Re: Deadly Ebola Virus

[Rockhopper]

Very deep and philosophical there AcMir.

Tim.

[IceWendigo]

This reminds me of a Libertarian (in the neo-feudal Capitalism sense) that was saying he didnt want to pay One single cent of "his" to save the live of someone "else" (apparently he doesnt think that this "other" person could be an undiagnosed Typhoid Marry giving him a Latte). We can all potentially be negatively affected by the inadequate Health Care and living conditions of other humans on Earth.

[Stargate]

This reminds me of a Libertarian (in the neo-feudal Capitalism sense) that was saying he didnt want to pay One single cent of "his" to save the live of someone "else" (apparently he doesnt think that this "other" person could be an undiagnosed Typhoid Marry giving him a Latte). We can all potentially be negatively affected by the inadequate Health Care and living conditions of other humans on Earth.

Ice, healthcare is developing into a word crisis when epidemics like Ebola.arises. If these viruses are produced In a lab, nothing matters, if not then worldwide healthcare will become increasingly important. There' will be no longer the need for war unless we go back to village life. Maybe not such a bad idea.

[Rockhopper]

Don't panic!

However, despite Ebola's high case fatality rate, its arrival should not be particularly alarming for the general population in countries with well-developed public health systems. There are several reasons for this.

First, unlike many other viral illnesses, people with Ebola who have not yet developed signs of the disease are not yet contagious, meaning we can identify those at risk of infecting others and prevent them from entering public areas. Screening processes based on identifying people with fever have already been successfully implemented in airports around affected areas in West Africa.

Second, while Ebola is very contagious with close contact, Ebola does not spread through air, water, or food. Unlike infections such as influenza or measles — which you can acquire just from being in the same room as an infected person — Ebola transmission requires direct contact with a patient’s blood, bodily fluids, broken skin, or mucous membranes.

So even if you were on that September 19th flight from Liberia to Dallas and shook the hand of America's "patient zero," your risk of transmission remains relatively small. Studies have found that the disease is spread in places like Liberia and Sierra Leone through family members caring for sick individuals, ritual washing of victims at funerals, or helping prepare a corpse for burial. In fact, one of the strongest factors fueling the current epidemic has been a lack of public health infrastructure in the countries affected. Even if more Ebola patients are diagnosed in the U.S., don't expect the devastation here that we’ve seen elsewhere.

From Here.

Tim.

[Mordae]

Yeah, while panicking won't really help, I'm not so sure about that people shouldn't be alarmed enough to take a few precautions, Tim.

There was a study done back in 2012 that showed a transfer of the virus between pigs and monkeys that were in separate cages, that you can read
here

When news broke that the Ebola virus had resurfaced in Uganda, investigators in Canada were making headlines of their own with research indicating the deadly virus may spread between species, through the air.

The team, comprised of researchers from the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, the University of Manitoba, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, observed transmission of Ebola from pigs to monkeys. They first inoculated a number of piglets with the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus. Ebola-Zaire is the deadliest strain, with mortality rates up to 90 percent. The piglets were then placed in a room with four cynomolgus macaques, a species of monkey commonly used in laboratories. The animals were separated by wire cages to prevent direct contact between the species.

Within a few days, the inoculated piglets showed clinical signs of infection indicative of Ebola infection. In pigs, Ebola generally causes respiratory illness and increased temperature. Nine days after infection, all piglets appeared to have recovered from the disease.

Within eight days of exposure, two of the four monkeys showed signs of Ebola infection. Four days later, the remaining two monkeys were sick too. It is possible that the first two monkeys infected the other two, but transmission between non-human primates has never before been observed in a lab setting.

While the study provided evidence that transmission of Ebola between species is possible, researchers still cannot say for certain how that transmission actually occurred. There are three likely candidates for the route of transmission: airborne, droplet, or fomites.

