Are the military's Ebola precautions excessive?

AirForce Times — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:31:13 -0500

From: Air Force Times

An Air Force major who got sick on a flight back from West Africa suffered from food poisoning, not Ebola, according to the Air Force.

The major was being monitored at Fort Bliss, Texas, because he became ill while returning to the U.S. with about 70 other service members, Stars and Stripes first reported Wednesday. He did not have a fever and he had not interacted with Ebola-infected locals.

He has since joined the rest of his comrades in the mandatory 21-day "controlled monitoring regiment" that U.S. service members go through upon returning from West Africa, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

The episode shows the abundance of caution that both the Defense Department and individual service members are taking to prevent the spread of Ebola. When an active-duty Marine realized he had been on an Oct. 13 commercial flight with a nurse who was infected with Ebola, he quarantined himself for three weeks.

The Marine returned to his job at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth on Nov. 5 after showing no signs of Ebola, said Capt. Cheryl Dengler, a spokeswoman for Marine Forces Reserve New Orleans.

All U.S. troops returning from West Africa are required to spend 21 days in quarantine to make sure they do not bring Ebola back to the U.S. or their military bases overseas. Meanwhile, the White House has opposed efforts by states such as New York and New Jersey to quarantine civilians returning from West Africa.

At an Oct. 28 news briefing, White House spokesman Joshua Earnest explained that troops and civilians operate under different sets of rules.

"So to take a more pedestrian example than the medical one that we're talking about, there might be some members of the military who think that the haircut that's required may not be their best, but that's a haircut that they get every couple of weeks because it is in the best interest of their unit and it maintains unit cohesion, and that is a policy of the military, and that obviously is a situation in which application of military policy is not — or is necessarily different than the application of the policy in a civilian context," Earnest said.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has said that the decision to quarantine U.S. troops returning from West Africa was based on science, but he did not say what specific data the service chiefs considered.

"Physics is the science we factored in," Dempsey said at an Oct. 30 news briefing at the Pentagon. "You know, when we do — you know, this is not about small groups of people who are transient. There's protocols for that. It's also not about health care professionals in direct contact with Ebola. There's protocols for that."

But Dr. Daniel Bausch, who has spent years researching Ebola, said he wants to know what physics Dempsey is referring to because the chances of troops infecting other people while Ebola is in its incubation period are "extremely low."

"The data we have is very clear that there has never been any evidence of this virus being transmitted from a person who is in incubation period," said Bausch, an associate professor at Tulane University's department of tropical medicine.

When an Ebola patient begins to vomit, suffer from diarrhea or bleed, they have enough of the virus in their systems to infect other people, he said.

"A person who is in the incubation period and is not sick has very, very little virus — so little in fact that we can't even pick it up on a blood test," Bausch said.

Civilian doctors who treat patients with Ebola undergo a self-monitoring period in which they go to the hospital if they start showing symptoms of the disease, such as a doctor in New York who returned from West Africa after working with Doctors Without Borders, Bausch said.

"That's exactly how the system is designed to work," he said. "It's evidence-based and in fact in that case, it did work. I see no reason why it wouldn't work with the military. Frankly, your ability to monitor those people daily after their potential exposure in the field should be even better than the civilian populations."

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/11/21/ebola-precautions-pentagon/19338583/

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Nov 21 at 2014 1:32 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:32:31 -0500

I would owe it to my fellow Americans to abide by a 21 day quarantine. Forget my individual rights. I am more concerned for those around me.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Nov 21 at 2014 2:05 PM

1SG Steven Stankovich — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:05:04 -0500

Excessive? Absolutely not. Redundant planning? Probably. That is what we do. We institute "fail-safes" at many echelons to ensure mission success.

Turn the discussion around to something like this: "Army cut corners on Ebola precautions, hundreds infected."

No one wants to be a part of that. We can not be safe enough when it comes to this enemy. What some may call overkill, I call mandated, and if our Army says we're doing it, then we're doing it. Be safe and drive on.

At least those in quarantine aren't required to be in a reflective belt...or are they... ;)

Response by SFC Vernon McNabb made Nov 21 at 2014 2:08 PM

SFC Vernon McNabb — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:08:34 -0500

Our clinic here at Rucker closed off certain entrances, and only allowed people to come through the main entrance. When I asked about this, the reply was, "We are trying to reduce the chances of ebola spreading". I'll pause here while everyone finishes laughing....So, I proceded to ask, "Does Ebola not know how to enter from the main entrance?"

