Slashdot Mirror
Texas Ebola Patient Dies
BarbaraHudson writes Thomas Duncan, the ebola patient being treated in Texas, has died. "It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am," hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said in an emailed statement. If he had survived, he could have faced criminal charges in both the US and Liberia for saying on an airport screening questionnaire that he had had no contact with an Ebola patient. UPDATE: Reports of a possible second Ebola victim in Texas are coming in. From the article: "The patient was identified as Sgt. Michael Monning, a deputy who accompanied county health officials Zachary Thompson and Christopher Perkins into the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed in Dallas. The deputy was ordered to go inside the unit with officials to get a quarantine order signed. No one who went inside the unit that day wore protective gear."
The conservatives seem to want to turtle and ban all travel from those nations ... which would, of course, be a death knell for any aide workers traveling there to help out. They seem to think that will prevent it from spreading when, in fact, that's just increasing the odds that ebola spreads more rapidly inside Africa and ensures that it becomes a global catastrophe. But that's pretty typical of conservative ideals. I'm still waiting on those 'trickle down' economics to get to me.
Some of the conservatives in the South are real dirtbags. It's really quite ridiculous.
A high technology issues that many Slashdotters are well qualified to pontificate about.
This should be good!
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Whether he lied or not, some accounts say that he believed the woman he aided had malaria, not Ebola. And the woman's family themselves may have lied to the people aiding them.
Ultimately, the biggest breakdown occured with the hospital, which was told twice that he had just traveled from Liberia on the first visit, and has since admitted this information was available to all providers. This has caused the tilt to the other extreme, with even the most innocuous cases of fever, adominal distress, and similar, with no travel or other history that would point to Ebola, being handled as such "out of an abundance of caution".
Keep in mind that viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are nothing new in the US. what happens in the United States with other fatal VHFs, that, like Ebola, are only spread via direct contact with bodily fluids and can be easily addressed in first world nations:
Hanta: http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/...
Marburg: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe...
Lassa: http://www.cdc.gov/media/relea...
Hanta is especially on point, as the US typically has dozens of cases -- and dozens of deaths -- each year, all of which are rapidly contained. The cases of "imported" VHFs, like has occurred with Marburg and Lassa, result in identification, isolation, and either the recovery or death of that person -- and that's the end of it.
Also, Ebola is NOT airborne. Ebola researchers will AT MOST say things like:
Peters, whose CDC team studied cases from 27 households that emerged during a 1995 Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, said that while most could be attributed to contact with infected late-stage patients or their bodily fluids, "some" infections may have occurred via "aerosol transmission."
"Those monkeys were dying in a pattern that was certainly suggestive of coughing and sneezing â" some sort of aerosol movement."
"May". "Suggestive". "Some sort".
Even if we change all of these statements to absolute certainty, it still does not translate to, "Ebola is airborne," in the meaning of "airborne" in the context of disease transmission.
Airborne transmission occurs when a droplet nuclei containing a virus (or bacteria) is small enough (10 μm) occurs when droplets of saliva or mucous (or even blood) containing the virus are projected during a sneeze or cough and and projected directly onto someone's eyes, mouth, or mucous membranes. This kind of transmission is usually within 3', and is NOT considered "airborne" transmission.
"Droplet" transmission can certainly occur with Ebola -- or any disease that spreads via bodily fluids and is present in saliva or mucous. VHFs are not airborne diseases, and a study of one strain where monkeys in adjacent cages sneezed on each other and passed the disease does not make it "airborne".
Being able to get something from having someone sneeze or cough droplets onto you and airborne transmission are very different things.
The quickest way to have a threat of possible airborne transmission of Ebola via mutation would be to not aid Africa in this fight, and let Africa fend for itself, creating an environment where the cases could skyrocket into the millions (due to Africa's infrastructure and inability to deal with the onslaught), thereby increasing the statistical likelihood of the feared airborne mutation -- which, if a foothold were to be gotten in the West as an airborne disease, would truly be a catastrophe worthy of fear and panic.
In reading much of the news coverage, online commentary, and this thread, this article struck me as very relevant:
http://www.nationaljournal
but we don't want to restrict immigration, I am right?
I have very little sympathy for a man that lied on a form and endangered the health and lives of many, many people. Hopefully no one else turns up infected and the threat he posed is over.
Did he turn into a zombie?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
First!
I'm not going to touch this one.
It's going to turn into a racist issue and/or a malpractice suit.
...when trying to use the carat symbol. Fix here:
Airborne transmission occurs when an droplet nuclei containing a virus (or bacteria) is small enough (under 5 um) to travel on dust particles, and can invisibly hang in the air or travel on air currents in large spaces long after someone has sneezed or coughed, and travel great distances, and can infect when breathed in.