Airborne and droplet transmission both technically travel through the air to infect others; the difference lies in the size of the infective particles. Smaller droplets persist in the air longer and are able to travel farther- these droplets are truly “airborne.” Larger droplets can neither travel as far nor persist for very long. Fomites are inanimate objects that can transmit disease if they are contaminated with infectious agents. In this study, a monkey’s cage could have been contaminated when workers were cleaning a nearby pig cage. If the monkey touched the contaminated cage surface and then its mouth or eyes, it could have been infected...

Theoretically, this indicates that any source of public transport (including the plane Dancan travelled to the US in),  could have contaminated surfaces that may be infectious.

Long term though, the social isolation that seems to effect a lot of the western world, may work to it's advantage.

[Rockhopper]

No worries Mordie. As it stands Ebola doesn't spread by aerosols or bodily contacts. It's only spread by the exchange of body fluids. And further, the patient (and if you have spent time in a Doctor's Waiting Room you'll understand why we are called "Patients") is not infectious until they are showing real signs of being ill. If that person has no cuts on their hands then the chances of getting the bug are small.

That doesn't mean to not be aware though and take ordinary precautions. One of the primary ways that the flu spreads is from door handles and the like. Be aware but don't get paranoid!

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Well, we do need to make sure hospitals are prepared

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/nurses-unprepared-ebola_n_5926828.html

"A lot of staff feel they aren't adequately trained," said Samios, whose job is to greet patients in the emergency department and do an initial assessment of their condition.

The hospital had completed Ebola training just before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in their emergency department on Sept. 26. But despite being told that Duncan had recently traveled from Liberia, hospital staff failed to recognize the Ebola risk and sent him home, where he spent another two days becoming sicker and more infectious.

But america can also learn that living in a constant state of fear and terror is NOT living.

And that not all problems can be dealt with by bombing the hell out of them

[Kaere]

No worries Mordie. As it stands Ebola doesn't spread by aerosols or bodily contacts. It's only spread by the exchange of body fluids. And further, the patient (and if you have spent time in a Doctor's Waiting Room you'll understand why we are called "Patients") is not infectious until they are showing real signs of being ill. If that person has no cuts on their hands then the chances of getting the bug are small.

That doesn't mean to not be aware though and take ordinary precautions. One of the primary ways that the flu spreads is from door handles and the like. Be aware but don't get paranoid!

Tim.

I read that the man in Dallas got Ebola while still at home in Liberia, simply by helping his sick neighbour into a cab to go to the hospital, that was it. So perhaps she coughed into her hand and then touched a door handle, and then he came along and touched the same things, etc. Apparently, the other neighbours and such who helped this woman have also come down with Ebola.

Also read that Liberia will be prosecuting the man for lying on his exit paperwork that he was not in contact with any sick persons.

[Rockhopper]

What you need to know about Ebola:

Incubation period: The time between exposure to a virus and when symptoms start to present, which is two to 21 days in Ebola’s case.

Symptomatic: A patient becomes symptomatic when they present symptoms of Ebola, which include fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea.

Contagious: People with strains of the Ebola virus in their blood are only contagious when they are presenting with symptoms (see above). The virus cannot be transmitted before a person is symptomatic, which means that people on the same airplane as Thomas Eric Duncan could not have caught the virus from him.

R0: Also called R-nought, it refers to the “estimated reproduction number for infectious diseases.” Put more simply, it’s a formula predicting how contagious a virus is. NPR has a handy graphic on their site showing that Ebola has an R0 of 2, meaning the likely number of people infected by one patient. Measles, by comparison, has an R0 of 18. It is relatively difficult, as we have shown, to spread Ebola.

Contact tracing: This involves the laborious process of tracking down anyone whom a patient may have exposed to Ebola. It requires trained public health officials who ask a series of questions about where the patient has been, and how many people he might have interacted with, either face to face or in a room or other contained setting. In West Africa, this is being done by local volunteers who are trained by public health experts.

Direct contact: This includes the people most closely connected to a patient—family members and friends. These people are most likely to have come into contact with a patient’s body fluids, and therefore represented the group most likely exposed to the virus, and at highest risk of developing the disease.

