Ebola outbreak - general thread #4

[Sonya610]

Also just in case some think I am a germaphobe...

Safe meat handling procedures? LOL...not in this house. Salmonella is for wimps, e-coli is only slightly worrisome.

HIV? Yeah back in the day slightly concerned...but not that concerned, it certainly didn't slow me down from having fun.

SARS? Likely another bush meat disease; it popped up in Asia and it was very quickly contained.

H1N1? That was a birdy flu...and while I felt bad for the birds that suffered it was not a concern.

Ebola? Okay now this is scary, sure we can keep transmission down in the U.S. but it is highly infectiousness and deadly, it obviously travels easily between humans and well....this could be a real concern.

Even if the folks in the U.S. do NOT have an outbreak the folks in nearby countries likely WILL and that could cause big time havoc here.

 

[WichitaFalls]

That's NOT what I said. I said that I drink up to a gallon of water a day and still stay dehydrated. I'm miserable and can't drink more than a gallon of water a day. Add into that the half gallon of juice and milk I drink every day. Eventually, I'll most likely die from my chronic dehydration and the resulting organ failure. What I was trying to convey is that dehydration alone is not the cause for Ebola. Nor is rehydrating the cure.

My lips are dry, cracked, and bleeding. I can barely get from one room to another because of the dizziness caused by chronic dehydration. But my chronic health problems are not communicable diseases like Ebola and I'm not endangering anyone else.

O/T I'm sorry you're so ill Dee.

 

[XXXXXXXX]

O/T I'm sorry you're so ill Dee.

Thank you, WitchitaFalls. I don't want to make this about myself, though. The only thing I was trying to point out was that rehydration does not cure Ebola. If it as some people suggested, that rehydrating your body cured Ebola, then thousands of people wouldn't be dead by now and other millions of people across the world at risk of this deadly and contagious disease.

 

[Redux]

Thank you, WitchitaFalls. I don't want to make this about myself, though. The only thing I was trying to point out was that rehydration does not cure Ebola. If it as some people suggested, that rehydrating your body cured Ebola, then thousands of people wouldn't be dead by now and other millions of people across the world at risk of this deadly and contagious disease.

Can you please quote who here said it was a cure?

Please just quote the post or tell us the post number (upper right hand corner of the post).

 

[SweetT]

Didn't that young girl who nursed her relatives through ebola use an IV for fluids?

 

[fabvab]

Curiosity got me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedialyte

Pedialyte is similar to rehydration fluids used by the World Health Organization (WHO) such as "New Oral Rehydration Solution"

http://theboatgalley.com/rehydration-powder/

I have looked and looked for rehydration powder in the pharmacies here in the US and never found it.In Mexico, Central America, South America and Africa you can find the packets in every pharmacy . . . and lots of other places as well. Why not in the US?

And there — in the infants department but not in the pharmacy — was Pedialyte powder — in 4- and 8-packs.

Go to a cycling shops and buy it in pill form. My husband is a cyclist and buys tablets like In this link to prevent dehydration during bike rides in summer heat. Our cycling shop had them in small individuals packages on the counter for a dime each pack.

http://gearjunkie.com/electrolyte-tablets-nuun-zym-camelbak-elixir

 

[Lyra500]

Didn't that young girl who nursed her relatives through ebola use an IV for fluids?

Yes - she did home IV treatment. Amazing woman.

I think IV fluids will obviously be the best way of replenishing and avoiding dehydration, but in the absence of IV, if families are now supposed to try and nurse their relatives at home (isn't that what they are now saying in Sierra Leone?), I expect oral rehydration salts will be the next best thing. Although it won't really help in patients who have severe vomiting.

 

[nomoresorrow]

That is one slightly creepy story. HTML link here: http://westafrikanoralliterature.weebly.com/the-cow-tail-switch.html

Like all folk tales, the use of metaphors are commonly used. I am reminded of the "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner, and how "creeepy" our culture may be viewed... https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html?pagewanted=all
To recognize the phrases and their actual meanings, you can look at... http://www.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/wpgroup4/brotn.html

 

[nikb]

She said if you were to go to the ER with 103 fever they would not send you home.

hahaha apparently she's never been to my local ER. It's frightening. 103 they'd be irritated you bothered them by even showing up. Then again they'd also never know your temp because they'd have to actually come check it to know that.

 

[Redux]

Go to a cycling shops and buy it in pill form. My husband is a cyclist and buys tablets like In this link to prevent dehydration during bike rides in summer heat. Our cycling shop had them in small individuals packages on the counter for a dime each pack.

http://gearjunkie.com/electrolyte-tablets-nuun-zym-camelbak-elixir

Wow, thank you for that tidbit. The stuff on ebay is more than I can spend right now, but I wouldn't mind picking up a few of those packs.

 

[SweetT]

Yes - she did home IV treatment. Amazing woman.

I think IV fluids will obviously be the best way of replenishing and avoiding dehydration, but in the absence of IV, if families are now supposed to try and nurse their relatives at home (isn't that what they are now saying in Sierra Leone?), I expect oral rehydration salts will be the next best thing. Although it won't really help in patients who have severe vomiting.

Yea that was my thought if they can't keep fluids down it won't help much.. Guess learning to do ivs will be helpful.

 

[Sonya610]

Like all folk tales, the use of metaphors are commonly used. I am reminded of the "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner, and how "creeepy" our culture may be viewed... https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html?pagewanted=all
To recognize the phrases and their actual meanings, you can look at... http://www.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/wpgroup4/brotn.html

LOL...read some and yes I got the point even without a translation.