There is NO EVIDENCE that Ebola is, or has been, spread in this way. In fact, the evidence is that Ebola is almost exclusively spread via direct contact with bodily fluids.
Droplet transmission (over 10 um) occurs when droplets of saliva or mucous (or even blood) containing the virus are projected during a sneeze or cough and and projected directly onto someone's eyes, mouth, or mucous membranes. This kind of transmission is usually within 3', and is NOT considered "airborne" transmission.
"Droplet" transmission can certainly occur with Ebola -- or any disease that spreads via bodily fluids and is present in saliva or mucous. VHFs are not airborne diseases, and a study of one strain where monkeys in adjacent cages sneezed on each other and passed the disease does not make it "airborne".
Being able to get something from having someone sneeze or cough droplets onto you and airborne transmission are very different things.
M-O-O-N ... That spells Ebola!
. . . what about the patient with Ebola, who came to the US from Africa . . . and didn't go to the hospital . . . ?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
This isn't your garden variety "easily preventable" lethal disease like the various causes of meningitis. This is a virus that will kill an otherwise completely healthy adult in two weeks with a greater-than-50% chance--even with the best care medical science can provide.
abolish the CIA
Frist post?
Another person has been quarantined who had contact w/ Duncan and is now showing possible signs of infection.
But hey, one day Obama tells us not to worry - its all under control. Then another day says its a national emergency.
Not to be morbid, but how are they handling the body? This is a very serious question since the recently dead body is actually highly infectious (most infectious stage?). IMHO, the sensible thing to do is to have a policy of zipping up all these bodies, boxing them up in wood, and cremating them. Obviously this stands in the way of some traditions; but the public health is more important. I certainly hope they aren't going to release the body to just any old mortuary that would put it out for viewing. This is a problem that is making the disease spread so rapidly in Africa.
I haven't seen any articles yet that answer this questions. It's the FIRST question that came to my mind when I heard we had a body.
First to say Sorry
It looks like there may be another Texas ebola case.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
So glad you manged to take someones tragic story and turn it into a partisan 'we vs they' story.
They would have eliminated the CDC entirely
[citation needed]
[citation needed]
Oh wait, you're just a partisan nitwit. Never mind.
Troll.. Sheesh
Wrong. Different strain, VERY bad source, did not happen through ventilation system. It happened to monkeys in adjacent cages without direct contact, through "some sort" of aerosolized transmission in very close quarters. I.e., droplets.
Fearmongers or people who think "the government" is "lying to stem panic" always trot out this story. It does NOT mean "Ebola is airborne".
It took Africa, with some of the worst healthcare, sanitation, and infrastructure in the world, 10 MONTHS to get to the ~7400 cases there are now. If it were airborne, it would be much, much worse. Ebola is not airborne; stop spreading your bullshit.
Thank you.
I'm glad Jon Stewart finally called Harry R. out on the Koch business. Heard from him --H.R-- about that lately?
Shill harder, statist.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/10/06/354054915/firestone-did-what-governments-have-not-stopped-ebola-in-its-tracks
Romney's would have switched the CDCs focus to the scourge of Lyme Disease:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/09/29/930901/mitt-romneys-lyme-disease-mailers-dangerous/
why did they kill the dog.
Assessing things in a rational way is just sooo 20th century (or may 19th even). These days people want to have their lowest instincts confirmed and will pick everything that does the trick and then will stop looking. The 21th century will be the century of believing. Of course being rational would be the only way out of the mess we have created but since we created this mess by being not rational I doubt very much we will change now.
Now, Ebola. Ebola is more like HIV than the flu when it comes to catching it. There was a recent study that showed that even living in the same household as an Ebola patient only lead to infections if there was physical contact. It's basically a matter of having bodily fluids coming into contact with broken skin or mucous membranes (eyes, mouth etc.).
I say put his cadaver into the stockade... That'll teach him
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Probably the biggest concern is the possibility of a mutation occurring that would allow the virus to go airborne.
Were that to happen, you are then looking at every SciFi/Fantasy end-of-days horror movie fan's highlight reel. The Stand meets Outbreak with a dash of The Walking Dead minus the zombies. The government bombing population centers in a vain attempt to contain th...
No, wait that's what CNN wants you to believe to drive click traffic and Geico commercial video pre-rolls.
