Time to hide in the woods for a few years?
http://news.yahoo.co...r2D5Tcz8AA7jQtDMD
Ebola: Game over
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no, kills too efficiently
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
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nope
21 day incubation period while it is transmissible with no symptoms.
We are fucked. |
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The comments on that article are quite frankly unhinged.
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Dude, you forgot the rule
NEVER read the comments.
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oh, agreed
Gives racist assholes a chance to rant.
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It lives in the woods - hiding there isn't a good idea.
http://www.nytimes.c...rref=opinion&_r=0
Scientists have identified a total of five species of ebolavirus, four native to Africa and one to the Philippines. They are all zoonoses, meaning animal infections transmissible to humans. They reside quietly in some species of wildlife, this or that forest creature, from which they spill over occasionally to cause mayhem and death in people. Ebola virus can only pass from person to person by direct contact with bodily fluids, and therefore an outbreak is stoppable by simple isolation and Âbarrier nursing, or the careful handling of patients and corpses, once enough medical gloves, gowns, goggles, rubber boots, body bags and knowledge have reached the scene. HTH. Cheers, Scott. |
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Thanks for that sane perspective.. kinda spoils the Frenzy.
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Quite a lot of those things live in fruit bats.
The fruit bats that infest parts of Australia are host to a number of viruses that kill other animals, but not the fruit bats.
Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
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Maybe I was a little too dismissive earlier...
WHO: WHO has issued a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in west Africa. The roadmap aims to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6-9 months while rapidly managing the consequences of any further international spread. It also recognises the need to address, in parallel, the outbreak’s broader socioeconomic impact. What's been different in this outbreak is that its been outside of rural areas, and is spreading in areas where people were not familiar with it. There was too little known by people in the affected area, and too much distrust and panic. Here's hoping they've got a good plan and the worst will be over soon... :-( Cheers, Scott. |
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I was not gonna followup
Until you did The plan is worthless. They attempt to trace personal contact networks of people with no addresses and family members who consider a trip to the hospital a death sentence. This will go on for years, with national quarantine zones, a worst case dystopia. |
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But, you didn't account for Cuba's involvement.
BBC: Cuba is sending 165 health workers to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, officials say.I think volunteers will be hoping to get a free trip to Atlanta, GA. It beats a raft to Florida. :) But, you have a serious point. Ignorance and culture trumps best intentions of the humanitarian efforts. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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only getting worse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-ebola-could-infect-14-million-in-west-africa-by-end-of-january-if-trends-continue/2014/09/23/fc260920-4317-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html?wpmm=AG0003407 Sure, this number is part of a plea for funds, but it doesn't matter.Funds won't help. Lock the borders and nuke it all. |
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You didn't read/see "The Andromeda Strain", did you? :-/
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I don't think Ebola is radiation powered...
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson. |
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Yeahbut...
My recollection, which I admit may be faulty, is that the complex had a nuclear bomb self-destruct mechanism in case something really bad happened. The hero recognized, almost too late, that setting it off might cause the pathogen to mutate faster and/or spread over a larger area and make it even more deadly. Cheers, Scott. (Who should read that and Fail Safe again one of these days.) |
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Right... the virus "fed" on radiation.
It wasn't normal mutation, but rather an intrinsic feature of the pathogen. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson. |
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petit mal seizure triggered by blinky lights
Yup, I saw that movie as a very young kid. And blinky lights seriously distract me. I got into an accident when I was 18 because my gaze followed a cop car rather than the road. I have to exert serious self control when driving to avoid it happening again. |
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Proportionality
Yeah, Ebola is bad. Mainly because it kills you in interesting and disgusting ways, and because it's basically incurable. But getting bent out of shape because there's a mouse in the butter when there's an elephant in the fridge, that's a bit daft. |
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Apples and Orangutangs
ie: worthless comparison. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/ Let's see, a .3% death rate. VS about 50% for the current ebola run. And to be the absolute cynic, 90% of those that die of malaria are under 5 years old. So the death rate of people who think about it in personal terms is a mere .03% rate. We ignore those types of risks every day, crossing the street, eating an unhealthy meal, etc. Doesn't even trigger the worry threshold. Then add the regional issue. If you don't live in a malaria region, the risk drops again, dramatically. There is simply no comparison. After a certain percentage of population is sick with ebola, the health care system will collapse. Only a very small number of isolation rooms with staff capable of handling them. Once you cross that line, the infection rate will skyrocket since people are simply being turned away from hospitals and the bodies pile up on the street. Once the bodies are piling up, then no one can go anywhere, people stop working, and the economy collapses, which in turn triggers food and water and electricity shortages. The world has been living with malaria for quite a while. It may suck, but we know how to deal with it. We simply cannot deal with ebola. Too infectious and too deadly. And that 50% survival rate will get far worse once the health care system collapses, since the reason most of the 50% of people survive is not due to immunity, but to other people caring for them to get past the peak awfulness period. |
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actually that is a good thing
if you notice the survival rate is going up. Means it is evolving in a few years survival rate may jump to 70%. It appears that aggressive rehydration helps a lot. Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep |
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Last I saw, the mortality rate was 70% not 50%...
