Analyst's note: This general situation regarding Ebola in our U.S. based hospitals is far worse than even we had thought. You absolutely need to be aware of the emerging details without political correctness (which continues to kill). As a nation we are clearly unbelievably unprepared for Ebola on our shores. In the case of the Dallas hospital, they now need to be looking at all patients under their care since Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan from Liberia arrived in their facility. We now just learned that Second Dallas Ebola Patient Flew the Night Before Testing Positive.
"Federal health officials are tracking down 132 people who flew on a plane from Cleveland to Dallas with the second health care worker who tested positive for Ebola after she helped care for the first patient in the U.S. diagnosed with the disease."
Some doctors are questioning if the CDC put hospitals and other patients at risk? Mr. Obama's policies fail again. We also note that What Just Happened In Dallas Makes It The Epicenter Of Ebola In America.
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Dallas nurses cite sloppy conditions in Ebola care
By MATT SEDENSKY and MARTHA MENDOZA
DALLAS (AP) — A Liberian Ebola patient was left in an open area of a Dallas emergency room for hours, and the nurses treating him worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols, according to a statement released late Tuesday by the largest U.S. nurses' union.
Nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, said Deborah Burger of National Nurses United.
Burger convened a conference call with reporters to relay what she said were concerns of nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Thomas Eric Duncan — the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. — died last week.
Duncan died Oct. 8, and the hospital said Sunday that one of his nurses had tested positive for Ebola. She is hospitalized and was listed Tuesday in good condition. On Wednesday, Texas health officials announced that a preliminary test indicated a second, unidentified health care worker at the hospital had been infected with the disease.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses United, said the statement came from "several" and "a few" nurses, but she refused repeated inquiries to state how many. She said the organization had vetted the claims, and that the nurses cited were in a position to know what had occurred at the hospital. She refused to elaborate.
Among the nurses' allegations was that the Ebola patient's lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital's pneumatic tubes, opening the possibility of contaminating the specimen delivery system. The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
Wendell Watson, a Presbyterian spokesman, did not respond to specific claims by the nurses but said the hospital has not received similar complaints.
"Patient and employee safety is our greatest priority and we take compliance very seriously," he said in a statement. "We have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment, including mandatory annual training and a 24/7 hotline and other mechanisms that allow for anonymous reporting."
He said the hospital would "review and respond to any concerns raised by our nurses and all employees."
The nurses alleged that:
— Duncan was kept in a non-isolated area of the emergency department for several hours, potentially exposing up to seven other patients to Ebola;
— Patients who may have been exposed to Duncan were kept in isolation only for a day before being moved to areas where there were other patients;
— Nurses treating Duncan were also caring for other patients in the hospital;
— Preparation for Ebola at the hospital amounted to little more than an optional seminar for staff;
— In the face of constantly shifting guidelines, nurses were allowed to follow whichever ones they chose.
"There was no advance preparedness on what to do with the patient, there was no protocol, there was no system," Burger said.
Even today, Burger said, some hospital staff at the Dallas hospital do not have proper equipment to handle the outbreak.
"Hospital managers have assured nurses that proper equipment has been ordered but it has not arrived yet," she said.
The nurses' statement said they had to "interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever protective equipment was available," even as he produced "a lot of contagious fluids." Duncan's medical records, which his family shared with The Associated Press, underscore some of those concerns.
Almost 12 hours after he arrived in the emergency room by ambulance, his hospital chart says Duncan "continues to have explosive diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and projectile vomiting." He was feverish and in pain.
When Ebola was suspected but unconfirmed, a doctor wrote "using the disposable shoe covers should also be considered." At that point, by all protocols, those shoe covers should have been mandatory to prevent anyone from tracking contagious body fluids around the hospital.
A few days later, however, entries in the hospital charts suggest that protection was improving.
"RN entered room in Tyvek suits, triple gloves, triple boots, and respirator cap in place," wrote a nurse.
The Presbyterian nurses are not represented by Nurses United or any other union. DeMoro and Burger said the nurses claimed they had been warned by the hospital not to speak to the media or they would be fired. They did not specify whether the nurses making the claims were among Duncan's caregivers.
The AP has attempted since last week to contact dozens of individuals involved in Duncan's care. Those who responded to reporters' inquiries have so far been unwilling to speak.
David R. Wright, deputy regional administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which monitors patient safety and has the authority to withhold federal funding, said his agency is going to want to get all of the information the nurses provided.
"We can't talk about whether we're going to investigate or not, but we'd be interested in hearing that information," he said.
