okay, so ebola is a little to close to me for my own comfort.

[yermom]

http://www.whas11.com/news/national/CDC-Ebola-confirmed-in-Dallas-patient-277651291.html

not sure how i feel about heading into a crowd of people down there in a week or so....

[olevetonahill]

Just dont kiss or **** any of em and ya should be ok.


"Ebola doesn't spread till someone gets sick, and he didn't get sick for four days" after getting off the plane, so officials are not seeking out fellow passengers for signs of illness, said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus does not spread through the air — only through close contact with bodily fluids from a sick person, he stressed.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Too.

[yermom]

Hopefully no one sneezes/pukes on me at the fair

[SicEmBaylor]

Hopefully no one sneezes/pukes on me at the fair

....so it was nice knowing you, sir!

[olevetonahill]

Hopefully no one sneezes/pukes on me at the fair

Anyone ever sneezes /pukes on me. Having Ebola is the gonna be the least of their problems.:boxing:

[Eielson]

It won't be until next weekend, so it's likely we'll pretty much know if it spread past that one person. If it were this weekend, though, I would stay the hell away from that fair. I don't care how "hard" it is to spread it. I'm not going near a usually fatal Level 4 disease that has an infectious dose of 1-10. It ain't that hard to get it. I'd rather get HIV.

[kbsooner21]

The illegals have brought it across and are spreading it everywhere. It's closer than you think (Dallas)

[olevetonahill]

The illegals have brought it across and are spreading it everywhere. It's closer than you think (Dallas)

Lemming! LOL

[SoonerBBall]

It won't be until next weekend, so it's likely we'll pretty much know if it spread past that one person. If it were this weekend, though, I would stay the hell away from that fair. I don't care how "hard" it is to spread it. I'm not going near a usually fatal Level 4 disease that has an infectious dose of 1-10. It ain't that hard to get it. I'd rather get HIV.

In fact, it is not a highly communicable disease as far as the US is concerned.



What's more, Ebola is much less contagious than many other more common diseases. The virus, much like HIV or hepatitis, is spread through blood or bodily fluids and is not airborne.
Many factors play into how contagious a disease is thought to be, say Jeff Duchin, MD, an infectious disease expert at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh.

Among those factors:


How it’s transmitted (airborne, bodily fluids, other)
Infection-control practices in place
Extent of contact an infected person has with others
Percent of the population that has been vaccinated (if a vaccine exists)

To gauge how contagious different diseases are, experts take these and other things into account and estimate the average number of people likely to catch the illness from a single infected person. They call this the basic reproductive rate or number. The number is an average, a scientific guess, experts say, and it is likely to vary from country to country.
"I would anticipate the reproductive rate for Ebola in the U.S. to be zero," Adalja says.
By comparison, measles, diphtheria, and whooping cough are all airborne, and they can be transmitted by "just being in face-to-face contact with an infected patient, without touching them,” Duchin says. When that person coughs or sneezes, others may become infected after breathing in the organisms.

Additionally, as long as you receive treatment after it is identified you stand a very good chance of surviving. Hell, all 3 US citizens identified as having the disease in Africa had enough time to be flown back to the states and all survived.

[badger]

If it mutates once it gets spread outside Africa we might be doomed, but for the time being, say NO to Texas slutty whorns during trip to Dallas.

[rock on sooner]

If it mutates once it gets spread outside Africa we might be doomed, but for the time being, say NO to Texas slutty whorns during trip to Dallas.

Ahhh, practical, logical advice...:biggrin:

[FaninAma]

It's funny that they are down playing this event by saying you cannot transmit this virus unless you are sick. Ebola, like all viruses, has a prodrome in which very subtle symptoms may be present and the individual may or may not consider themselves "sick". During this prodrome the individual is very contagious. I think the CDC is trying too hard to down play this and by not tracking all the contacts of this individual they are risking allowing a new case to develop in the country, IMO.

One very scarey fact is that Ebola can be transmitted via semen for up to 3 months AFTER the individual recovers from symptoms. I think it is this alarming fact that will allow the epidemic in Africa to continue to spread much like the HIV epidemic has.

And Badger is correct. The more it spreads the more it mutates. There are already 2 examples of the virus spreading by the airborn route in other species in labs.

[Eielson]

In fact, it is not a highly communicable disease as far as the US is concerned.



Additionally, as long as you receive treatment after it is identified you stand a very good chance of surviving. Hell, all 3 US citizens identified as having the disease in Africa had enough time to be flown back to the states and all survived.

I know what they're saying. They don't want panic, so they're downplaying it. If they wanted chaos, they could easily do that with all kinds of horror stories. Ebola isn't something to take lightly, and I guarantee that nobody involved with it is. We've got the best healthcare in the world, so I suspect we'll take care of this. I'm not impressed by 3 US citizens still being alive, though.

[BoulderSooner79]

If it mutates once it gets spread outside Africa we might be doomed, but for the time being, say NO to Texas slutty whorns during trip to Dallas.

Wat?! Then, might as well stay home and watch it on TV.

:frown:

[SoonerBBall]

I know what they're saying. They don't want panic, so they're downplaying it. If they wanted chaos, they could easily do that with all kinds of horror stories. Ebola isn't something to take lightly, and I guarantee that nobody involved with it is. We've got the best healthcare in the world, so I suspect we'll take care of this. I'm not impressed by 3 US citizens still being alive, though.

