PA is Ebola survivor

[EMEDPA]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/an-ebola-patient-treated-in-the-us-chose-to-remain-anonymous-now-hes-telling-his-story/ar-BBYoHHN

[rev ronin]

Worth reading.  PAs need to know PTSD, because it's happening in our patients, if not ourselves, and we have a chance to see it and call it what it is.

[deltawave]

Interesting read.

[medic25]

We had a physician from Liberia present grand rounds for us a couple of years ago who shared his story of surviving Ebola. He credited the PA who cared for him as the one who saved him; Liberia has a large number of PAs in their health system, and several died during the last large outbreak.


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[True Anomaly]

Fascinating

Something else I learned reading this, if I’m reading this correctly- unlike the three most famously-known survivors of Ebola (the initial physician from Fort Worth who got sick, as well as the two nurses from Presbyterian hospital in Dallas), it doesn’t sound like the PA got the experimental treatment- just aggressive supportive care.  So if Ebola victims receive this, maybe they have more than a puncher’s chance of survival?  Or maybe he did get the experimental drug and the article doesn’t mention it

[medic25]

The article did mention he was enrolled in the ZMapp trial, but was randomized to the control arm so didn't receive the medication.

[jds994]

On 12/30/2019 at 10:10 AM, True Anomaly said:

Fascinating

Something else I learned reading this, if I’m reading this correctly- unlike the three most famously-known survivors of Ebola (the initial physician from Fort Worth who got sick, as well as the two nurses from Presbyterian hospital in Dallas), it doesn’t sound like the PA got the experimental treatment- just aggressive supportive care.  So if Ebola victims receive this, maybe they have more than a puncher’s chance of survival?  Or maybe he did get the experimental drug and the article doesn’t mention it

He was not given ZMapp. My understanding is that if brought on supportive care soon enough, that survival is improved but still not odds I would bet on. At the beginning of the last large outbreak, the WHO assisted with a study that showed a 43% death rate, albeit much better than the usual rate of 90% mortality.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411249?query=featured_home

The WHO also put out guidelines on clinical management. The largest issue here would be that alot of clinical centers or treatment facilities in West Africa couldnt meet these standards, some no where near it. 

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/325000/9789241515894-eng.pdf?sequence=1

So yea, I guess you get a "puncher's" chance. But remember that this patient was flown out of the region on a medevac to the NIH where he essentially had round the clock care and absolutely everything at the doctors disposal. This type of care is not available in West Africa. At least not immediately/until the greater medical community can come help. I do know that with the most recent outbreak they had more survivors than ever before. Was that due to the WHO guidelines? Or was it because they had more patients than ever before? Im not sure.