Ebola: "Out of Control in West Africa"

[LarryW]

Originally Posted by Old Dog New Trick

No, no, no, Director Frieden, of the CDC says there is absolutely, positively, nothing to worry about!

Absolutely! Not even a smidgen of a risk...

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Might be four in the next day or two.

We are up to 18 exposed including 'at least' 5 schoolchildren in North, Texas.

[Richard]

America isn't Liberia - but...

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa..._isd_ebola.php

DISD letter:

http://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX0...-%20Conrad.pdf

And so it goes...

Richard

[Stobey]

Sorry. I couldn't resist...

[mugwump]

Yes, America isn't Liberia -- Liberia doesn't see the low temps and low humidity that many parts of the U.S. experience in winter.

Move a disease out of its home environment and interesting things can happen. I would be surprised if Ebola infection rates via surface fomites didn't pick up during winter.

A novel virus breaking into a naive population during the start of the viral disease season has to be keeping the infectious disease guys up at night.

[PSM]

Try to take a tomato (fruit not woman) from AZ to CA!

Pat

[Sdiver]

Hawaii patient in isolation over Ebola concerns

HONOLULU -- A Hawaii patient was being held in isolation in a Honolulu hospital Wednesday, and officials have not ruled out the possibility that the person may have contracted the Ebola virus, CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV reports.

A man who was checked into the hospital Wednesday morning was undergoing testing, state Health Department officials said. The patient had not yet been tested for the Ebola virus late Wednesday afternoon.

"We don't know why this person is ill," said Dr. Melissa Viray of the Department of Health. "But because we have concerns regarding Ebola as a possibility, even as a distant one, they are taking all the precautions that are necessary to keep people safe."

Hospitals across the state have been briefed by the Department of Health about standing operating procedure in the event of a possible Ebola case, Viray said.

The Department of Health would not confirm whether the man had traveled to or from West Africa in recent weeks but said that Ebola was just one of several conditions the man was being or would be tested for.

On Tuesday, a man in Texas who had recently arrived in the U.S. from Liberia became the first person on American soil to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The man was sent home from a Dallas-area emergency room last week despite having told a hospital employee that he had recently traveled to the United States from West Africa.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-co...-in-isolation/

[BryanK]

Wonderful. So when do we as individuals say when? These are some questions that have been tossed around the campfire recently.

When do we stop going to work?

When do we bug-in or out?

What warning signs are needed in order to consciously make those decisions?

When do we don the MOPP gear?

Who do we listen to when the talking heads are still maintaining that "Everything is fine"?

Natural disasters and/or man-made disasters are one thing, but biological hazards are another animal all together. My first instinct is to bug-in once Ebola cases start being confirmed in my state. That may seem hasty, but I'm not taking any chances when it comes to my family. I'd rather us be broke and alive than take that particular risk.

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by BryanK

Wonderful. So when do we as individuals say when? These are some questions that have been tossed around the campfire recently.

When do we stop going to work?

When do we bug-in or out?

What warning signs are needed in order to consciously make those decisions?

When do we don the MOPP gear?

Who do we listen to when the talking heads are still maintaining that "Everything is fine"?

Natural disasters and/or man-made disasters are one thing, but biological hazards are another animal all together. My first instinct is to bug-in once Ebola cases start being confirmed in my state. That may seem hasty, but I'm not taking any chances when it comes to my family. I'd rather us be broke and alive than take that particular risk.

It is being worked on as we speak

Four weeks to stop Ebola: 34 global organisations will warn international conference we have ONE MONTH to stop epidemic 'spiralling completely out of control'

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), on behalf of 34 NGOs, will warn we have a 'window of opportunity' to halt the 'exponential rise' in cases

IRC statement will call for a six-point action plan to tackle the epidemic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...y-control.html

I got one for them.......restrict travel to and from the hot zones!

Originally Posted by mugwump

A novel virus breaking into a naive population during the start of the viral disease season has to be keeping the infectious disease guys up at night.

Yeah, I am afraid though there some of those guys, some guys in Big Pharma and some guys in DC who can't sleep due the anticipation of the big bump up they plan on seeing in their stock portfolios....some of which will get kicked back in campaign donations for 2016.

[sinjefe]

You are about as likely to be infected by Ebola as you are to get AIDS. The government wants you to be afraid. Then you look to them for help. This is a non-crisis, IMHO.

[Go Devil]

Originally Posted by sinjefe

You are about as likely to be infected by Ebola as you are to get AIDS. The government wants you to be afraid. Then you look to them for help. This is a non-crisis, IMHO.

