Ebola outbreak - general thread #2

[chipmunk]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned ..i'm just catching up....but if this virus takes 3 wks or less to make someone sick....why can't the government put a three wk ticket policy on people traveling from Africa to the US. I know it wouldn't help if someone was exposed during those three wks....but it would bring the number down and they could ask the others if in the last three wks..."have you been exposed". If someone were to be coming to this country after being around someone with the virus ..the three wk period would keep them in Africa. Get a ticket three wks out to be able to travel?

I agree for our sakes. But the WHO says other than confining portions of some W African communities, restricting movement including flights would panic/further panic residents. They may flee across country borders or further. This would only spread the disease and slow progress.

 

[chipmunk]

Now I know why my relatives were held at Ellis Isle a hundred years ago.
Maybe we should have everyone from there held in a special place to make sure they do not carry diseases into the states! Citizen or not................

Yes, it was only around the turn of the century that sanitation and hygiene became a science. Hot water and soap was in vogue, medical staffs became meticulous about it. My grandmother trained as an RN then. She'd scrub her dishes in Boiling water, and tell her children 10x a daily to wash their hands with Hot water and soap. We've become far to lax now.

 

[TaylurRose02]

Agree .(I believe you meant to say malaria kills hundreds of thousands...yes it does) Malaria kills much more..yet not on US public radar as not transmissible person to person with malaria . .

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Well if we're talking globally, Malaria kills thousands and thousands if not millions a year. Am i downplaying malaria? Not at all. My point is that it's not comparable to ebola. Malaria is a completely different disease. Ebola is spread person to person. Malaria is not. Ebola has spread like wild fire the past few months. Hence the concern for public health.

 

[chipmunk]

In fact public health funding and sanitation standards only came about during the Progressive Era (early 1900s) when the public became afraid of getting diseases from others. It was "ok" that tenements had no garbage disposals/waste removal, the indigent were hungry or getting sick from working 16 hours a day. Public health educators and some writers, journalists pointed out that if such persons weren't afforded health living environments, a reasonable work hour, medical attention and enough food, they would be vectors or susceptible to dangerous communicable diseases. Conditions improved but mostly out of fear and to protect one's own self and family.

The same thing is happening with Ebola. We suddenly care more when we're at risk.

 

[Redux]

From your link:

"Because the incubation period may last ten days while the infected victim may not even be aware of any illness, the virus is highly contagious."

I thought I had read that you were only contagious once you showed symptoms? Or did I read someone post that here and took it as true?

Just to follow up, everything else I've read says that you are only contagious once you have the symptoms.

Although Schmae raises a very legitimate point about being contagious for a period of time before seeking treatment. I think that's why the points of contact is so important - they get to people the infected person has been in contact with before they're symptomatic so you can warn them what to do if they do become symptomatic.

 

[atthelake]

Well if we're talking globally, Malaria kills thousands and thousands if not millions a year. Am i downplaying malaria? Not at all. My point is that it's not comparable to ebola. Malaria is a completely different disease. Ebola is spread person to person. Malaria is not. Ebola has spread like wild fire the past few months. Hence the concern for public health.

Exactly ..A million die from malaria like wildfire every year .. The US doesn't have the carrier here as in Africa ....

 

[LaborDayRN]

OK I have to say what I've been thinking. This guy went to the ER and I would bet he had NO insurance. So he got a minimal look over and was sent out the door- no sense wasting time on someone they can't run a bill up on.
I know nothing of this hospital- so perhaps I am being unfair but this is why health care in the US has such a terrible reputation the world over.

I don't know what happened at this hospital or who made this whopper of a mistake, but as a healthcare worker (RN) I can say that when I see patients for evaluation, I have no idea ( and don't care to know) the details of their insurance coverage or lack there of. Admitting takes all that information, not me. My concern is their health. :flu:

 

[1&2&3]

My concern is have the people in the waiting room from the first hospital visit been contacted?

We are told it is not an airborne disease, but being in the same room with a person with Ebola for more than three hours would raise my suspicious nature. Is this why the tracking number reached 100?

