Tag: Shelby County Health Department

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Leaders Convene to Address Opioid Epidemic in West Tennessee

A Shelby County Health Department representative speaks at the West Tennessee Opioid Summit


Through the occasional tear, a longtime Memphis journalist told the story of his 27-year-old daughter’s heroin overdose to a crowded room on Tuesday.

At the West Tennessee Opioid Summit, Ron Maxey of The Daily Memphian said it has been almost five years since he found his daughter’s lifeless body following a fatal overdose.

He said he tells her story so that people will understand the effect that opioid abuse can have on families.

Hundreds, including Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) officials, Memphis Fire and Police personnel, representatives of insurance carriers and pharmaceutical companies, law enforcement officials, and physicians gathered Tuesday to discuss the opioid epidemic in West Tennessee and brainstorm possible solutions.

The latest available data from the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) shows that of the 1,776 drug overdose deaths that occurred in the state in 2017, 1,268 of them were opioid related.

Nationwide, 30 Americans die every day from opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Memphis Police Department (MPD) director Michael Rallings said since he was appointed in 2016, he has gained a different perspective on the opioid crisis, recognizing its implications. Rallings said there are a lot of conversations about reducing violent crime, but not enough about the opioid epidemic.

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Across the country, there are about 17,000 homicides each year, but there are 70,000 drug-related deaths, Rallings said. Seventy percent of all crime here is related to drugs, Rallings added.

“We need to focus on some of the real problems,” Rallings said. “And this is one of those real problems. You don’t need the police director to come here and tell you we have a problem. We all know that we have a problem. The question becomes what are we going to do about it.”

Each quarter, Rallings said he meets with chiefs from police departments around the country to discuss major issues in their respective communities, and that the opioid epidemic is “at the top of the list.”

“So I’m worried about the future,” he said. “I’m worried about the future because we are hooked on drugs. We have a number of epidemics that we should be alarmed about. Not only do we have an opioid epidemic, but we have a public health emergency with mental illness.”

Rallings said “we cannot turn this epidemic into a law enforcement problem.”

To help reduce the number of overdoses here, Rallings said police officers are being trained to administer naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Of the 2,100 active MPD officers, Rallings said 1,379 officers have received training and carry the drug while on duty.

Since 2017, there have been 116 doses of naloxone administered here, resulting in 106 survivals.

Another way that the department is working to address the issue is with the Street Team for Opioid Prevention (STOP). STOP, a product of the Shelby County Opioid Epidemic Response Plan which was formed last year, is made up of law enforcement and other community partners.

STOP will focus on engaging residents through education, referrals to community resources, and harm reduction.

Later this month the team is slated to hold a community event at the former Applebees on Sycamore View — a hotbed for opioid use and distribution, Rallings said. The team, along with volunteers, will be there to provide assistance and resources to those using opioids.

Rallings said the group’s focus will be on prevention, education, and treatment: “We’re not there to lock anybody up.”

We’re going to ground zero. We’re going to go in there and see if we can make a difference. That’s one of our highest call areas, so we feel like that’s a great place to be.”

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Memphis is situated in a location where people can easily pass narcotics through, Assistant United States Attorney, Michelle Kimbril-Parks said.

The Department of Justice’s primary focus here is addressing the supply and demand, she said.

Under the Heroin Initiative, a collaborative effort of local enforcement agencies, Kimbril-Parks said every individual in the possession of an opioid who gets stopped or arrested is reviewed by law enforcement.

The primary question the team looks to answer is where did the drugs come from.

“We’re not just interested in the street suppliers,” Kimbril-Parks said. “We’re utilizing every tool in the toolbox to determine where this individual got this dope. We want to identify every individual in the chain and hold them accountable.”

Jerry Jones, an anesthesiologist at Regional One Health, talked about the risk factors that could lead to an opioid addiction, such as undergoing surgery. 

Jones said there are other ways to combat acute and chronic pain, such as nerve blockers. Even serious injuries don’t always require narcotics, he said. 

But, Jones said it would take a culture change for medical professionals to be willing to try alternative treatments. 

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Phillip Northcross, a doctor of internal medicine at LeBonheur Healthcare, agreed that there are other viable options to manage pain. Northcross said acupuncture, physical therapy, and lifestyle changes are a few of them. He also said that recent studies have shown that Tylenol and Ibuprofen can be very effective for managing pain.

However, he said it is hard to get patients who are used to being prescribed narcotics to try other options.