Indirect contact: This group includes those who may have had contact with a patient but in a less direct way—in a workplace or school, for example. These also include contacts of the direct contacts, who are at lower risk of having been exposed to the patient’s body fluids and so are at lower risk of having Ebola.

Quarantine: A legal order for a potentially infected person not to leave a space or have contact with the rest of the population. The Ebola’s patient’s four family members are in quarantine, with a law enforcement official stationed outside their home.

Scanned from Time mag.

Yes Ka. There are ways he could have contract it. The lady he helped could have had some blood on her clothes or even traces of Pooh. That way it can be transmitted.

Tim.

[Rogue]

The news this morning says this mans condition has now deterioated from serious to critical condition.

[Rockhopper]

I read that too. Sad really Roggie. At least he has good hospital care where he is.

Tim.

[Rogue]

Yes very much better than he would have had in Liberia. Those ppl have it hard.

[Lenzabi]

Texas is a state where anyone who is not on medicaid is uncovered due to Texas refusing to spread healthcare.

That means a large population likely to not see a doctor if they develop symptoms of any diseases as they feel they cannot take time from work, or afford care.

[Agartha]

I can't believe that in America, one of the richest nations on Earth, people are still living without free healthcare. It's disgusting.

And Ebola is out of control in Africa, and I can only see it spreading.

[Rockhopper]

Yep Ags and if Cameron gets his way the NHS will be privatised too. Regardless of the crap he talks.

Tim.

[Agartha]

Yep Ags and if Cameron gets his way the NHS will be privatised too. Regardless of the crap he talks.

Tim.

I don't think they'll win the next elections, although many are scared of labour's capacity to manage the country's finances.

BUT, just to keep the NHS, I'll vote Labour.

[Lenzabi]

Sadly Ags it is all part of the old Corporate Cold War mindset that free healthcare is "socialism" and the fools who fight changes don't think of the positives like say, Oh avoidance of another Typhoid Mary, or stopping another Spanish Flu. They prefer all who can't afford health-care to just hurry and die so they can keep making profits not pay out. It is literally "dog-eat-dog" in much of America.

Never do the small towners realize the fact that when they help their neighbors when they are down that they are as their religion is dictating, practicing a form of "socialism"

The dumbing down of education so that others just know enough to punch a clock, press the right buttons, but not ask questions is what they seek, mindless drones, that is Capitalism? Sad, and the de-democratization is lead by the dirty Koch Brothers.

[Stargate]

I can't believe that in America, one of the richest nations on Earth, people are still living without free healthcare. It's disgusting.

And Ebola is out of control in Africa, and I can only see it spreading.

Ag, I have noticed that we are told one cannot be infected with the Ebol viruse if one does not come in contact with body fluid. The question that interest me is this, does that include sweat, and spitle when speaking, or does mosquetoe bites, or even flies?
Whatever happened to Aids? We were told we could not be infected by mosquitos, yet we could be infected by blood contact entering the skin,can you remember that? The question to ask is, what do they mean? Why does it seems as if there might be a cure when Americans come home for treatment. Where, or who created this experimental drug they say have worked for two Americans who have survived the disease?

The health care question to me is still a big question, then people may not answer the questions truthfully asked when leaving countries with Ebola if they fear they might not be able to travel. I do not not think we should panic, however I thick we need to ask some important questions. I do not think we should be told what they want to tell us, they have already given us a basket to fetch water.

[Rockhopper]

According to what I have read Star. Ebola is not transmitted by sweat or spit.

It has to be internal body fluids namely, blood, urine, or faecal matter. I would hazard a guess and say that a mozzie could easily transmit the disease if it has just nibbled on an infected person. Mozzies, once they've had a drink rest for a while before eating again.

Malaria is a different infection; firstly it's a parasite not a virus and secondly it needs the Anopheles mosquito to spread.

Other virii can be and are spread by mozzies.

Tim.

[Stirky]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

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