An otherwise healthy man walked into a Dallas ER with a fever, and many today act surprised that the ER staff, who were probably simultaneously treating strokes, traumas, and all sorts of worrisome cases, didn't pick out that fibrill man as the one case the entire country would obsess about. Texas Presbyterian had

plenty of vocal critics in the media and in the public, but I really believe just about any

hospital that is the first to see a disease that has never once been diagnosed on U.S.

soil wouldn't have necessarily done much better.

You are listening to Hospital Medicine with your host, Dr. Gil Parrott.

And it's true the right questions weren't followed up on, but those criticizing from hindsight

I suppose are infallible themselves and therefore justified in doing so.

For the rest of us, when we prepare for a disease we haven't seen in our community,

we must learn from the mistakes and the successes of others.

This is the first time I'm giving a podcast on a disease I have yet to see and treat myself,

but over the last weeks, I am one of many people and

many hospitals focused on a multidisciplinary plan and response to the potential of us

seeing this scary viral disease called Ebola that looks like a little strand of spaghetti

under an electron microscope. Later, I'll try and provide some

learning points about a case I saw in which we were able to rule out Ebola by history and exam.

The hospitals I work for are in Colorado Springs, which is a community with lots of soldiers,

and one of the several bases we are proud of here is Fort Carson. Soldiers are

deploying from Fort Carson, as they are from other military and Air Force bases, to West Africa,

and they will help construct facilities to help those mostly volunteer health care workers

who are on the ground treating patients. Military officials have explained the soldiers will not be working directly with infected

persons, but we all accept there are real risks of traveling to outbreak countries.

There are also lots of missionaries here in Colorado Springs.

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