Ebola in America

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I wonder how many survivalists have holed up in their bunkers over this.

I have to prepper friends in Montana that have offered to come get my cats when I die.

 

[Ziggurat]

I have to prepper friends in Montana that have offered to come get my cats when I die.

If you die, your cats can just eat your corpse.

Oh, my mistake: your friends are going to come get your cat. Not take care of it.

 

[Meadmaker]

It seems to me that they don't want to send help to prevent our people (the ones sent) from getting Ebola, and want the quarantines to prevent our people (here) from getting Ebola. It is an attitude that doesn't care what happens in Africa.

That's my reading of it, anyway.

I understand the attitude of indifference toward one's fellow man. There are six billion people in the world, and I know I don't have time to care about all of them. Callous indifference toward strangers makes a certain kind of sense, even if it isn't what we all aspire toward.

However, that isn't what I am talking about. I am talking about self preservation. If the disease is sufficiently contagious that Dr. Spencer is a hazard walking around New York City, then those thousands of sick people in Africa are an even bigger danger to Americans, even though they are thousands of miles away and separated by an ocean. If the disease is sufficiently contagious to warrant strict quarantines, then it is vital to squash it out as quickly as possible wherever it appears. If not, then carriers will travel and, because they are asymptomatic while travelling, it will be impossible to stop the spread.

And yet, the people criticizing Dr. Spencer or Kasi Hickox are not calling for aggressive measures to combat the disease in Africa. It makes no sense.

 

[Shepherd]

During my high school days I and another fellow I knew were visiting this friend of ours who lived on a farm. He told us that there was a sickly cat that he needed to take care of later. I'm pretty sure that's the way he said it, at least. Well, it seems "taking care of it" later involved a shotgun - which, to be honest, even I wasn't really expecting at the time.

 

[Kestrel]

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is holding its annual conference in New Orleans next week. The state health department has said anyone who has been in West Africa should stay home and not attend.

As I recall, the state has also banned incinerated waste from Ebola patients from the state landfills. Because apparently Ebola is a super virus that is not destroyed by fire.

 

[wollclark]

I understand the attitude of indifference toward one's fellow man. There are six billion people in the world, and I know I don't have time to care about all of them. Callous indifference toward strangers makes a certain kind of sense, even if it isn't what we all aspire toward.

However, that isn't what I am talking about. I am talking about self preservation. If the disease is sufficiently contagious that Dr. Spencer is a hazard walking around New York City, then those thousands of sick people in Africa are an even bigger danger to Americans, even though they are thousands of miles away and separated by an ocean. If the disease is sufficiently contagious to warrant strict quarantines, then it is vital to squash it out as quickly as possible wherever it appears. If not, then carriers will travel and, because they are asymptomatic while travelling, it will be impossible to stop the spread.

And yet, the people criticizing Dr. Spencer or Kasi Hickox are not calling for aggressive measures to combat the disease in Africa. It makes no sense.

I think we should be tackling the disease in West Africa, I'm glad that we are. But that doesn't mean we should ignore these doctors when it appears they're being flippant when they return. They've knowingly interacted with a virus that seemingly kills a majority of those it infects and quickly, people are naturally going to feel uneasy when they hear that one of them decided to party around a densely populated city while feeling weak. (It doesn't help fears that he initially lied.) People are going to feel she's dangerously selfish when Hickox says she's going to ignore quarantine orders. We should be as cautious as possible with this disease, especially in big cities.

I just can't stop thinking about all the people he infected due to his wanton disregard for his fellow human.

Let's face it, the whole concept of zero is pretty fascinating, even without ebola.

You don't know it's zero. He was, after all, feeling weak when going around town. This disease has a long incubation period, it's the beginning of flu season, in a densely populated city. I hope for our sake it really is zero.

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Speaking of doctors who worked with ebola in West Africa:

http://www.kvue.com/story/news/loca...g-with-ebola-patients-lands-at-abia/18119917/

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry's office released a statement Wednesday saying a nurse who had been working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone flew into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Wednesday morning on a commercial flight.

