Ebola in America

Can you test someone before he becomes infectious? How expensive is it? Could you screen the passengers of entire planes leaving or oar riving from designated high-risk zones? Would it be feasible (economically and medically) to test people who show first symptoms? AFAIK, the earliest symptoms are flu-like. So would it be feasible to test all people with flu-like symptoms for Ebola? Would it matter in the sense that there are earlier and better isolation procedures applicable, but that wouldn't count if the test would take so long that the patient would develop more severe symptoms and infection rates?
 
"As many as 80 people were in contact with the Dallas Ebola patient at some point, Texas health officials told NBC, marking a significant jump from the 18 people authorities had said may have been exposed to the deadly virus.

Additionally, four members of the patient's family have been ordered to stay home as a precaution even though they are not showing symptoms, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement." according to the Huffington Post.

I think this is going to follow the Nigeria example where a few of these people come down with ebola, but eventually it will get under control.
 
"As many as 80 people were in contact with the Dallas Ebola patient at some point, Texas health officials told NBC, marking a significant jump from the 18 people authorities had said may have been exposed to the deadly virus.

Contact with patient != exposed to virus. Though even health professionals had to be taught that when it came to HIV/Aids. (I wish they would skip the "deadly". Ebola has a high mortality rate, however, pretty much all of the observed mortalities were in regions with low general health and nutrition standards. We do not know the mortality rate by the virus alone.)
 
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Can you test someone before he becomes infectious? How expensive is it? Could you screen the passengers of entire planes leaving or oar riving from designated high-risk zones? Would it be feasible (economically and medically) to test people who show first symptoms? AFAIK, the earliest symptoms are flu-like. So would it be feasible to test all people with flu-like symptoms for Ebola? Would it matter in the sense that there are earlier and better isolation procedures applicable, but that wouldn't count if the test would take so long that the patient would develop more severe symptoms and infection rates?
One problem I see is that flu season is starting in a lot of America. There will be people with "flu-like symptoms" coming out of the rafters.
 
One problem I see is that flu season is starting in a lot of America. There will be people with "flu-like symptoms" coming out of the rafters.

On the flip side, think of all the people that won't even think twice about flu-symptoms and never get checked.
 
You mean, just concerned or crazy concerned ? 'Cause I'm concerned.

There are people who will get crazy.
There are people who will spread FUD via conspiracy theories and other lunacy.
There are people who will flood ERs because they think every sniffle is "The Ebola."

Basically, I'm seeing a lot of bad things happen that have little to do with the virus itself.
 
Can you test someone before he becomes infectious? How expensive is it? Could you screen the passengers of entire planes leaving or oar riving from designated high-risk zones? Would it be feasible (economically and medically) to test people who show first symptoms? AFAIK, the earliest symptoms are flu-like. So would it be feasible to test all people with flu-like symptoms for Ebola? Would it matter in the sense that there are earlier and better isolation procedures applicable, but that wouldn't count if the test would take so long that the patient would develop more severe symptoms and infection rates?

CDC on Ebola diagnostics: Answers a lot of my questions, I think. If I read this correctly, there's no test available for infected, symptom-free people. You can screen by patient history, that's about it.

There was an interview with a German doctor who has helped down in Africa (forgot where exactly), who deemed German rules for passenger arriving from there woefully inadequate. He has put himself into isolation for a couple of weeks, but I doubt that this would be necessary for every passenger arriving/leaving except international helpers.

(We have one person confirmed being infected traveling on an international flight. That makes the percentage of passengers infected significantly less than one per plane. Excluding the known-before-transport infected people transported home.)
 
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So I have a new neighbor. Strange guy, albiet very handsome - wears a denim jacket with a bunch of pins on it, and he has this really flashy pair of cowboy boots he struts around in. His mailbox, rather than displaying his house number, simply reads "RF" - how odd. He doesn't seem too concerned with Ebola - it's hard to picture him concerned with anything, with that great big smile of his.
 