 

[TaylurRose02]

In fact public health funding and sanitation standards only came about during the Progressive Era (early 1900s) when the public became afraid of getting diseases from others. It was "ok" that tenements had no garbage disposals/waste removal, the indigent were hungry or getting sick from working 16 hours a day. Public health educators and some writers, journalists pointed out that if such persons weren't afforded health living environments, a reasonable work hour, medical attention and enough food, they would be vectors or susceptible to dangerous communicable diseases. Conditions improved but mostly out of fear and to protect one's own self and family.

The same thing is happening with Ebola. We suddenly care more when we're at risk.

I feel like your post is true with just about everything. Most people don't care unless it involves them or those they know.

 

[TaylurRose02]

Exactly ..A million die from malaria like wildfire every year .. The US doesn't have the carrier here as in Africa ....

My quote was the fact that ebola is spreading like wildfire....as in from person to person at an accelerated rate never seen before with the strain. You're right, the US isn't well acquainted with malaria. I don't really know where you're going with this. This conversation is about the comparison people were making between ebola and malaria and other diseases. I was saying I don't understand how people can compare them when they play on two separate ball fields. I'm not saying Malaria isn't bad. I've had soldiers in my family come home with it. It's deadly and horrible, but on a different level of transmittance than ebola.

 

[WillenFan21]

80 students at Penn State University here in Pennsylvania are being monitored for Ebola symptoms but article says it's highly unlikely that they have it.

http://www.wjactv.com/news/features...nitored-ebola-virus-symptoms-3713.shtml?wap=0

 

[chipmunk]

My quote was the fact that ebola is spreading like wildfire....as in from person to person at an accelerated rate never seen before with the strain. You're right, the US isn't well acquainted with malaria. I don't really know where you're going with this. This conversation is about the comparison people were making between ebola and malaria and other diseases. I was saying I don't understand how people can compare them when they play on two separate ball fields. I'm not saying Malaria isn't bad. I've had soldiers in my family come home with it. It's deadly and horrible, but on a different level of transmittance than ebola.

It is more than worrisome for sure. Let's hope that lack of medical care, government inaction and ignorance about how ebola is spread are the only drivers. God forbid it mutates to be more easily transmittable. I understand the longer this breakout goes on and the more people infected the greater the chance it could happen.

 

[Yoda]

BREAKING - No Ebola in Toronto - A patient suspected of being infected with the virus has tested negative.

https://mobile.twitter.com/richard680news

 

[atthelake]

I feel like your post is true with just about everything. Most people don't care unless it involves them or those they know.

Bingo.

Just look at those who have not been on this thread and the previous one until it hit Dallas .

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[chipmunk]

80 students at Penn State University here in Pennsylvania are being monitored for Ebola symptoms but article says it's highly unlikely that they have it.

http://www.wjactv.com/news/features...nitored-ebola-virus-symptoms-3713.shtml?wap=0

Humm, are these several possible cases popping up due to better education, awareness or is this thing spreading here. I know it's the former, but concerned it could be both.

 

[atthelake]

Humm, are these several possible cases popping up due to better education, awareness or is this thing spreading here. I know it's the former, but concerned it could be both.

Awareness ...imho ..due diligence for communcation ..and some paranoia

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[DeDee]

KelG @ticinmymind · 51m 51 minutes ago

@ChuckCJohnson Is this vague piece of news related? http://wavy.com/2014/10/03/dhs-investigating-in-chesapeake/ …

Map: http://wavy.com/2014/10/03/dhs-investigating-in-chesapeake/

Charles C. Johnson @ChuckCJohnson · 57m 57 minutes ago

BREAKING: DHS Search of Mobile Home Park Linked to Missing Liberian Muslims? http://gotnews.com/?p=1243 #ebola

"CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants in a Chesapeake trailer park Friday morning." WAVY

 

[DeDee]

Just to follow up, everything else I've read says that you are only contagious once you have the symptoms.

Although Schmae raises a very legitimate point about being contagious for a period of time before seeking treatment. I think that's why the points of contact is so important - they get to people the infected person has been in contact with before they're symptomatic so you can warn them what to do if they do become symptomatic.

Charles C. Johnson @ChuckCJohnson · 2h 2 hours ago

#Ebola lengthy time delay between infection to symptoms is what makes it hard to eradicate.

