“No other physicians were involved in the L.A. outbreak that I can recall,” said Dr. Austin.
“No,” said Marissa. “Just the index case. There were three lab techs and one nurse, but no other doctors.”
Redirecting her attention to the chart, Marissa went through it rapidly. The history was not nearly as complete as that done on Dr. Richter at the Richter Clinic. There were no references to recent travel or animal contact. But the lab workup was impressive, and although not all the tests were back, those that were suggested severe liver and kidney involvement. So far everything was consistent with Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.
After Marissa finished with the chart, she got together the materials necessary for drawing and packing viral samples. When all was ready, she went down the hall with one of the nurses to the isolation area. There she donned hood, mask, gloves, goggles and booties.
Inside Zabriski’s room, two other women were similarly attired. One was a nurse, the other a doctor.
“How is the patient doing?” asked Marissa as she moved alongside the bed. It was a rhetorical question. The patient’s condition was apparent. The first thing Marissa noticed was the rash over the man’s trunk. The second thing was signs of hemorrhage; a nasogastric tube snaked out of the man’s nostril and was filled with bright red blood. Dr. Zabriski was conscious, but just barely. He certainly couldn’t answer any questions.
A short conversation with the attending physician confirmed Marissa’s impressions. The patient had been deteriorating throughout the day, particularly during the last hour, when they began to see a progressive fall in the blood pressure.
Marissa had seen enough. Clinically, the patient resembled Dr. Richter to a horrifying degree. Until proven otherwise, it had to be assumed that Dr. Zabriski and the other two subsequent admissions had Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.
The nurse helped Marissa obtain a nasal swab as well as blood and urine samples. Marissa handled them as she’d done in L.A., double bagging the material and disinfecting the outsides of the bags with sodium hypochlorite. After removing her protective clothing and
washing her hands, she returned to the nurses’ station to call Dubchek.
The phone conversation was short and to the point. Marissa said that it was her clinical impression that they were dealing with an-other Ebola outbreak.
“What about isolation?”
“They’ve done a good job in that regard,” reported Marissa.
“We’ll be there as soon as possible,” said Dubchek. “Probably tonight. Meanwhile, I want you to stop all further lab work and supervise a thorough disinfection. Also have them set up the same kind of quarantine of contacts that we used in L.A.”
Marissa was about to reply when she realized that Dubchek had hung up. She sighed as she replaced the receiver; such a wonderful working relationship!
“Well,” said Marissa to Drs. Taboso and Austin, “let’s get to work.” They quickly set the quarantine measures in motion, arranging for the sterilization of the lab and assuring Marissa that her samples would be sent overnight to the CDC.
As they left to attend to their tasks, Marissa asked for the charts on the other two patients. The nurse, whose name was Pat, handed them to her, saying, “I don’t know if Dr. Taboso mentioned this, but Mrs. Zabriski is downstairs.”
“Is she a patient?” asked Marissa with alarm.
“Oh, no,” said Pat. “She’s just insisting on staying at the hospital. She wanted to be up here, but Dr. Taboso didn’t think it was a good idea. He told her to stay in the first-floor lounge.”
Marissa put down the two new charts, debating what she should do next. She decided to see Mrs. Zabriski, since she had very few details with regard to the doctor’s recent schedule. Besides, she had to stop by the lab to check the sterilization. Asking directions from Pat, Marissa rode down to the second floor on the elevator. En route she looked at the faces of the people next to her and guessed what their responses would be when they heard that there had been an Ebola outbreak in the hospital. When the doors opened on the second floor, she was the only one who got off.