First case of Ebola in the US

[Beautiful]

Duncan’s family was in isolation which was brought forth by the Catholic Church.

wfaa.com/story/news/health/2014/10/20/ebola-isolation-duncan-family-catholic-church/17637929/

nice

 

[WonderAndAwe]

So you are saying that you have NO FEAR of Ebola?

Well, if you want to expose yourself to it like the man with the clipboard that is your right.

But discussing the FACTS about Ebola is not about fear; it is about the FACTS themselves.

I do not fear tsunamis and hurricanes, as I live in Central Minnesota. I understand the danger and destructive power they pose. However, if Minnesotans began to worry about a hurricane or tsunami hitting our state, I would find them to be daft. It isn’t a threat to the circumstances of our land and the land of those who would be affected by the disasters as Minnesota is continental and quite far from any oceanic coast.

As it stands, Ebola is a very ineffective disease in the first world. It’s not even speadable through the air like influenza is. IIRC it’s source is direct contact with bats, especially their corpses, and very few First World people ever do that in their lifetimes.
Can we be caught by suprise? Yes, but suprise creates a small number of cases that in the West are quickly contained and treated as measures are made to prevent any possible spread are made.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I hope they disinfect the conference center for good measure.
That was nice of the Catholic diocese to come and offer space for them to stay.

 

[RGCheek]

I do not fear tsunamis and hurricanes, as I live in Central Minnesota. I understand the danger and destructive power they pose. However, if Minnesotans began to worry about a hurricane or tsunami hitting our state, I would find them to be daft. It isn’t a threat to the circumstances of our land and the land of those who would be affected by the disasters as Minnesota is continental and quite far from any oceanic coast.

Tsunamis and hurricanes do not have exponential growth patterns, which means that you are comparing apples and oranges. You might want to read up on the subject more, but that’s your call.

As it stands, Ebola is a very ineffective disease in the first world. It’s not even speadable through the air like influenza is.

Yes, it can spread through the air EXACTLY like the flu does.

dcgazette.com/u-s-army-warns-of-airborne-ebola/

IIRC it’s source is direct contact with bats, especially their corpses, and very few First World people ever do that in their lifetimes.

You are so far off base here it is kind of funny.

Can we be caught by suprise? Yes, but suprise creates a small number of cases that in the West are quickly contained and treated as measures are made to prevent any possible spread are made.

So far we have managed to spend tens of thousands of dollars of resources to suppress a small handful of cases, much like the Nigerians did with a lot of aid from western donors and nations.

If the disease spreads to Latin America, especially Central America the disease can spread far more quickly with less notice in many places.

Should Ebola break out in these nations like it has in Liberia, Guinea and Sierre Leon, there will be no stopping the floods of illegal immigrants who will cross our borders and spread the contagion.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I hope they disinfect the conference center for good measure.
That was nice of the Catholic diocese to come and offer space for them to stay.

 

[Exiled_Child]

I’m starting to think there are too many Ebola threads. Actually, I’m probably not the first CAF member to say that, considering how obvious it is. Anyway, like the rest of you I consider Ebola the subject of the day… So, I almost put this post in another thread, but since this thread has the most traction, here you go:

pbs.org/newshour/updates/bringing-safer-burial-rituals-ebola-countries/
theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/04/ebola-risk-guinea-fruit-bats
washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/05/why-west-africans-keep-hunting-and-eating-bush-meat-despite-ebola-concerns/

Forgive me if this information is already known by everyone, but I didn’t know it, so I thought I’d post it. Apparently the two primary reasons Ebola is spreading so unchecked in Liberia is that, one, they eat BBQ fruit bats and, two, there are some seriously messed up burial rituals which people are refusing to let die.

Again, I apologize if this is old news to everyone but me.

 

[WonderAndAwe]

Tsunamis and hurricanes do not have exponential growth patterns, which means that you are comparing apples and oranges. You might want to read up on the subject more, but that’s your call.

Yes, it can spread through the air EXACTLY like the flu does.

dcgazette.com/u-s-army-warns-of-airborne-ebola/

You are so far off base here it is kind of funny.

So far we have managed to spend tens of thousands of dollars of resources to suppress a small handful of cases, much like the Nigerians did with a lot of aid from western donors and nations.

If the disease spreads to Latin America, especially Central America the disease can spread far more quickly with less notice in many places.

Should Ebola break out in these nations like it has in Liberia, Guinea and Sierre Leon, there will be no stopping the floods of illegal immigrants who will cross our borders and spread the contagion.

Huh.
Thanks for calling out and correcting my misguided statements.

However, I still am going to see this as just “The Next Big Pandemic” much like all the others over the years.
Speaking of which, is there a list of those diseases that the media treated the way it is with Ebola that no one really talks about a lot anymore? Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, SARS, H1N1… I know they still exist, matter to the medical world and are dangerous, but still.

