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The CDC Is Carefully Controlling How Scared You Are About Ebola
HughPickens.com writes: Russell Berman reports in The Atlantic that the Obama administration is trying to navigate a tricky course: Can officials increase public vigilance about the deadly Ebola virus without inciting a panic? "Ebola is scary. It's a deadly disease. But we know how to stop it," says Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director. speaking "calmly and clearly, sticking to an even pitch and avoiding the familiar political image of the whip-smart fast-talker." International groups wanted the U.S. to step in sooner to help fight the outbreak in west Africa, while more recently some Republicans have called on the administration to ban travel from the most affected countries.
Frieden and other officials say such a move would be counterproductive, citing lessons learned from the SARS outbreak a decade ago. "The SARS outbreak cost the world more than $40 billion, but it wasn't to control the outbreak," says Frieden. "Those were costs from unnecessary and ineffective travel restrictions and trade changes that could have been avoided." The government announced Wednesday that it was stepping up protective measures at five airports, where authorities will screen travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea with targeted questions and fever checks, an action, officials acknowledge, that was taken not only to stop the spread of the disease but simply to make people feel safer. According to Berman, the message is this: Be afraid of Ebola. Just not too afraid.
Frieden and other officials say such a move would be counterproductive, citing lessons learned from the SARS outbreak a decade ago. "The SARS outbreak cost the world more than $40 billion, but it wasn't to control the outbreak," says Frieden. "Those were costs from unnecessary and ineffective travel restrictions and trade changes that could have been avoided." The government announced Wednesday that it was stepping up protective measures at five airports, where authorities will screen travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea with targeted questions and fever checks, an action, officials acknowledge, that was taken not only to stop the spread of the disease but simply to make people feel safer. According to Berman, the message is this: Be afraid of Ebola. Just not too afraid.
Ebola victims don't show a temperature until many, many days after they've been infected
But people aren't contagious until after they show symptoms, e.g. fever. Taking people's temperature is a perfectly valid measure.
Maybe you should get some facts to go along with your strong opinions.
Below is the list of what exposure it takes to become infected with the various viruses listed below.
Cholera 1,000,000 viral particles2
EBOLA 1-10 viral particles infective dose 3,4
Flu 100-1000 viral particles
Norovirus 1- 10 viral particles infectve dose1
Hepatitis A 1-10 viral particles infective dose1
Measles 100-12500
Q-Fever 1-10 viral particles infective dose2
Rotovirus 10-100 viral particles1
Smallpox 10 -100 viral particles infective dose2
Infectivity in semen is up to 82 days after onset of symptoms - Ebolavirus has been isolated from semen 61 to 82 days after the onset of illness, and transmission through semen has occurred 7 weeks after clinical recovery4
Rodents and Shrew can carry Ebola - The Ebolavirus genome was discovered in two species of rodents and one species of shrew living in forest border areas, raising the possibility that these animals may be intermediary hosts4
Transmission by dogs - Serological evidence of immunity markers to ebolavirus in serum collected from domesticated dogs suggests asymptomatic infection is plausible, likely following exposure to infected humans or animal carrion4
Up to 6 Days outside the body (the colder, darker and more humid the longer it survives, sewer would be a good place for it to flourish Texas) - Only one laboratory study, which was done under environmental conditions that favor virus persistence, has been reported. This study found that under these ideal conditions Ebola virus could remain active for up to 6 days!5 v These conditions included low light and cooler temperatures (think winter, less daylight colder temperatures.
Can be destroyed by UV light except when contained in organic debris (dried blood, puke, saliva, and other bodily fluids) - Ebolavirus was found, relative to other enveloped viruses, to be quite sensitive to inactivation by ultraviolet light and drying; yet sub-populations did persist in organic debris5
Can maintain infectivity indefinitely if freeze dried (Dry Ice can accomplish this) - The Ebola virus can also survive for several days at 39F (4C)(Think winter time), and is indefinitely stable at -70C. Infectivity can be preserved by lyophilization (freeze-drying)3
When a person infected with Ebola coughs or sneezes it aerosolizes Ebola in this case it is spreadable in the vicinity of the infected person for up to 104 minutes. Distance is assumed at 3 feet but that is in a room with NO MOVING AIR. Depending upon size or aerosolized particles depends on how long they remain suspended in air. To see a demonstration of particles suspended in air look at a beam of sunshine coming through the window and notice the dust glistening it, notice how long it is suspended in the air, now imagine something so small you cannot even see it and it is suspended in the air like dust. If you are lucky enough not to have dust bang a pillow, the couch in front of a beam of sunlight or light. What does this mean? you could walk into a room up to 104 minutes after someone coughed or sneezed take a breath and become infected - Marburg, Ebola, and Reston viruses, at 50% to 55% relative humidity and 72F, had biological decay rates of 3.04%, 3.06%. and 1.55% per minute, respectively. These rates indicate that 99% loss in aerosol infectivity would occur in 93, 104, and 162 minutes, respectively.6
“The precautionary principle—that any action designed to reduce risk should not await scientific certainty—compels the use of respiratory protection for a pathogen like Ebola virus that has:
No proven pre- or post-exposure treatment modalities
A high case-fatality rate
Unclear modes of transmission
We believe there is scientific an
Uh, there are people who are more knowledgeable than you at CDC who have thought of these exact problems. Also, they aren't panicking like you are, which gives them a much greater chance of solving the problem.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
[Hospital sent home the ebola patient in Dallas, though he had classic ebola symptoms and had traveled to Liberia.]
Yep, especially when they deny all of the screening questions.. That's helpful.
He denied the screening questions at the airport. ('Let's see. If I answer yes you won't let me fly and will throw me in with everybody else who answered yes. Of COURSE I didn't have contact with Ebola!)
He DIDN'T deny the questions at the hospital. They knew he'd been to Liberia recently. But their bureaucracy didn't get that info to the person who made the release decision.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way