# Ebola Case Zero and the most important prevention



## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/health/ebola-patient-zero/index.html

I have been wondering for the past couple of days how the 2 year old contracted the Ebola virus and started this whole disaster. It makes perfect sense to me now. As this article explains, there is documented transmission to humans from primates and other animals, including fruit bats which are believed to be the host vector.

Fruit bats fly through the forest at night, eating fruit and dispersing seeds through feces which is expelled during flight. They don't pile up guano in caves as do insectivorous bats. This habit of defecating in flight makes fruit bats excellent agents of reforestation, but...... I will bet my bottom dollar, the toddler came into contact with Ebola via expelled bat feces. Toddlers patrol the lower regions of the natural environment and they put everything into their mouths.

OK - now for the most important prevention measure for any type of infection: WASH YOUR HANDS. I have emphasized this before, and provided info on making a tippy tap, which allows for hand washing without reinfection. I also talked about maintaining one small, clean area in camp where food is prepared and where a surface can be disinfected. (See the post on hygiene tips.) You may write this off as being over simplified, but it is not.

MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WASH HANDS WITHOUT IMMEDIATELY REINFECTING THEMSELVES. I've taught hand hygiene to thousands of hospital employees, including doctors and surgeons, and most do not do it properly.

STEPS TO WASHING YOUR HANDS:
1) Turn on water. (Your hands are dirty and the tap is dirty.)
2) Scrub with soap and water for at least 15 seconds. This means vigorous friction between the fingers, around the thumbs, over the back of the hands and the palms. All surfaces are scrubbed.
3) Rinse with water.
4) Dry your hands with a paper towel. (Make sure you pulled the dirty lever to release paper towel BEFORE washing so that you don't have to touch a dirty handle or lever with clean hands.)
5) Turn off the tap with a DRY towel. A wet towel wicks pathogens right back onto your hands.

Even after being instructed, many many people will have to practice this. The instinct is to grab the dirty tap with a clean hand to turn off the water. Even doctors do this. I've had people rewash their hands 3 or 4 times until they get it right.

No towels? Air dry by swinging hands. With a tippy tap, you can do this with very little water and still have clean hands.

Liquid soap from a dispenser is better than bar soap, but good friction and rubbing is the biggest factor.

This single habit (and a clean food prep area) can help prevent infection of all sorts (whether viral or bacterial) and can save your life. I've been there and done it. I've lived in completely contaminated environments where people around me were sick or literally dying from dysentery. I cared for the patients, yet my family stayed safe and healthy with stringent hand hygiene, clean food prep, and scrupulous water treatment (boiling and straining swamp water).

As far as Ebola goes, yes, there is the possibility of contracting it via inhaled droplets. But by far the greatest risk is from direct contact. If there is an outbreak near you, who has the best chance of survival - someone who habitually washes their hands properly many times throughout the day, or someone who has perpetually contaminated hands and who _continually touches their face, eyes, food? _

In a previous post, someone asked the nurses here what preventative measures one could take. I maintain that hand hygiene is # 1. All the guns, ammo, bunkers, and buckets of wheat don't matter if you are dead in a week from disease.


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## Dalarast (May 16, 2014)

RNprepper - You hit on my biggest thing and fear.. washing hand. It could be ebola or just the flu. In the military its something that is taught and drilled into soldiers heads about washing hands before chow and after the rest room and if you come in contact with something or someone "dirty". Yes when out patrolling or in the field its not like we have great sanitation out there; but we have access to anti-bacterial soaps, baby wipes, etc. Biggest thing is you KNOW where your hand has been... when you start touching other items.. door handles, windows, napkin holder... whatever.. you are now dealing with the unknown of where others people hands have been.

This is even bigger for others with children. Teaching your children how to wash their hands is huge and can go a long way to prevent the flu or superpox-99-ebola-with-sharp-teeth from getting into your house. 

Wash your hands ya dirty animals


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Common sense, if you ask me.

Wash thoroughly, don't touch the water lever or the towel dispenser, dry hands and use another paper towel to turn off the water _and_ to open the door.

Computer keyboards are another source of disease. At work, our manuals and helicopter logbooks are on laptops. Those laptops are used by everyone. Fingertip to fingertip with everyone.

A lot of hand washing and hand sanitizing for me!


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## SAR-1L (Mar 13, 2013)

Guys I have a cure!!! With my plan there will be 100% cure,
and 0% chance of any infection or transmission.

Just Nuke on the planet everything dead.

Never said it was a good plan, lol


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Another source of infection is currency. Think how many people touched that $10 bill in your wallet? Currency also travels quickly.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Hey Trapper, send me your currency and I'll disinfect it for you and send it back to you, nice and clean and germ free. No guarantee about coke removal. And' I'll only charge 20% plus S&H.


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## shotlady (Aug 30, 2012)

hand washing is huge! every one gets sick a round me- but I don't get sick. I wash my hands properly and often!


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## PrepperLite (May 8, 2013)

Denton said:


> Common sense, if you ask me.
> 
> Wash thoroughly, don't touch the water lever or the towel dispenser, dry hands and use another paper towel to turn off the water _and_ to open the door.
> 
> ...


I always sanitize my equipment after coming on watch.. even then being in close quarters with a couple people for 12 hour shifts sickness spreads like wildfire...


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Currency is less of a concern nowadays. The world is converting to plastic so much more. That does bring up the keypad vector though, when punching in your PIN.
Also, currency gets recycled so often that a single bill doesn't last "in the wild" for more than a month or so on average.


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## Prepper Nurse (Jul 26, 2014)

RNprepper said:


> Report: Ebola outbreak started in 2-year-old in Guinea - CNN.com
> 
> I have been wondering for the past couple of days how the 2 year old contracted the Ebola virus and started this whole disaster. It makes perfect sense to me now. As this article explains, there is documented transmission to humans from primates and other animals, including fruit bats which are believed to be the host vector.
> 
> ...


Excellent article. Two properly washed thumbs up!


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