“They just don’t buy it,” Northcross said. “As physicians it’s our responsibility to change that thinking to get people to embrace other modes of pain treatment.”

After the presenters spoke, attendees of the conference broke into groups to brainstorm solutions to the opioid crisis here, focusing on the four pillars of the SCHD’s plan to address the epidemic: law enforcement and first responders, data usage and integration, prevention and education, and treatment and recovery.

Some of the solutions suggested include working to erase the stigma associated with opioid addiction, providing a holistic system of recovery, legalizing marijuana, and pushing elected officials and lawmakers to address the issue further through legislation, funding, and initiatives.

Officials with the SCHD said the real time solution produced by the groups will guide the department’s efforts to combat the crisis.

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County Health Department Limits TVA’s Use of Aquifer Wells

CREDIT: USGS

USGS

Groundwater discharge from an aquifer test at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen Combined Cycle Plant in October.


The Shelby County Health Department placed rules on how the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) uses five wells at its Allen natural gas plant this week.

The health department prohibited TVA from using the wells, which the utility previously committed to not using, except in three circumstances:

• Sampling for contaminants or studying the connection of the shallow and deep aquifers. Approval for the studies must be granted by the Tennessee Department of Conservation.


• Using the plant for water in an emergency when Memphis Light, Gas & Water cannot provide it. This is to be done only to avoid “serious damage or disruption to the regional power grid.”

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Limited Maintenance of up to 30 minutes each quarter.


These modified permits are in response to a December request to limit or prohibit TVA’s use of the wells by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) on behalf of Protect Our Aquifer and the Sierra Club in order to avoid contamination of Memphis’ drinking water source.

The health department previously gave TVA permits to drill five wells into the Memphis Sand Aquifer in order to pump about 3.5 million gallons of water to cool its energy plant here.

After tests found high levels of arsenic and lead at the site, TVA said it would not use the wells until after a state investigation into groundwater contamination is completed.

A coal ash pond at TVA’s Allen Fossil Plant.

The five wells in question are housed in the Allen Combined Cycle Plant, which sits within a half-mile of a leaking coal ash pond operated by TVA. The ash pond is the center of ongoing state and federal investigations into groundwater contaminants, including arsenic and lead. Studies have suggested that use of the wells could put the Memphis Sand Aquifer at greater risk of contamination from the coal ash pond.

Research done by the University of Memphis and the U.S. Geological Survey last year showed that the coal ash pond is connected to the Memphis Sand Aquifer through gaps in the aquifer’s protective clay layers. The study also found that this connection could cause the contaminated groundwater to be pulled into the drinking water source when water is pumped from the wells.

Amanda Garcia, the senior attorney for SELC, said TVA should have never asked for the permits to use the wells, and that “we’re pleased to see that the county acknowledged, in a letter, that TVA would be denied permits to drill the wells if they had applied today.”

She added that the rules placed on utility’s usage demonstrates “how serious the pollution risk is to the county’s drinking water source.”

Ward Archer, president of Protect Our Aquifer, agreed, saying the county made the right decision in placing restrictions on TVA’s well use.

“Last year, the Shelby County Groundwater Control Board made the first step to better protect the Memphis Sand Aquifer by adopting stronger rules for obtaining permits and operating wells that pull from the Memphis Sand.

“However, we still need better local groundwater protections across the area and we hope Shelby County continues to work to conserve our most precious natural resource.”

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Opinion Viewpoint

Count It! Lock It! Drop It! Fighting Opioid Abuse in Shelby County

According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an alarming 40 percent of opioid misusers have admitted to receiving painkillers from a friend or family member at no cost. Another 12 percent admit to purchasing or stealing prescription drugs from someone they know.

Dramatically reducing this “pass along” rate is one of the primary missions of the national organization, Allied Against Opioid Abuse (AAOA). Just this past month, AAOA convened a training and discussion aimed toward health-care professionals in the heart of the Memphis Medical District. The purpose of the event was to help area organizations share best practices and promote solutions to cut down on the volume of opioids unwittingly made available in our community.

The Shelby County Health Department joined this effort along with representatives from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Memphis Emergency Medical Services. Participants engaged with speakers and learned more about how to protect themselves, their patients, and their communities against opioid misuse and abuse.