Gov. Perry's office says the nurse is asymptomatic, will quarantine herself for 21 days and undergo twice-a-day monitoring for symptoms.

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Also, here's troubling findings about the virus in those who have survived it:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411677#t=articleTop

After plasma EBOV RNA became negative on day 17, real-time RT-PCR surveillance of sputum, saliva, conjunctival swabs, stool, urine, and sweat (from the axillary, forehead, and inguinal regions) was performed. Saliva, sputum, conjunctival swabs, and stool were already negative on the first day of testing (day 18). However, urine samples remained positive for EBOV RNA until day 30, and RNA extracts from sweat remained positive throughout the observation period until day 40.

 

[Arisia]

Can we have the list of the bodily fluids that transmit Ebola again?

From what I can tell, Dr. Spencer was not sharing any of them while out-and-about in NYC.

And yes, lying and/or belligerence on the part of those who have been asked to voluntarily isolate and monitor themselves doesn't help the cause of trying to keep the official response logical and reasonable.

 

[Frozenwolf150]

Dont' know who I dislike more:

The paranoids who are in a full scale meltdown over Ebola or
Those who are cynically trying to exploit the Ebola as an excuse to bash Obama/The Democrats.

I'd go with the **** nuts who are trying to cash in on the ebola panic.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-horrifying-ways-people-are-making-money-off-ebola/

As well as the people whose panic takes on a form of not-so-subtle racism.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-reasons-ebola-panic-secretly-racist/

 

[shuize]

I just can't stop thinking about all the people he infected due to his wanton disregard for his fellow human.

Let's face it, the whole concept of zero is pretty fascinating, even without ebola.

I know, right. If an Ebola exposed/infected individual like Dr. Spencer wants to ride public transportation, we should totally let him. It's safe to assume zero so far will always mean zero. Because "science."

 

[Monketi Ghost]

This idiot nurse is unbelievable. She's leading the way for people who don't give a **** about quarantine and won't be inconvenienced by it.

 

[catsmate]

Can we have the list of the bodily fluids that transmit Ebola again?

Pretty much all of them. Semen appear to be infectious the longest.

This idiot nurse is unbelievable. She's leading the way for people who don't give a **** about quarantine and won't be inconvenienced by it.

You mean the nurse who's complying with all the CDC guidelines? The nurse who's refusing to let her civil rights become a political football in an election season?
That nurse?

 

[That19Guy]

Regarding the Kaci Hickox situation, Thomas Duncan, the cat who died in Dallas, tested negative for Ebola in Liberia as his brother says: http://ktar.com/22/1771519/Phoenix-...c-Duncan-tested-negative-for-Ebola-in-Liberia

Could it be that a negative test can eventually turn into a positive one, or am I missing something here?

 

[Monketi Ghost]

Pretty much all of them. Semen appear to be infectious the longest.



You mean the nurse who's complying with all the CDC guidelines? The nurse who's refusing to let her civil rights become a political football in an election season?
That nurse?

Yes, the nurse who's bravely showing all the lesser informed that if she doesn't care about the quarantine, neither should they. As a health care worker she should be aware of the example she's setting. Is a lousy one. Three weeks of inconvenience isn't much to comply with but instead she wants to be in the papers.

 

[Kestrel]

Regarding the Kaci Hickox situation, Thomas Duncan, the cat who died in Dallas, tested negative for Ebola in Liberia as his brother says: http://ktar.com/22/1771519/Phoenix-...c-Duncan-tested-negative-for-Ebola-in-Liberia

Could it be that a negative test can eventually turn into a positive one, or am I missing something here?

Yes, the test requires a certain concentration of the Ebola virus for a positive result.