Yes, the half-hourly updates concerning the patient in the US on every radio and television news station along with the daily coverage of the situation in Africa for the last 6 weeks certainly amounts to downplaying the situation.

[Turd_Ferguson]

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=1081cd9529&view=fimg&th=148ce1df5f0d9b6a&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ8tWZlJQtNCWXUhXDFzFf_myzBmfxE6ogLxK7O RpbIuVnaPNnaMVw9aaMMEN9VgIjh65ggB_SvackzWmdRsTeeYZ 6ej9oBEfnhP1P0KmteCXaJFg1f1O2hTU5w&ats=1412208276105&rm=148ce1df5f0d9b6a&zw&sz=w841-h348

[Eielson]

Yes, the half-hourly updates concerning the patient in the US on every radio and television news station along with the daily coverage of the situation in Africa for the last 6 weeks certainly amounts to downplaying the situation.

I didn't realize the CDC, WHO, doctors, etc. run the media.

[Soonerjeepman]

Mr. Duncan may have become infected after his landlord’s daughter fell gravely ill. On Sept 15, Mr. Duncan helped his landlord and his landlord’s son carry the stricken woman to the hospital, his neighbors and the woman’s parents said. She died the next day.

http://www.100percentfedup.com/news/2362-ebola-patient-had-contact-with-5-kids-who-were-in-school-this-week

doesn't sound like to me he had sex with the infected person...and on top of that...ANY pics I've seen of anyone helping they are in haz-mat outfits...so if they are not taking chances neither am I.

[badger]

Wat?! Then, might as well stay home and watch it on TV.

:frown:

My gawd man after years of hearing about the red raider rash I'd think you would have learned to say no to Texas sluts by now.

http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA4LzMwLzY3L1RleGFzRmFucy4xNzVmYi5wbmcKcA l0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/e095423f/4fe/TexasFans.jpg
NO! STAY AWAY!

[FaninAma]

Ebola can be transmitted by mucous, saliva, respiratory secretions, blood, urine, vomitus, sweat, stool and semen. This includes inanimate objects contaminated with these viral containing fluids.

Now consider most viruses are transmitted the same way. Influenza is transmitted this way. The biggest detriment to Ebola is that it kills quickly. However, this hurdle to the outbreak becoming an epidemic will become a non-factor once the disease becomes widespread enough or mutates into an even more infectious form.

http://www.pamf.org/flu/spread.html

Please note that influenza can be spread by an infected person 1 DAY BEFORE SHOWING SYMPTOMS.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Lots of ways for chaos to start. Virtually everyone has actively endeavored to refrain from doing things that would light that fire. This might be something that won't be effectively dealt with. Like everyone, here's hoping it does get under control. But, with America allowing people to flood into the country, this probably was inevitable.

[FaninAma]

Yep, and the biggest regrets in medicine usually result from not being aggressive enough early in the course of a disease or epidemic. I would much rather be accused of being a chicken little than a polyanna in this situation.

i would start by sealing the southern border and blocking incoming travelers from any region in Africa that had documented cases of Ebola.

Of course the author of "Dreams of My Father" will never do this.

[jkjsooner]

In fact, it is not a highly communicable disease as far as the US is concerned.



Additionally, as long as you receive treatment after it is identified you stand a very good chance of surviving. Hell, all 3 US citizens identified as having the disease in Africa had enough time to be flown back to the states and all survived.

Two of those got the experimental treatment which I believe is no longer available.

[jkjsooner]

If it mutates once it gets spread outside Africa we might be doomed, but for the time being, say NO to Texas slutty whorns during trip to Dallas.

Two comments. We could conceive of all sorts of horrible diseases - almost 100% deadly, very contagious, transmissible during a long period where no symptoms are present.

I think the reason this doesn't occur is because if it were so easy to occur we would have gone extinct a long time ago.


As for the slutty whorns, are we talking about Dallas street walkers or 20 year old coeds? If it's the latter then I'm going to have to say that I'll weight the risk against the rewards and as of right now the rewards wins in a landslide.

Well, if I wasn't happily married....

[jkjsooner]

Ebola can be transmitted by mucous, saliva, respiratory secretions, blood, urine, vomitus, sweat, stool and semen. This includes inanimate objects contaminated with these viral containing fluids.

Now consider most viruses are transmitted the same way. Influenza is transmitted this way. The biggest detriment to Ebola is that it kills quickly. However, this hurdle to the outbreak becoming an epidemic will become a non-factor once the disease becomes widespread enough or mutates into an even more infectious form.

http://www.pamf.org/flu/spread.html

Please note that influenza can be spread by an infected person 1 DAY BEFORE SHOWING SYMPTOMS.

Except the flu virus lives for a time in tiny water particles outside the host. Ebola doesn't. That is a HUGE difference.

[jkjsooner]

Yep, and the biigest regrets in medicine usually result from not being aggressive enough early in the course of a disease or epidemic. I would much rather be accused of being a chicken little than a polyanna in this situation.

i would start by sealing the southern border and blocking incoming travelers from any region in Africa that had documented cases of Ebola.

Of course the author of "Dreams of My Father" will never do this.