 

[RGCheek]

Huh.
Thanks for calling out and correcting my misguided statements.

However, I still am going to see this as just “The Next Big Pandemic” much like all the others over the years.
Speaking of which, is there a list of those diseases that the media treated the way it is with Ebola that no one really talks about a lot anymore? Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, SARS, H1N1… I know they still exist, matter to the medical world and are dangerous, but still.

Well I hope you are right, but more than that I wish you had good reason to be so optimistic.

 

[Exiled_Child]

Huh.
Thanks for calling out and correcting my misguided statements.

However, I still am going to see this as just “The Next Big Pandemic” much like all the others over the years.
Speaking of which, is there a list of those diseases that the media treated the way it is with Ebola that no one really talks about a lot anymore? Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, SARS, H1N1… I know they still exist, matter to the medical world and are dangerous, but still.

WonderAndAwe, I’ve been trying to ascertain whether or not this is an airborne disease for a while now. I’m wondering, does anyone know whether this articles information qualifies as “airborne?” What I mean is, of course if someone with Ebola sneezes in your face you’re in trouble, but is that technically the same thing as an “airborne disease?”

 

[WonderAndAwe]

Well I hope you are right, but more than that I wish you had good reason to be so optimistic.

My reasoning is that no one talks about H1N1, Mad Cow Disease or SARS anymore despite all three still existing, still being dangerous and all three diseases that people were paranoid over that are never spoken of anymore.

Couple that with sensationalist journalism that subscribes to the older brother of “Sex Sells” known as “Fear Sells.”

 

[RGCheek]

WonderAndAwe, I’ve been trying to ascertain whether or not this is an airborne disease for a while now. I’m wondering, does anyone know whether this articles information qualifies as “airborne?” What I mean is, of course if someone with Ebola sneezes in your face you’re in trouble, but is that technically the same thing as an “airborne disease?”

The technical medical definition of ‘airborne disease’ means that the disease has small forms that can float dry through the air currents and cause infections. Ebola can survive on a dry surface for several hours but in wet droplets for days at a time.

Ebola is as contagious through the air as the flu is.

dcgazette.com/u-s-army-warns-of-airborne-ebola/

In a handbook publVirus-Ebola-1024x614ished by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, it includes a chapter discussing “Viral Hemorrhagic Fever” (VHF), a category of viruses that includes Ebola. In a portion of the chapter it states:
“In several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These instances have propped concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol transmission of Ebola.”…
Recently in a media advisory e-mail, the World Health Organization admitted there have been cases where the current strain of Ebola in West Africa has been transmitted through coughing or sneezing.
“Theoretically, wet and bigger droplets from a heavily infected individual, who has respiratory symptoms caused by other conditions or who vomits violently, could transmit the virus over a short distance to a nearby person,” the e-mail stated.

 

[RGCheek]

My reasoning is that no one talks about H1N1, Mad Cow Disease or SARS anymore despite all three still existing, still being dangerous and all three diseases that people were paranoid over that are never spoken of anymore.

Couple that with sensationalist journalism that subscribes to the older brother of “Sex Sells” known as “Fear Sells.”

“If it bleeds it leads” is a saying I have heard for years.

Fear can sell copy and advertising, but that does not mean that it is not true.

It can be hyped and exaggerated and still be true in essence.

For example, it is true that at the current rate of spread, doubling every three weeks, and with a 55% mortality rate, by end of next year we would have, if rates continue unchanged, almost one BILLION cases of Ebola, with over 500 million deaths.

OF course if we can get a vaccine ready or develop better containment protocols like the Nigerians have, maybe this wont happen or at least the rate of spread could be managed.

 

[jen_fla]

WonderAndAwe, I’ve been trying to ascertain whether or not this is an airborne disease for a while now. I’m wondering, does anyone know whether this articles information qualifies as “airborne?” What I mean is, of course if someone with Ebola sneezes in your face you’re in trouble, but is that technically the same thing as an “airborne disease?”

This article does a far better job explaining than my blustery bleatings many posts ago.

First of all, there is a difference between ‘airborne’ and ‘aerosolized’ transmission.

Airborne transmission occurs when bacteria or viruses travel on air currents over considerable distances. These droplets are loaded with infectious particles.

Infections that can spread by airborne transmission:

Anthrax, Chickenpox, Influenza, Smallpox, Measles, etc.

Aerosol (or droplet) transmission occurs when contagious droplets produced by the infected host are propelled a short distance and come into contact with another person’s conjunctiva, mouth or nasal mucosa, or are inhaled. These droplets travel 3 to 6 feet. They can remain suspended in the air for up to 90 minutes.

