Ebola Comes To USA

[Hawaii Islander]

There has been 7 Ebola outbreaks over the past few decades. I am not sure if anyone can answer this but where does the Ebola virus hide between outbreaks? Perhaps Hawaii Islander knows the answer. Just curious here.

Ebola resides in animal hosts. The exact extent of animal hosts that can transmit the virus to humans is not known. It is thought that fruit bats and primates are the primary source of animal to human transmission. It is likely that handling of contaminated animals during food preparation is one source of infection. The virus has been isolated from other animals (mammals), but no known transmission from those sources have occurred. CDC, CIDRAP (actual site, not editorials), NIH, and WHO are good sources of more detailed information. The latest infectious disease or medical microbiology textbook or virology textbook can also be a good place to get information.

 

[skychief]

Ebola resides in animal hosts. It is thought that fruit bats and primates are the primary source of animal to human transmission...(snipped)

My money's on this.

 

[One Drop]

Here's the list of total funding of contributing Nations in the fight of Ebola in the Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Region. (PDF)

http://fts.unocha.org/reports/daily/ocha_R5_A1060___1410201558.pdf

Not surprisingly, The United States tops the list with $90 million in donated funds., nearly 9 times that of the European Commission ($10.5 million). #2 Nation is UK with $16.2 million in funds donated to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Not to mention the $750 million in resources to be spent in the next six months for the 4000 US troops deployed to fabricate field hospitals and emergency care stations.

The lack of insight and understanding of facts in some of the posts in this thread is truly astounding.

My apogies, my comment about the US was a cheap shot, but I stand by my accusations about the panic factory.

 

[skychief]

The 'tone' of the Ebola coverage in the media has noticeably changed since Sunday when it was announced that Duncan's family's quarantine was over. I think that eased a lot of fears about an outbreak in the US. The news anchors have stopped using the word crisis when describing the Ebola events happening in the US. It's been downgraded it to a 'situation'. I suspect that when the two nurses (Vinson and Pham) are released, all the fear mongering will cease (hopefully).

 

[skychief]

Apparently, not all the panicking is over.

Now, all U.S.-bound travelers from three Ebola-stricken African countries will be required to fly into one of five airports that are conducting additional 'screening' (having their temperature taken).

The five designated airports are: New York's JFK, Newark, Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago.

But the new restriction should not cause much inconvenience to W. African travelers, as the five airports already account for about 94 percent of travelers from those 3 countries. There are no direct commercial flights from West Africa to the United States.

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[One Drop]

Apparently, not all the panicking is over.

Now, all U.S.-bound travelers from three Ebola-stricken African countries will be required to fly into one of five airports that are conducting additional 'screening' (having their temperature taken).

The five designated airports are: New York's JFK, Newark, Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago.

But the new restriction should not cause much inconvenience to W. African travelers, as the five airports already account for about 94 percent of travelers from those 3 countries. There are no direct commercial flights from West Africa to the United States.

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Now to me, that is sensible, proper screening of visitors from countries experiencing an epidemic.

But are you saying now that this is panic? I thought you were calling for an outright ban from those countries.

I'm all confused.

 

[petrus61]

Here is a an article on how Nigeria handled it:
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Their zero patient, Patrick Sawyer, had to be forcibly kept at the hospital he was being treated at after ripping his IV's out and contaminating staff. He exposed a total of 72 people. I have to say that if Nigeria can manage to contain it the way they did, I have faith that our sleeping at the wheel government can hit a speed bump and woken up before they swerve off the road.

 

[Frank Tuesday]

I'm all confused.

I think that stems from witnessing one of the rarest of all internet phenomena: someone getting new information and changing their mind. I've only seen this happen a few times in my 20 years of internetting.

 

[sissy kathy]

I think that stems from witnessing one of the rarest of all internet phenomena: someone getting new information and changing their mind. I've only seen this happen a few times in my 20 years of internetting.

It's happened at least 3 times on this thread alone.

 

[Hawaii Islander]

Part of the reason for people not panicking as much has to do with articles the stemmed the fear of Ebola mutating to become airborne at any moment a la the movie "Outbreak". Here is one such article: http://time.com/3342305/airbone-ebola-not-happening/ Also, two West African countries Nigeria and Senegal declared their out breaks over. The other three remaining countries have a long ways to go, but with intelligent decisions, proper manpower and equipment, those epidemics can be dealt with as well.

 

[Stewie26]

Geez...here we go again. I hope NY has it more together than Dallas did.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/new-york-possible-ebola-case/index.html

 

[sissy kathy]

They have the lessons from Dallas, so should be contained. Bellvue also has a rich history of containing communicable diseases, that's the place that had to deal with Typhoid Mary in the early 20th(?) century. If it had to happen in this country, this is the best place for it.

 

[ErebusBass]

Still not worried about it.

 

[skychief]

I think we might see some common-sense directives for health care professionals returning to the US from the Ebola zone. Perhaps something along the lines of a 21-day 'cool-off' period before personal contact with others. A tragic lapse of judgement by Dr. Spencer has now endangered the health of his fiancee and two others he was socializing with.

A little common sense can go a long way.

 

[Hawaii Islander]

I think we might see some common-sense directives for health care professionals returning to the US from the Ebola zone. Perhaps something along the lines of a 21-day 'cool-off' period before personal contact with others. A tragic lapse of judgement by Dr. Spencer has now endangered the health of his fiancee and two others he was socializing with.

A little common sense can go a long way.

Not a lapse of judgment on the doctor's part. He was asymptomatic and monitoring his temperature twice a day. Reminder, you "cannot" catch the disease through "casual contact". When he noticed the fever, he did what he was supposed to do.

 

[Downunderwonder]

The Australians have just such a compulsory unenforced self isolation period for returning health workers.

 

[sissy kathy]

The Australians have just such a compulsory unenforced self isolation period for returning health workers.

Just because most countries have that system in place, doesn't make it prudent. IDK what is though.

 

[skychief]

The Australians have just such a compulsory unenforced self isolation period for returning health workers.

I think we may see something like this in the US. Except it WILL be enforced. There's already a groundswell of medical professional who support a common-sense approach to the issue.

 

[SteveC]

I don't know why people shave such an issue with an enforced, mandatory, controlled isolation period for people coming back from countries with outbreaks. Especially people who are health care workers who had close if not direct contact with patience in those countries. It should be part of the deal. If you can't handle the 21 days, don't go.

 

[sissy kathy]

I don't know why people shave such an issue with an enforced, mandatory, controlled isolation period for people coming back from countries with outbreaks. Especially people who are health care workers who had close if not direct contact with patience in those countries. It should be part of the deal. If you can't handle the 21 days, don't go.

That is part of the problem, when you come back you have to survive an additional amount of time with no income. That is raising the cost to the health worker for volunteering. Maybe not too bad in rural Mississippi but, financially disastrous in NYC.