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

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

Given we've had facilities in several locations treat patients successfully, I think this is confirmation that this Dallas facility really did fail to follow protocol.

Spoiler!

or it's a new strain and were all dead

Those are the 2 extremes we're facing.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

Given we've had facilities in several locations treat patients successfully, I think this is confirmation that this Dallas facility really did fail to follow protocol.

Spoiler!

or it's a new strain and were all dead

Yeah, I'll admit that it's troubling to have a second person be infected. Hopefully it really was just a breach in protocol.

[Donger]

(CNN) -- [Breaking News update 11:25 a.m.]

The second Dallas health care worker with Ebola was on a flight from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday -- the day before she reported symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Because of the proximity in time between the Monday evening flight and the first report of her illness, the CDC wants to interview all 132 passengers on her flight -- Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth, which landed at 8:16 p.m. CT Monday, the CDC said.

[Donger]

Yeah, they should probably not let health care workers who are/were in direct contact with symptomatic Ebola patients on commercial airplanes.

[RaiderH8r]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yeah, they should probably not let health care workers who are/were in direct contact with symptomatic Ebola patients on commercial airplanes.

You can totally ride a bus next to somebody with Ebola. Why not a flight? Totally safe. Obama tells us so.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yeah, they should probably not let health care workers who are/were in direct contact with symptomatic Ebola patients on commercial airplanes.

Or we shouldn't allow any old hospital to treat Ebola patients. Clearly this one wasn't up the task of preventing transmission.

Apparently it's an option the CDC is considering.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by RaiderH8r

You can totally ride a bus next to somebody with Ebola. Why not a flight? Totally safe. ***** tells us so.

There's a thread in DC.

[Donger]

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The CDC has announced that the second healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola traveled by air Oct. 13, the day before she first reported symptoms.

The CDC is now reaching out to all passengers who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth. The flight landed at 8:16 p.m. CT.

The CDC is asking all 132 passengers on the flight to call 1 800-CDC INFO (1 800 232-4636). Public health professionals will begin interviewing passengers about the flight after 1 p.m. ET.

The healthcare worker did not exhibit symptoms while on the flight, according to crew members. However, the precaution is needed due to the proximity in time between the flight and the first reported symptoms.

Frontier Airlines is working closely with the CDC to identify and notify all passengers on the flight. The airline also says the plane has been thoroughly cleaned but was removed from service following CDC notification.

[Mr. Laz]

apparently the boyfriend of the 1st healthcare worker has also been admitted to the hospital with ebola-like symptoms. I guess the CDC is now monitoring over 200 people who have had contact with an Ebola patience within the U.S. borders.

[rabblerouser]

Daaaaaang, Man!!

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

apparently the boyfriend of the 1st healthcare worker has also been admitted to the hospital with ebola-like symptoms. I guess the CDC is now monitoring over 200 people who have had contact with an Ebola patience within the U.S. borders.

I wish I could confidently say, "better late than never", but I don't believe that's true.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yeah, they should probably not let health care workers who are/were in direct contact with symptomatic Ebola patients on commercial airplanes.

It kind of blows my mind that the care workers who had direct contact with Duncan were not put in quarantine, or at least under close supervision/restrictions.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by kepp

I wish I could confidently say, "better late than never", but I don't believe that's true.

i'll say it again, the Director of the CDC should lose his job.

none of this has been handle seriously enough

everyone just assumed that 'it couldn't happen in the U.S.' and laughed it off

Hopefully this latest scare kicks things into gear for a more effective policy on the handling of possible Pandemics.

[Mr. Laz]

3rd Ebola Patient in Dallas Flew on Plane Monday
Posted: Oct 15, 2014 10:41 AM CDT
Updated: Oct 15, 2014 11:18 AM CDT
By WKRG Staff

Frontier Airlines and CDC confirm that the third patient traveled by air Oct. 13, the day before she reported symptoms.

BREAKING: Family members have confirmed the identity of the third Ebola patient as 26-year-old Amber Joy Vinson, a nurse with Texas Health Resources in Dallas.

UPDATE: Frontier Airlines and CDC confirm that the third patient traveled by air Oct. 13, the day before she reported symptoms. Officials have alerted passengers. She flew from Cleveland to Dallas after exposure.

The CDC is asking all 132 passengers of Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to DFW on Oct. 13 to contact 1-800-CDC-INFO.

The woman "exhibited no symptoms or sign of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew," Frontier Airlines said in a statement.

Earlier, she flew from Dallas-Fort Worth to Cleveland on Frontier Flight 1142 on October 10.

[ThaVirus]

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