CDC officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Duncan first sought care at the hospital's ER late on Sept. 25 and was sent home the next morning. He was rushed by ambulance back to the hospital on Sept. 28. Unlike his first visit, mention of his recent arrival from Liberia immediately roused suspicion of an Ebola risk, records show.
The CDC said Tuesday 76 people at the hospital could have been exposed to Duncan after his second ER visit. Another 48 people are being monitored for possible exposure before he was hospitalized.
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Nurses Union: Duncan Not Put In Isolation, Waste Piled Nearly Up to Ceiling
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on further allegations made by a nurses union that Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was not put into isolation, allowed his blood to circulate through the hospital’s tube system, and that waste “piled up nearly to the ceiling” inside patient’s rooms on Tuesday’s “CNN Tonight.”
Gupta said that the National Nurses United stated that they were informed by nurses that “Mr. Duncan was not in isolation. He was not in isolation for several hours, despite the fact that a nursing supervisor asked that he go into isolation, and that he may have come in contact with seven patients at that time.”
The also claimed, “the blood, the laboratory blood that was taken from Mr. Duncan was sent through the hospital tube system…and the concern is that tube system could potentially become contaminated as a result of the fact that this blood with Ebola was circulating through it.”
According to Gupta, nurses “were told at least according, again, to this union to wrap medical tape around their neck, four to five times, they said wrap medical tape around their neck, to try to prevent any of that bodily fluid from touching their exposed skin.” And “also commented on the fact that waste, they didn't know what to do with the waste, and it would pile up nearly to the ceiling in some of these patients' rooms because they didn't know quite what to do with it.”
Gupta also reported that Wendell Watson, the Director of Public Relations for Texas Health Resources (which owns the hospital where Duncan was treated) issued a statement that “patient and employee safety is our greatest priority and we take compliance very seriously. We have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment, including mandatory annual training and a 24/7 hotline and other mechanisms that allow for anonymous reporting. We will continue to review and respond to any concerns raised by our nurses and all employees.”
Gupta opined that “it would be very irresponsible to suggest this was a hospital sort of protocol to tell nurses to wrap tape around their neck, to try to do this. I think probably this was somebody who said, ‘you know what? I don't know what to do. I'm not sure what the right answer is here, but we need to take care of this patient. So here is a solution.’ As outrageous a solution as it may be, that is one that at least some of these nurses say was offered up.”
He also pointed out that “despite all the preparations, these are the type of lapses that we're hearing about.”
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Texas Dept of State Health Services Confirms 2nd Person Tests Positive for Ebola
DALLAS (AP) — A second health care worker at a Dallas hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday.
The department said in the statement early Wednesday that was also posted on its website that the worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediate isolated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
Health officials said the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from a trip to Africa. Duncan died Oct. 8.
The department said a preliminary Ebola test was conducted late Tuesday at a state public health laboratory in Austin, Texas, and came back positive during the night. It said confirmatory testing would be conducted at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The statement said the health care worker, who wasn't identified, was interviewed to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures and that others will be monitored. It added that the type of monitoring will depend on the nature of others' interactions with the health care worker and their potential of exposure to the virus.
Officials have said they don't know how the first health worker, a nurse, became infected. But the second case pointed to lapses beyond how one individual may have donned and removed personal protective garb.
"An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient," the CDC said in a statement released Wendesday in Atlanta.
The federal agency said Wednesday that it was conducting the followup testing to confirm the preliminary Texas lab result. And it said it also took part in interviewing the second health care worker to identify any contacts or potential exposures in the community.
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the CDC, has acknowledged that the government wasn't aggressive enough in managing Ebola and containing the virus as it spread from an infected patient to a nurse at a Dallas hospital.
"We could've sent a more robust hospital infection control team and been more hands-on with the hospital from day one about exactly how this should be managed," he said Tuesday.
Frieden outlined new steps this week designed to stop the spread of the disease, including the creation of an Ebola response team, increased training for health care workers nationwide and changes at the Texas hospital to minimize the risk of more infections.
"I wish we had put a team like this on the ground the day the patient — the first patient — was diagnosed. That might have prevented this infection," Frieden said.
The stark admission came as the World Health Organization projected the pace of infections accelerating in West Africa to as many as 10,000 new cases a week within two months.
In a conference call late Tuesday, the nation's largest nurses' union described how the patient, Duncan, was left in an open area of the emergency room for hours. National Nurses United, citing unnamed nurses, said staff treated Duncan for days without the correct protective gear, that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling and safety protocols constantly changed.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses United, refused to say how many nurses made the statement about Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, but insisted they were in a position to know what happened.