Disinfectant hand washing and passenger screening will stop this. But that doesn't boost web traffic CPM, so let's sell the worst case scenarios. It's crucially important for everyone in the sound of my voice to believe we're all going to die from a horrible wasting hemorrhagic fever, melting like the wax nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Give us dirty laundry.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
If I remember my documentary correct, several of the people who worked there were infected by the airborne ebola but never demonstrated symptoms.
by infected, I mean tested positive for ebola
I guess they don't get your sarcasm...
because big gov't == BAD
Why did you use a test, and not an assignment operator?
The Republican ran FAA is still allowing entire planes full of people into this country from the infected areas. They should at least require the planes to be less than half full. That would make the Ebola trips unprofitable so they would stop them. That is what we should do. That is what would be done if sensible people ruled.
OK I am not a expert on viruses. But I have a couple of common sense responses that seem plausible in reducing the spread of Ebola. One, is a strict restriction on anyone from the primary areas affected by Ebola traveling. That is the first response of any out break is containment. Why restrict travel? Because people lie on those forms asking about illness and contacts. This man in Dallas who died knew he had a good chance of contracting it. He had been close to a Ebola person who was ill and died. He knew he had to go somewhere that would treat him better. Sorry bleeding hearts but this is a serious and contagious virus that requires isolation. Send help that volunteers to Africa, but stop thinking every American is willing to die because we don't want to isolate. The President is responsible to protect the people of America. Not be worried about offending or rejecting people who could potentially infect our people with a deadly virus. Bring help to them all your want but contain the spread. Its not a racial thing or anything like that. Its about self preservation and reducing risk. Its common sense which some in the US have little to use. The other question that bothers me is how contagious is it? Some do confirm only direct bodily fluid contact. But some now wonder how long can this virus live outside a body? Also what is its mutation abilities. Could it have become more resilient? Is that why we have seen such a large out break? This is even more of a reason to side on caution and contain.
Someone should do a FOIA request on the amount of money that was spent at the hospital and for cleanup... I assume the public taxpayer is footing the bill, we should be able to know how much one patient costs. Then we can compare that to the cost of keeping our borders open to vs. restricting some "tourist" visas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/... greenwow please stop voting. You and the idiots like you are doing great damage to this country.
Bah, that disease was caused by the federal government. The modern outbreak of it was caused by infected animals kept insecurely who transmitted carrier ticks to deer who swam from Long Island to Lyme, CT. It's not a coincidence that Lyme is the closest City to Plum Island disease research center. But it was the FDA, not the CDC that caused it. It's all part of the master plan to blame the federal government for everything. We should disband the federal government. Isn't that the goal of the conservatives? That's the ultimate states rights move. Civil War II!
Learn to love Alaska
Stand by... We now have a report of a third, no wait, four, five six, Oh my god! It's a bus load!
at least its clear now what the FEMA black coffins are for.
The selfishness bringing this terrible disease to your county... immoral fucking asshole
Look a "chupacabras" !
I wonder what the govts has in mind now that this "crisis" appears.
PS123:
"I see what are you trying to do.."
"I See What You’re Trying To Do, But It’s Not Working"
"I see what you trying to do, that's not even kinda new"
You might want to check your temperature. You're clearly delirious.
Travel much?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
because, using an assignment operator infers state. You can assign it to be bad, then assign it to be good, etc. The double equals is an equivalence operator, it's saying the one is equivalent to the other. If the argument is "big gov't is bad", saying "big gov't = bad" infers that later somebody could then do "big gov't = good", such that it's value can change. "big gov't == bad" means they are synonymous, and there's not way to make big gov't good.
I see you don't program much.
Wait, the best part of this sad and frightening story of Ebola in Texas is that the second Ebola patient was one of the sheriff's deputies who was the first to enter the house of the first patient. When offered protective gear, he declined, and entered the man's apartment without gloves, or even a facemask. Being Texas, he probably had his gun drawn, figuring that if he saw any Ebola he'd just shoot that sumbitch.
The over/under on when Texas goes full Walking Dead is now Thanksgiving. If there's one place that's not going to do will in an Ebola outbreak, it's a state where no goddamn government scientist is gonna tell me I gotta wear a facemask. Plus, post-Darwin biology is not really their strong suit, so it's doubtful they even believe there's such a thing as a "virus". I'm betting the churches and gun shops are gonna be doing big business in the coming weeks. Well, they're already doing big business, but you know what I mean.
I understand that (and I'm not joking) that in the past days Alex Jones has been talking about home remedies for Ebola that the government doesn't want you to know about.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Airborne transmission was ruled out by inference (ie. never seen before). I don't think everyone was arguing for the end of the world. My point in particular was often that; no, "primitive" african burial rituals were not all to blame. In fact, there is not a single morgue in the U.S. quite prepared for ebola.
Oh shut up you seeping, gangrenous cunt wound.