Thing is I believe in the afterlife (monistic panthiest here), energy is neither created nor destroyed. Our memory of the dead does not keep part of them alive, their energy goes on whether we remember them or not (No link, JMO).

And yes that story was rather creepy and zombie like, I seriously doubt if the version I read was part of oral African folklore.

 

[trigger]

http://www.thelocal.es/20141009/health-of-nurse-with-ebola-is-worse-brother-madrid-spain

Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero, currently in a critical but stable condition after being infected with Ebola, is to undergo treatment with the experimental medication ZMapp, Spain's national government broadcaster RTVE reported on Friday.

Supplies of the drug have been shipped in from Belgium, the broadcaster said in reports that have yet to be confirmed.

The news comes despite recent media reports that global supplies of the drug had dried up.

Just came on CNN that the Nurse received a drug called Avigan. Said she is in stable condition!

 

[jjenny]

Just came on CNN that the Nurse received a drug called Avigan. Said she is in stable condition!

Not ZMapp. Sounds like ZMapp was false information.

 

[Penelope]

14 yo boy showing symptoms of ebola is being treated at Brookdale hospital, in Brooklyn, NY.

He was in Sudan for 2 weeks and apparently lied to authoritys so he could come home.

http://nypost.com/2014/10/11/brooklyn-teen-hospitalized-with-ebola-like-symptoms/

Not sure if you posted this yet… Ebola scare in Brooklyn was a false alarm.

 

[jjenny]

Didn't that young girl who nursed her relatives through ebola use an IV for fluids?

I believe she had training as a nurse.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Also just in case some think I am a germaphobe...

Safe meat handling procedures? LOL...not in this house. Salmonella is for wimps, e-coli is only slightly worrisome.

HIV? Yeah back in the day slightly concerned...but not that concerned, it certainly didn't slow me down from having fun.

SARS? Likely another bush meat disease; it popped up in Asia and it was very quickly contained.

H1N1? That was a birdy flu...and while I felt bad for the birds that suffered it was not a concern.

Ebola? Okay now this is scary, sure we can keep transmission down in the U.S. but it is highly infectiousness and deadly, it obviously travels easily between humans and well....this could be a real concern.

Even if the folks in the U.S. do NOT have an outbreak the folks in nearby countries likely WILL and that could cause big time havoc here.

<modsnip>



I'm not Sonya610 but I think I know where she's coming from...maybe not but here's my take on her post that I can honestly relate to...

HIV back in the 80's was reported on as mostly something that homosexuals passed to one another, as well as intravenous drug users - the world media pushed this theory on us that weren't gay or drug addicts that we were sort of safe so to speak, not really much to worry about just don't have sex with somebody that "could" be infected. As it turned out they were all wrong. Bad blood supplies, many individuals having unprotected sex, drugs, cleaning an infected person, etc. So some of us, myself included, didn't take it as serious as we should have.

H1N1 - Never took this serious at all bc media reported it as being related to birds and I don't go near birds at all, not even if one flies into my car window, grill or tire. However, in some areas of the US (as well as the world) H1N1 was a problem. Media hyped it in certain areas and downplayed it in others.

SARS - I never once took this seriously as I thought it was contained to Asia. Again, media reporting.

Ebola - Well, this I do take serious completely bc it's one of the most infectious diseases out there with no known cure and a high fatality rate. However, the difference here is that I learned about Ebola years ago when in college. HIV, SARS, H1N1 were diseases/viruses that only made the news when they were first discovered. Actually, HIV was discovered many many MANY years ago but was only given some kind of name in the 80's when the CDC & WHO put a label on it. Ebola some of us may take as something more serious bc we know more about it, even if we're only a tiny bit educated on it.

I agree with Sonya and think people should take this very seriously. I also would like to add that the media better get their $h!+ together and start reporting logically. They need to knock it off misleading people into thinking they're safe if they're in the same room with someone that has Ebola. If a person is within 5-6 feet of a person infected with Ebola and they're skin isn't protected, and the Ebola infected person sneezes - well... Sweat, blood, etc. Public restrooms are out of the question for me unless I have a pack of Clorox wipes with me, restrooms freak me out anyway. Ebola can survive on clothes, bed linens, etc. Ebola can absolutely survive on railings for a very short period but never the less can survive.

 

[CARIIS]

I worked in health care for 17 years. IMO insurance totally dictates treatment. If you had an actor memorize a script with symtomology , history,,and went through an assessment you would be two totally different people. If Act 1 had awesome insurance and ACT 2 had the worst - the differences would astound those who are lucky enough to live where healthcare is delevired in a differnt matter.

In the situation above (same person doing the assessment) the diagnois would probably be differetn as (justify lack of treatment on paper) .

Check out the salaries of the CEO of our health insurance folks:

led CEO pay.

Its criminal-- imagine how much care could be given wiht the roughly 70 million of the top 9 guys ---thats a lot of help going to 9 people

http://www.healthcare-now.org/health-insurance-ceo-pay-skyrockets-in-2013

 

[fabvab]

That is one slightly creepy story. HTML link here: http://westafrikanoralliterature.weebly.com/the-cow-tail-switch.html

That folktale is sometimes used when working with people who are grieving the loss of a loved one to help them realize that even though death is final and our loved ones are gone, our memories of our loved ones keep them alive in our hearts and minds forever. I've seen it used with a group of young people, and it was a very powerful ending to a grief session.

 

[LinasK]

Yea that was my thought if they can't keep fluids down it won't help much.. Guess learning to do ivs will be helpful.

There is a wonderful anti-nausea/vomiting drug called Zofran! Often given to chemotherapy patients.