The
mainstream media has been effectively spreading fear regarding the spread of
Ebola in West Africa, and the recent diagnosis and death of Thomas Eric Duncan,
the first Ebola victim on American soil. Some in the public were quite shocked
by the public response to this case of Ebola. The patient, after stating his
symptoms and the fact that he traveled from Liberia to a hospital nurse, was
simply dismissed to go back home with antibiotics. Some of this may be due to
basic lack of communication among hospital staff, but Thomas lacked health
insurance, and that may have played a role. In the past, the Center for Disease
Control & Prevention (CDC) or even a unit of the U.S. Army Medical Research
Unit of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) may have played a role in quarantining
and decontaminate Thomas Duncan’s living quarters. In this era of
privatization, the private company, CleaningGuys.com, best known for removing
sidewalk graffiti, performed the decontamination several days after Ebola was
diagnosed.
This
incident definitely illustrates flaws in the public health system, many of
which did not exist before. The budget of the CDC has been cut by $1 billion
since 2002, and over that same stretch of time, over 40,000 public health
professionals have been removed from their jobs for the sake of budget cuts.
The notion is that the private sector and market forces are better at handling
the public’s health is proving false, and a red line must be drawn making it
clear when public health and safety comes before profit. Market forces
determining whether people favor one product over another is one matter,
however, market forces determining whether one lives or dies is another. When
it comes to healthcare, market forces always have worked best when businesses
compete to devise new technologies and techniques to detect, prevent, and treat
illness.
As scary
as Ebola may seem, the fact remains, it takes close contact with the body
fluids of someone exhibiting the disease to catch it, and officially only one
person in America had the disease. Now granted, Thomas may have spread the
disease to others, but consider that it is already known by the CDC that there
are 75,309 cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA,
infection in the United States, and some will definitely result in deaths. MRSA
is a strain of staph bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and traditional
therapies. You don’t have to travel to West Africa to get an MRSA infection as
they can be caught by your local hospital or healthcare provider. About 1 in 20
patients each year get a hospital acquired infection while undergoing
healthcare.
Sheets,
towels, and TV remotes in hospitals can be key reservoirs of contamination for
MRSA contamination. Bloodstream infections have been occurring through central
lines used in intensive care units (ISU) and out-patient hemodialysis machines,
and one out of 4 patients who acquire a bloodstream infection die. MRSAs have
been a silent killer of patients seeking to fulfill their healthcare needs, and
are rarely talked about in the media.
Healthcare
technology company Zenosense is a perfect example of how the private sector can
fight the battle against MRSAs, beginning with early detection. The company has
devised a new type of sensor that detects the volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
released from an MRSA infection, and the design of this sensor is ready for
manufacturing. The electronics technology and new sensor are expected to be
integrated in the coming weeks to produce the first prototype for laboratory
detection of MRSA/SA in cultures. Based on similar technology, Zenosense has
developed a sensor for lung cancer as well. Zenosense is well positioned to
play a major role in cutting down the case load due to MRSA infections.
For more
information, visit www.zenosense.net
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