SWEETWATER COUNTY — County health care professionals, emergency service providers, and first responders from nine different agencies and organizations met recently in Rock Springs to evaluate and revise Ebola response guidelines in Sweetwater County.

On October 8, the first diagnosed U.S. Ebola patient died in Dallas, Texas, and two health care workers who treated him there were infected and are undergoing treatment.

There have been no confirmed cases in Wyoming.

The meeting in Rock Springs, organized by the Sweetwater County District Board of Health and Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, was called to provide information on the Ebola presence in Texas, and to assess response protocols and procedures in the event of any Ebola- related reports locally.

“Our goal is to be prepared, ready, and responsive,” said Dr. Grant Christensen, Director of the Sweetwater County District Board of Health. “The District Board of Health, Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, County Emergency Management, the County Health Department, the Wyoming Department of Health, our first responders and emergency service providers, and many others are working together to achieve that goal.”

Those at the meeting included representatives from Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, the Sweetwater County District Board of Health, Sweetwater County Emergency Management, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, the Rock Springs Fire Department and Regional Emergency Response Team, the Sweetwater County Coroner’s Office, Castle Rock Ambulance, Sweetwater Medics, and Sweetwater County Commissioner Reid West.

Ebola was first identified in 1976 in what is now South Sudan and Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.) The current outbreak, termed the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak, is presently affecting Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, all in west Africa. According to the World Health Organization, the death rate averages about 50% for those who have been infected, with an average of 25% to 90% in past epidemics. While a vaccine is being actively sought, there is at present no known cure.

The death toll for the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak now stands at just under 4,500. Most of these deaths occurred in west Africa.

Ebola symptoms include fever (greater that 101.5 degrees F), severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising.

“That’s one of the problems,” said Karla Roich, the Sweetwater County District Board of Health’s Public Health Response Coordinator. “Many news sources have reported Ebola’s symptoms to be similar to those of common flu, and they are, but what they often do not say is that you have to been exposed to the disease in order to be at risk. If you are having symptoms similar to the flu but haven’t traveled to west Africa, you probably haven’t contracted Ebola.”

Roich said is Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person, direct contact with the body of an Ebola victim, or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. She emphasized that Ebola is not spread through the air, water, or, in general, through food.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) makes the following recommendations for those who “travel to or are in an area affected by an Ebola outbreak:”

• Practice careful hygiene. For example, wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol- based hand sanitizer and avoid contact with blood and body fluids.

• Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids (such as clothes, bedding, needles, and medical equipment).

• Avoid funeral or burial rituals that require handling the body of someone who has died from Ebola.

• Avoid contact with bats and nonhuman primates or blood, fluids, and raw meat prepared from these animals.

• Avoid hospitals in west Africa where Ebola patients are being treated. The U.S. embassy or consulate is often able to provide advice on facilities. After you return, monitor your health for 21 days [Ebola’s incubation period] and seek medical care immediately if you develop symptoms of Ebola.

Roich noted that travel to or through west Africa is a consistent common denominator among those exposed to Ebola. “That sort of travel isn’t a regular thing for most Wyomingites,” shesaid. “There’s no reason to be afraid or panic. The chances of an outbreak in southwest Wyoming are extremely slim, but at the same time we all want to be ready and we want people to be healthy and safe.”

Officials recommend the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/ for more information.

–From a Sweetwater County District Board of Health press release