6/178 animal handlers who handled the infected animals tested positive for reston-ebola antigens (meaning they were infected). Airborne was never established as the vector. (and is considered unlikely to have been). I'm not sure where linked article gets its information about the only connection being via airborne vectors. The CDC determined the monkeys to have been cross-infected during the delivery flight.
Ebola is not airborne
Yet.
But when it does become airborne transmissible, I hope the very first
victim is you, because you are an annoying smartass prick and the world will be a better place
when you die.
I was watching RT News yesterday, and the news anchor was having a talking head session with a couple of 'experts,' one of whom stated that when Duncan first tried to enter a Dallas hospital, the staff who initially questioned him told him to leave, sending him out, apparently not wanting to deal with an Ebola case. Such action could be a critical factor in delaying his treatment. If such allegation is true, the hospital is potentially in deep doo-doo. I'm sure the ambulance chasers would be heavily salivating.
Yes, it's true that Ebola is not airborne yet, but the health workers in Spain, this new case in Texas, it's not entirely certain that they had direct contact. I've been wondering if this strain is possibly semi-airborne, or severely adept at surviving and infecting via microscopic airborne fluid, like someone was saying with the 3' transmission via sneezing and such. I'm definitely no healthcare worker, so I don't know how this compares with other similar diseases.
And yes, there are tons of diseases and other causes of death that kill far, far more than Ebola has yet. The scary part is the mortality rate and what happens when it hits areas without top-notch medical care. Nigeria managed to clamp it down after losing like 20 people, so that's promising. I was just reading how this is largely due to their current polio eradication teams--they were very much ready and used to stopping outbreaks in their tracks.
I personally am more worried about what happens many months down the line when it's not just a single case in each Western country but hitting all over the world and incubating in various places with very dense populations and inadequate healthcare. Or for example, the homeless guy they were trying to track down in Dallas. There are many ways this could slip by in the states without getting caught early. Having to quarantine an entire care clinic because somebody sent in an unprotected deputy is worrying. And, like many are saying, the longer this goes on, the greater the chances are of it mutating into something most definitely airborne.
Also, the official stats for cases in Liberia and New Guinea are almost certainly underreported by a factor of 2.5, and that might be conservative. Only officially tested and verified cases are counted, and this is in a country with almost no healthcare, where quite a large proportion of the healthcare workers have already died of Ebola.
What happens if someone did in fact make it to the Hajj while infected? Or an Indian religious festival? Or the Carnival in Brazil? The longer it takes for the world to clamp down and solve West Africa's crisis, the more likely this becomes. And I use those examples because people are milling about in the hundreds of thousands, millions even, not just doing their normal home/work routine. The transmission potential is orders of magnitude greater, especially if it's not just strictly limited to direct bodily fluid contact.
So I'm very glad to see the US and UK sending in the military to build hospitals and such, but still, more healthcare workers are needed. Cuba has done this, which is very awesome of them. Sending in the military means ordering troops, rather than finding volunteers. And in the US' case, all of the soldiers who will be testing are trained for biological warfare, and thus are well-trained and equipped with hazmat suits.
Most Republicans I know would gladly take a shot of Ebola instead of coming to Seattle
Like the days of the old west. Seriously, getting a quarantine document signed and they are not protected? That's brilliant and none of the three who went in thought it was a good idea?
And how is it that we keep getting told it's not a public safety thing because it has to be body fluid contact yet here we are with cases showing up where it's looking like air born xmission is occurring? If this gets into the K-12 school systems we could see a population trimming.
Don't travel hundreds of miles from home village.
Don't wash deceased corpse.
Don't contaminate water supply with Ebola.
Don't drink the contaminated water.
Don't return back to home village and spread the contagion.
I read The Hot Zone many years ago and I keep thinking that I remember reading that the Ebola Reston strain was considered to have been spread by airborne means.
I thought maybe I was wrong but then I found this on Internet Scientific Publications (http://ispub.com/IJPRM/2/1/12768)
"And, indeed researchers discovered that this was a new species of Ebola virus, which they named Ebola-Reston15, 28, 29. The new virus was highly pathogenic in monkeys but apparently not in humans. The researchers also dispelled the idea that filoviruses were found only in Africa, because the monkeys had been imported from the Philippines. The investigators documented a high likelihood of aerosol transmission outside a controlled laboratory setting, because the virus appeared to pass between rooms to infect susceptible monkeys. Specimens from animals that died or were killed to eradicate the outbreak yielded fertile ground for research in new Ebola virus detection and identification techniques and the virological and pathological events associated with infection. "
If they have since determined it was not aerosol transmission, that's interesting.