I agree with your assessment on the "Fear Factor", but I counter your application to AIDS, as AIDS trends towards a culture/vice that can be avoided.

This virus propagates on the care of the infected which crosses culture and vice.

[sinjefe]

Originally Posted by Go Devil

I agree with your assessment on the "Fear Factor", but I counter your application to AIDS, as AIDS trends towards a culture/vice that can be avoided.

This virus propagates on the care of the infected which crosses culture and vice.

Unless you are a nurse or doctor (PA, etc) you don't have anything worry about. Actually AIDS is more likely as the US Census estimated there to be 9,000,000 homosexual adults in the 2010 census.

There are only an estimated 56,000 Nurse Practitioners, 30,000 PAs (http://www.ahrq.gov/research/finding...rk2/index.html), and 209,000 Primary Care Physicians (same site). I know there are more, such as other types of doctors, orderlies, LPNs, etc, but I don't think it rises to anywhere near 9,000,000.

So, BL, if you aren't fucking someone in the ass and you don't work in direct contact with sick people, which most people don't, you have nothing to fear.

Smoke and mirrors. Lets get the public worried about Ebola so they don't worry about how stupid the government is in every other aspect.

[Rumblyguts]

John Stewart poked some fun at the "crisis" last night. His take-away was there are other things out there as well that can kill us...like pumpkin lattes, stray voltage, and nuclear power plants.

Just the crisis du jour.

[Sdiver]

Okay, so this guy in Dallas, "Patient Zero" as they're calling him, leaves Liberia after being in direct contact with CONFIRMED people with Ebola. Is cleared to fly to the US a few days later.

Comes here to the states. After a few days starts feeling "sick", goes to the hospital and is then SENT AWAY with antibiotics.

Several days after his initial visit, goes back to the same hospital and is admitted and later confirmed to have the virus in his system.

Yep, our hospital system has this covered and are prepared to handle an outbreak.

U.S. Ebola patient helped carry convulsing pregnant woman who later died of the virus days before he flew to Texas. Four more of his neighbors died too: So how was he allowed to board a plane?

Four days before he boarded a flight for the U.S., Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan carried an infected woman to a hospital in Liberia
That sick pregnant woman, her brother and three neighbors later died of the disease
Because he wasn't displaying any symptoms of the sickness, Mr Duncan was allowed to board a flight out of the country on September 19
Ebola can hide in the system for up to 21 days, raising questions about how hot-spot countries will stop the spread of the disease
Mr Duncan first admitted himself to the hospital on September 24, but was turned away with antibiotics despite telling staff he arrived from Liberia
He then spent two days getting sicker and sicker, and coming into contact with several family members - including five school children
Number of people with indirect contact to Ebola patient now more than 80
He is currently in 'serious but stable condition' at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
Mr Duncan will reportedly not receive experimental serum ZMapp, which helped save the lives of three American aid workers, because stock of the drug has run out


It appears an act of compassion led Thomas Eric Duncan to contract Ebola, and become the first patient diagnosed with the deadly disease on U.S. soil.

Just four days before he boarded a plane bound for Dallas, Texas, Duncan helped carry his landlord's convulsing pregnant daughter to a Liberian clinic to be treated for Ebola, The New York Times reports.

The woman, named by The Times as 19-year-old Marthalene Williams died the next day, after being turned away from the overcrowded hospital that didn't have room for her.

The landlord's son and three neighbors who came in contact with the woman also died soon afterwards.

But Mr Duncan wasn't showing any symptoms when he arrived at a Monrovia airport on September 19, and therefore was allowed on a flight out of Liberia bound for the U.S.


Current policy dictates that only those displaying symptoms of the disease are barred from flying. But Ebola can hide in the system for up to 21 days, raising serious concerns the disease will start turning up around the world.

In Liberia, Mr Duncan worked moving cargo for FedEx, but had recently quit his job when he acquired a visa to visit the U.S. where his son reportedly lives.

<snip>

Rest of the article here .... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ep-flight.html

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Rumblyguts

John Stewart poked some fun at the "crisis" last night. His take-away was there are other things out there as well that can kill us...like pumpkin lattes, stray voltage, and nuclear power plants.

Just the crisis du jour.

I think it's quite amusing that millions of TV viewers enjoy the political opinion of "comedians"......... rates right up there with "celebrity" opinions. I can't wait until porn stars rule the tv airwaves and are giving political advice to the UN.