The AAOA praised Shelby County for implementing the Count it! Lock it! Drop it! campaign. This campaign is Shelby County’s safe storage/disposal initiative to help residents avoid becoming victim to opioid misuse and abuse. Action steps for each person with opioid medication are: Count your pills every two weeks to monitor theft and help ensure medications are taken properly; lock your pills in a safe location where others would not think to look; and drop off expired or unused pills at an approved take-back location.

Opioid misuse and abuse can lead to opioid addiction. The Count It! Lock it! Drop It! campaign is just one of several campaigns Shelby County is implementing to bring awareness and give patients advice on how to take action to reduce this epidemic affecting our communities.

There are other disposal options as well — including placing unused medication in easy-to-use bags or capsules that inactivate opioids and do not pose a hazard for the environment. These materials are available in pharmacies and online. Patients who fill an opioid prescription should consider obtaining one of these simple disposal options so they can be safe stewards of their medications.

The discussion we held needs to be one of many that we convene, not just in Shelby County, but in Tennessee and across the United States. In addition to learning proper safe storage and disposal practice for opioid medications, we need to get the message out among health-care professionals and throughout the community.

Here in Shelby County, we are working with the county government and the health department, as well as the University of Tennessee to respond to the epidemic. At the event last month, I spoke about Shelby County’s opioid response which is focusing on four key strategic areas: data usage and integration, prevention and education, treatment and recovery, as well as first response and law enforcement.

Shelby County’s Opioid Response Plan makes it evident that we all have a part to play in reducing the impact of the opioid crisis in our communities. “This plan emphasizes the coordination of efforts aimed at prevention/education, effective deployment of first responders, treatment professionals, and law enforcement,” says David Stern, a physician and the Vice-Chancellor for Health Affairs for Statewide Initiatives at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

As health-care professionals and public leaders, we have the power to promote a cultural shift in patients’ understanding and handling of opioid pain relievers. To maximize the likelihood of a positive impact, the conversation about how to safely take, store, and dispose of prescription medication is necessary. And it will take the involvement of everyone — patients, family members, caregivers, friends, and community leaders. In order to see a decrease in opioid misuse and abuse in Shelby County, every citizen should educate themselves on what do if prescribed opioids.

For more information on this issue and the initiative with AAOA, please visit www.againstopioidabuse.org.

If you are interested in an educational session for your organization, please visit www.shelbytnhealth.com and follow the icon marked Opioid.

Courtney Tipper is a Public Health Coordinator with the Shelby County Health Department.

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Editorial Opinion

Policy Needs to be Set for Memphis Sand Aquifer

The good news? The Tennessee Valley Authority’s 2014 decision to phase out the Allen coal plant that spewed toxic gas and chemical particles into Memphis’ atmosphere for decades. Even more good news: TVA’s decision to

replace the coal plant with a much more environmentally friendly combined gas-cycle plant, which is due to go online in 2018.

The bad news? The TVA’s surprise announcement that it would drill five wells into the Memphis Sand aquifer and remove 3.5 million gallons a day of Memphis’ world-renowned drinking water to cool the new plant. This is akin to putting Perrier in your car’s radiator.

The “surprise” part of TVA’s announcement was the non-public nature of its recent policy change. When TVA announced the construction of the new plant, the agency told the public it would be using wastewater from the nearby Maxson Wastewater Treatment Plant for the plant’s cooling water system. TVA now says those plans turned out to be too expensive, primarily because using wastewater would first require treatment of pollutants.

After public blowback to TVA’s original plan to drill five wells into the aquifer and pull water directly from the ground, MLGW suggested that TVA could purchase water from them. But even if that were to happen, much of the water purchased from MLGW would still come from the Memphis Sand aquifer.

TVA says MLGW can’t sell it enough water. MLGW disagrees. Who’s right? And who makes the final decision?

The overarching issue that’s been brought to light by this controversy is that policy decisions as to how our precious water supply is used need to be made at a higher level than the Shelby County Health Department, which is currently charged with the power to grant permission to drill into the aquifer.

Other things the public needs to know: How many wells are currently tapped into the aquifer? How many wells are drilled each year? Who’s gotten permission to drill? How difficult is the process of getting permission? These are issues that need to be addressed by a commission composed of all interested parties: public entities, private corporate interests, environmentalists, state agencies, etc.

The other good news is that, according to MLGW president Jerry Collins, the aquifer is in better shape now than it was as recently as 2000, when the average amount of water pumped from the aquifer daily was 159 million gallons. In 2015, according to Collins, 126 million gallons per day were pumped. Collins credits that drop primarily to low-flush toilets and more energy-efficient washing machines and dishwashers.