A total of 76 people at the hospital might have been exposed to Duncan, and all of them are being monitored for fever and other symptoms daily, Frieden said. Nurse Nina Pham contracted the virus while caring for Duncan. Health officials are monitoring 48 others who had some contact with Duncan before he was admitted the hospital where he died. The Associated Press reported Monday that Pham was among about 70 hospital staffers who were involved in Duncan's care after he was hospitalized, based on medical records provided by his family.
Frieden said some of the world's leading experts on how to treat Ebola and protect health care workers are in the new response team. They will review several issues including how isolation rooms are laid out, what protective equipment health workers use, waste management and decontamination.
In Europe, the WHO said the death rate in the outbreak has risen to 70 percent as it has killed nearly 4,500 people, most of them in West Africa. The previous mortality rate was about 50 percent.
President Barack Obama, speaking at the end of a meeting with U.S. and allied military leaders, declared that the "the world is not doing enough" to fight Ebola.
Pham, 26, became the first person to contract the disease on U.S. soil as she cared for Duncan. The nurse released a statement Tuesday through Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital saying she was "doing well," and the hospital listed her in good condition. She has received a plasma transfusion from a doctor who beat the virus and the hospital CEO said medical staff members remain hopeful about her condition.
Pham was in Duncan's room often, from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died.
"I'm doing well and want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers," she said.
Pham's parents live in Fort Worth, where they are part of a close-knit, deeply religious community of Vietnamese Catholics. Members of their church held a special Mass for her Monday and her sorority sisters at the Texas Christian University held a candlelight vigil for her Tuesday.
Pham and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields — and sometimes full-body suits — when caring for Duncan. Health officials have said there was a breach in protocol that led to the infections, but they don't know where the breakdown occurred.
Among the changes announced Tuesday by Frieden was a plan to limit the number of health care workers who care for Ebola patients so they "can become more familiar and more systematic in how they put on and take off protective equipment, and they can become more comfortable in a healthy way with providing care in the isolation unit."
Frieden said he was fully aware of the fear among health care workers in Texas and elsewhere about the risks of contracting the virus.
"Ebola is unfamiliar. It's scary, and getting it right is really, really important because the stakes are so high," he said.
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Official: 2nd worker in isolation with 90 minutes
Associated Press Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione and AP reporters Martha Mendoza, Maud Beelman, Matt Sedensky and Alex Sanz in Dallas contributed to this report.
DALLAS (AP) — A second health care worker at a Dallas hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday.
The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was monitoring herself for symptoms of Ebola, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. The unidentified woman reported a fever Tuesday. She was in isolation within 90 minutes, Jenkins said.
Health officials said the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who was diagnosed with Ebola after coming to the U.S. from Liberia. Duncan died Oct. 8.
The department said a preliminary Ebola test was conducted late Tuesday at a state public health laboratory in Austin, Texas, and came back positive during the night. Confirmatory testing was being conducted at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Officials said the health care worker was interviewed to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures. It said others who had interactions with the worker or possible exposure to the virus will be monitored.
It's not clear how the second health care worker contracted the virus, and authorities declined to say what position she holds at the hospital or the type of care she provided.
Officials have said they don't know how the first health worker, a nurse, became infected. But the second case pointed to lapses beyond how one individual may have donned and removed personal protective garb.
"An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient," the CDC said in a statement.
"What happened there (in Dallas), regardless of the reason, is not acceptable. It shouldn't have happened," Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of NIH, said on MSNBC on Wednesday.
Fauci said he envisioned the CDC taking "a much more involved role" in establishing the proper training protocols for Ebola cases.
The CDC said its experts had taken part in interviewing the second health care worker to identify any contacts or potential exposures in the community.
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the CDC, has acknowledged that the government wasn't aggressive enough in managing Ebola and containing the virus as it spread from an infected patient to a nurse at a Dallas hospital.
"We could've sent a more robust hospital infection control team and been more hands-on with the hospital from day one about exactly how this should be managed," he said Tuesday.
Frieden outlined new steps this week designed to stop the spread of the disease, including the creation of an Ebola response team, increased training for health care workers nationwide and changes at the Texas hospital to minimize the risk of more infections.
"I wish we had put a team like this on the ground the day the patient — the first patient — was diagnosed. That might have prevented this infection," Frieden said.