Aerosols (droplets) are produced by things like coughing, sneezing, projectile vomiting, flushing a toilet containing diarrhea, or aerosol-generating medical procedures like intubation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, bronchoscopy, open suctioning of respiratory tract (including trach care), and nebulizer therapy.

There IS as risk of aerosol transmission of Ebola. And because Ebola is such a deadly disease that has no treatment or cure, healthcare workers MUST protect themselves from potential aerosol transmission. Think about it – you’re working in a closed isolation room with a patient who may be producing aerosols. It’s a concentrated environment.

And there is still controversy surrounding how Ebola is transmitted, no matter how sure POTUS and the CDC seem to be. Because of that,

"Personal protective equipment guidelines should not be based on presumed mode of transmission alone, but also on uncertainty around transmission, on the severity of the disease, on health worker factors, and on available treatments or preventions."

The CDC website says this about Ebola:

There are a small number of BSL-4 (Biosafety Level 4, the highest) labs in the United States and around the world. The microbes in a BSL-4 lab are dangerous and exotic, posing a high risk of aerosol-transmitted infections. Infections caused by these microbes are frequently fatal and without treatment or vaccines. Two examples of microbes worked with in a BSL-4 laboratory include Ebola and Marburg viruses.

allnurses.com/disasters-preparing-responding/ebola-why-respiratory-954469.html

Will Obama ever recant his reckless bus statement?

 

[pnewton]

So you are saying that you have NO FEAR of Ebola?

I have very little fear of it. Like AIDS, my chance of catching it are very, very slim. There are many more dangerous health concerns for me I need to address, like MRSA, TB, influenza, etc. Things may change.

Perhaps we need to bring some Nigerian health experts here to help us allay the fears of those that do have concerns that this disease will spread unchecked. They are capable of handling much more dangerous outbreaks than we have.

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Although many of us were laughing at that Czar Obama appointed, something has diminished the fear among us.

I do wonder if Frontier, the wedding dress shop, and such will sue the CDC for the costs of cleaning, and lost business.

 

[RGCheek]

This article does a far better job explaining than my blustery bleatings many posts ago.

Great article, but I don’t think that influenza is a real airborne disease.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza#Transmission

Influenza can be spread in three main ways:[71][72] by direct transmission (when an infected person sneezes mucus directly into the eyes, nose or mouth of another person); the ***airborne route ***(when someone ***inhales the aerosols ***produced by an infected person coughing, sneezing or spitting) and through hand-to-eye, hand-to-nose, or hand-to-mouth transmission, either from contaminated surfaces or from direct personal contact such as a hand-shake. The relative importance of these three modes of transmission is unclear, and they may all contribute to the spread of the virus.[4][73] In the airborne route, the droplets that are small enough for people to inhale are 0.5 to 5 µm in diameter and inhaling just one droplet might be enough to cause an infection.

laurabeikman.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/cdc-admits-ebola-could-be-airborne/

Experts are increasingly expressing fears that the Ebola virus can spread through droplets suspended in the air. This would explain the unprecedented increase in the number of Ebola cases in 2014. You probably didn’t hear about it on the corporate news, but a little less than 2 months ago the CDC updated their criteria for Ebola transmission to include “being within 3 feet” or “in the same room” as someone infected with the virus.

From the CDC’s website:

“A low risk exposure includes any of the following:

Household member or other casual contact with an EVD patient.
Providing patient care or casual contact without high-risk exposure with EVD patients in health care facilities in EVD outbreak affected countries.“

How does CDC define “casual contact“?

“Casual contact is defined as a) being within approximately 3 feet or within the room or care area for a prolonged period of time while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment or having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD case while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment.”

A study conducted in 2012 showed the Ebola virus was able to travel between pigs and monkeys that were in separate cages and never placed in direct contact.

Dr. Gary Kobinger, from the National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada, told BBC News nearly two years ago that he believed Ebola was spread by droplets suspended in the air.

patdollard.com/2014/10/exposed-top-ebola-scientists-say-cdc-clueless-about-how-disease-transmitted-this-strain-like-none-seen-before-may-well-be-airborne/

Yet some scientists who have long studied Ebola say such assurances are premature — and they are concerned about what is not known about the strain now on the loose. It is an Ebola outbreak like none seen before, jumping from the bush to urban areas, giving the virus more opportunities to evolve as it passes through multiple human hosts.

Dr. C.J. Peters, who battled a 1989 outbreak of the virus among research monkeys housed in Virginia and who later led the CDC’s most far-reaching study of Ebola’s transmissibility in humans, said he would not rule out the possibility that it spreads through the air in tight quarters.

