2014 Global Ebola Outbreak

[Thundercrack85]

So does anyone want to tell me again how a travel ban would somehow make us less safe? I'm sorry if that seems un-PC or heartless, but it seems like common sense if your main concern is keeping Ebola out of the US. There will be more cases like this.

I think at this point it would just hurt more people. Ebola is not a real threat to America. So far not a single American has died from it.

But placing a travel ban would really hurt Africa.

 

[Breogan]

Doctor in NYC tested positive for Ebola

Great, dude spent the day bowling and riding the subway, now we're all gonna die in NY cause of the freakin eBOWLer!


















Just trying the beat the Post to that headline.

 

[danoyse]

Just trying the beat the Post to that headline.

The NY Post headline today was "EBOLA HERE!"

...all I could think of was this:

[YT]uJSgZYUnQn0[/YT]

 

[Anita18]

Someone at another forum I go to, works with someone who was in Sierra Leone helping with the outbreak response. It's so sad, how they simply don't have the resources or infrastructure there to deal with something so deadly.

• Sierra Leone only has about 200 physicians for 6 million inhabitants and they refuse to treat Ebola patients because of the lack of resources. There were two physicians in Freetown working with Ebola cases. One of them died and the other one quit as a result
• Most of the senior staff in the local clinics has died
• There are no resources and no infrastructure. Even doing basic epi on paper rather than with computers is difficult because paper gets wet and ink runs off and there are no resources to get plastic covers for the materials
• When patients are first suspected to have Ebola, they are put in a ward while they wait for the lab results. They're left there for a couple of days without food, water or care. So many of them escape and go back to the community
• They don't have the resources to effectively do contact tracing- not enough motor bikes, not enough people
• If someone got diagnosed with Ebola, their house is burned by the government. If they survived, they have nowhere to go to and are shunned by their communities.
• They got nurses dying off in waves periodically and they finally figured out why: the nurses got sick about 10 days after they received a wave of orphans in the clinic. They had to hold the babies to take care of them and try to soothe them. This happened repeatedly. That got me all choked up.

That and other various reasons are all why Ebola is NOT a threat to the US. The only people in danger are healthcare workers who will be treating dying patients directly. FYI, both nurses who were diagnosed so far (after treating Mr. Duncan) are now free of the disease thanks to early intervention.

 

[Howlett]

The terrorism created by the media in the United States is far more dangerous to America than the actual virus.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Doctors can no longer detect the virus in Dallas nurse Amber Vinson's body, she is improving, and is being released from isolation.

Nurse Pham's dog Bentley shows no sign of infection. The dog is being quarantined for 21 days.

A 30-member US military response team (?) is being trained in Texas.

All travelers to the US from Ebola-affected areas will be monitored for 21 days.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/ebola-up-to-speed/index.html

Nina Pham was released today. Amber Vinson has not been released yet but she's expected to be released soon.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Bad journalism has started wars.

It's kind of funny that the Pulitzer Prize is named in honor of the man whose rag's Yellow Journalism started the Spanish-American War.

 

[Slushy]

 

[Schlosser85]

Nina Pham got a hug from Obama today at the White House. Subtle with the attempt at panic control there, Barry O.

 

[SV Fan]

So does anyone want to tell me again how a travel ban would somehow make us less safe? I'm sorry if that seems un-PC or heartless, but it seems like common sense if your main concern is keeping Ebola out of the US. There will be more cases like this.

Just out of curiosity do you think we should ban people from NY and Texas to travel to other states because that's where it's spread to so far?

All that being said a travel ban might help short term but long term it probably will make things worse(ie you might stop one or 2 people from bringing it here in the short term but long term it probably will make things worse in Africa which intern will make things worse in the world and come here anyways in some form)

It seems to me the only people who should really worry about Ebola are people in the health industry were the all of the outbreaks in the US happened

I personally find that some politicians using Ebola as a campaign tool disgusting but I am not surprised.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Nina Pham got a hug from Obama today at the White House. Subtle with the attempt at panic control there, Barry O.