The stark admission came as the World Health Organization projected the pace of infections accelerating in West Africa to as many as 10,000 new cases a week within two months.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, appearing Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, sidestepped questions about whether she had complete confidence in the Texas hospital where the health care workers have been diagnosed with Ebola or whether they should be transferred to one of four specialized hospitals. "We will keep all options and considerations right now," she said.
In a conference call late Tuesday, the nation's largest nurses' union described how the patient, Duncan, was left in an open area of the emergency room for hours. National Nurses United, citing unidentified nurses, said staff treated Duncan for days without the correct protective gear, that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling and safety protocols constantly changed.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses United, refused to say how many nurses made the statement about Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, but insisted they were in a position to know what happened.
A total of 76 people at the hospital might have been exposed to Duncan, and all are being monitored for fever and other symptoms daily, Frieden said. Nurse Nina Pham contracted the virus while caring for Duncan. Health officials are monitoring 48 others who had some contact with Duncan before he was admitted the hospital where he died.
Frieden said some of the world's leading experts on how to treat Ebola and protect health care workers are in the new response team. They will review issues including how isolation rooms are laid out, what protective equipment health workers use, waste management and decontamination.
In Europe, the WHO said the death rate in the outbreak has risen to 70 percent as it has killed nearly 4,500 people, most of them in West Africa. The previous mortality rate was about 50 percent.
Pham, 26, became the first person to contract the disease on U.S. soil as she cared for Duncan. She released a statement Tuesday through Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital saying she was "doing well," and the hospital listed her in good condition. She has received a plasma transfusion from a doctor who recovered from the virus, and the hospital CEO said medical staff members remain hopeful about her condition.
Pham was in Duncan's room often, from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died.
She and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields — and sometimes full-body suits — when caring for Duncan. Health officials have said there was a breach in protocol that led to the infections, but they don't know where the breakdown occurred.
Among the changes announced Tuesday by Frieden was a plan to limit the number of health care workers who care for Ebola patients so they "can become more familiar and more systematic in how they put on and take off protective equipment, and they can become more comfortable in a healthy way with providing care in the isolation unit."
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Medical Research Org CIDRAP: Ebola Transmittable by Air
The highly respected Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota just advised the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles,” including exhaled breath.
CIDRAP is warning that surgical facemasks do not prevent transmission of Ebola, and healthcare professionals (HCP) must immediately be outfitted with full-hooded protective gear and powered air-purifying respirators.
CIDRAP since 2001 has been a global leader in addressing public health preparedness regarding emerging infectious diseases and bio-security responses. CIDRAP’s opinion on Ebola virus is there are “No proven pre- or post-exposure treatment modalities;” “A high case-fatality rate;” and “Unclear modes of transmission.”
In April of 2014, CIDRAP published a commentary on Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) that confirmed the disease “could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, especially in healthcare settings,” similar to the known aerosol transmission capability of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Although CIDRAP acknowledges that they were “first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease,” they are “now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings.”
CDC’s published “Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals” states: “HCP should wear gloves, a gown, disposable shoe covers, and either a face shield that fully covers the front and sides of the face or goggles, and respiratory protection that is at least as protective as a NIOSH certified fit-tested N95 filtering facepiece respirator.”
N95 filters look like surgical masks and are defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as “disposable respirator” with a workplace protection factor (WPF) of 10. A 3M “qualified” N95 respirators rated to block 95% of airborne particles with a size greater in diameter than 5 microns is can cost as little as $.65 each.
However, the US National Institutes of Health reported in 2005 that 50% of bio-aerosols were found to be less than 5 microns in diameter. The NIH calculated that after correcting for dead space and lung deposition, “N95 filtering facepiece respirators seem inadequate against microorganisms.”
CIDRAP warns in regards to N95 respirators, “Healthcare workers have experienced very high rates of morbidity and mortality in the past and current Ebola virus outbreaks. A facemask, or surgical mask, offers no or very minimal protection from infectious aerosol particles.”
CIDRAP is now advising the CDC and WHO that proper “personal protective equipment (PPE) ensures that healthcare workers remain healthy throughout an outbreak.” Based on scientific research, CIDRAP recommends the minimum protection for healthcare professionals in high-risk settings is a “powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) with a hood or helmet” that will filter 99.97% of all particles down to 0.3 microns in diameter.
But the minimum Internet-advertised price for a “qualified” 3M Veraflo respirator is $427.13, compared to about $.65 for an N95 facemask. With Liberia’s per capita GDP only $454 last year and the economy in shambles, there is no way the country’s healthcare professionals can afford to acquire the appropriate protective respirators.