I shudder to imagine an Ebola strain that spreads via aerosol and affects humans (Ebola Reston does not affect humans).
As you pointed out, it would be a much worse situation.
RT isn't a particularly credible source. The general idea has been reported elsewhere, but there's no official explanation yet.
And if I remember my documentary correctly, Kevin Spacey got sick and died from it.
It's pretty damn unlikely for Ebola to ever become "airborne", as a virus- it's too damn big. You just can't fit enough of them in an aerosol-sized droplet to stand much of a chance at infection.
The "mutation" required to make it an effective aerosol pathogen would shave off 90% of its genome.
That isn't to say that it can't be transmitted by a good sneeze or a cough over the air, but even in those cases- it's not so easy, as again, the virus is rather large, and it takes a certain amount of viral load for an active infection to actually occur.
The CDC determined the simians were infected while en route while stored with other infected animals.
The only thing supporting the theory of aerosol transmission was default option. They couldn't find anything there that could have spread it, so it must have spread via the air. The logic is pretty flawed, really. Of the over-100 humans that handled the animals, only 6 showed antigens from exposure, making airborne transmission highly unlikely.
Dat's still racist.
There. Problem solved. Lean Forward, motherfucker.
A lot of people seem to be getting it with minimal contact with those infected. How is this difficult to become infected with again? I don't know that we're being told all the details or truths of it.
Dallas is a major, cosmopolitan, city with one of the world's busiest international airports. It is inevitable that at some point someone with a life-threatening and contagious disease will come to such a city. I'm sure it has happened before and that it will again.
I'm not a medical professional, but to my untutored eye the preparedness of Dallas' medical professionals is tragically lacking. It seems the original patient's first contact with the medical system was mishandled, the family were reportedly treated badly and now a sheriff's deputy has contracted the disease.
It's not enough to just offer the guy gloves, he needed good advice and someone to ensure he followed it (I'll bet he got neither).
If Dallas' medical profession is going to conduct itself in this way, then maybe African airports should consider closing to mitigate the risk of contagion from Dallas
Nullius in verba
All the internet Einsteins said, as with the government's statement, Ebola simply couldn't reach America. Then, that even when it reached America, we had the means to keep it spreading to anyone, because the only way to get it is to basically give a victim a blowjob and swallow at the end, because it's very difficult to contract and those filthy heathens that aren't in America only spread the disease, because they liked to drink and bathe in the bathwater of dead Ebola victims and that every precaution anyone might suggest in this country was just the result of ignorant fear-mongering. Are you telling me all of these junior-college keyboard-geniuses are *gasp* possibly wrong?
Ebola infected person wipes eyes or nose within 3 hours of a meal.
He then shakes hands with you before dinner.
You eat a plate of ribs without washing your hands.
You're now infected.
Plausible?
Thank goodness it was only a cop that contracted Ebola.
You're being hysterical.
I agree that we should get more serious about tracking travelers from infected regions and enforcing quarantines. The answer isn't to invent a nonexistent pattern of official misinformation and then switch into pitchfork and torch mode.
WHAT? Egyptian mosquitos are spreading yellow dengue fever plague?? Oh those fucking Muslim bastards! Fire up the trebuchets! It's time for another Crusade!
GOD WILLS IT!
Suck a dick, asshole.
You are playing the "Technically Correct" card. This is why people don't believe scientists and doctors. You say it doesn't transmit via air but then go on to say don't let someone cough on you lest you breathe it in or get it in your eyes. While you are technically correct that it isn't airborne per your definition, it will transmit via air in all realistic uses of the word. Stop being pedantic about terms just so you can claim victory in your rightness. It doesn't help, Sheldon!
You stop spreading yours! If the monkeys sneezed it at their adjacent cages, then it was airborne, even if it doesn't fit your specific definition of the word. If you aren't scared then please go ahead and set us up a live stream from the Ebola ward you're currently camping in. Oh right, you aren't because you're "not stupid" but you sure as fuck think we are!
So imagine you're an ISIS terrorist train to be a suicide bomber and somehow, I can't imagine how but bear with me, somehow you manage to get to Washington D.C.
Now imagine that you see all this brouhaha about Ebola on the tube -- you know, people panicking for no reason and all that -- and you get this crazy idea that maybe rather than splattering your body all over one Metro subway station you'd kill a lot more infidels by catching Ebola, waiting for the first symptoms to show up which look like the flu, and then spend the day making like Divine in Pink Flamingos and leaving your bodily fluids on surfaces in all of the subway cars.
Seastead this.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/...
