EBOLA

[KIPMEISTER]

What is everyone's take on this, do you think the media is blowing this up to scare everyone?

[Scott Bails]

Can't see this thread lasting too long, but what the heck...

There are a lot of inconsistencies with how this is being reported, IMO. No big surprise, considering the state of today's media. But I'm confused at how, on the one hand, they're basically telling you that you have to bathe in a vat of Ebola to catch it but on the other hand, we have two different people now in the U.S., where we presumably have safety measures and protocols, that have been infected.

Basically, what I'm saying is that they're saying that it's rather difficult to contract, since it's not airborne-contagious, but it's fishy to me that two health-care workers who should have practiced at least some sort of safety training have contracted the disease.

Of course the media wants to scare - that's what drives ratings. But the way this is being covered just seems strange to me.

[Sean]

People still watch the "news"?

[No Pride]

they're saying that it's rather difficult to contract, since it's not airborne-contagious, but it's fishy to me that two health-care workers who should have practiced at least some sort of safety training have contracted the disease.

Some are now saying that it IS airborne-contagious.

Basically, there's a lot of talk about something that very little is actually known about.

[NogbadTheBad]

Only for sports

[Klonk]

I'm more concerned about places around the house where I can potentially stub my toe.

[trurl]

Nope. I think we're gonna thin the herd.

[Yves]

Why allow people known to be infected to fly back to America in the first place? Because you spent billions in biohazard toys and you just HAVE to use them?

I was saying 20 years ago that we'd be hearing about ebola again. These diseases mutate and grown stronger. This current round got our attention but we'll forget all about until the next, stronger wave rolls around in a decade or so....

[Sean]

I think you have better odds of getting the flu and often years go by when you don't. So....

[Dave (in MA)]

Some are now saying that it IS airborne-contagious.

2012 - Growing concerns over 'in the air' transmission of Ebola

Canadian scientists have shown that the deadliest form of the ebola virus could be transmitted by air between species.

[Dave (in MA)]

With a disease that's causing trained medical professionals to get infected, what sooper jeanyus thought it was a good idea to send 4000 military troops to ground zero?

[TheLoony]

If it's as bad as they say it is then why don't they restrict travel, especially incoming from Africa? Have the airlines also become "too big to fail?". Gotta keep the money a flowing. Then there's the "response" which has been woefully inadequate as the CDC is just another of our worthless alphabet agencies, talking out both sides with nonsense. No need to worry about that pile of dirty, bloody clothing just sitting there, huh? Oh, don't worry, you don't need a frigging hazmat suit to check on the patient, there's no need for that. Incompetent fools.

If it's so hard to catch then why the endless fear mongering from our worthless MSM? None of the story we have been told makes any sense so right now it's anyone's guess as to what is really happening.

[notallwhowander]

I dunno, SARS and bird flu were overblown. So it seems likely this one is too.

[notallwhowander]

If it's as bad as they say it is then why don't they restrict travel, especially incoming from Africa? Have the airlines also become "too big to fail?". Gotta keep the money a flowing. Then there's the "response" which has been woefully inadequate as the CDC is just another of our worthless alphabet agencies, talking out both sides with nonsense. No need to worry about that pile of dirty, bloody clothing just sitting there, huh? Oh, don't worry, you don't need a frigging hazmat suit to check on the patient, there's no need for that. Incompetent fools.

If it's so hard to catch then why the endless fear mongering from our worthless MSM? None of the story we have been told makes any sense so right now it's anyone's guess as to what is really happening.

Order your hazmat suit now, and we'll throw in a tinfoil hat absolutely free!

[bob_32_116]

From what I have read, Ebola is difficult to catch in the sense that it's not airborne-contagious, and you have to actually pick it up from the bodily fluids (eg blood) of an infected person and get it into your own bloodstream. That's why health care workers have to be so careful and wear protective clothing - something like scratching an itch could be fatal if the virus has got on your fingers.

In some respects it's a bit like AIDS/HIV. HIV is really very difficult for one person to pick up from another provided that they follow certain simple protocols. However it's undeniable that HIV is also a huge problem.

As for "the media is blowing this up" (pedant alert: "media" is plural so it should be "are blowing"), I probably get my news from different media than you do, so I can't say. The Australian ABC website showed a series of statistics illustrating the exponential rise in the number of reported cases, and of deaths, since about a month ago. That's being neither alarmist nor complacent - it's simply reporting facts. Unless you think they have the facts wrong, i don't call that "blowing things up out of proportion".