But even given that bit of good news, the need has never been greater for close monitoring and smart decision-making regarding our most precious resource.

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Shelby County Confirms Fourth Case of Zika Virus

At least four Shelby County residents have contracted the Zika virus, but all cases here so far have resulted from traveling to countries where Zika is most prevalent.

The Shelby County Health Department confirmed the fourth case on Monday, and they say the individual is currently symptomatic.

The virus tends to only cause mild symptoms, and for most people, the health department says testing isn’t necessary.  Approximately 80 percent of those infected never show symptoms of the disease. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. 

Pregnant women who contract Zika risk having babies with birth defects, most notably microcephaly — a condition where the baby’s head is smaller than normal and the child is at risk for physical and speech disorders, seizures, hyperactivity, and other brain disorders.

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Shelby County Measles Outbreak Ends

The Shelby County Health Department has declared the county’s recent measles outbreak to be officially over since no new cases have been confirmed in 42 days, which encompasses two full 21-day incubation periods.

On April 5th, the first measles case in the outbreak was recorded. There were seven confirmed cases during the outbreak period, and 36 people were quarantined and monitored. The health department has reported that 934 people were exposed to the disease during the outbreak — 686 people in non-healthcare environments and 248 in healthcare facilities. A total of 67 public locations were affected.

“I am pleased with the coordinated effort of the Shelby County Health Department and the many community partners, including the Tennessee Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who spent countless hours over the last two months protecting everyone and helping to keep citizens safe,” said Shelby County Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.

Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable viral infection that starts with a high fever, runny nose, cough and red eyes, followed a few days later by a rash that starts on the head and gradually moves down the body. While typically mild, the measles can result in complications, including pneumonia or inflammation of the brain, that require hospitalization.

“One of the roles of public health is to prevent the spread of diseases such as measles,” said Alisa Haushalter, DNP, RN, director of the Shelby County Health Department. “We continue to urge residents in Shelby County to know their immune status and ensure their entire family, especially young children, have received all of the recommended vaccines.”

During the outbreak, the health department provided 225 vaccines at public health clinics and 160 at pointof-dispensing events. To find out more about vaccines against measles, contact the Shelby County Health Department at (901) 222-9000.

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Shelby County Health Dept. To Hold Hearing on TVA Gas Plant

TVA Allen coal plant

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) voted last year to retire its Allen coal plant on Presidents Island and replace it with a new $452 million gas plant, but the Shelby County Health Department must approve a building permit for the new gas plant before the process can move forward.

The health department will hold a public hearing on that permit on Thursday, September 17th at 6 p.m. at the Memphis Area Transit Authority Board Room and Hudson Hall at Central Station (545 South Main).

The Sierra Club’s Memphis chapter made a big push for the TVA to retire the Allen plant, and now they’re pushing the health department to ensure the new gas plant will protect health and public safety.

“While we agree with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s move away from coal, we must also stay vigilant to ensure the new gas plant doesn’t put the health and safety of our community at risk,” said Rita Harris, senior organizing representative with Sierra Club in Memphis. “As plans for the gas plant move forward, we will be asking for adequate monitoring of the gas lines running through neighborhoods, which is one of our environmental justice concerns.”

From the Shelby County Health Department’s hearing announcement: “The proposed construction will consist of the addition of two combustion turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators, one steam turbine generator, one dual fuel (natural gas and biogas) auxiliary boiler, three natural gas-fired dew-point gas heaters, three natural gas-fired dew point heaters, one diesel-engine-driven fire-suppression water pump and one multiple-cell cooling tower. This permitting activity ensures that the public has an opportunity to comment on all affected emission units.”

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News The Fly-By

Infant Mortality Rate Down But More Work Needed, Says Health Department

In 2005, when a series of Commercial Appeal articles was published, the infant mortality rate (IMR) for Shelby County was 14.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. The county was ranked third-highest in the country and was similar to rates in developing countries.

Those newspaper articles spawned a Tennessee governor’s summit in 2006, which aimed to tackle the issue head-on statewide. Now, 10 years of work by various agencies in Shelby County has resulted in the lowest reported infant mortality rate in 100 years: 9.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.

But it’s still much higher than the national rate of 6.17 per 1,000 live births, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s 2014 World Fact Book data.