"Some Ebola experts worry virus may spread more easily than assumed"
"public health officials have voiced similar assurances, saying Ebola is spread only through physical contact with a symptomatic individual or their bodily fluids. "Ebola is not transmitted by the air. It is not an airborne infection," said Dr. Edward Goodman of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where the Liberian patient remains in critical condition.
Yet some scientists who have long studied Ebola say such assurances are premature â" 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."
So maybe not "airborne" but possibly can spread without contact in close quarters, or who knows what else since this strain doesn't act like other strains.
Thank you Ebola-Chan!
Correct in part. It doesn't mean ebola is airborne, but that doesn't mean (as many imply) that you would actually have to touch the patient or some noticeable pool of body fluid to catch it.
That said, I'm not making any plans to stockpile a bunker or anything. It really isn't a big threat here in the U.S.
The 1918 flu
Sigh, you do know the 50,000 dead is not from 1918 right, it's from recent years right?
You also know that in 1918, medical facilities weren't as common as they were today?
You also know that in 1918 there was no such thing as sick leave?
You do know it's not 1918 and the 1918 flu has no bearing on the discussion?
the 1918 was determined to be an H1N1 variant,
Which we had an outbreak of recently, there weren't that many casualties... Possibly because of the differences I alluded to above.
The statistic being bandied about that flu kills 50,000 in the US is from today, not 1918. It is taken from the millions of cases across all the strains of influenza active today. In 1918 workers pretty much had no choice but to come into work and infect others, they couldn't take time off to get better, they didn't have access to modern medical facilities, anti-biotics and anti-virals hadn't been invented yet. Finally, even the worst flu epidemics had nowhere near the fatality rates of Ebola.
The young and apparently healthy group of fatalities was actually larger than the old, sick or 'messed up before they got it' group
if you did your research on the 1918 epidemic you'd know that the reason for this reversal was in fact, a little war you may of heard of known affectionately as the first world war. One of the major causes of this was the fact that soldiers infected with a mild strain were kept in the field. and those with a serious infection were loaded onto trains and taken to crowded field hospitals where re-infection was rife and the deadlier strains were traded amongst the infected.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
People with Malaria DO NOT die bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, anus and urethra. The woman he helped move was NOT the only person in his neighborhood with the disease. Un-noticed by most Americans, tens of thousands of people have been flooding into the US from thse parts of Africa in recent years as people flee the tribal wars and the recurring waves of Ebola. The "escape to America" theme is well-established.
Everybody in the Ebola-ravaged areas of Africa KNOW this.
The man KNEW he had been exposed, quickly quit his job and fled to America where everybody on Earth who was paying attention knew a couple of Americans had just been cured with a new "miracle drug". He did not fly direct across the Atlantic from the "Hot Zone" to Texas (such flights exist), rather he bought a flight to Belgium (WAY out of the way) and then to the US (probably to avoid extra scrutiny he probably presumed the US was applying to flights originating in the Ebola-infected areas, since any SANE government would be doing at least that minimal level of defense for its population).
People living in the squalid townships, if you can even call them that, do not migrate about like western-world do-gooders.
For decades, the US Federal Government has labelled Ebola as one of the most dangerous diseases known to man. It has labelled the disease a "biosafety hazard level 4" (which means wear full-body protection with air supply and work in a negative pressure lab to keep the stuff from getting loose). It has long advised the aviation industry that aircrew should avoid "close contact" with any passenger who might be contaminated, and many are using that language today BUT if you actually READ the decuments they provide to the aviation industry, the "fine print" defines "close contact" as: being within 3 feet.
Suddenly, in 2014, we are being told there is nothing to worry about..... "it's VERY hard to catch"......"it's a VERY weak virus"
When you ask how four very highly-trained physicians in full protective garb and one news photographer all caught it while trying VERY hard to avoid it.... [insert cricket sounds]
When elite policy makers, academics, and politicians are asked about quaranteens and flight restrictions, they stop talking about their ACTUAL JOBS (protecting the American people) and start spouting political theories about political instabilities in Africa that might develop if we try to keep the disease contained "over there".
Something is HIGHLY amiss here, but I leave it to people who wrap their heads in foil to hyper-speculate on what's really going on (that's what happens whenever the political elite lie their butts off on some subject, and one reason we as a society should always severely punish political leaders who lie to the public).
Nice fantasy casting yourself as the lone hero - but even though it's a common fantasy and it's not your fault Hollywood has brainwashed you it's fucking selfish.
