Ebola Information

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Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: Cristobal


The only people for the most part who get this virus get body fluids or blood on them in large amounts, or needle sticks. Medical personnel. Caregivers. Funeral personnel. In parts of Africa, people will touch the dead. Even so, there are few infections.



For the most part....except when those who take precautions get sick, even though they shouldn't get sick, because those precautions prevent transmission of the disease.

Those precautions work and you are safe because we understand the transmission vector completely...except that we don't...because even the CDC and WHO are currently "hypothesizing" the vector (their words).

And you're safe, and this is all silly over reaction....that's why the CDC just went to its highest alert posture, giving them more authority to act....


For West Africa, not here. http://news.yahoo.com/cdc-issues-emergency-hands-call-ebola-response-222611995.html

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued its highest alert for an all-hands on deck response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

"Ops Center moved to Level 1 response to given the extension to Nigeria & potential to affect many lives," CDC chief Tom Frieden said on Twitter.
 
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
.... In the laboratory, infection through small-particle aerosols has been demonstrated in primates, and airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected, although it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated (1, 6, 13). The importance of this route of transmission is not clear.

....


Well, that sounds bad and will probably play out to being a viable vector in human infection.

Unfortunately, modern medical science has been dead wrong before about the difficulty of transmission of invariably fatal diseases. AIDS/HIV and dental procedures comes immediately to mind.

In the overall scheme of things, however, the plight of these two unfortunate individuals, being returned to the United States with the disease, probably won't matter much.

It is merely a matter of time before the disease strolls across the southern border, completely unimpeded and untracked, and gets in the wild in this country.
 
Originally Posted By: Trajan
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Since you're good with it, then you'd be good with having someone infected with the virus come to your kid's classroom and speak, and then sit with your child in the cafeteria at lunch time? Yeah, I bet.

CDC should have consulted with you before escalating to level 1 emergency response yesterday I guess.


The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued its highest alert for an all-hands on deck response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

That's on the other side of the Atlantic, in case you didn't know.


Back 100 years ago it would be a non issue as infected people would have died most likely in transit.

However http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight makes our world connected in a matter of hours. As a result of this http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/06/news/companies/airlines-ebola-africa/ as apparently the possibility has the airlines attention.
 
Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
.... In the laboratory, infection through small-particle aerosols has been demonstrated in primates, and airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected, although it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated (1, 6, 13). The importance of this route of transmission is not clear.

....


Well, that sounds bad and will probably play out to being a viable vector in human infection.

Unfortunately, modern medical science has been dead wrong before about the difficulty of transmission of invariably fatal diseases. AIDS/HIV and dental procedures comes immediately to mind.

In the overall scheme of things, however, the plight of these two unfortunate individuals, being returned to the United States with the disease, probably won't matter much.

It is merely a matter of time before the disease strolls across the southern border, completely unimpeded and untracked, and gets in the wild in this country.
^This.

Based on the number of people who insist on coming into work when they have the flu, I can see the distance from Africa being a non-issue due to someone careless who just *has* to travel.

Not to mention wondering how medical personnel who presumably *were* taking all of the precautions still managed to get infected. At this point, a nurse-friend of mine would point out that they call it the "practice" of medicine, meaning that the experts *don't* always know for sure.

Oh, and the definition of "Direct contact" with the fluids of an infected individual includes being in the vicinity of someone sneezing. I heard this from someone in the medical field, so maybe they just didn't know what they were talking about...
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Originally Posted By: Win

It is merely a matter of time before the disease strolls across the southern border, completely unimpeded and untracked, and gets in the wild in this country.


First off, I'm not an expert, and my thoughts should be taken as such.

That said, my understanding of ebola is that this scenario is *extremely* unlikely. Untreated ebola will kill you pretty quick, certainly a lot faster than getting someone from Africa to Mexico and then smuggled through the desert across the southern border.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Lets keep the content of this thread filled with as much fact-based information as we can. The pendulum need not swing so far as to get off track.


I found this section of the document interesting:

************************

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISINFECTANTS: Ebola virus is susceptible to sodium hypochlorite, lipid solvents, phenolic disinfectants, peracetic acid, methyl alcohol, ether, sodium deoxycholate, 2% glutaraldehyde, 0.25% Triton X-100, β-propiolactone, 3% acetic acid (pH 2.5), formaldehyde and paraformaldehyde, and detergents such as SDS

HOST RANGE: Humans, various monkey species, chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons, and duikers (1-3, 15, 16, 18, 21-23). The Ebola virus genome was recently discovered in two species of rodents and one species of shrew living in forest border areas, raising the possibility that these animals may be intermediary hosts (24). Other studies of the virus have been done using guinea pig models (25). A survey of small vertebrates captured during the 2001 and 2003 outbreaks in Gabon found evidence of asymptomatic infection in three species of fruit bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus, Epomops franqueti, and Myonycteris torquata) (26).