Closing borders down is a pipe dream. It simply can't be done. Even if you could do it, things could easily spread to other areas of the world and we couldn't possibly isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.

In addition, many have pointed out that an attempt to close everything down would just leave potential sick people underground. The only way to control the spread of this disease is to monitor and track sick people.

It's easy to come up with a bunch of solutions typing on your keyboard and blame everything on Obama but the problem isn't nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

[jkjsooner]

And for the fifth post in a row I get to what really matters...

Let's say this spreads. Will they shut down the college football season?

[FaninAma]

g
Except the flu virus lives for a time in tiny water particles outside the host. Ebola doesn't. That is a HUGE difference.

Really?

http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2cbvtl/how_long_can_ebola_live_outside_of_a_host/

The biggest barrier to Ebola being spread by the respiratory route is the fact that it has no mechanism for attaching to binding sites in the human respiratory tract. Unless it mutates it must gain entry in a different manner.....GI, open wounds, etc.

[Eielson]

Two comments. We could conceive of all sorts of horrible diseases - almost 100% deadly, very contagious, transmissible during a long period where no symptoms are present.

I think the reason this doesn't occur is because if it were so easy to occur we would have gone extinct a long time ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

[Eielson]

If we had a vaccine for this, would ebola be strong enough to kill the anti-vaccine movement?

[FaninAma]

Closing borders down is a pipe dream. It simply can't be done. Even if you could do it, things could easily spread to other areas of the world and we couldn't possibly isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.

In addition, many have pointed out that an attempt to close everything down would just leave potential sick people underground. The only way to control the spread of this disease is to monitor and track sick people.

It's easy to come up with a bunch of solutions typing on your keyboard and blame everything on Obama but the problem isn't nearly as simple as you make it out to be.
I know what plan of action isn't effective, either......sitting around with your thumb up your @$$(not directed at you but our government officials) denying there might be a problem. A big reason to have and ENFORCE immigration laws is to protect the public health of the country.

Until a vaccine is developed isolation and quarantines are the only weapons we have. If you are a US citizen on a non-official trip to west Africa you should be cognizant of the fact you might not get to come back to this country.....at least not without a 21 day quarantine requirement.

i am not worried about Ebola killing millions or even thousands of people in this country. I am worried about it becoming so widespread it overwhelms our healthcare system(especially our emergency rooms and hospitals) and costs this country billions of dollars we don't have right now.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I know what plan of action isn't effective, either......sitting around with your thumb up your @$$ denying there might be a problem. A big reason to have and ENFORCE immigration laws is to protect the public health of the country.

Until a vaccine is developed isolation and quarantines are the only weapons we have. If you are a US citizen on a non-official trip to west Africa you should be cognizant of the fact you might not get to come back to this country.....at least not without a 21 day quarantine requirement.

i am not worried about Ebola killing millions or even thousands of people in this country. I am worried about becoming so widespread it overwhelms our healthcare system(especially our emergency rooms and hospitals) and costs this country billions of dollars we don't have right now.it wouldn't have to get anywhere near that widespread in order to shut down the economy.

[Eielson]

Admittedly, this ebola outbreak...even with the horrible management by the hospital that let this guy go despite him letting them know he was in Liberia...is nothing compared to what is around the corner if we don't turn our focus to the antibiotic resistance and water shortages that are just around the corner.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Admittedly, this ebola outbreak...even with the horrible management by the hospital that let this guy go despite him letting them know he was in Liberia...is nothing compared to what is around the corner if we don't turn our focus to the antibiotic resistance and water shortages that are just around the corner.Should be good opportunities for scientists to address all 3 problems, and for politicians to stop doing stupid, PC things.

[Eielson]

Should be good opportunities for scientists to address all 3 problems, and for politicians to stop doing stupid, PC things.

For antibiotic resistance, yes. I don't think water shortages will be addressed. It seems to be an unpopular issue politically.

I like what ASM had to say on this issue:

https://www.asm.org/index.php/publicpolicy-2/statements-testimony/137-policy/documents/statements-and-testimony/93155-ebola-14


SEPTEMBER 17, 2014 - ASM STATEMENT ON EBOLA RESPONSE

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) applauds the Administration’s announcement on September 16 to expand Department of Defense (DOD) logistical capabilities, medical expertise and resources to respond more rapidly to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This epidemic continues to spread with dire consequences for global health and economic well-being. The effort to reduce transmission is a race against time and will require unprecedented financial resources and human expertise, both from the United States and from international organizations. It is essential that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) be supported at the levels needed to provide the public health response to this international health crisis. There must be sustained funding to provide the public health infrastructure and rapid response capabilities needed to deal with future outbreaks of highly infectious diseases.

While providing logistical and medical support in West Africa is an urgent step, it will be vaccines and therapeutics that remove Ebola as a global threat. The ASM urges the Administration and the Congress to provide increased and sustained funding for the research supported by the NIH that is needed to develop the vaccines and therapeutics to combat Ebola and to protect humanity from this disease. Rapid diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for Ebola and other infectious disease agents as well as knowledge about fundamental aspects of emerging virus biology must be developed. This knowledge is the ultimate source of new ideas and solutions to epidemics and pandemics that are certain to arise.

