I don't want to panic anyone, but Ebola may be coming to a town near you

[Skyy God]

At least we won't have to slog through another 7-9 Chiefs season....

Now there are American casualties.

Not in Gaza, and not on the ill-fated Malaysian airliner. Now there are American casualties in another war very far away so maybe, goddammit, somebody should start paying more attention to it.

Kent Brantly, 33, an American doctor who has been working in Liberia since October for the North Carolina-based aid organization Samaritan's Purse, is receiving intensive medical treatment after he was infected with Ebola, according to a spokeswoman for the group. Melissa Strickland said Brantly, who is married and has two children, was talking with his doctors and working on his computer while being treated. A second U.S. citizen, Nancy Writebol, also has tested positive for Ebola, Samaritan's Purse said. Writebol is employed by mission group SIM in Liberia and was helping a joint SIM/Samaritan's Purse team treating Ebola patients in Monrovia. Writebol is married with two children, the organization said. "Both of them tonight are in stable condition," Ken Isaacs, Samaritan Purse's vice president of programs and government relations, said Sunday. "But they are not out of the woods yet."

That's some serious Damien-at-Molokai hero stuff right there, still being at your computer while you're being treated for one of the most vicious diseases on the planet. Other medical professionals, alas, are not as lucky.

A Liberian government official said Sunday that one of that country's highest-profile doctors has died in what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls the largest recorded outbreak of the disease...The first Liberian doctor to die of the disease was identified as Samuel Brisbane. He was working as a consultant with the internal medicine unit at the country's largest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia. Brisbane, who once was a medical adviser to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, was taken to a treatment center on the outskirts of the capital after falling ill with Ebola and died there, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister. He said another doctor who had been working in Liberia's central Bong County also was being treated for Ebola at the same center where Brisbane died. The situation "is getting more and more scary," Nyenswah said.

Yes, you could say that. The disease is now in both Nigeria and Liberia, and not in the backwater places any more, either, but in the capital cities. The ones with millions of people. And airports.

Over the weekend, health officials in Nigeria raced to stop the spread of Ebola after a man sick with the disease arrived on a flight in Lagos, Africa's largest city with 21 million people. He later died. The man's ability to board an international flight raised new fears that other passengers could carry the disease beyond Africa because of weak passenger inspection and the fact that Ebola's initial symptoms can resemble those of other illnesses. Isaacs said in an interview that "where it gets really scary" is that the disease, which was previously seen only "in very remote, small villages in Africa" is now being contracted by people in the capital cities of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. "Now the disease has been introduced into the big urban areas with millions of people," he said. "In the big cities, people can get on an airplane and fly out." Isaacs does not believe this outbreak his peaked. "I think the worst is yet to come," he said. "I hope I'm wrong."

Meanwhile, the local customs aren't helping a lot, either.

Koroma, 32, a resident of the densely populated Wellington district, had been admitted to an isolation ward while blood samples were tested for the virus, said Sidi Yahya Tunis, a health ministry spokesman. The results came back on Thursday. "The family of the patient stormed the hospital and forcefully removed her and took her away," Tunis said. "We are searching for her."

Jesus save us. I don't mean to sound like a cultural imperialist -- although I seriously doubt that the people in rural Sierra Leone are acting out of what they know about the Tuskegee experiments, or what happened in Guatemala in the 1940's -- but snatching an Ebola patient out of the hospital doesn't sound like a very good way to fight the disease, family networks notwithstanding. (The purloined patient eventually died.) This thing is one airplane flight away from being an international catastrophe, but there is no boom-boom, and without boom-boom, there is no news. However, you know, Americans are getting sick now. Hey, Wolf! Over here?

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politic...Ebola_Outbreak

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by KC native

Their sneeze droplets would have to land in your mouth or nose for you to get ebola.

That's not too much of a stretch given our nose is always open (and sucking in air, making it worse).

But there isn't much risk in transmission through touching "infected" surfaces then?

[KC native]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

That's not too much of a stretch given our nose is always open (and sucking in air, making it worse).

But there isn't much risk in transmission through touching "infected" surfaces then?

From what I read, no.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I'm just saying. It sounds like, in optimal conditions, this isn't much less communicable than the average flu virus.

