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

[Sorce]

To be fair, Aaron Hernandez has killed more people in the United States than ebola at this point.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

[B]U.S. considers mandatory quarantine

The United States is considering a mandatory quarantine for all returning health care workers from West Africa, an Obama administration official said Friday. Officials do not believe there is a risk of transmission from someone not exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms, but they want to reassure the public, the administration official said.

No doubt....

[DaFace]

Interesting infographic for additional context.

(May be easier to read if you just click the link.)

http://images.nationalgeographic.com...1414181642.png

[thabear04]

Travis posted this picture saying



Out here dodging Ebola like....

[TimeForWasp]

Originally Posted by vailpass

I'm told I got ebola from a blow job. I did experience heightened heart rate followed by bodily fluid evacuation but as yet am feeling fine otherwise. Will keep you updated...

Your new name should now be Ebolapass.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Interesting infographic for additional context.

What the heck is this plague of Justinian thing, and why wasn't I told about it?

How many people were on earth in the 6th century? It seems like this would have been a threat to the very existence of humanity.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

What the heck is this plague of Justinian thing, and why wasn't I told about it?

How many people were on earth in the 6th century? It seems like this would have been a threat to the very existence of humanity.

It decimated the Byzantine Empire and contributed to the rise of everyone's favorite religion. When they were still in their infancy and were starting to conquer the ME and many parts of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantines were so decimated by this plague that they struggled to stop it (which they didn't obviously). Justinian survived it though, but it messed him up good.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by tredadda

It decimated the Byzantine Empire and contributed to the rise of everyone's favorite religion. When they were still in their infancy and were starting to conquer the ME and many parts of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantines were so decimated by this plague that they struggled to stop it (which they didn't obviously). Justinian survived it though, but it messed him up good.

Actually, stopped the westward expansion of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantines were well on their way to conquering Italy and were looking to press further.

As for the numbers the East had a much bigger population and was way more urbanized then the West during the dark ages. Greece, Eastern Turkey, the Levant, and Egypt were all parts of the Eastern Roman Empire.

[Donger]

New York doctor cleared of Ebola, which means there are no known Ebola cases in the U.S.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...es-in-the-u-s/

The doctor who contracted Ebola in West Africa before returning to New York City has been declared free of the virus, hospital officials announced Monday. This news means that 41 days after the first Ebola diagnosis in the United States, there are no known cases of the virus in the country.

[Bugeater]

Now what do we panic about?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Now what do we panic about?

New York doctor cleared of Ebola, which means there are no known Ebola cases in the U.S.

That's just what they want us to think.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Donger

New York doctor cleared of Ebola, which means there are no known Ebola cases in the U.S.

That's just what they want us to think.

It's all part of Obama's plan to destroy the USA

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Now what do we panic about?

There is a serious dearth of good titties.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Now what do we panic about?

HPV

[Pitt Gorilla]

You panty waists still worried about catching the ebola?