Sustained support is also needed for the Food and Drug Administration which plays an important role in drug development. As candidate vaccines and therapeutics are developed that have the potential to help contain the outbreak and offer broad protection against Ebola, expedited approval processes and government support will be needed to make them available rapidly. It is also critical to maintain a global surveillance system to detect emerging infections early enough to contain and eliminate them before they spread and present a grave public health and security crisis as has occurred in the West African Ebola outbreak.

Ebola will not be the last virus to evolve into a major health and security threat. The only way to stay ahead of the rapid evolution of microorganisms and the inevitable emergence of new diseases is to support infectious disease research and public health agencies that can respond rapidly when outbreaks occur. This requires adequate and predictable funding, training of personnel, and safe and secure facilities.

Sincerely,

Timothy J. Donohue, Ph.D.
President, ASM

Ronald M. Atlas, Ph.D.
Chair, Public and Scientific Affairs Board

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

The scientists and public employees should have built-in ways of ensuring they are working hard at achieving results, and not just sucking the public cow's teat. Maybe not have huge, over lucrative funding for normal research, but have rewards for achievements?

[Eielson]

The scientists and public employees should have built-in ways of ensuring they are working hard at achieving results, and not just sucking the public cow's teat. Maybe not have huge, over lucrative funding for normal research, but have rewards for achievements?

Honestly, that's pretty much the way it's set up. It's a pretty high stress job, because if you aren't getting results, you won't get grant money, and you'll be out of a job. The greater your results, the easier it is to get grants. Hardly anybody gets rich off of taxpayer dollars. You only make big bucks if you work for some big company. I know of a guy who is really well respected in his field, and he said when he started 30-40 years ago that if he wrote 10 grant proposals, he'd probably get 6 or 7. Now, he's doing well to get 1 or 2. Science funding is dangerously low right now. Admittedly, it's a little easier if your research is directly related to health (or even more so, the military).

[jkjsooner]

Really?

http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2cbvtl/how_long_can_ebola_live_outside_of_a_host/

The biggest barrier to Ebola being spread by the respiratory route is the fact that it has no mechanism for attaching to binding sites in the human respiratory tract. Unless it mutates it must gain entry in a different manner.....GI, open wounds, etc.

I was wrong about the reasons it can't be spread through airborne particles. Nevertheless, what you link is still a very significant difference between ebola and flu and pretty much goes against you previous comment which implied that the two are similar except for the quick death rate of ebola.

[jkjsooner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

Let's see, the Spanish flu killed somewhere between 10 and 20% of those infected. That is horrible but it is nowhere near the death rate of the ebola outbreak and nowhere near the hypothetical scenario I posted.

The black death was worse but again not near what I posted either and was not a potential extinction event.


If Ebola spread as easily as the flu it would definitely surpass the Spanish flu and probably the black death. While anything is possible, the fact that we've been around so long as a species indicates that such an event is probably unlikely. (Given, our numbers are higher, our population density is higher, and we are much more interconnected so those factors do increase the odds but I still say the odds are very slim.)

[jkjsooner]

If we had a vaccine for this, would ebola be strong enough to kill the anti-vaccine movement?

God I hope and I have a child on the Autism spectrum...

[jkjsooner]

Admittedly, this ebola outbreak...even with the horrible management by the hospital that let this guy go despite him letting them know he was in Liberia...is nothing compared to what is around the corner if we don't turn our focus to the antibiotic resistance and water shortages that are just around the corner.

The thing about antibiotic resistance is that in the worst case we go back to the world our great grandparents experienced before antibiotics were discovered. Given, that could be pretty bad...

[olevetonahill]

https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1796411_502989066504025_6460266465205833558_n.jpg? oh=d041e4108afba1c4b50be8e1483ff5ed&oe=54B979A4

[olevetonahill]

The thing about antibiotic resistance is that in the worst case we go back to the world our great grandparents experienced before antibiotics were discovered. Given, that could be pretty bad...

Uh No we dont, Those diseases wont revert back to Preantibotic days . they have mutated and will destroy ya .

[Eielson]

Let's see, the Spanish flu killed somewhere between 10 and 20% of those infected. That is horrible but it is nowhere near the death rate of the ebola outbreak and nowhere near the hypothetical scenario I posted.

The black death was worse but again not near what I posted either and was not a potential extinction event.


If Ebola spread as easily as the flu it would definitely surpass the Spanish flu and probably the black death. While anything is possible, the fact that we've been around so long as a species indicates that such an event is probably unlikely. (Given, our numbers are higher, our population density is higher, and we are much more interconnected so those factors do increase the odds but I still say the odds are very slim.)

I might ruffle some feathers here, but evolutionarily speaking, the world is thought to be about 4,600,000,000 years old, while homo sapiens (not exactly humans as we know them even) are thought to be about 200,000 years old. As this picture shows, in the timeline of life, we're just a tiny blip at the end that you can barely see. There is certainly some wiggle room there, but prokaryotes are clearly much older than humans, and they evolve much quicker.