 

[lawstudent]

very true but we have vaccines and know how to treat polio, TB and aids.................this is different JMOO

We know how to treat ebola - that's why the people who came back here lived. We don't know how to cure ebola. But we don't know how to cure polio either. We treated it, but many people still suffered a lot of damage. Vaccines saved us, but do we vaccinate against polio anymore? I thought that was no longer done in the US. And vaccines only help beforehand, if you're expecting an outbreak.

TB I can't quite figure out - apparently it doesn't make most people that sick, but then ravages others. We can treat it, but I don't think we can do much for those hardest hit by it. From Wiki:

It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis. About one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.

... Treatment is difficult and requires administration of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time. Social contacts are also screened and treated if necessary. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) infections. ...

about 80% of the population in many Asian and African countries tests positive in tuberculin tests, while only 5–10% of the United States population tests positive. More people in the developing world contract tuberculosis because of a poor immune system, largely due to high rates of HIV infection and the corresponding development of AIDS.

So there's already TB here, but people are healthier so it doesn't destroy them like it once did. But it seems much easier to spread than ebola, and if it becomes antibiotic-resistant, it seems like a pretty big threat.

HIV was largely contained due to excellent public health campaigns - it's not very easy to transmit, and people began being a lot more careful about using protection and not sharing needles, etc. In places where birth control and sexual health is taboo, it's a disaster. And while we can treat HIV, I don't think we can treat AIDs very much. Once it hits that point, which we've now made a lot rarer, you are going to die, and probably suffer a lot more than someone with ebola.

Re: the malaria discussion - it is usually spread by mosquitoes. So if we had mosquitoes that could effectively transmit it, I'd say the danger would be pretty high. That can be harder to control that human-to-human transmission - think of how the plague was spread by fleas from rats.

I guess I feel that this is something we do have control over. Not that it couldn't kill people, but in the US it is reasonably possible to stay away from ebola victims and to make sure sewage isn't getting into water supplies and all that. The incubation period aspect makes it difficult, but many diseases have that component. The biggest issue is the victims die quickly - it just poses a much lower risk of spread than many other diseases, where people travel around for years with symptoms.

We also have much better body disposal methods in terms of sanitation - that makes a huge difference.

And while I realize ebola has killed thousands in this outbreak, so have a bunch of other diseases. Look at the statistics. Millions die from AIDS each year, and I'm sure many more do from malaria and TB than from ebola. Ebola has small short outbreaks that tragically take thousands of lives that should not be minimized, but it's death rates are nothing like those of many other diseases (in terms of numbers, not fatality rates), most of which are also spread by contact with other humans.

 

[LinasK]

We know how to treat ebola - that's why the people who came back here lived. We don't know how to cure ebola. But we don't know how to cure polio either. We treated it, but many people still suffered a lot of damage. Vaccines saved us, but do we vaccinate against polio anymore? I thought that was no longer done in the US. And vaccines only help beforehand, if you're expecting an outbreak.

TB I can't quite figure out - apparently it doesn't make most people that sick, but then ravages others. We can treat it, but I don't think we can do much for those hardest hit by it. From Wiki:

So there's already TB here, but people are healthier so it doesn't destroy them like it once did. But it seems much easier to spread than ebola, and if it becomes antibiotic-resistant, it seems like a pretty big threat.

And while I realize ebola has killed thousands in this outbreak, so have a bunch of other diseases. Look at the statistics. Millions die from AIDS each year, and I'm sure many more do from malaria and TB than from ebola. Ebola has small short outbreaks that tragically take thousands of lives that should not be minimized, but it's death rates are nothing like those of many other diseases (in terms of numbers, not fatality rates), most of which are also spread by contact with other humans.

What I can tell you about TB:
18 years ago I was coughed on by a patient with active TB. The nursing home he was admitted to wasn't aware that this patient arrived from the Phillipines with active TB. I myself didn't know until I took a tyne test- 4 prick on the wrist, and it turned positive- size of a quarter. For a whole year, I had to take a drug called INH daily, even when I traveled I had to take it with me. Periodically, I still have to have chest x-rays to prove to new employers that I don't have TB. I can no longer take the tyne test. This was 18 years ago!!!
P.S. Children, at least mine, receive the polio vaccine. It's making a recurrence.