Am I worried about Ebola? Not on my own account. I don't work in health care, and I have not visited, nor do I intend to visit, any of the countries connected with the outbreak. I am very worried about large numbers of people dying in sub-Saharan West Africa.

The worst disease afflicting Planet Earth right now is ignorance. There have been cases where villagers in those countries have chased away and threatened to kill the health care workers who risked their own lives by going in there to save lives, because the villagers said the "foreigners were bringing Ebola." Ignorance kills more people than any other disease.

[BobM]

I think the biggest problem that we could be facing is that there are 2 strains of Ebola now - West African and Zaire - and there are a damn boatload of cases (more than ever before). It is entirely possible that it could mutate further and become more contagious or even airborne.

That being said, Africa has little to no infrastructure to handle and contain this disease. Europe and the US have a very strong infrastructure so even when it does get into the EUr or US it is quickly contained. The real worry is if it spreads to other 3rd world countries like South America or the Far East. That would spread resources pretty thin.

[TheLoony]

Order your hazmat suit now, and we'll throw in a tinfoil hat absolutely free!

Might need 'em.

Amber Vinson, the Texas healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola early Wednesday morning, reportedly travelled Monday on a flight from Cleveland to Dallas, just one day before she started to show symptoms of the virus.

Frontier Airlines 1143 flight landed in Dallas Monday night. Vinson reportedly was not showing any symptoms of the virus—she claims she first came down with a fever on Tuesday—during the flight, though the airlines is working with the CDC to contact anyone who was on board.

http://gawker.com/new-ebola-patient-...ium=socialflow

I report, you decide, as I have little to no clue as to what the real truth is.

[Scott Bails]

If it's as bad as they say it is then why don't they restrict travel, especially incoming from Africa?

You know that the patient from Liberia who recently passed away came from Brussels, right?

[Scott Bails]

Ignorance kills more people than any other disease.

This is worth repeating.

That being said, Africa has little to no infrastructure to handle and contain this disease. Europe and the US have a very strong infrastructure so even when it does get into the EUr or US it is quickly contained.

And yet, we now have two reported cases of transmission and one moron boarding a flight while infected.

[TheLoony]

You know that the patient from Liberia who recently passed away came from Brussels, right?

Quite aware. I should have worded that a little better, like suspend all incoming traffic from anywhere. But, a good start would be with Africa AT LEAST. Yet, I do wonder if it's even too late for that as we have this Dallas to Cleveland chick, on board with 132 others. But don't worry, you need DIRECT CONTACT with someone to get it and that never happens on a plane.

Then there's this:

COSTELLO: Mary, do you envision a time in the near future, maybe if we see another Ebola case, let's say in Boston or some other city in the United States, that the travel ban, or at least a partial ban, might be implemented?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, absolutely. And it's just a matter of common sense. We see people in moon suits telling us not to worry and fly the world. But what they don't understand is the nature of an aircraft. And let me draw a parallel to the ambulance in Texas. The ambulance in Texas took this gentleman to the hospital who has Ebola. The ambulance is then taken out of service and they are scrubbing the school where these five little children went, in moon suits, to take any precautions. You cannot do that to an aircraft. An aircraft is a $350 million flying computer, and there's no way to disinfect the seats, there's no way to disinfect the bathrooms and you're forgetting about the people who work in the belly of the plane, who load it, who service it. It is a trajectory through which the virus can be transported and you can't clean it. And that's the problem, an aircraft is not an ambulance, and you just can't do that.

COSTELLO: So what are you suggesting, Mary? Should there be some sort of ban or a partial ban be put into place?

SCHIAVO: Yes. Absolutely, and it should be a ban on the aircraft. We should suspend service to those infected areas. Yes, people can still travel to Brussels and travel to the United States, but it's not possible for us to contain it on the aircraft. You're focusing on the people and I think we need to focus on the actual service providing instruments, the aircraft, the services, the things that go on the aircraft. So, yes, I think a ban is in place and it should have been put in place long ago. Like I said, they're standing there in moon suits telling us it's OK to get on the plane. It's not. No common sense.

http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1410/02/cnr.02.html

[Sputnik]

You know that the patient from Liberia who recently passed away came from Brussels, right?

Well, he flew from Liberia to Brussels, with another stopover in Washington DC. True, from a US perspective he didn't come directly from Liberia, but I'm not sure there are any direct flights to/from Liberia and the US. In terms of restricting travel, it should have been possible to tell that he had been in Liberia the day before.