“We just don’t have the data to exclude it,” said Peters, who continues to research viral diseases at the University of Texas in Galveston.

Dr. Philip K. Russell, a virologist who oversaw Ebola research while heading the U.S. Army’s Medical Research and Development Command, and who later led the government’s massive stockpiling of smallpox vaccine after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, also said much was still to be learned. “Being dogmatic is, I think, ill-advised, because there are too many unknowns here.”

If Ebola were to mutate on its path from human to human, said Russell and other scientists, its virulence might wane — or it might spread in ways not observed during past outbreaks, which were stopped after transmission among just two to three people, before the virus had a greater chance to evolve. The present outbreak in West Africa has killed approximately 3,400 people, and there is no medical cure for Ebola.

“I see the reasons to dampen down public fears,” Russell said. “But scientifically, we’re in the middle of the first experiment of multiple, serial passages of Ebola virus in man…. God knows what this virus is going to look like. I don’t.”

 

[RGCheek]

I have very little fear of it. Like AIDS, my chance of catching it are very, very slim. There are many more dangerous health concerns for me I need to address, like MRSA, TB, influenza, etc. Things may change.

IF things stayed static, then you would be correct, but static analysis is flawed analysis since the world is dynamic.

The nature of exponential growth coupled with 55% death rates make this far different.

uk.anoto.com/about-us/blog/2011/9/22/exponential-growth-and-app-usage.aspx

"Imagine a magic pipette. It is magic because every drop of water that comes out of it will double in size every minute. So the first minute there is one drop, the second minute there are two drops, the third minute four drops, the fourth minute eight drops and so on… This is an example of exponential growth. Now, imagine a normal sized football stadium. In this stadium you are sitting on the seat at the very top of the stadium, with the best overview of the whole stadium. To make things more interesting, imagine the stadium is completely water-tight and that you cannot move from your seat. The first drop from the magic pipette is dropped right in the middle of the field, at 12pm. Here’s the question: Remembering that this drop grows exponentially by doubling in size every minute, how much time do you have to free yourself from the seat and leave the stadium before the water reaches your seat at the very top? Think about it for a moment. Is it hours, days, weeks, months?

The answer: You have exactly until 12:49pm. It takes this tiny magic drop less than 50 minutes to fill a whole football stadium with water. This is impressive! But it gets better: At what time do you think the football stadium is still 93% empty? Take a guess.

The answer: At 12:45pm. So, you sit and watch the drop growing, and after 45 minutes all you see is the playing field covered with water. And then, within four more minutes, the water fills the whole stadium. This means that you think you are safe because it seems that you have plenty of time left, whereas due to the exponential growth you really have to take immediate action if you want to have any chance of getting out of this situation."

Perhaps we need to bring some Nigerian health experts here to help us allay the fears of those that do have concerns that this disease will spread unchecked. They are capable of handling much more dangerous outbreaks than we have.

The Nigerians would likely provide better care than the USA hospitals that are not set up specifically to contain contagious diseases like Ebola.

 

[seekerz]

The Nigerians would likely provide better care than the USA hospitals that are not set up specifically to contain contagious diseases like Ebola.

Not sure why a hospital would need to be “specifically set up” to contain Ebola. Besides, that’s not what medical experts were saying just a month ago; quite the opposite - they claimed Ebola would not be the problem here that it is in the Third World because of superior resources here.

In a sense you might be right though. Even though infection control is part of ***basic *health care, and even if the success of Doctors Without Borders (in areas with little resources) is well known, the approach to Ebola in the US has been like a young fighter beating his chest then promptly collapsing at the first blow. We know what to do, and if hospitals in Liberia can do it, so can we. Any hospital worthy of it’s name can do it, with the proper basic resources.

The problem has been - even if many won’t admit it - a failure of preparation by private as well as government-run arms of the system. Now I hear hospitals calling for the government to set up special hospitals to take care of Ebola patients. Why? So they don’t have to spend time and money preparing for it themselves? If health care is indeed a business, why can’t they absorb their losses like any other business?

Mismanagement and money (or the lack of it) are what caused the epidemic in West Africa to spiral out of control. Is it the same story here? Maybe the real culprit isn’t the virus, but a failure to value human lives enough to do whatever is necessary, (within the bounds of morality of course) to safeguard them?

 

[Path_Finder]

Rwanda screening Americans and Spaniards for Ebola virus!

washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/10/21/now-an-african-country-is-screening-incoming-americans-and-spaniards-for-ebola/

 

[pnewton]

IF things stayed static, then you would be correct, but static analysis is flawed analysis since the world is dynamic.

What you call flawed analysis, I call faith. “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34

As of now, Ebola is not a threat. Every year 3000 - 15,000 people die in the US from influenza. From Ebola, the count is 0 - 1.