First to answer your question: yes I would sit next to or in some other reasonable way (NOT CPR, transfusion, etc.) try to render aid to a human I knew had any of those three diseases. I do not believe I would render such close aid to a person I knew to be infected with TB for example, and would insist on a complete barrier between us.
And I agree that AIDS and Hepatitis C are spread exclusively through bodily fluid and that very simple, reasonable precautions are entirely effective in controlling the risk of transferring either one barring the obvious problem of being wounded, bitten, etc. by one who is infected with either / both of those two.
And I further agree that less is known about Ebola transmission. It is <believed> to also be spread ONLY by the same bodily fluids as the first two mentioned but there are doubts, especially with specific strains that medical personal contracted (by a nurse back in the '70's I believe) without any known transmission path. That leaves the question that the hemorrhagic fevers, or at least some specific strains ARE transmitted without exchanging bodily fluids. That said, to the best of my knowledge, Ebola is NOT transmitted through casual contact with other people. If I were a medico (and I am not) I would insist on full spacial separation (the 'space suit') before coming into contact with any Ebola victims, including the bodies of them.
But this is an awfully specific circumstance and not representative of any real risk to the population of the US IMO. For all the reasons discussed already, Ebola will not become an epidemic or even a statistical problem in the US, again in my opinion. I am not dismissing any fear of contagion, I simply do not think Ebola is one to be worried about; I think MDR T.B. is a much, much bigger threat in the US, as well as everywhere else.
No, I do not think Ebola can "get loose" in a medical setting and become an epidemic in the US or any other first- world nation. As I have already mentioned, it is too difficult to transmit, it causes illness far too quickly (compare this to AIDS where a victim may have it for months / years without knowing it) and is just too delicate a disease for that to happen. There are simply some communicable diseases that can reach epidemic proportions (or even pandemic) and some that cannot. Ebola is one of the 'cannots'.
I do sympathize with you and what your job exposes you to and I am not brushing that risk off at all whatsoever. I just do not think you are ever going to have an Ebola patient that you do not already know is carrying that disease anywhere near you, never mind inside an ambulance. T.B. on the other hand, is a real possibility. And while T.B. does not carry the lethality of Ebola, it is still a deadly disease that is becoming less and less treatable every day.
Brian
AIDS, Ebola, and Hep C is and does pose a threat to the general public, and to say they are not airborne is misleading because if they weren't why the total encapsulation suits worn by the victim and the health workers. Care to sit next to someone with Ebola who's coughing and hacking all over the place next to you? AIDS is a bit different as its mostly spread by sexual contact, mostly. Ebola is direct contact, meaning hands, feet, spittle, splashes, rags soaked in fluids, toilets, handles, etc... Think of the number of health care workers and providers and first responders there are in this country alone, that includes all police, guards, highway patrol, jail guards and all workers there, CERT teams, firefighters, paramedics, RN's, LPN's, all workers in all hospitals, full time, part time, auxillary, volunteers, all their families and all the people they come in contact with, that's not even including any secondary medical workers that include dentists, therapists, social workers, etc.... Still think it doesn't pose a threat to the general public just because its only located in a small strip of land in another continent? Well, the disease may be locally to there but we now have victims infected right here in the U.S. If you think that all the people I listed above are NOT part of the general public then you must live in a very isolated area.