Dr. Michelle Taylor, a maternal and child physician for the Shelby County Health Department, said a range of possibilities — sudden infant death syndrome, lack of immunizations — contribute to the high IMR. The rate is usually a “general health and wellness indicator” for communities, Taylor said. As medical knowledge on how to take care of infants increases, infant mortality has decreased over time, particularly over the past 60 years.

“Even though we’ve had a 30 percent reduction in the mortality rate in the last 10 years, we still know there’s a lot of work to do,” Taylor said. “We know there’s a gap between African-American and white infants. We’re trying to change that as well.”

Premature births also contribute to a high IMR. According to the Urban Child Institute, 13 percent of babies born in 2013 were preterm. Of those, 15 percent of black infants were born preterm, compared to 9 percent of white infants.

Low-income families also tend to have an effect on the IMR when there aren’t enough resources in the community, either medically, nutritionally, or economically.

“We know that if you’re under-resourced, your diet may not be as good,” Taylor said. “You may not have as many opportunities for employment. You may struggle to take care of yourself during pregnancy, meaning that you may not get prenatal care as early as you would like.”

On May 7th, during an Infant Mortality Reduction Summit in Memphis, agencies focused on measures that would further lower the rate. The Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative looks at prenatal care access, breastfeeding initiation, and teen birth rate, as well as appropriately spacing out pregnancies to 18 months apart and seeking care within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

“We found our rate was still higher than it needed to be,” Taylor said. “There were several concerned citizen organizations, agencies, and nonprofits that weren’t going to let that stand. With the summit we had a couple of weeks ago, we had people from all walks of life, people who have been engaged in this fight. They’re ready to make that paradigm shift to the next level in working on this issue.”

The health department has launched two technological initiatives: a blog, called the Shelby County Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative, centering on the issue and an iPhone and Android app. The free app, called B4Babylife, is designed to help people remain healthy before, during, and after pregnancy.

“The blog is going to continue the conversation we had on May 7th, and we’ll have local experts, community leaders, and members blog about how to continue to reduce the rate in Shelby County,” Taylor said.

The next step in terms of lowering the IMR isn’t one step, she said, but a collection of steps needed to continue driving the number down. By organizations stepping up collectively, each issue can be tackled one at a time by various groups.

“We have to do it as a community,” Taylor said. “You know, there are not a lot of initiatives that I know of in Shelby County that have lasted 10 years. [This has been] 10 years of work that different groups of people have been trying to maintain and make sure that we continue to pay attention to the issue. That’s a long time for any locality, any group of people, to continue working on a problem.”

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Opinion Viewpoint

Memphis’ Truancy “Crisis”

Call me skeptical, but I think it’s really time for Memphis to move on from the Ebola “crisis” to issues that are more based in reality. We are very unlikely to be hit by an epidemic of what is no doubt a dreadful disease if you’re living in or have visited three countries in West Africa recently.

But the one lone Ebola-related story I’ve covered did open my eyes to the precautions the Shelby County Health Department and the Office of Preparedness have been taking to assure the safety of our citizens. Since the 9-11 attacks, local government agencies have worked diligently to organize a program of preparedness to deal with catastrophic natural disasters and health epidemics — from swine flu to SARS to the one-in-a-million possibility of an Ebola outbreak in the Bluff City. Such advance planning should be commended.

But it’s time to bring the same level of attention to a more relevant crisis — student truancy — and the direct connection it has to our problems with youth violence.

As Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson asserted two weeks ago in an interview with Fox 13, he stands prepared to tackle the truancy issue by withholding financial benefits from parents who have consistently failed to meet their responsibilities in getting their children to school. He admitted punitive action is not a road he wants to go down, but he’s also realistic enough to know he’s got to have the legal backing and the political will of those in government to take a proactive stance.

Within the past two weeks, SCS has finally begun getting a numerical grasp on the atrocious situation of children not showing up in the classroom this year. They estimated the number, peaking at the start of the school year in August, to be around 9,000 students. By late September, nearly 4,000 students had met or exceeded the five-day threshold of unexcused absences. If reported to the district attorney’s office, parents of these children could presumably face fines and possible jail time. So far, only one person has been prosecuted under that standard, but it’s not like student truancy is a new problem.

Just two years ago, the legacy Memphis City Schools system was lauded for creating truancy assessment centers where truants were picked up by police and, together with their parents, made to work with school officials to find ways of getting them back to school. Because of budget cuts, that program no longer exists. Perhaps, if the city of Memphis, as cash-strapped as it may be, could start paying on the $57 million that two court rulings have explicitly made clear is owed to SCS, there would be enough money to restart and expand that now-defunct program.