2836

Anyway, even if you scrap that whole first paragraph, humans haven't been around THAT long. Surviving a few thousand years doesn't make us indestructable. I was just showing how the Spanish Flu killed World War type numbers (sidenote: a huge number of deaths in WWI were actually infectious disease rather than the wounds themself), and the Black Plague wiped out 30-60% of the world's population. That's how bad it's been, and it can certainly get worse. But yes, it is hard to get the perfect storm. Killing the host (humans) is truly a mistake for pathogens. Their real goal is to live off us, so the ideal pathogens keep us mostly healthy, but feed off of us and use us as protection. Ebola is clumsy in that regard, so it's very difficult for a pathogen like it that quickly kills to sweep too far across the world. It's a lot easier for a disease like an STD that goes undetected for a while to spread to millions of people.

[Eielson]

The thing about antibiotic resistance is that in the worst case we go back to the world our great grandparents experienced before antibiotics were discovered. Given, that could be pretty bad...

Medically speaking, we know a lot more about diseases now, so we wouldn't head back into the dark ages. We'd still be pretty good from the preventative side, but we'd have a lot harder time killing it. When's the last time you needed an antibiotic to live? It's not that often in our day to day live that a bacterial infection will kill us even without antibiotics. They're just really nice to have. Things like surgery could become a huge luxury, though. Medical equipment could easily get contaminated with antibiotic resistant bacteria, so you may be faced with questions like; will I repair my ACL despite the 10% chance of getting a life-threatening infection, or will I limp around the rest of my life? Also, if you cut up real bad in a car wreck or something, you're odds of survival won't be nearly as high as they were in the golden age of antibiotics.

On the bright side, there are still some antibiotics that can be discovered. The easy ones have been discovered, though, so discovering new ones will cost at least hundreds of millions of dollars (or more). When we had so many antibiotics in circulation, it wasn't worth investing that money. Recently we've caught on, but it takes about 30 years to get an antibiotic through all it's testing and things of that nature, so we probably won't see one for a while. Desperate times could speed that up, though. There are also some alternative therapies that might work like bacteriophage therapy. That was a big deal in research until antibiotics caught on. We stopped researching it at that time, but we've since resumed. I think Russia continued looking into bacteriophages, so they might have a pretty big head start if we can swallow our American pride.

[jkjsooner]

Uh No we dont, Those diseases wont revert back to Preantibotic days . they have mutated and will destroy ya .

They've mutated to be resistant to antibiotics. How is that worse than the situations we had before antibiotics?

Bacteria was a major killer back then. These antibiotic resistant strains just bring us back to those days.

[jkjsooner]

I might ruffle some feathers here, but evolutionarily speaking, the world is thought to be about 4,600,000,000 years old, while homo sapiens (not exactly humans as we know them even) are thought to be about 200,000 years old.

I don't doubt any of that. Some day we'll have an extinction event. But on a human time scale 200,000 years is a long time. The probability of that extinction even happening in our lifetime is very slim - unless we nuke ourselves there which I think is inevitable. (I don't see us living with nukes for 1000 more years and I don't see that that genie could ever be put back in the bottle. Ending of the Cold War did not end that threat.)

In the larger picture we're in agreement. Humans probably won't survive as a species for a billion years. But I'm talking about on a human timescale because that is what we're talking about when we discuss the potential of this Ebola virus mutating to a form that could be airborne. As with any probability, it could happen but if it were as predictable as some have stated it probably would have happened sometime in the last few hundred thousand years.


All that said, as I stated earlier, we are in a different world than 10,000 years ago or even 200 years ago. We have a higher population density. We have a lot more travel that happens almost instantaneous. Those things do increase the odds of such a mutation. But the idea that such a mutation is inevitable is false. Bird flu has been widespread throughout much of the world and has the opportunity to mutate for years but it hasn't yet mutated to a form that can be passed from human to human. It's certainly not inevitable that ebola will mutate to be transmissible via airborne particles.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

not to worry! we have Obamacare, and are now full members of the Brave New World. Golly jeepers!

[Eielson]

Perhaps I misunderstood your main point. I absolutely agree in thinking that ebola has an incredibly low likelihood of mutating into a highly infectious disease, and I don't think there is major reason for alarm yet. I just don't want anywhere near that nasty thing.

[olevetonahill]

Perhaps I misunderstood your main point. I absolutely agree in thinking that ebola has an incredibly low likelihood of mutating into a highly infectious disease, and I don't think there is major reason for alarm yet. I just don't want anywhere near that nasty thing.

Agree. I doubt there will be a MAJOR outbreak but there will be more cases

[rock on sooner]

not to worry! we have Obamacare, and are now full members of the Brave New World. Golly jeepers!

Heh, lasted all the way to post #49 before Obamacare got in the mix...:cheerful:

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Originally Posted by RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
not to worry! we have Obamacare, and are now full members of the Brave New World. Golly jeepers!
Heh, lasted all the way to post #49 before Obamacare got in the mix...:cheerful:Don't you just LOVE it? It's so effing smart!

[jkjsooner]

Originally Posted by RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
not to worry! we have Obamacare, and are now full members of the Brave New World. Golly jeepers!Don't you just LOVE it? It's so effing smart!

It's ironic you come to this particular thread to make that point. If there is anything outside the military that emphasizes the need for government it is in the area of public health during a infectious disease crisis.

We certainly can't count on people to man up and pay for this out of their own self interest. It's simply impossible for someone to invest his own money to protect himself. Everyone has a vested interest in a strong public health system which can track, test, and isolate others.