Response by 1LT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2014 2:56 PM

1LT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:56:43 -0500

The entire country's response to Ebola is excessive. The media's coverage of it was absurd sensationalism. I live in Dallas (ground zero for the Ebola/zombie/alien apocalypse), and most sensible people I know didn't give it a second thought. Ebola has been around for decades...if it was the aggressive, extremely contagious virus that the media made it out to be, we'd have been dead for 30 years. Except me, since I'm not even thirty.

Response by Maj Chris Nelson made Nov 21 at 2014 4:09 PM

Maj Chris Nelson — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:09:03 -0500

Excessive? YES. Required? NO. Prudent? I think so.

For organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, they come back as 1 or 2 people, they should follow CDC guidelines and take temp at least 2x per day, notifiy if temp exceedes 100.4*F, and I would recommend, while no true full up quarentine, maybe not going out into huge public places such as Black Friday shopping, public transportation, etc until 21 days has expired. They also have different "protections" available to them such as the Constitution that protects them from unreasonable confinement etc. If they are not symptomatic, they are not contageous... end of story (or should be).

The military is a different creature.

We have the actual MEANS to enforce a quarentine (legal orders to be followed). We do not generally come back in 1-2 people, we come back as a group of 10 to 100. They could then move out into the community with less control of a group that size. The community would know that people came back and that could raise alarm within the community....just remember the alarm raised due to 1 nurse in Maine...think about 100 troops all returning at once!! Quarentine returning military members for 21 days prior to releasing back into the community would be a solid public assurance measure.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2014 7:19 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 19:19:42 -0500

I don't see it as excessive. We quickly found out that the CDC was behind the power curve in their guidance on how hospitals should deal with suspected or known cases of ebola. I believe it is a very prudent step considering how rapidly this disease can spread and the impact it can have. We are moving large numbers of military personnel at a given time in and out of country - not just small teams of doctors. The vast majority of our people on the ground are not subject matter experts on ebola and may inadvertently dismiss a symptom or attempt to self medicate what they believe is food poisoning only to find out it is something else.

I have little faith in the "experts" when they dismiss DoD's very prudent and thought out response. It is a shame we weren't forward thinking back in the 80's when AIDS hit our shores. If we can keep the epidemic contained in Africa and not spreading through the rest of the world then we have been successful.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2014 8:05 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:05:48 -0500

I think it is excessive only if we could rely on gung-ho mf's to actually be honest when they have a fever and start puking and sh!tt!ng themselves out. However, there waaaaaaayyy too many doctors that have shown they "know better than everyone else in the world" and set some stupid examples all because they're trying to prove a point. Don't get me wrong - I'm comfortable with the knowlege provided regarding incubation, etc. What I don't have confidence in is the people who start showing signs will do the right thing and call the medics and inform them they are inbound to the emergency room/clinic and provide enough information so the medical team can be properly ready for their arrival.

I've seen guys with a 105 fever, sweating, puking, diarrhea, etc. refuse to go to medical and still try to show up for work all because they're 'gung-ho'. One Navy chief actually starting a physical confrontation with a junior PO3 because the PO3 insisted the guy was sick and didn't want anything to do with him. These are the stupid types of people that will cause the problems..... There's entirely too dang much testosterone going on in the military - just look at the idiot supervisors, offiers, NCO's, etc. that NEED to see medical etc., for PTS but won't because either their immediate COC is telling the to "suck it up" or thinks they're malingering. All because what? We don't believe PTS exists? We all know it does. We've seen it for real - some of us experience it - yet the hotel sierra continues that we don't get our people the help they need.

So...yeah....it's excessive - but in view of the military's continued reluctance to properly deal with PTS, IMO the military as a whole ain't smart enough to do what's right ICO Ebola exposure on our own. We NEED that mandatory order to quarantine.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2014 10:52 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:52:05 -0500

It may be easy to arm-chair quarterback and second guess the safety measures taken to protect everyone. However, how would you feel if it was you or your loved one who became exposed and contracted the virus as a result of someone not following protocol?

Response by PFC Stephen Eric Serati made Nov 22 at 2014 1:11 PM

PFC Stephen Eric Serati — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 13:11:22 -0500

No.The average soldier is not trained to self monitor.