Ebola

[BrianSD_42]

Here's another reason why you should be absolutely terrified of Ebola Zaire.
* 90% mortality rate
* Transmitted via saliva, sweat and blood interactions
* Much much easier to transmit than HIV
* Defeats the immune system in days vs years with HIV
* Closely related to HIV but still unique

When the Army tested Ebola for pathogen research in the 90s they did a test where they contaminated a glass of drinking water with a few droplets of blood and let it sit indoors, at room temperature, no direct sunlight for 5 days. 5 days! Then they took samples of that water and contaminated monkey blood with it, then they waited and tested the blood. The Army scientists confirmed that the Monkey blood had become infected due to exposure to the 5 day old water, the Monkey cells showed the signs of the virus and were eventually destroyed by the virus.

This means that in a lab it was confirmed that Ebola virus can live in standing water for 5 days. The implications are significant. To put it in perspective the HIV virus can only live 20-30 seconds in such conditions and still be able to infect cells / a host.

Now I'm not a scientist but I've done some reading lately and its pretty scary. This is a virus that it is in everyone's best interest to fight (via massive aid) RIGHT NOW.

 

[masphx]

Look, the fact is this strain of Ebola spreading thoughout west Africa is not that contagious. For the most part you need to be in direct contact with someone who has it. I can see this spreading throughout most of Africa and other parts of the world. When it reaches us (the western world) something like this is easy to stop as it is just not contagious enough and we have the capacity and isolation facilities to handle it (people will freak out though). In the end we will be following this Ebola outbreak for some time.

Now something truly scary is the bird flu or a different more aggressive flu which is deadly and can spread via the air. If that type of pandemic happened western nations are ill prepared.

All this armchair talk gets me in the mood to watch Outbreak. Good movie about this stuff.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Outbreak is a great movie

 

[MtnT4R]

If you are in favor of US doing more, far far more then great we agree.

But if the attitude is that these measures won't work, I'm going to criticize them, but I really support the US doing nothing ... well that I personally disagree with.

I'm not sure where you fall.

I'm opposed to half measures. If we want to send aid, then great- it should be an all out effort to stop this epidemic in its tracks. The most efficient way to do this is what Doc2012 outlined, and what Sierra Leone announced this morning- quarantine of over a million people in affected areas.

IF transmission rates are to be slowed and stopped, opening small care centers all over the place that are very hard to secure against escapees and other nefarious activities will only result in continued spread of the virus.

Supportive care is the only treatment and reduces the fatality rate by about 20%- significant, but this cannot be done without exposing valuable resources and skilled medical staff not only to virus transmission, but attack by scared locals. There have already been reports of doctors and burial teams being attacked, with several doctors and journalists killed already.

When something this scary gets out of control, people panic and become a huge danger to themselves and others, making human nature just as deadly as the virus itself- if the already unstable infrastructure of these West African nations degrades further, Ebola will be joined by uncontrolled violence in decimating the population. Liberia's news outlets published something today accusing the US of manufacturing and spreading the Ebola virus, which will only serve to incite more panic and fear, putting American lives directly at risk.

Don't get me wrong- I strongly support massive international aid to squash this thing and prevent needless pain and suffering, not to mention stop the destabilization of an entire continent, but there is no indication that this is going to happen- no indication that any other nation is willing to even match American involvement.

 

[MtnT4R]

Well gentlemen, we have a serious problem.

CDC Confirms Patient In Dallas Has The Ebola Virus « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

I find it laughable that anyone would bother to believe the CDC saying that there is 'aboslutely no chance' that anyone else on the flight was infected, and arent bothering to contact anyone to follow up. Its this kind of arrogance that gets people killed. More than a few health workers in West Africa have been infected in places where they were not likely to contract the virus, but we keep brushing it off, saying we are sure how its transmitted and we know exactly when people become contagious. Shouldn't we be acting out of an abundance of caution? Especially at this stage?

 

[LandCruiser]

We're too PC to put a quick end to this problem.

 

[ndcent]

We're too PC to put a quick end to this problem.

What quick end is that?

 

[LittleCaesar]

I don't how the CDC can say that no one else was infected with any degree of certainty. Can you imagine sitting next to this person across the Atlantic, or even in the same row? One time I sat down next to a lady that told me she was getting over the flu. When all were informed that the flight was overbooked, and they asked for volunteers to take a later flight, I was first off. I had just gotten over it three days prior.

I am no hypercondriac by any stretch, but having taken a year of Microbiology, seeing the microscopic stuff can be daunting.

I can also say with certainty that just a change in environment for viruses, bacteria, and other microbes with no other impacting external variables can cause them to react differently. This could be good, bad, or have no effect on the makeup of the virus.

This is why we need a very big presence in Africa to contain and quell Ebola.

 

[LandCruiser]

What quick end is that?