When disasters hit the job of a citizen is to get off their arse and prevent their neighbours from dying AS PART of keeping that little cutie safe - in fact you can't keep that cutie safe unless someone is working to make sure that there is food and water getting in for her. It means precautions, protective gear and being co-ordinated by whatever bunch can accumulate a clue, but you shouldn't expect to get through a disaster by sitting on your arse and waiting for a food delivery when you are capable of doing something to help when everyone is overwhelmed.
You don't have to be a Doctor to be a hero. The people that got phones and Wifi going in Haiti after the disaster there were also heroes that saved lives because the doctors etc knew where they were needed and others could find out where to send food and clean water. In a quarantine situation where you can't get close to the people who drop off the food it would be just as important.
He didn't "flee" to America to get treatment.
He didn't even want to go back to the hospital the second time. His "stepdaughter" called 911 against his wishes.
And before he died, he told the woman he was going to marry that his greatest regret was exposing her, and had he known, he would have stayed back in Liberia instead of possibly bringing it to her.
So, are you saying that his resistance to even going to the hospital was all part of a ruse to hide the fact that he secretly knew he had Ebola, and was just "playing coy" but secretly wanted what he believed was going to be a miracle cure?
The only reason that fucking liars like you believe this shit is because you want a travel ban, which would be the ABSOLUTE WORST thing we could do. So fuck off.
So without any further details, here's how I imagine it went down.
"Oh crap, there's an ebola outbreak and my family is affected! I better fly out there immediately and touch bodily fluids."
Definitely Darwin Award winner here, folks. Plus, lying about it to fly back to the US and putting the entire country at risk should be an executable offense.
If the Internet has thought me anything, this might be the only safe haven to go to.
Why are you quoting stuff about 1995 Ebola when this iteration of Ebola is know to be much faster and more deadly? It is clearly more contagious then 1995.
It was a bitch.
He told the hospital he was in the hot zone, when they turned him away. Before later accepting him. The great health care service in the USA doesn't help people (especially blacks), hence why there is such a stink over this. He should have been admitted the first time, and wasn't.
He wasn't "turned away." He was provided anti-biotics, which is the standard fare (albeit wrong*) for someone suffering from a cold or flu. Although it was stupid of the hospital doctors/nurses not to take note of his travel, and suspect Ebola as a possibility, given the CDC's messages at the time it might be understandable. In it's early stages Ebola presents similar symtoms to a flu.
Just because you go through the Emergency enterance, doesn't mean you need to be admitted. It just means that you get seen without an appointment. I've been to the Emergency several times (metal chips in eye despite safety glasses, bleeding head wound, heart issues) and never been admitted. Usually just stitched up and sent home. Even with the heart issue, I was "observed" for a while, scheduled for a stress-test, and sent home once they determined that it was not going to kill me right-now. (they also gave me an asprin and a nitroglycerine tablet while they observed me.)
The whole "turned away" thing is being drummed up by the Jessie Jacksons, etc. who are ambulance chasing for another chance to make themselves relevant, and stir up trouble at the same time.
* I can remember several times where doctors have said to me, "I don't know if it is bacterial or viral. I could take cultures, but that would take a while to get the lab work back, so meanwhile I will give you this anti-biotic, which will either work or will do no harm if it doesn't." This was a few years ago. More recently, with the increasing prevalance of resistant diseases, this practice seems to have diminished somewhat.
McFly777
- - -
"What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?" -Marilyn Pittman
Selfishly hiding in a bunker and expecting others to bring you food and supplies is not the act of a good citizen. Safely helping out the people around you when a disaster hits is the act of a good citizen. The "conservative" view is supposed to be to support your community instead of hiding in a hole. A guy with gloves, mask and wheelbarrow full of food and water that unloads the contents where his neighbours can pick it up later is both a "hero" that keeps people alive and someone with zero risk of spreading infection. I'm astonished that you didn't get that point before your two replies. It appears you took things far too personally despite the "but even though it's a common fantasy and it's not your fault".
Stupid fucking survivalist fantasies do not help in disasters, whether hurricane or virus. What helps is people that are not prepared to watch their neighbours die of cold or lack of food when normal infrastructure is not available. There's plenty that can be done without risking your life.
Say your cutie gets some sort of infection easily cured by antibiotics in your bunker. She dies even though with communication and dropoffs you could have saved her with some medicine from the pharmacist down the road with no risk of catching or spreading infection. That's a potential price of dropping out of society when you should be doing something to help keep it going.
Stop dreaming of apocalyptic disaster movies where infection control does not exist and think like a rational human being. It does indeed suck but you alone are not enough to get your kid through life, and the more of civilisation we keep intact when the shit hits the fan the more people survive.