INFECTIOUS DOSE: 1 - 10 aerosolized organisms are sufficient to cause infection in humans (21).

*************************

I'd like to find out more about what SDS is in that commoners can obtain.
 
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Originally Posted By: Trajan


For West Africa, not here. http://news.yahoo.com/cdc-issues-emergency-hands-call-ebola-response-222611995.html

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued its highest alert for an all-hands on deck response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

"Ops Center moved to Level 1 response to given the extension to Nigeria & potential to affect many lives," CDC chief Tom Frieden said on Twitter.


Thanks for pointing out that there is an ocean between West Africa and the US.

Having crossed it a few times, I am aware of that...and since you can go from, say, Lagos (that's in West Africa, Nigeria to be precise) to Houston in 12 hours on United Airlines, I would say that the intervening ocean is irrelevant.

If the disease incubates for weeks, then it's very easy for a person to become infected, book a ticket, and fly to the US long before showing symptoms. And what seems to be a West African problem, quickly becomes an American problem.

We live in a global age...
 
Since this is still an issue, here is an interesting vid on those that deal with the virus fist hand all day:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/burial-boys-ebola-060317974.html?vp=1

I found it simply amazing the amount of misunderstanding the people have concerning the disease while it is all around them. People are sick and don't even know it, dying and the dead are all around perhaps even in the next room, yet the villages are teaming with people that are actually upset that they can't buying the dead traditionally, some even actually contending with those burying the dead trying to save them. It's no wonder that it is spreading like wildfire.

Now health care workers are getting sick in record numbers.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-head...ebola-1.1976465
 
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Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
COMMUNICABILITY: Communicable as long as blood, secretions, organs, or semen contain the virus. Ebola virus has been isolated from semen 61 days after the onset of illness, and transmission through semen has occurred 7 weeks after clinical recovery

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: The virus can survive in liquid or dried material for a number of days (23). Infectivity is found to be stable at room temperature or at 4°C for several days, and indefinitely stable at -70°C (6, 20). Infectivity can be preserved by lyophilisation.

A new definition for 'clinical recovery'? So it's cleared of other body fluids, yet persists in semen? For 7 weeks AFTER 'clinical recovery'? That's amazing...and scary at the same time.

So the 40 - 50% who actually survive there are still carriers and capable of infecting anyone they intercourse with..more than 7 weeks later. That's very, very bad....If correct, this means the male MD recently released from the Atlanta hospital, is still capable of transmitting the virus to anyone he intercourses with.

Second, no wonder they burn everything and immediately want the bodies in the ground.

Third, I'm curious how some medical personnel can still become infected when wrapped from head to toe, in overlaping layers, taking all available precautions. Perhaps by spending so much time in such close proximity to such a virus, the odds eventually catch up to you?
 
“Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we're facing is unparalleled in modern times,” Aylward told a news conference in Geneva.

“We don't know where the numbers are going on this.”

He said previous forecast that the number of cases could reach 20,000 no longer seemed a lot, but the number could be kept within the tens of thousands with “a much faster reponse”. - Reuters


http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/pdfs/ebola-factsheet.pdf
 
Smokescreen I'd like to find out more about what SDS is in that commoners can obtain. [/quote said:
Why SDS specifically? Bleach and vinegar are both in that list, too. But in any case, SDS is AKA sodium lauryl sulfate - it's about everything. Shampoo, floor cleaner, hand soap, laundry soap, etc.
 
This is not my intention.

Simply to inform of the effect of world events as they evolve. If this disease was isolated, curable and its communication was entirely known and studied it would not be a concern. However in today's day and age information is power. Due to the international audience of BITOG, I simply hope that people can be conscious of the possible spreading of this disease and not be caught unawares. This is why I hope only factual information is posted to keep the thread informative. This situation is admittedly out of control (by WHO) and evolving into a more serious event than even thought at the beginning of this thread from hundreds to now 10's of thousands at current rates.

At one time it was fairly isolated to North Americans. Now with the US military becoming involved there are factors that are a little closer to home.
 
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Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
“Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we're facing is unparalleled in modern times,” Aylward told a news conference in Geneva.

Hyperbole. Influenza kills hundreds of thousands worldwide yearly. But, since it's not flu season right now, ebola will have to do for the latest health panic. How many are dying of hunger every day?
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
“Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we're facing is unparalleled in modern times,” Aylward told a news conference in Geneva.

Hyperbole. Influenza kills hundreds of thousands worldwide yearly. But, since it's not flu season right now, ebola will have to do for the latest health panic. How many are dying of hunger every day?


Absolutely one of the BEST distractions yet used to pacify the masses....
 
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