Ebola, coming to a place near you soon!

The first Ebola case in the US has been diagnosed today. The CDC today confirmed a patient hospitalized in Dallas, Texas has Ebola. Apparently, this patient was in Liberia recently flew to the US while infected with the Ebola virus.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/first-ebola-case-diagnosed-us


I remember years ago when Ebola first surfaced. We were told, Ebola was a fast acting virus and therefore no real threat to public health in the US or elsewhere. Well it appears that is no longer the case as the case in Texas proves, Ebola has spread beyond Africa. Now the question is did he/she infect any of the passengers on the plane? If he or she did, many more people could be infected and many more infections can be expected.

The medical community appears to be very confident they can handle Ebola, but then Ebola wasn't supposed to spread across borders either and it clearly has. The credibility of the medical establishment is now under scrutiny as well it should be.

 

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?? I never saw any claim that Ebola would not spread across borders. (And in fact this is not the first case; four Ebola vicitms were treated in Atlanta earlier this month,)

I've never seen that claim either. Where did you see that?

 

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Strange isn't it that the first cases were brought to the CDC not long ago from Africa to be helped. Now only a few months later we see the virus here. Coincidental?

 

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And in fact, it is the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the US. The other cases you refer to were diagnosed with Ebola outside the US and subsequently transported into The United States. This individual was not diagnosed until after he arrived in The United That is a key difference. When the previously diagnosed patients were transported into this country, their infections were known and precautions were taken and the threat to public health was minimal. You are trying to conflate two very different events.

This individual wasn’t known to have Ebola when he entered the country and he was infectious for a period of time and free to spread the disease to unsuspecting family, friends and others. So he could have spread the disease and was and remains a very real threat to public health. That is why the CDC is now trying to track down any individuals who came into contact with this infected individual while he was infected and a threat to public health and putting them in quarantine.

Ebola was first recognized in 1976 and the medical community has long held that Ebola was highly infectious but not very transmissible. In addition it was a fast acting disease, a dumb virus, as it killed its victims quickly therefore limiting the outbreak and transmissibility. Well, contrary to medical opinion, it seems to be very transmissible as it has spread, crossing borders and now into The United States and with each passing day more and more people are becoming infected. This disease is growing. For a disease that isn’t supposed to be that transmissible, it appears to be doing a very good job of transmitting itself as there are multiple outbreaks of the disease in West Africa and now in The United States. Ebola is growing from an epidemic to a pandemic.

Below is an interview with the man who first discovered Ebola.

“Julia Belluz: You've been working on Ebola since you co-discovered the virus in 1976. For nearly 40 years, this disease has largely been ignored by the international community except for brief flashes of interest, mostly spurred by Hollywood. Now we are seeing unprecedented attention and political galvanization around Ebola. What changed?

Peter Piot: In the 38 years since 1976 until this current outbreak, there have been something like 1,500 people who died in total. So that's less than 50 deaths per year. Up to now, it was not a real public health problem. This year, nearly 3,000 have died. All 24 previous outbreaks were both time and place limited to very confined communities. Even in the worst case, Ebola would kill 300 people. Here it has involved entire countries, and it has been going on for over nine months now.”

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/29/685170...ed-ebola-on-why-this-epidemic-spiraled-out-of

The CDC is now trying to identify and isolate all people who came in contact with this individual and are at risk of infection. The CDC does not believe people on his flight to the US are at risk – a godsend. But per the CDC announcement today, others are.

 

Again, where did you see that? From the first time I heard of Ebola, it was described as being transmissible through blood and bodily fluids. Today it is understood to be transmissible through blood and bodily fluids. What do you think has changed? (other than it's getting a lot of media coverage)

Can you post an actual medical opinion describing it as "not very transmissible?"

 

Not sure about the specific use of the word "transmissible" but I think I know what joe is saying - the virus is highly "infectious" in that a small amount is almost guaranteed to cause the illness if you are exposed but it's not very "contagious":

Ebola "doesn't spread very efficiently through humans," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Center for Health Security, told Business Insider.​

While the virus is deadly, it's not very contagious. Unlike the common cold or the flu, which spread through airborne droplets, Ebola can only spread through contact with bodily fluids, like blood, vomit, and diarrhea.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ebola-virus-in-us-dallas-dont-panic-2014-9

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There are plenty more references if you Google...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#safe=off&q=ebola not very transmissible&spell=1

Is this the gist joe?

 

That's it.

 

Africa is the place it will do most harm.
Same as AIDS.
Poor housing, primitive sewage, malnutrition, lack of health care, concomitant diseases, compromised immune systems.
They are all multipliers.

 

If Ebola becomes a significant problem in the US,
at the same time it will devastate Africa.

 

Check out the spread of Lyme disease.

 

The danger to the US and other countries is twofold, the infected could overwhelm our capacity to deal with it.

Unlike Africa, we live in highly populated areas and we are a very mobile society. We travel often and over long distances.

And there is always the possibility the virus could become more contagious. Ebola supposedly is only spread through bodily fluids of sick individuals. This guy has no such recollection of exposure.

We got lucky with this guy. He could have stayed home and not sought additional medical care after INITALLY being sent home from the ER. Imagine how many people he could have infected if his illness had not been properly diagnosed.

I think this very clearly drives home the wisdom of Western aid to the afflicted countries in West Africa.

I think we need to be cautious. Let's not let hubris get the best of us.

 

Agreed. On the plus side, we have much better sanitation, and our habits (and ability to disseminate information) confer a great deal of protection against the virus.

Also agreed.

 

Sounds just a shade worse than Texas....

 

You could be right.
New Orleans after the flood disaster was not very unlike the third world.

 

Now it has been reported school children were exposed and are now under house quarantine.

 

Now it is reported the infected individual did know he was sxposed to Ebola. He took an infected pregnant woman to a hospital.

This raises the spector of infected/exposed individuals fleeing the Africa to countries with better healthcare systems and exposing innocents like these children to the virus...just as this man did.

 

As opposed to exposing Africans, who are the guilty?

 

LOL, willingly exposing others (innocents) be they African or something else to save your own ass isn't a virtue.

And The the fact is folks like this guy do pose a threat to public health. This guy exposed his family in America to save his ass.

 

If you know you have Ebola the best thing to say when you get to the hospital is "I've got Ebola".

 

Indeed, this guy should have informed physician and nurses that he had been exposed to Ebola immediately. This one man has put 80 people at risk, some of them family, in an attempt to save his precious butt. And be has been in this country for just a few days. With those kind of numbers, it is easy to understand how quickly our healthcare system could be overrun.