The health insurance angle is interesting too. I imagine the care of an Ebola patient incurs a huge cost and I'd imagine a large percentage of that is aimed at protecting the public rather than the sick individual. If you or I get sick out of no fault of our own, is it our responsibility to bear that burden?

If that burden gets too much, people may choose not to seek medical care or seek alternatives where the expensive precautions are not taken. That would in turn cause a public health disaster.

If there's ever a time short of war where we have to put individualism aside and recognize that we're all in this together, it is a time like this.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Jkj; looks like we can agree that the government's job in this situation with a life threatening communicable disease is to take appropriate action, to protect and defend the American public.

[dwarthog]

Perhaps I misunderstood your main point. I absolutely agree in thinking that ebola has an incredibly low likelihood of mutating into a highly infectious disease, and I don't think there is major reason for alarm yet. I just don't want anywhere near that nasty thing.

Something has changed.

In the first couple of Ebola outbreaks it was quickly contained.

In this latest outbreak it appears to be able to get past whatever protocols were effective in those instances or at least it is displaying a greater resiliency than previously shown.

[yermom]

It was contained in Nigeria. Sierra Leone and Libera weren'tin as good of a position to do it with as much unrest and lack of infrastructure as they have

[dwarthog]

So I'm listening to a Doctor on some show yesterday trying to get across how hard it is to catch Ebola and tells the story that back in 1996, somebody is in a hospital in one of these affected countries for 19 days before anybody came up with the diagnosis he had Ebola. 300+ people had direct contact with the person and nobody caught it.

I wonder if the rate of catching it from being in direct contact has changed now vs what it was in 1996? There is certainly a lot of "excitement" right now so it's hard to get an idea from all of the fog on what the infection rate currently is at this time.

Ebola has only been around since 1960's or 1970's or something like that? Seems like that is fairly short time wise in it's evolutionary development.

Also, where is this dang thing hiding out at between these outbreaks????

[olevetonahill]

Think the 1st was in 76 Most ever one of the out breaks were in Africa. Its deadly but not that easy to catch
Mostly gonna get those whit out good hygiene / Medical services

[jkjsooner]

Something has changed.

In the first couple of Ebola outbreaks it was quickly contained.

In this latest outbreak it appears to be able to get past whatever protocols were effective in those instances or at least it is displaying a greater resiliency than previously shown.

There are a couple of differences here. These countries that are currently impacted don't have the experience with Ebola that they do in places like Uganda and Congo. In addition, this occurred in more heavily populated areas.

The take away I get from this (and I'm obviously no expert) is that you have to get on top of these outbreaks. An outbreak can be contained but once 1000 people get it in populated areas it's almost too late.

I'm afraid that if some of the predictions of hundreds of thousands of victims in the coming months comes true, we'll inevitably have small outbreaks in the rest of the world pop up. We may contain each one but with so many people infected we'll just keep having new ones pop up.

I'm all for putting on travel restrictions but I'm just not sure how effective they would be. We could restrict access to passport holders of those countries but there are so many foreigners (Americans, Europeans, etc.) going in and out of those areas. Since many of those are needed to help contain the spread of the virus, if we stopped reentry of those people into the U.S. those countries (who need the outside help) may just stop stamping the passports of aid workers. If you take a hard line it might just backfire.

It also reminds me of the mad cow disease episodes. We banned English beef for a time but then later mad cow popped up the the U.S. Then we tried to explain to others that it was an isolated incident and please don't stop buying our beef. Well, we sort of set the precedent.

[dwarthog]

This is an interesting read from someone who was part of the 1976 Ebola discovery.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

[Eielson]

Also, where is this dang thing hiding out at between these outbreaks????

I believe the current thought is bats.

[olevetonahill]

I believe the current thought is bats.

I found the Bat in question.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpkE44ge8w9tkjUZi0N_TIYcfyb-HcRFqspbmNH0D1zkyN0w0odw

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I found the Bat in question.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpkE44ge8w9tkjUZi0N_TIYcfyb-HcRFqspbmNH0D1zkyN0w0odwIt appears you have incomplete, or even erroneous information. The "Bat" you saw should have read Battleaxe, or even possibly Banshee. Yes, FWIW.

Would the noted view be Racist or Sexist? More likely Preservationist.

[dwarthog]

Dude with Ebola in Texas has died....

[badger]

Dude with Ebola in Texas has died....

I heard they're giving the Nebraska patient a blood transfusion from an Ebola survivor with the same blood type so that he has the antibodies the survivor has. Will this end up being our Ebola vaccine --- a blood transfusion? Better than nothing I guess.

I have never been a blood donor, but if I knew that I had the cure to Ebola in my blood, I'd be sticking needles in me as often as American Red Cross would allow

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Things are moving too slowly. They have decided to speed up the entire process:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-military-faces-new-kind-of-threat-with-ebola/ar-BB8PwXR

[FaninAma]

First case contracted in the United States:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/12/health/ebola/index.html

[dwarthog]

Oops, that hard to catch Ebola snagged another healthcare worker in Dallas.

[yermom]

to be fair, if it was the measels, there would be like 30 of them (without vaccines)

i'm a little surprised it's only been nurses. were they making out with him or something?

[jkjsooner]

Oops, that hard to catch Ebola snagged another healthcare worker in Dallas.

And yet nobody outside of hospitals have caught it. It's pretty clear that it doesn't spread like the cold.

