Ebola Has the next scare began?

[Maharg67]

Worst case is a future mutation of the Ebola virus that makes it even deadlier than it is now and that it has gains bridgeheads across the world.

 

My own national government, of Australia, has been pathetic in its responses to the crisis.

 

Too many around the world are foolishly complacent about the terrible pandemic could take place if we do not do more to stop it now. There are even good 'selfish' reasons to do more, to spend more, and that is our own survival and that we may have to spend far more, take far more drastic steps in future, if matters become worse.

[Beriallord]

They're out of their mind if they haven't placed a travel ban from these regions suffering from widespread Ebola. Meaning nobody from these regions enters the USA, period until the situation improves. As its already been proven, we can't stop somebody from lying to get into the USA. When it comes to the possibility of spreading a very deadly pandemic, we can't take your word at face value, so nobody from that region should be allowed into this country.

 

I think the media is lying out their teeth about the severity of how contageous Ebola is. Many healthcare workers not only in Africa, but in the USA have caught it even when going in with full hazmat suits. These people are not stupid, especially physicians. So that has to make one wonder if they truly know what they're dealing with here? Also, why was a healthcare worker who recently treated an Ebola patient allowed to get on an airplane within the US? If there was a case of someone being dumb, then this is it. Shouldn't people who recently treat ebola patients be put on a "no fly" list? For at least a couple weeks?

 

I don't think any healthcare worker should be forced to treat an ebola patient either, considering the recent track record, and how deadly this virus is. Nurses get paid good money, but they don't get paid well enough to risk catching Ebola. They should get hazard pay for like 3x their salary if they decide to treat an ebola patient. Its only fair.

 

Hospitals in the USA don't have enough isolation/hazmat rooms to treat a large number patients with contageous deadly viruses like ebola. So if things get out of hand, our medical system really isn't equipped to deal with it, and past that point things would be guaranteed to get worse. I heard a doctor on TV saying how he was surprised they haven't established a secure ebola treatment facility either on a military base, or setting up a government facility that isn't currently in use to handle this problem while mitigating the risk of it spreading in a hospital that treats a variety of patients. Why haven't they done this already?

 

If ebola spreads its purely based on the incompetence of governmnet regarding its immigration policies, and handling of the situation after it got to the USA.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Beriallord

[Tidus44]

I just got home after spending the end of Sept and October doing work with the Rangers for ASAM and for MSF in Africa. I have been in a fair number of countries in the last month traveling by aircraft, ground vehicle or walking and the only place I saw or heard the words "Ebola Scare" was in a USA newspaper at Heathrow on Friday (Oct 31) afternoon.

The MSF team I was with consisted of 2 doctors (an American and a Belgian) and 4 nurses (Canadians), but there were also a number of teams in house and while conversation did include Ebola as a topic, no one was overly concerned about coming in contact with it; yellow fever, malaria and guerrillas (and driving 150 kph in a right hand drive vehicle in a convoy) were of greater concern and more likely what was going to put the hurt on someone. As for ebola becoming airborne - yeah, that and me winning the lottery two weeks in a row using the same numbers have about the same potential of occurring.

 

There was also a fair bit of laughter from the medical people over how the CDC was handling the Dallas incident in early Oct; and while I was in the back country from Oct 21st until the 30th and had no contact with the outside world, it seems the CDC is still talking like ebola is an immediate threat to the entire planet and we are all about to die, but then treats potential contacts in the most lackadaisical way possible.

I did have Immigration officials in various countries ask or I had to complete forms/questionnaires that did general screening for potential contact with ebola, but no one was freaking out over it as far as I saw or heard, except the USA. I met other travelers in Nelspruit, Johannesburg, Beira and Heathrow who were saying that the TSA was subjecting travelers from Africa to hours of interrogation and isolation and people were trying to bypass or figure out how to be dishonest in order to avoid receiving the same treatment. I didn't even get a second look from Nelspruit.immigration coming back from Nigeria, but apparently if you were anywhere in Africa the TSA was afraid of you.

I'm just thankful I didn't have to go anywhere near the USA on traveling.

 

It looked to me that the only place there was a "scare" or anyone was afraid was in the USA.

[Harbringe]

I wish people including Health and Government sources would stop saying that it cannot be transmitted via the air , why they are doing this I can only assume is for political reasons.

 

In 2012 Health reserchers at the National Labratories in Winnipeg Canada had been hearing reports that ebola was being transmitted via the air , but there was no scientific backing to these claims (Field Reports only) . Here is the actual study.

 

http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html

 

This was their finding: The present study provides evidence that infected pigs can efficiently transmit ZEBOV to NHPs in conditions resembling farm setting. Our findings support the hypothesis that airborne transmission may contribute to ZEBOV spread, specifically from pigs to primates, and may need to be considered in assessing transmission from animals to humans in general.

 

So basically what does the study say. Well it doesn't appear that the virus aerilizes in the same way as say a flu virus would , but that at a certain point there is a limited range contamination risk via the air . For your Health and Government Officials to be saying there is no risk of airborne transmission , when there is evidence to the contrary is both stupid and dangerous , for it sets in people a false sense of security and they fail to take proper measures to protect themselves .