People keep saying there's nothing to worry about unless you come in contact with their bodily fluids, but as someone mentioned earlier, people cough and sneeze into their hands all the time and touch shit immediately after. Some people even just sneeze and cough into the air. What's to stop those droplets from settling on a surface and being touched by someone that isn't yet infected and then them touching their face?

It may "sound like", but it's not true. Flu is airborne - it can float around in a room where you're just sitting near people.Ebola requires actual bodily fluid contact.

If you're 2 feet from someone's face when the projectile sneezes directly in your gaping mouth, then sure, you might get it. But if you're in the next room, you're fine.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by KC native

Their sneeze droplets would have to land in your mouth or nose for you to get ebola.

Or on a surface that someone touches and then rubs their eyes, or nose, or mouth...

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by KC native

HOLY ****! The people running Dallas Presbyterian are ****ing morons....

Now, THAT's some name-calling i can get behind.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by kepp

Or on a surface that someone touches and then rubs their eyes, or nose, or mouth...

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Thin the herd.. Yep. I'm good with that.

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I keep hearing it only spreads through "bodily fluids" but does that include sneezing and coughs?

infected ebola patient takes a plane ride, sneezes but covers mouth with hands

puts hand on armrest

passenger A, sitting next to them on plane, puts hand on same armrest little later then rubs eye irritated by shitty air in plane.

Passenger A then flies off to random city, USA where they have sex with husband.

Husband then has affair with secretary

Secretary then goes home and ****s husband

Husband then gives kid a kiss goodbye when dropping off to preschool

Preschools are a haven for breeding/transferring sickness

by the end of the week, half the kids in his class have it

preschool class all go home and kiss their parents goodnight and generally slobber all over everyone they come in contact with

All this easily happens within the 21 to 42 incubation period of Ebola so nobody even knows the original Ebola plane passenger is even sick yet.

Hello U.S. outbreak


but don't worry, it will could NEVER,EVER happen in the United States because the U.S. is not a 3rd world country where people wipe their asses with their hands./CP

[Donger]

Originally Posted by KC native

Duncan was suspected of having Ebola when he was admitted to a hospital isolation unit Sept. 28, and he developed projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea later that day, according to medical records his family turned over to The Associated Press.

But workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas did not abandon their gowns and scrubs for hazmat suits until tests came back positive for Ebola about 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to details of the records released by AP.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by kepp

Or on a surface that someone touches and then rubs their eyes, or nose, or mouth...

True, though it only survives for a few hours when dried.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

That's not too much of a stretch given our nose is always open (and sucking in air, making it worse).

But there isn't much risk in transmission through touching "infected" surfaces then?

Here:

How long does Ebola live outside the body?

Ebola is killed with hospital-grade disinfectants (such as household bleach). Ebola on dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours; however, virus in body fluids (such as blood) can survive up to several days at room temperature.

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/qas.html

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

infected ebola patient takes a plane ride, sneezes but covers mouth with hands

puts hand on armrest

passenger A, sitting next to them on plane, puts hand on same armrest little later then rubs eye irritated by shitty air in plane.

Passenger A then flies off to random city, USA where they have sex with husband.

Husband then has affair with secretary

Secretary then goes home and ****s husband

Husband then gives kid a kiss goodbye when dropping off to preschool

Preschools are a haven for breeding/transferring sickness

by the end of the week, half the kids in his class have it

preschool class all go home and kiss their parents goodnight and generally slobber all over everyone they come in contact with

All this easily happens within the 21 to 42 incubation period of Ebola so nobody even knows the original Ebola plane passenger is even sick yet.

Hello U.S. outbreak


but don't worry, it will could NEVER,EVER happen in the United States because the U.S. is not a 3rd world country where people wipe their asses with their hands./CP

All accurate, except for the rather important part that bodily fluids aren't full of the virus unless and until the person is symptomatic.

That would make an awesome movie, however.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by KC native

...or bangs their head on...

[Discuss Thrower]

There's no way Ebola doesn't end up killing tens of thousands of Americans on the low side. Nobody in the health care industry outside of the four CDC-rated facilities can adequately handle the infection.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by kepp

...or bangs their head on...

or a plane seat
or cab door
or bathroom door
or grocery store cart handle


endless

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

There's no way Ebola doesn't end up killing tens of thousands of Americans on the low side. Nobody in the health care industry outside of the four CDC-rated facilities can adequately handle the infection.

No.