I think I'll trust the epidemiologists who study this stuff. They've always said that the protective gear isn't fool proof if protocols are not followed. (Think of having your suit covered with vomit, blood, or diarrhea and then try to remove it without making contact with the body fluids. That's not an easy task.)

It appears that the nurses and doctors in the hospital were not fully trained. That's a problem.

[Turd_Ferguson]

And yet nobody outside of hospitals have caught it. It's pretty clear that it doesn't spread like the cold.

I think I'll trust the epidemiologists who study this stuff. They've always said that the protective gear isn't fool proof if protocols are not followed. (Think of having your suit covered with vomit, blood, or diarrhea and then try to remove it without making contact with the body fluids. That's not an easy task.)

It appears that the nurses and doctors in the hospital were not fully trained. That's a problem.

It appears the CDC is blowing smoke out their' ***...

[jkjsooner]

It appears the CDC is blowing smoke out their' ***...

They've been saying for a while that they expect there may be some hospital workers infected. They haven't been hesitant to say that.

It sounds to me like they knew ahead of time that the hospital and staff may have not been fully prepared to deal with an ebola patient.

I'm not sure how that is blowing smoke...

[Eielson]

It's pretty clear that it doesn't spread like the cold.

Correct. It doesn't spread like HIV either, though.

At least I hope not. That would be really awkward to explain.

[SicEmBaylor]

I'm going to die.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Bold prediction, fershur!

[Eielson]

I'm going to die.

You had sex with the ebola guy?

[dwarthog]

And yet nobody outside of hospitals have caught it. It's pretty clear that it doesn't spread like the cold.

I think I'll trust the epidemiologists who study this stuff. They've always said that the protective gear isn't fool proof if protocols are not followed. (Think of having your suit covered with vomit, blood, or diarrhea and then try to remove it without making contact with the body fluids. That's not an easy task.)

It appears that the nurses and doctors in the hospital were not fully trained. That's a problem.

My post was a bit tongue in cheek, but for a place where infectious disease control protocols were supposed to STOP the spread of the disease, there is definitely something either wrong with those protocols or there is something else here with regards to it's ability to bypass those controls or at least the ones that were in use there.

I just hope there isn't a rush here to come up with the answer they want instead of doing a thorough analysis to ensure that control protocols are indeed the problem.

[SicEmBaylor]

You had sex with the ebola guy?

Not lately.

[Eielson]

I can't imagine too many nurses will be volunteering to take care of the next ebola patient. This could be an issue if it becomes more widespread.

[yermom]

My post was a bit tongue in cheek, but for a place where infectious disease control protocols were supposed to STOP the spread of the disease, there is definitely something either wrong with those protocols or there is something else here with regards to it's ability to bypass those controls or at least the ones that were in use there.

I just hope there isn't a rush here to come up with the answer they want instead of doing a thorough analysis to ensure that control protocols are indeed the problem.

they are saying that early on they were not following good protocols. also the equipment they were using was crappy

of course they also turned him away when he first got there, so obviously they didn't know to treat him any differently

[FaninAma]

I think the CDC and medical profession were caught flat-footed. I think the current strain is much more communicable and lethal than they thought.

I have seen hundreds of patients put in one form of isolation or another....,respiratory, enteric, total, bodily fluids. I have not seen anything act more contagious than this strain of Ebola. I certainly haven't seen an illness supposedly transmitted just by contact of body fluids be transmitted this easily. Not hepatitis A, B or C. Not HIV. Not even meningiococcemia.

[yermom]

you mean the one that two people contracted so far?

[lexsooner]

I get the impression there was not much training on any infectious disease protocols for the health care workers and nobody was used to dealing with any virus this infectious. The nurses probably acted reasonably within the knowledge and training they received, as if they were treating any other infectious patient, but they somehow got exposed to Duncan's bodily fluids. You can have all the good protocols in the world, but if they are not properly implemented and followed, they are useless.

I know a scientist who is also involved in the drug development industry. He said there will probably be some effective anti-viral drugs for Ebola in the next few years because now the industrialized world is affected and scared. Previously, Ebola was just an African disease for which there was little money as incentive for drug makers to develop antivirals to help against Ebola.

[jkjsooner]

Correct. It doesn't spread like HIV either, though.

At least I hope not. That would be really awkward to explain.

Absolutely. It spreads much easier than HIV. You can't get HIV from vomit or diarrhea or saliva.

The difference, of course, is that you can't get Ebola until you're symptomatic. You can spread the HIV virus before getting AIDS and it can take up to a decade to develop AIDS. That's a full decade you can spread the disease without knowing you even have it. That is a huge difference.

Had HIV/AIDS been a more effective quick killer it would have never spread like it did.

[jkjsooner]

My post was a bit tongue in cheek, but for a place where infectious disease control protocols were supposed to STOP the spread of the disease, there is definitely something either wrong with those protocols or there is something else here with regards to it's ability to bypass those controls or at least the ones that were in use there.

It sounds like this hospital was not remotely prepared to handle Ebola. That is something that needs to be a priority. Unfortunately the states have jurisdiction over such matters so it's going to take an effort to get all state health departments involved.

In west Africa where the conditions are much worse, the rate of transmission to health care workers has been very low. I forgot what they said last night but in one facility only a handful of a couple hundred health care workers got sick and they're reusing protective gear (after soaking in chlorine) and stuff.