Based on CIDRAP's research and the fact that Ebola cases are projected to skyrocket, it seems irresponsible that the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets are downplaying the risks of Ebola transmission.
Less than two weeks ago, the NYT's “Well” column responded to a reader's question: “Can I get Ebola from public transportation?” with “Implying that Ebola is caught as easily as flu or colds would be untrue and inflammatory.” The “Well” column, again on October 13th, responded to another question: “I’m flying soon. What is the risk of contracting Ebola on a flight?” with “Top Ebola experts have said they would not expect to be infected even if they were sitting next to another passenger with Ebola – unless that passenger actually vomited or bled on them.”
As I pointed out last week at Breitbart News, the Black Death that killed a third of all people in Europe and the Middle East in the three years from 1337 to 1340 appears to have been a “hemorrhagic fever” similar to Ebola. CIDRAP’s warning that Ebola can be spread by “infectious aerosol particles,” such as breathing, means the pandemic should be expected to continue to accelerate.
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US Ebola fears fuel new demand for protective gear
FoxNews & Reuters
Since the first U.S. Ebola diagnosis in Dallas last month, demand for hazardous materials suits and face masks has surged, creating a boon for companies that manufacture and sell the protective equipment amid heightened fears the deadly outbreak will spread.
The companies range from well-established medical supply manufacturers to little-known businesses that produce hazmat suits used in West Africa and now U.S. hospitals.
According to company executives interviewed by Reuters, much of the demand has come from governmental and international agencies since the outbreak began in March.
After Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, and later died, U.S. hospitals rapidly increased orders for protective equipment. A nurse's aide in Spain also became infected after caring for a patient there.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that three million protective suits will be needed to control the Ebola outbreak worldwide, to ensure healthcare workers and others do not come into contact with infectious bodily fluids such as blood or sweat.
The virus so far has killed more than 4,400 people, nearly all in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Without additional intervention or changes in community behavior, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there could be up to 1.4 million Ebola cases in West Africa by January 2015.
DuPont, a producer of protective suits being used in both West Africa and the United States, said it has more than tripled its production since the start of the outbreak in March.
Kimberly-Clark, which makes protective disposable medical equipment for healthcare workers, said it has seen a 20 to 30 percent rise in demand compared with the same time period last year. And Medline, a manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, has reported a more than 40 percent increase in sales of face masks, eyewear and shields and a more than 25 percent rise in protective apparel sales in the past 30 days.
"Once the first case (in the United States) was diagnosed, we saw an increase in calls" with more than 150 new inquiries a day, said Stephanie Pasko Nelson, vice president of marketing for Medline's preventive care division.
Duncan died last week at a Dallas hospital. A nurse caring for him became infected with the virus, and local health officials are investigating how she was exposed while wearing recommended protective gear.[ID:nL2N0S914M]
Ebola has "definitely increased awareness, attention and inquiries coming through" more than previous pandemics, such as SARS and H1N1 swine flu, Pasko Nelson said.
Expectations of greater demand for their products have pushed stocks in hazmat suit producer Lakeland Industries and protective face mask company Alpha Pro Tech more than 120 percent higher last week. Both companies declined to comment.
DuPont, the largest of the companies affected, saw its stock jump more than 10 percent from mid-September to Sept. 30 as it multiplied its production due to a more robust international response to the crisis and the U.S. diagnosis. Kimberly Clark's shares rose 1 percent from Sept. 30 to Oct. 10.
'WE'RE PREPARED'
When Duncan first arrived at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with Ebola-like symptoms, he told health workers he had recently traveled from Liberia. But it took the hospital two days to admit him and diagnose him with Ebola, by which point his condition had deteriorated considerably.
Health authorities are monitoring more than 100 people who had direct or indirect contact with Duncan for signs of illness. Nurse Nina Pham's contraction of the disease has contributed to the spike in protective gear requests.
"We simply are reacting and following things as they happen," said Judson Boothe, Kimberly-Clark's senior global manufacturing director for surgical and infection prevention. "We have reactions in place when we see demand starting to build."
Kimberly-Clark and its peers already had plans to increase production capacity ahead of the flu season, including stocking up on materials and hiring more employees.
They also have collaborated with health organizations aiding in the international response to help meet the uptick in demand.
DuPont has been working with the WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières, the leading organization fighting the worst Ebola outbreak on record, to provide enough personal protective equipment.
Though it has seen a steady rise in demand since the start of the outbreak in March, DuPont said it has seen a "significant increase" as the disease spread to the United States and Europe.
"We anticipate awareness to continue," Pasko Nelson said. "We're prepared."
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Other related medical news
