A nurse who cared for the Ebola patient who died here last week tested positive for the disease, heightening concerns about the nation’s preparedness and protocols for containing its spread.
The nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was isolated Friday night after reporting a low-grade fever, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Tests Saturday night and Sunday confirmed she had Ebola.
The woman initially was considered to be at low risk. She was wearing protective gear while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian patient who died Wednesday after 10 days in the hospital.
SEE: 6 Signs That You Have An Autoimmune Disease
CDC Director Tom Frieden called the infection a result of a “breach in protocol” at the hospital and said more cases may emerge. “Unfortunately, it is possible in the coming days that we will see additional cases of Ebola,” Dr. Frieden said in a news conference. “This is because the health-care workers who cared for this individual may have had a breach of the same nature.”
How To Protect Yourself From Ebola
1. Wash Your Hands…Frequently
The one defense you have against accidental sneeze contact: frequent hand-washing. This primer will help you brush up on how to do it right, so you can lower your risk of exposure to this and other viruses. Follow these tips from Arbogast:
—Place both hands under running water (the temperature doesn’t matter), and then coat them with liquid soap. One pump of the dispenser should be enough.
—For about 20 seconds (roughly the time it takes to sing the alphabet), create a lather that coats both hands, especially fingernails and fingertips. “This is the part of the hand where the most touching and germ transferring takes place,” says Arbogast.
—Rinse off the suds completely, and then dry your hands thoroughly. There’s some evidence that wet hands are more likely to transfer or pick up germs than dry ones.
2. Consume immune strengthening foods, herbs, and nutrients
Consider those things that help solidify a strong immune system, such as:
3. Ditch foods and behaviors that suppress the immune system
Another very important factor to unleash your immune system is to stop consuming foods and engaging in behaviors that depress it. The biggest culprits in immune suppression are:
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