck, armpit, groin. Each swelling is an enlarged lymph node. If you have a swollen lymph node that does not go away after six weeks, you should see your GP. You may have other general symptoms such as:

* Heavy sweating at night

* Temperatures that come and go with no obvious cause

* Losing a lot of weight (more than one tenth of your total weight)

* Some people may also have unexplained itching.