Stop all flights from Africa.

 

[MtnT4R]

UN Ebola chief raises 'nightmare' that virus could become airborne | Daily Mail Online

One of the bullet point at the top was interesting. At the current rate of transmission, 5 people are being infected per hour.

 

[Hepar]

While the idea of an epidemic does scare me, I will admit that there is a small part of me that thinks things like this for the long run of our species, are a good thing. The last thing we need today is for our population numbers to continue to increase.

Outbreak is a great movie

NO. Horrible movie. I don't think I left my house for a week after watching it.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I just finished reading (audible) "The Hot Zone" (true story of Ebola in the US in 1990)

Holy #%€$@!!!! Read this one!

 

[chimpy]

Read this:The five biggest lies about Ebola being pushed by government and mass media - NaturalNews.com

 

[CdaleR4000si]

I just finished reading (audible) "The Hot Zone" (true story of Ebola in the US in 1990)

Holy #%€$@!!!! Read this one!

I was able to see a lecture by Richard Preston, when I was in college. It was about 2 years after he wrote The Hot Zone. Let me tell you, I was freaking terrified after hearing him speak.
He touched on Ebola and Bioterrorism, particularly how Ebola could be used as a weapon. Scared the crap out of me.

I don't know what the solution is, but I hope someone figures out how to contain this. Damn nasty stuff.

 

[BrianSD_42]

The five points made by that article are:


"Lie #1) Ebola won't ever come to the United States

This lie was shattered just this week when the CDC confirmed Ebola in a hospital patient in Dallas, Texas."


"Lie #2) Ebola is only spread via direct contact with body fluids

This outrageous medical lie may soon cost the lives of millions of innocent people. In truth, Ebola can spread through the air over short distances via aerosols - airborne particles.

Ebola can also spread via contaminated surfaces. When an infected patient makes contact with a surface such as a doorknob or ATM keypad, they may leave behind the Ebola virus which survives for many minutes or hours in the open, depending on environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.) Another person who touches the same surface may then become instantly infected by simply touching their own eyes, nose or mouth"



"Lie #3) Don't worry: Health authorities have everything under control

The overarching lie about Ebola that's being repeated by the U.S. government is "Don't worry, we have it under control!"

Of course, the fact that an infected Ebola victim just flew right into the country with Ebola, then walked around the city of Dallas for 10 days while carrying Ebola, utterly belies the false promises of health authorities who claim to have things under control"




I didn't post the last two as they seem like BullSh$t from a natural cures type of website.

 

[BrianSD_42]

The real problem is that the virus is extremely hard to decontaminate. As was stated earlier it is believed (by CDC and US Army) to be capable of living for AT LEAST five days in sweat, water, grease, oil or other non dry material even when fully exposed to open air at room temperature. Compare this to HIV which can live for 20 seconds in those conditions.

So in theory at least if someone infected sweats on a keyboard then the grease and sweat-oil on that keyboard (or gas pump) may be infectious for days and days later.

 

[MtnT4R]

While the idea of an epidemic does scare me, I will admit that there is a small part of me that thinks things like this for the long run of our species, are a good thing.

Good thing or not, its happened before and it will almost certainly happen again. Especially if our gov't continues to be so arrogant about their isolation control measures. This outbreak certainly has the potential to wipe out at least half of the world's population.

Not only is all the reassurance from the CDC and our gov't that we have the means to control something like this inaccurate, we should be under no illusions that our health care system can handle anything resembling an outbreak like this without totally breaking down.

Have any of you lived in a town where there has been a mass casualty situation? If a city bus rolls over and puts 100 people in immediate need of medical attention, there are barely enough first responders available at any one time to secure a big accident like that, let alone respond to other emergencies across the rest of their jurisdiction. And this isn't taking into account municipalities that have seen major cutbacks in funding and personnel, which is what, probably half the towns in the nation after 2008?

With the long incubation period and the fact that the the virus can live outside a host for several days, flushing into storm drains and water supply, The Hot Zone would be a fairytale compared to what we might be dealing with. I'm with you guys, that book scared the bejeezus out of me-probably shouldn't have read it when I was only like 10 years old.

 

[MyHigh]

I'm just going to close my eyes and hope it all goes away! :lalala:

 

[MtnT4R]

*Doctor dons Ebola protection suit to protest CDC | www.ajc.com

This protesting trauma physician said it very well:

“Once this disease consumes every third world country, as surely it will, because they lack the same basic infrastructure as Sierra Leone and Liberia, at that point, we will be importing clusters of Ebola on a daily basis,” Mobley predicted. “That will overwhelm any advanced country’s ability to contain the clusters in isolation and quarantine. That spells bad news.”

 

[BrianSD_42]

Just because a trauma physician said something doesn't make it true.

There are plenty of idiot physicians out there.