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So I have a new neighbor. Strange guy, albiet very handsome - wears a denim jacket with a bunch of pins on it, and he has this really flashy pair of cowboy boots he struts around in. His mailbox, rather than displaying his house number, simply reads "RF" - how odd. He doesn't seem too concerned with Ebola - it's hard to picture him concerned with anything, with that great big smile of his.

Don't tripp over the metaphor. ;)
 
On the flip side, think of all the people that won't even think twice about flu-symptoms and never get checked.

I doubt that Ebola can spread in the US or Europe as easily as it can in central Africa. People are living more isolated, know more about basic hygiene and treat dead people (which are highly infectious when Ebola is the cause) a whole lot differently. Outbreaks are far more likely to be contained.
 
Don't tripp over the metaphor. ;)

I had so much fun writing it. :D

All this talk about mass death brought on by a plague is going to make me read The Stand again, and I really don't have the time. Argggh

ETA, just caught what you did there.
 
There is a New York Times article about how the patient caught the disease:
"Mr. Duncan, the first person to develop symptoms outside Africa during the current epidemic, had direct contact with a woman stricken by Ebola on Sept. 15, just four days before he left Liberia for the United States, the woman’s parents and Mr. Duncan’s neighbors said.

In a pattern often seen here in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, the family of the woman, Marthalene Williams, 19, took her by taxi to a hospital with Mr. Duncan’s help on Sept. 15 after failing to get an ambulance, said her parents, Emmanuel and Amie Williams. She was convulsing and seven months pregnant, they said.

Turned away from a hospital for lack of space in its Ebola treatment ward, the family said it took Ms. Williams back home in the evening, and that she died hours later, around 3 a.m."

The question arises if anyone bothered to ask him if he had any contact with anyone with the disease (I think I read there was screening both in Liberia and in the U.S.) or if he was asked and lied.
 
Contact with patient != exposed to virus.

True. But on the other side of the coin can people here remember all the people they can contact with in the last couple weeks? There is a lot of casual contact with strangers.
 
The School districts here have already started addressing this with parents and trying to raise awareness. Just got an email this morning (I live in Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex).

In the <snip> District, the health and safety of our students is always our top priority. This message is to provide you with information in light of the recent news of Enterovirus-D68, and a case of Ebola in Dallas County. The district has been in contact with the Dallas County Health Department regarding these health concerns. The Center for Disease Control recommends the following healthy hygiene actions: hand washing with soap and water, covering your cough, drinking lots of water, and eating healthy foods. If your student does develop symptoms of an illness, consult your child's physician and keep your child home until symptom free.

Ebola Virus Disease

The district recognizes that the case of Ebola in Dallas County raises concerns. It is very important to note that this disease is transmitted through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids. Health officials say there currently are no risks of exposure to the general public at this time. A person infected with Ebola is not contagious until symptoms appear. Signs and symptoms of Ebola typically include: fever (greater than 101.5 degrees), severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising. For the most current information, please refer to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
 
Yesterday, on their main page, CNN wondered Ebola: Is it time to panic?

They have since changed it to "worry" though "panic" remains, negated, in this derivative link.

I'm sure heavy criticism occured. But they got peeps and clickthrus.
 
It's swine flu all over again. I'm losing sleep, waking up with my first thoughts being about this disease. Trying desperately to calm myself with the words of knowledgeable virologists, only to run into comments and stories about this being the end of the world, a conspiracy to depopulate.

I really wish I weren't so prone to panic. I just can't stop myself; I hate not knowing what will happen. Scenarios play in my head of my small, somewhat rural town being decimated by this disease, my family being ripped apart. It doesn't help that I was watching documentaries about the holocaust just a day before news of this man in Dallas. It helps paint pictures of chaos around me.

I need help. :(

Are you serious or sarcastic ? If the former, do you lose sleep over meteors and Gamma Ray Bursts ?
 
Are the preppers heading for the hills yet?

(I may have a somewhat skewed view of americans, they can't all be hysteric.)
 

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