Obama's got balls. I'll give him that.

 

[ThePhantasm]

He has balls for hugging someone who is now disease free and totally healthy?

 

[harryoscop]

People with Ebola in Africa (any other countries infected with Ebola) should have enough sense not to come here!

 

[Thundercrack85]

People with Ebola in Africa (any other countries infected with Ebola) should have enough sense not to come here!

I'm not going to lie. If I lived in West Africa and I thought I had Ebola, I would ****ing sail to America.

 

[ThePhantasm]

too far to sail before the virus hits you

 

[SV Fan]

He has balls for hugging someone who is now disease free and totally healthy?

Well he is if you believe what Fox News tells you about Ebola.

 

[ThePhantasm]

Well he is if you believe what Fox News tells you about Ebola.

He is what?

 

[SV Fan]

He is what?

Has balls

 

[Red Mask]

People with Ebola in Africa (any other countries infected with Ebola) should have enough sense not to come here!

Anybody with sense would know not to risk spreading it. But nobody said people were rational and know everything.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Has balls

Yes, it's called Testicles.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Anybody with sense would know not to risk spreading it. But nobody said people were rational and know everything.

I think people are missing the obvious. Ebola is a death sentence in West Africa.

Though the fact that the only non-American to get ebola in America and die from it is... curious.

 

[Breogan]

Though the fact that the only non-American to get ebola in America and die from it is... curious.

Has anyone got ebola in America or outside of Africa and died from it?

 

[craigdbfan]

Nope.

 

[Breogan]

"Australia on Monday issued a blanket ban on visas from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to prevent the disease reaching the country, becoming the first rich nation to shut its doors to the region." - http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...dType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of scares, and conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground.

The decision to refuse entry for anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, while touted by the government as a necessary safety precaution, was criticised by experts and advocates as politically motivated and shortsighted.

 

[Octavias]

Lets unpoliticalize this for a second...

Here are the things that are important to understand about this virus outbreak:

the better news
1. West Africa is going to have a higher mortality rate than the US due to living conditions, medical care, and the number of aids cases in the population there.
2. this particular strain isn't as contagious as some of the others
3. This isn't the first time Ebola has been in the US. It has happened twice in Virginia, One in Pa, and once in Texas in the late 80's and early 90's.
the worse news:
1. This virus has shown the ability to jump from species to species. We do not know which animals in the US can carry it. It would only take one rodent species infected to cause a significant problem in the US. If Insects such as Mosquitos can transmit the virus, that would be even worse. None of this has been discussed yet and the CDC has ducked all questions on the matter... perhaps because we really do not know yet.
2. There are airborne strains of this virus. To date they don't affect humans as far as we know, but there are multiple cases of humans developing antibodies for ebola from this version. Viruses mutate. It is imperative to limit contact with something like this
3. The countries that have fought this successfully have used quarantines and travel bans. understand the whole argument surrounding this isn't based on logic, but rather a petty policy debate about immigration between the two dumb-assed parties in the US.
4. The virus itself can survive for weeks in a moist environment in 40 degree weather, and for hours or even days on a dry environment at warmer temperature

The more questionable (tin foil hat) stuff about this that isnt being trumpeted yet:
1. The CDC really dropped the ball on this. It had insufficient policy in place before it got here, and has been playing damage control since. It may be downplaying the Virus in hopes of stemming public panic
2. there may be more cases in the US than they are speaking of in order to keep the public calm. Several border guards and several free clinics have reported persons from west Africa with illnesses that may fit this virus being removed from their facilities by the CDC. The common explanation is malaria, which may be true, but its odd that they are being relocated in a hushed manner.

Look, its in everyone's best interest that this outbreak is treated as a serious public health crisis. yes it must be obliterated at it's source, but it also absolutely has to be kept from the US in every way possible. This isn't the flu, that kills a bunch of sick and elderly or very young people worldwide, but has like a fraction of a percent mortality rate... its something that can and will kill a significant portion of healthy adults it encounters, and can mutate into a version that has a much higher mortality rate and contagion factor.