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

[Miles]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

How is it transmitted?

Humans are not the natural hosts of the Ebola virus, and it's believed that the first person in any outbreak became infected through contact with an infected animal, the CDC says. Animals that are reported to have spread disease to humans include chimpanzees, gorillas, forest antelopes and cynomolgus monkeys, according to the World Health Organization. Once one person has become infected, the disease can spread from person to person through contact with the blood, saliva, mucus or other secretions. In the countries where Ebola has occurred, the disease is frequently spread in health care settings to workers who have had contact with patients and do not wear protective clothing or masks, the CDC says. Re-use of contaminated needles can also spread the disease.

[Rasputin]

I've seen this movie before

[dmahurin]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

You're right. They said there was at least one strain that humans can catch but don't seem to be harmed by. I think they said some researchers contracted that strain from some rhesus monkeys or something.

Maybe the report I read included all cases of Ebola, not just the one that is most fatal.

If I recall right, depending on the strain it's any where from a 25% to 90% mortality rate. Which is scary considering the Spanish influenza in the teens had a 2% mortality rate.

[seamonster]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

Yep, i don't give a shit how many safety precautions they are taking. The risks are too great, you don't bring Ebola INTO the country.

If doctors and scientist was to study and treat the patients then send them do it in some remote medical facility in a country we don't care about.

Pakistan would be a wonderful place to treat a deadly disease.

I'm not scared by ebola as much as how people in the midwest are so ****ing stupid and ignorant to modern medicine. The sheer breadth of paranoia and ignorance that exists in the US in redneck infested areas is ****ing astounding. A third world developing monkey virus that spreads when people wipe their ass with their hand isn't going to infect your grandmother, genius.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by seamonster

I'm not scared by ebola as much as how people in the midwest are so ****ing stupid and ignorant to modern medicine. The sheer breadth of paranoia and ignorance that exists in the US in redneck infested areas is ****ing astounding. A third world developing monkey virus that spreads when people wipe their ass with their hand isn't going to infect your grandmother, genius.

I hit a nerve, must be from pakistan


Oh and GFY

[seamonster]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

I hit a nerve, must be from pakistan


Oh and GFY

Eastern Seaboard.

[BeeHo]

don't worry.

Cuban, Hoffman and Spacey are on the job.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Just read that there have been 1300-ish reported cases and 700-ish deaths. That's a far cry from the 90% death rate I had been reading about. Plus, you have to take into account that those cases all originated in Africa with no where near our level of awareness about the disease or medical technology.

I may be off base here, but it doesn't sound like this will wipe out any large percentage of the population.

Yeah cuz a disease even with a 60% mortality rate that kills you in less than a week, causing you to bleed out of your eyes is no big deal. A disease mind you that has shown a propensity to maybe become an airborne virus at some point of time, with many different strands.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by seamonster

I'm not scared by ebola as much as how people in the midwest are so ****ing stupid and ignorant to modern medicine. The sheer breadth of paranoia and ignorance that exists in the US in redneck infested areas is ****ing astounding. A third world developing monkey virus that spreads when people wipe their ass with their hand isn't going to infect your grandmother, genius.

Your bigotry is strong my friend.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by seamonster

Eastern Seaboard.

Of course you are. Of course.

[KCrockaholic]

Originally Posted by seamonster

I'm not scared by ebola as much as how people in the midwest are so ****ing stupid and ignorant to modern medicine. The sheer breadth of paranoia and ignorance that exists in the US in redneck infested areas is ****ing astounding. A third world developing monkey virus that spreads when people wipe their ass with their hand isn't going to infect your grandmother, genius.

I usually go to Chiefsplanet and vent when I'm angry.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by BeeHo

don't worry.

Cuban, Hoffman and Spacey are on the job.

Think you mean Gooding Jr. His first name is Cuba. He is not Cuban either.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by seamonster

Eastern Seaboard.

Explains why you're a douche

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Yeah cuz a disease even with a 60% mortality rate that kills you in less than a week, causing you to bleed out of your eyes is no big deal. A disease mind you that has shown a propensity to maybe become an airborne virus at some point of time, with many different strands.

It doesn't kill you in less than a week. A lot of people carry the virus for weeks before they even start to show symptoms, most of which mirror those of common illnesses like the flu, malaria and shit.

But what I was trying to say is that I was hearing that it kills 90% of people in what amounts to back water 3rd world countries. Now I'm finding that it's closer to 50%.

Combine our superior medical technology with our knowledge of a possible pandemic and it's very unlikely that this disease would wipe out any sizable portion of the population.

[ThaVirus]

... And how does a virus "show a propensity to maybe go airborne"?