Sounds like a disaster unless you understand that to transmit Ebola to another person requires a high concentration of the Ebola virus. At that point, the infected person will be showing symptoms. They also develop a fever before they become a real danger to others. Given this, it is reasonable for a person who has a small chance of having been exposed to the Ebola virus to monitor their temperature. If they develop a fever, they should be checked again for presence of the virus.

Isolation may be appropriate for a person known to have direct contact with body fluids of an Ebola victim in the highly contagious stages of the disease.

This NEJM editorial explains some basic facts about Ebola transmission.

 

[Unabogie]

Yes, the nurse who's bravely showing all the lesser informed that if she doesn't care about the quarantine, neither should they. As a health care worker she should be aware of the example she's setting. Is a lousy one. Three weeks of inconvenience isn't much to comply with but instead she wants to be in the papers.

They wanted her to live in an unheated tent, in November, even though she's asymptomatic and there's no indication she has Ebola. The CDC has protocols in place and Christie and Cuomo decided to junk those protocols in favor of hysteria and political pandering. Kaci Hickox is an American hero, mainly because she's urging the public to follow the science and not fall prey to this absurd panic.

 

[That19Guy]

Yes, the test requires a certain concentration of the Ebola virus for a positive result.

Sounds like a disaster unless you understand that to transmit Ebola to another person requires a high concentration of the Ebola virus. At that point, the infected person will be showing symptoms. They also develop a fever before they become a real danger to others. Given this, it is reasonable for a person who has a small chance of having been exposed to the Ebola virus to monitor their temperature. If they develop a fever, they should be checked again for presence of the virus.

Isolation may be appropriate for a person known to have direct contact with body fluids of an Ebola victim in the highly contagious stages of the disease.

This NEJM editorial explains some basic facts about Ebola transmission.

So is it possible that while the nurse has had 2 negative results back, she too could become symptomatic and "contract" Ebola? If that's possible, I'm not sure why she's so adamant about not going through w/the 21 Day situation.

 

[Kestrel]

They wanted her to live in an unheated tent, in November, even though she's asymptomatic and there's no indication she has Ebola. The CDC has protocols in place and Christie and Cuomo decided to junk those protocols in favor of hysteria and political pandering. Kaci Hickox is an American hero, mainly because she's urging the public to follow the science and not fall prey to this absurd panic.

The authorities in New Jersey treated Nurse Hickox as if she had Ebola. The subtile distinction between having a low likelihood of being exposed to the disease and having a raging case of Ebola are apparently too complicated for them to understand.

ETA: The tent wasn't unheated. It was set up inside the hospital building.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

So is it possible that while the nurse has had 2 negative results back, she too could become symptomatic and "contract" Ebola? If that's possible, I'm not sure why she's so adamant about not going through w/the 21 Day situation.

The virus could be replicating in cells but be producing a viral load too small for the test to detect.

This nurse is setting a horrible example. If every health care worker decides for themselves what rules should be followed, it's trouble. Every nurse I've spoken with in my hospital thinks she's being a narcissist.

 

[Kestrel]

So is it possible that while the nurse has had 2 negative results back, she too could become symptomatic and "contract" Ebola? If that's possible, I'm not sure why she's so adamant about not going through w/the 21 Day situation.

Nurses routinely work with patients that have highly infectious diseases. They take precautions to avoid spreading it to themselves or other patients. Then they go home and live in the community.

Ebola is a nasty disease, but it is not like this nurse is an illiterate villager living in West Africa. If she develops a fever, she will seek treatment. If she tests positive for Ebola, she will have no problem with being isolated. She isn't going to try and treat it at home with homeopathic remedies, or seek out the local witch doctor to remove the curse.

 

[phunk]

The virus could be replicating in cells but be producing a viral load too small for the test to detect.

This nurse is setting a horrible example. If every health care worker decides for themselves what rules should be followed, it's trouble. Every nurse I've spoken with in my hospital thinks she's being a narcissist.

She isn't deciding for herself. The CDC decided, and she's going with their recommendation rather than the governer who has no medical training and is simply looking for a way to make it look like he's doing something about the problem.