Here’s where we get back to that idea of “preparedness.” We have for a decade and beyond known this city and county have a propensity for failing to meet the minimal educational needs of all its students. We have never had the foresight to devise a comprehensive plan that puts more money into all aspects of education than we consistently put into the penal system or into security measures aimed at dealing with possible health epidemics and natural catastrophes. Yet, there seems to be no concerted effort to address and follow through on tough choices that could bring real results in saving generations of children who continue to fall through the cracks in our educational system.

It may well be time to get behind Hopson’s idea of making parents financially accountable for not meeting their responsibilities, time to stand behind the line he wants to draw in the sand. Instead of pitying those parents for their negligence, because they’re not informed about the avenues of help available to them, we should insist and demand they take the time to find out for themselves. We should insist they show up at a parent/teacher conference, a PTA meeting, or even a school board meeting. They owe it to the future of their own families to do so, just like every other forward-thinking person in this country. I’ll predict right now nobody in Memphis is going to die from Ebola. But, there’s a good chance we’ll perish from the disease of neglecting the education of our children.

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News The Fly-By

Health Department Says Ebola Isn’t a Threat in Shelby County

CREDIT: Louis Goggans

The severe, and often fatal, virus known as Ebola has claimed more than 4,500 lives in West Africa. After the disease was detected in Dallas, a sense of panic spread throughout the U.S.

But Dr. Helen Morrow, health medical officer for the Shelby County Health Department, said the likelihood of Ebola spreading to the county is miniscule.

“I think people should be concerned, aware, [but] I don’t think they need to panic,” Morrow said. “We have been reaching out to the community to try to educate them about this disease and the control of it.”

Since Ebola’s most recent outbreak in March, more than 9,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus. However, the World Health Organization estimates the number of people infected is possibly 2.5 times higher than the number reported.

The virus has become an epidemic in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. But on September 30th, Thomas Eric Duncan became the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S.

A Liberian man visiting family in Dallas, Duncan, 42, died at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on October 8th, after receiving treatment for several days. In the weeks following Duncan’s death, two Texas Health nurses, 26-year-old Nina Pham and 29-year-old Amber Vinson, tested positive for Ebola.

Since then, the amount of Ebola cases in the U.S. has risen to eight. The increase in cases have caused many to fear the virus will spread and become an epidemic in the U.S. False alarms have been reported, some flights have been cancelled, and international airports are now screening people flying into the U.S. from the West African countries impacted by Ebola.

“The risk to the general public is very, very low,” said Health Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hart. “You’re nearly 100 times more likely to get the flu than you are Ebola.”

The health department has held conference calls with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding guidelines for personal protective equipment and infection control. And helpful information on Ebola is being provided by the Health Department via social media and its newly-formed Ebola Speakers Bureau.

Louis Goggans

County Mayor Mark Luttrell with county health department officials at an Ebola press conference

This week, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell held a media briefing to discuss response methods that would be utilized if Ebola spread to Memphis.

“We know that we can control Ebola through identification and isolation of patients who have the disease. And [we would] identify and monitor contacts within 21 days,” said Yvonne Madlock, executive director of the Shelby County Health Department. “We can prevent the spread of Ebola through infection control, provision [and use] of the appropriate personal protective equipment, and by safely handling bodies of those who might have died from Ebola disease.”

Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids, such as urine, saliva, semen, or vomit, from an infected person. Initial virus symptoms include fevers, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting, and diarrhea.

The average person begins to experience symptoms within two to 21 days after they’ve been exposed to the virus. If a person experiences any of the aforementioned symptoms, they’re encouraged to notify a local hospital and the Health Department.

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest thus far. The virus was discovered in 1976. It was reportedly passed from fruit bats to primates and other wild animals. And humans seemingly transmitted the virus from hunting and eating Ebola-infected animals.

Dr. Michael Whitt, chair of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry, recently co-edited the book, Biology and Pathogenesis of Rhabdo- and Filoviruses, which includes information on Ebola, how it evades the immune system, and vaccines in development to treat it. Currently, there is no vaccine for Ebola.

“This is not something that, in the U.S., is going to spread across the country like, for instance, the West Nile virus,” Whitt said. “Ebola, you can only catch from another person who has symptoms. If there are indications, it can be contained, and it’s not going to spread. We don’t have a pandemic on our hands.”