 

As for the fear factor that seems to be so amped in certain conservative/republican spheres in the US and yes even a few liberal/democrat sources , you have to remember it is an election year and fear politics is the norm in the USA, also there are many lobbyist working for medical comglomerates that see a lot of free money (public money) to be made in this. And where there is money and fear and politics and certain media being the purveyor's of that fear, there is stupidity.

 

So to speak to the most ignorant of all the notions I have heard that we need to quarantine West Africa being spread by the likes of Hannity , O Riley of Fox News or the likes of Rush Limbaugh ,that sort of approach has never turned out well . Its really simple as far as it being an outbreak it is in its infancy and if you simply quarantined the whole region and let it run its own course you increase the probability that it will run across someone with a cold or a flu or some other disease that could cause it to mutate into a much more virulent adult . Kill it in its infancy , don't wait for it to become an adult . History has shown that when we have isolated ourselves or others it is in that isolation that diseases of this nature have been able to mature into pandemics and you don't want that.

 

Finally when it comes to those who hype the fear , it is strange that they all seem to be calling for the Government to do more , yet many of these are the same people who for last 6 years have been telling you just let the free market handle your health care issues , its so much more efficient after all , at least that's what they have been telling you ,but bullshit is what they are feeding you. When it comes to this Ebola virus and in truth all diseases of this nature its been public money ie socialized government spending that has been doing the research and development . Right now an experimental drug called zmapp is being used to combat this but its not a vaccine (We in Canada trying to develope that separately) , it was developed here in Canada at the National Labratories in Winnipeg funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (socialized government spending) and in the US its been agencies like National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency who have funded related research, all of it socialized government spending and what have private corporations funded , that would be virtually nothing . So why is that . It simple in the equation of diseases like this there is little or no profit margin , its either you kill it or it kills you , ebola , bubonic plague , shagus disease and a whole host of others where that's the simple reality and Corporations are not going to invest money in that which they can't make money at.You Americans need to realize that your health and their profits are 2 differents things and you shouldn't give a damn about their profits when it comes to your health.

[Vagrant0]

Not worried. Probably just a political scheme or news stunt to cover up something else. Even if all our fears are justified, the Human population could use a bit of thinning out anyway.

[Tidus44]

I wish people including Health and Government sources would stop saying that it cannot be transmitted via the air , why they are doing this I can only assume is for political reasons.

 

No one has said that ebola cannot be transmitted via the air. Ebola is not an airborne virus and the term must be understood in context of the virus and how it is spread.

 

Airborne infection; means the virus is transmitted by its presence on particles, dust, or droplet nuclei suspended in the air and must be inhaled via the respiratory route.

 

Direct contact means that body fluids from an infected person have come into contact with someone’s eyes, nose, or mouth; an open cut, wound, or abrasion and inhaled, ingested or absorbed.

 

So what is the difference between airborne and direct contact mean in practical terms?

If you stand 6 feet away from someone with ebola and don't specifically get contaminated by a body fluid, there is a 1% chance (or less) of getting infected.

If you stand 6 feet away from a patient with measles or influenza (and you're not immune) then there's a 100% chance you'll get infected.

 

In other words, ebola is not all that contagious.

 

Ebola spreads by direct contact with body fluids such as saliva, mucus, vomit, feces, sweat, tears, breast milk, urine, and semen of an infected human. A person infected with ebola who coughs or sneezes may spray body fluid into the air and thus onto another person who may ingest, inhale or absorb a droplet. However, this is not airborne transmission, it is still direct contact with body fluids. The virus can be spread by breast milk and seman/vaginal fluids up to 3 months after recovery - again, this is direct contact with a body fluid.

 

Outside of the body, the survival of the ebola virus is dependent on numerous factors such as temperature and humidity. The virus can survive for several hours on dry surfaces and may survive in blood for several days and it is believed the virus may survive up to 10 days in optimum conditions. However, exact times are unknown. Droplets from coughing or sneezing would not remain airborne very long and would drop to surfaces fairly quickly. However, again transmission by direct contact is required to spread the virus meaning someone would need to be in direct contact with a droplet and absorb, ingest or inhale it.

 

To suggest that there is a government conspiracy in the use of terminology is simply a different form of fear mongering.

 

As for the study, all it does is suggest the possibility of spread of ebola from pigs to farm workers in the Philippines could have occurred either by inhalation (of aerosol or larger droplets), and/or droplet inoculation of eyes and mucosal surfaces and/or by fomites due to droplets generated during cleaning processes. It does not suggest the virus spread by airborne transmission.

 

The hype and misinformation and general stupidity of US bureaucrats and the US media who rely on emotional impact rather than science or medical fact is why people such as Kaci Hickox who pose absolutely no threat to anyone are being forced to be in isolation. The idea that an ebola pandemic will occur in North America because someone was in Africa and came into the US is just about the most ridiculous thing ever suggested.

[Aurielius]

I would agree that the US news has treated this as a ratings bonanza.

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[JimboUK]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/opinion/charles-blow-the-ebola-hysteria.html?_r=0

 

Here's some common sense.

[Deleted1205226User]

http://i57.tinypic.com/2hol1c7.jpg

[Beriallord]

^^ Comparing deadly diseases to poor lifestyle choices? That is about as ignorant of a comparison as I've seen anyone make.