E.g. LA Times In the WHO paper, researchers presented their first, full statistical snapshot of the epidemic, which gained a foothold in December of last year and has fallen hardest on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. NEJM: The current outbreak has caused more cases and deaths than any previous EVD epidemic (see graph in the Supplementary Appendix). It appears to have started in the Guéckédou district of Guinea. The first case was recorded in December 2013, but that case was probably not the first in this outbreak.1,2 Until the end of April 2014, most cases were reported from Guinea, with a small number in bordering parts of Liberia and Sierra Leone (see graph). In late April, a dip in reported cases in Guinea gave hope that the epidemic was beginning to subside and could be confined largely to one country. That hope was abandoned as the number of confirmed cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone rose sharply during May. By August 16, the cumulative number of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD in the three worst-affected countries plus Nigeria was 2240, with 1229 deaths. The ratio of deaths to cases implies a case fatality rate of 55%. However, this estimate is approximate, since some cases and deaths (perhaps many) have been missed; in particular, contact tracing in Guinea during the initial period was far from adequate, allowing further opportunities for transmission. Moreover, the fatality rate varies markedly among geographic sites, ranging from 30 to 90% in this epidemic. Emphasis added. They know how to reduce the mortality rate (isolation, careful handling of patients with good PPE, keeping people hydrated, etc.), but those things can only be done with great difficulty in poor countries. It's a bad situation, but it seems like the world is finally paying attention. Cheers, Scott. |
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look at the bright side
as it spreads it evolves to be more infective, more survivors are the results Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep |
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and it hits another country
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_EBOLA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-06-14-41-22 Anyone read The Stand? Gonna be as bad. |
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What? A nurse infected?
A whole nurse? MAN THE BARRICADES! |
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hey, I'm married to a nurse
She wants the borders closed for a 100 years. |
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And this pro agrees
Well, not the 100 years, but you get the idea. http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/10/06/epidemiologist-stop-the-flights-now/?wpmm=AG0003407 |
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And this pro disagrees.
The Hill: A travel ban to the countries facing an Ebola outbreak could paradoxically make the problem worse, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said during a Saturday press conference. The virus can only be spread by people who have symptoms. A travel advisory and sensible screenings is the answer. Not a travel ban. Damaging the economies of the affected countries even more, and making it even harder for aid to arrive to help ("What? We can't leave but we're supposed to let you in? Really?"), will only make a horrible situation worse. It's already doing so without a formal ban. Hang in there. Cheers, Scott. |
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we are too stupid to take sensible precautions
the guy in Dallas was puking all over the ambulance, the emt's and his front yard. That ambulance was still in service 3 days after he was identified with ebola and the EMT's 4 days after the event still had not been contacted. We know what to do, hand washing properly stops the spread of germs, so why in the fuck is the most infectious place for mers is a hospital? Reporter comes back from covering ebola in liberia and is asked about whether they are carrying booze or tobacco. She asks about precautions and is told Oh, yeah we got an email or something.... check your self for symptoms, What should I check for, We don't know. Cleaning cost money, cheap wages get people who don't give a fuck. Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep |
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MERS or MRSA?
I know hospitals have MRSA all over the place, but didn't know MERS was also a problem (yet). |
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crock o'shite
Travel ban will not affect military/health transport, as pointed out in above link. Yes, it will screw up their economies. Too bad. Time for a bit of isolationism. Showing symptoms. Cough. Sweat. Standard cold or Ebola? Who the hell knows. Not like people don't sweat and leave it on the airplane seat all the time. |
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There were 2 potential cases in the DC area on Friday.
One patient at Howard U., one at a suburban Maryland hospital. As far as I know, it didn't pan out (I've seen nothing more about it). It's still a very hard virus to transmit with reasonable care. DON'T PANIC Cheers, Scott. |
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Does any of this remind you of AIDS circa 1983?
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Scary diseases are scary.
Yup. It's like AIDS, and before that (to a much lesser extent) Herpes, and before that... :-( Cheers, Scott. |
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no.
Sex is a hell of a lot different from sitting on a sweaty seat. |
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I was talking about the similar levels of hysteria.
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