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

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Cochise

The fact that we don't have an outbreak at present does not mean we should forego common sense precautions.

I don't disagree.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

"Survival instinct kicks in"

Calm your tits, Laz

so you don't think somebody feeling sick wouldn't lie about it to get into the U.S. for better medical care?

ummm ... stay in Africa/mexico etc and die in a pile of you own vomit or lie and get into the U.S. and have a chance to live?


I'm trying to figure out whether you are that naive or that stupid.

[Aries Walker]

Originally Posted by Donger

I still insist that, and I'm right. You can tell because we don't have an outbreak here.

Yep.

Also, this argument will prove itself one way or the other within a few weeks. Let's all come back then and compare notes.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Donger

I didn't say it wouldn't "matter." I said that wouldn't be what you said is happening.

there you go spinning and sparring with words just to be a dick

you couldn't care less about the topic

pretty much the definition of being a Troll

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

Yep.

Also, this argument will prove itself one way or the other within a few weeks. Let's all come back then and compare notes.

If there are any of us still alive then!

/splaz

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

so you don't think somebody feeling sick wouldn't lie about it to get into the U.S. for better medical care?



ummm ... stay in Africa/mexico etc and die in a pile of you own vomit or lie and get into the U.S. and have a chance to live?





I'm trying to figure out whether you are that naive or that stupid.

You should probably just stop talking. Maybe sit the next couple plays out.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

there you go spinning and sparring with words just to be a dick

you couldn't care less about the topic

pretty much the definition of being a Troll

I beg your pardon? YOU decided to interject whether or not a dozen Ebola cases "matters," not me. If you don't want me to respond to such things, don't say them.

And, yes, I do care about the topic. I'm just not panicking about it.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

Yep.

Also, this argument will prove itself one way or the other within a few weeks. Let's all come back then and compare notes.

no it won't

The chance is there because already happened ... somebody caught the ebola virus INSIDE the U.S.

This bullshit position of "unless half the U.S. dies, i was right" is just beyond stupid.

It's been mishandled from the very beginning.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

no it won't

The chance is there because already happened ... somebody caught the ebola virus INSIDE the U.S.

This bullshit position of "unless half the U.S. dies, i was right" is just beyond stupid.

It's been mishandled from the very beginning.

Yes, a health care worker who was in direct contact with a dying Ebola patient.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Maybe sit the next couple plays out.

well you're right about this



No reason to discuss a topic with group who are being too disingenuous for any discussion to be worthwhile.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

well you're right about this



No reason to discuss a topic with group who are being too disingenuous for any discussion to be worthwhile.

Not panicking = disingenuous?

Sorry we're not similarly running around with our hair on fire, toots.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

well you're right about this



No reason to discuss a topic with group who are being too disingenuous for any discussion to be worthwhile.

Yes. You just compared two cases of Ebola in the United States to the outbreak in West Africa, and we're be disingenuous...

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Awful short sighted cartoon. All people are wanting is preventative measures, and more measures taken so this DOESNT turn into something problematic.

Originally Posted by Cochise

The fact that we don't have an outbreak at present does not mean we should forego common sense precautions.

What measures have not been taken that you feel should have been?

[teedubya]

Not sure if this is bullshit or not, but I read that taking 1-2g of Vitamin C per day will help against getting ebola, as ebola allegedly acts like an advanced "sped-up" type of scurvy.

I'm not too concerned, taking Vitamin C is a good practice, regardless.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by teedubya

Not sure if this is bullshit or not, but I read that taking 1-2g of Vitamin C per day will help against getting ebola, as ebola allegedly acts like an advanced "sped-up" type of scurvy.

I'm not too concerned, taking Vitamin C is a good practice, regardless.

An apple a day keeps Ebola away.