The more pertinent question is why is anyone being allowed to fly out of Liberia, or Sierra Leone? They screened Mr. Duncan for fever before he left Liberia, which he did not have, but 20 days later he died of Ebola. So the screening is no guarantee of preventing the disease from leaving the country. Virtually anyone leaving Liberia or Sierra Leone now may be carrying the disease. Rather than restrict entry into other countries, perhaps a better solution would be a quarantined waiting period before being allowed to leave these countries, until this outbreak is better contained.

Like others, I'm not in a panic over this situation, but it seems odd to me that there hasn't been more attempt to isolate the areas where the virus is rapidly spreading. It seems inevitable to me that there will be more cases around the world as a result, and how bad that could possibly be is hard to say just now.

So I'm watching this with interest and caution, but not yet outright worry.

Bill

[Scott Bails]

The more pertinent question is why is anyone being allowed to fly out of Liberia, or Sierra Leone? They screened Mr. Duncan for fever before he left Liberia, which he did not have, but 20 days later he died of Ebola. So the screening is no guarantee of preventing the disease from leaving the country. Virtually anyone leaving Liberia or Sierra Leone now may be carrying the disease. Rather than restrict entry into other countries, perhaps a better solution would be a quarantined waiting period before being allowed to leave these countries, until this outbreak is better contained.

Given how they've handled everything else related to this, why do you think they'd be competent with flight restrictions?

[Facelift]

A relative of mine works at a fairly high level of the US federal government, in a department that has involvement with the Ebola situation. This person told me that the government is unconcerned with the current cases of Ebola in the US developing into something larger, because of the level of contact necessary to catch the disease from someone.

Also, the mortality rate from Ebola is about 60% in Africa - but models suggest that it may only be about 25-35% in a first-world nation.

The risk of an Ebola outbreak in the US is still considered to be extremely low, and there is still plenty of time to train and prep hospitals to be much more effective in their screening and treatments in the event that a significant Ebola population was to arise. The fear is not that a few stray people here and there bring the disease to developed nations, but that the disease migrates from the isolated places in Africa where it currently is, to the large population centers in Africa where it currently is not. These large population centers are poor and are presently totally incapable of dealing with an Ebola outbreak. The WHO is trying to equip these places with the materials, manpower and the knowledge that would be necessary to do a much better job, but Ebola has the potential to kill millions of people in these poor urban areas of Africa.

My relative more or less told me this: if you live in the US (or Canada, UK, Western Europe, etc.) and are concerned about Ebola, there are numerous other things you can do for yourself that address much more pressing issues, like: put down the hot dog; don't drive while texting or talking (even hands-free); stop smoking; stop drinking alcohol; exercise, etc. Frankly don't drive at all. Getting into a car puts the average person much closer to death than the likelihood of catching *any* mortal disease (absent obvious risk factors, like working in a hospital taking care of people with mortal diseases).

[NogbadTheBad]

CNN love this stuff.

[proggosaurus]

wanna know about Ebola, read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

from the book

It attacks connective tissue with particular ferocity; it multiples in collagen, the chief constituent protein of the tissue that holds the organs together. In this way, collagen in the body turns to mush, and the underlayers of the skin die and liquefy. The skin bubbles up into a sea of tiny white blisters mixed with red spots known as a maculopapular rash. Spontaneous rips appear in the skin, and hemorrhagic blood pours from the rips. The red spots on the skin grow and spread and merge to become huge, spontaneous bruises, and the skin goes soft and pulpy, and can tear off if it is touched with any kind of pressure. Your mouth bleeds, and you bleed around your teeth, and you may have hemorrhages from the salivary glands—literally every opening in the body bleeds, no matter how small. The surface of the tongue turns brilliant red and then sloughs off, and is swallowed or spat out. It is said to be extraordinarily painful to lose the surface of one’s tongue. The tongue’s skin may be torn off during rushes of the black vomit. The back of the throat and the lining of the windpipe may also slough off, and the dead tissue slides down the windpipe into the lungs or is coughed up with sputum. Your heart bleeds into itself; the heart muscle softens and has hemorrhages into its chambers, and blood squeezes out of the heart muscle as the heart beats, and it floods the chest cavity. The brain becomes clogged with dead blood cells, a condition known as sludging of the brain. Ebola attacks the lining of the eyeball, and the eyeballs may fill up with blood: you may go blind. Droplets of blood stand out on the eyelids: you may weep blood. The blood runs from your eyes down your cheeks and refuses to coagulate…

edit....this is Ebola Zaire