Yes I suppose - selfishness and greed can be called conservative just like Communist East Germany called itself the Federated Democratic Republic but neither reflect the values the words are supposed to represent. Getting my point yet? Being an isolationist prick is counterproductive in a disaster situation and is likely to lead to more harm to the little cutie than sensible interaction with the community around you - despite the bullshit we've been fed by disaster and action movies. I'm not attacking you, just the bullshit you've been fooled into spreading. It's insidious and looks incredibly stupid when held up to the light, as show by the cretinous "first aid kit" attempted putdown above. You are not that stupid just playing a part. When shit hits fans (probably a very bad way to phrase things since Ebola can make that literal), we need to wake up and act like citizens instead of cartoon cavemen or useless Eloi.
You may want to take into notice that the 7400 cases and 3000 deaths are those of people with identified ebola virus disease. No one actually knows how much people died (or recovered) in the wild and in the small villages...
And being the stupid asshole to contribute to an epidemic by spreading deadly disease to prove how good a person you are isn't productive either. It just kills people.
You are putting harmful information out there and showing that you don't understand what you're talking about. I don't know in what world calling somebody an isolationist prick isn't an attack, but that's not what the word "isolationist" means either. Borderline illiterate people like you are the reason an epidemic here would be a disaster and not a short lived tragedy.
Go troll somebody else. I don't want to be bothered to give anybody the kind of attention you want.
I'm trying to point out that it's not a two choice thing between hiding in a hole with your child and "being the stupid asshole to contribute to an epidemic". There's a third choice of helping out without making things worse. Why isn't it getting through?
If anything is "harmful information" it's a suggestion to hide in a hole with a magic first aid kit that is not going to be able to keep the "cutie" alive in the example I gave above. People in disasters die of a lot of things other than the primary cause because they cannot get food, water and medicine for other problems.
Hold on cowboy - I didn't call YOU an isolationist prick since YOU HAVE NOT DONE THOSE THINGS, you are not acting like a Hollywood 2D survivalist character because you are not actually hiding in a hole today. It's hypothetical at this point and it's a label for a person DOING those things instead of someone DISCUSSING those things. Clear now? How many times do I have to write "I'm not attacking you" for it to come across that I'm going after the widespread conditioned attitude that you'll probably be grown up enough to shed when you really need to, and not yourself.
Now please calm down and consider my other post, especially the bit I put in bold text.
God damn it.
Let me make this simple for your lizard brain. Can you diagnose ebola on sight? If so, then get off StackExchange and go teach doctors how to do it. I'll just assume that you can't do what doctors can't. As in, you're not some magical unicorn or alien superhero.
So, you can't tell if your neighbor is infected, and you can't tell if they're contagious. But you're urging people to "help" by going door to door. Maybe they should make sure to french kiss their neighbors too since if even one of them is infected and they've taken a piss without washing their hands, they can pass it on. There's a reason the belongings and environment of people infected with ebola are burned and sanitized with pure chlorine, respectively.
You're not advocating for people "not hiding in a hole", there is no third option, my home isn't a hole, and what you suggest would make things worse. I've written this reply due to the possibility that you're just a simple moron and not a menacing threat to public health. And I won't be replying to you again.
The least you can do is get your language right. You say having common fucking sense is equivalent to having a Hollywood hero complex and then recommend that everybody has a virus orgy to save their neighbors. Please, for the love of God, say you're a troll so you can look like a threat to society instead of a total retard.
No, one more reply, just because you actually might be totally fucking ignorant and loud about it.
http://www.thelocal.es/2014100...
That's how easy it is to catch ebola. Yes, you're being a stupid asshole. Stupid because you don't know what the hell you're talking about when it comes to anything you've said whatsoever, from public health to politics, and asshole because you insist on spewing your bullshit despite being warned about the immense harm it could do. You're not saving your neighbors there, hero. You're trying to kill them.
So where exactly did I write about not taking precautions and not avoiding contact? I repeatedly wrote things like "A guy with gloves, mask and wheelbarrow full of food and water that unloads the contents where his neighbours can pick it up later" to directly address that.
Hide and hope for someone else to help get your community running again is the instruction that you give to children. Do the best you can without making things worse is the instruction you give to adults. Simple isn't it? That's what I'm trying to get across instead of the "OMG it's the end times, get a gun so you can shoot your neighbour if they come to get your food" infantilization from the movies. That stuff is poison doing "immense harm" while "do the best you can without making things worse" is not.
If you want to get more of an idea of what I'm talking about some non-fiction about communities dealing with the Spanish Influenza pandemic or "The Plague" by Camus based on his experience of a bubonic plague outbreak in Algeria give some ideas.
If you hide you'll be hiding for a very long time, so eventually you'll be relying on people who did not hide to bring you things.