Even in the most well trained and equipped places, there is still always a chance. Taking care of an Ebola patient is never going to be a risk free endeavor. I also hate to use the term human error. It's tricky to take off the equipment without touching exposed sections. I wouldn't call it human error of a slip happens and someone contacts an exposed area of the clothing. (I think of human error as being a mental error but we're talking about some delicate physical activity here.)

[jkjsooner]

. I certainly haven't seen an illness supposedly transmitted just by contact of body fluids be transmitted this easily. Not hepatitis A, B or C. Not HIV. Not even meningiococcemia.

C'mon, man. Everyone knew that this was easier to transmit than AIDS or hepatitis. That's been known from the beginning.

I must have missed all the CDC statements that stated you'd be okay as long as you didn't share a needle with them and used a condom.

[FaninAma]

you mean the one that two people contracted so far?
I bet you'd be singing a different tune if you were one of the people exposed to Duncan or the 2 nurses. Plus the epidemic is just heating up. Lets just downplay this until Ebola gets a foot hold in Latin America or the cases in Africa reach over a million.

Do you not see how the 2 cases have affected the local economies where they are located ?

[FaninAma]

C'mon, man. Everyone knew that this was easier to transmit than AIDS or hepatitis. That's been known from the beginning.

I must have missed all the CDC statements that stated you'd be okay as long as you didn't share a needle with them and used a condom.
Okay, then it seems to be as transmitable as rotovirus and varicella.

And yet HIV has dev estates Africa and cost thus country hundreds of billions of dollars. That was my point. Ebola is much more communicable and will be even more costly if it gets a foothold in this continent.

The CDC was acting like a bunch of politicians and got burnt.

[SoonerorLater]

Looks like the genie is out of the bottle. Case being reported in Virginia. Another person who had traveled to West Africa..........Mr. Obama, build up those walls.


http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/man_being_tested_at_inova_loudoun_for_ebola898

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Looks like the genie is out of the bottle. Case being reported in Virginia. Another person who had traveled to West Africa..........Mr. Obama, build up those walls.


http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/man_being_tested_at_inova_loudoun_for_ebola898Our borders will remain open to undocumented/illegal entry. Amnesty WILL happen, and before January.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Our borders will remain open to undocumented/illegal entry. Amnesty WILL happen, and before January.

Also, Holder's going to be appointed to SCOTUS.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Don't worry, everybody. Barak Obama says everything's under control. You can stop worrying.

[jkjsooner]

Looks like the genie is out of the bottle. Case being reported in Virginia. Another person who had traveled to West Africa..........Mr. Obama, build up those walls.


http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/man_being_tested_at_inova_loudoun_for_ebola898

And if you click on it now you'll see the patient is negative for ebola.

[jkjsooner]

Okay, then it seems to be as transmitable as rotovirus and varicella.

The CDC was acting like a bunch of politicians and got burnt.

Or not.


Rotavirus spreads easily among infants and young children. Children can spread the virus both before and after they become sick with diarrhea. They can also pass rotavirus to family members and other people with whom they have close contact.



Chickenpox is a very contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The virus spreads easily from people with chickenpox to others who have never had the disease or received the chickenpox vaccine. The virus spreads in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can also be spread by touching or breathing in the virus particles that come from chickenpox blisters.

[yermom]

I bet you'd be singing a different tune if you were one of the people exposed to Duncan or the 2 nurses. Plus the epidemic is just heating up. Lets just downplay this until Ebola gets a foot hold in Latin America or the cases in Africa reach over a million.

Do you not see how the 2 cases have affected the local economies where they are located ?

you are a doctor, right?

[8timechamps]

I think the CDC and medical profession were caught flat-footed. I think the current strain is much more communicable and lethal than they thought.

I have seen hundreds of patients put in one form of isolation or another....,respiratory, enteric, total, bodily fluids. I have not seen anything act more contagious than this strain of Ebola. I certainly haven't seen an illness supposedly transmitted just by contact of body fluids be transmitted this easily. Not hepatitis A, B or C. Not HIV. Not even meningiococcemia.

I've read that folks in the later stages of the illness are...not sure exactly how to say this...profusely fluid. In other words, fluids coming out of every orifice, in large quantities (relative to 'normal'). Have you experienced anything like that? If so, how can healthcare workers completely safeguard against that?

I know we're being told that the folks in Dallas didn't follow the correct procedures early on, and I'm not saying I don't believe that, but I do think this transmits a little easier/quicker than many think. (I'm not saying it's about to envelop the country, just that I think it's easier transferred than first thought).

[yermom]

Based on what? None of that is new information. This has always been scary as **** and everyone was thankful it was deep in Africa and not here

The difference is that here we know to stay the **** away from dead bodies and aren't scared of health care workers for the most part.

It will spread a lot slower here but it's still scary as ****

[SoonerorLater]

Based on what? None of that is new information. This has always been scary as **** and everyone was thankful it was deep in Africa and not here

The difference is that here we know to stay the **** away from dead bodies and aren't scared of health care workers for the most part.

It will spread a lot slower here but it's still scary as ****

Don't bet on that. In Africa it might be easier to contain the spread geographically because few people have cars or they don't hop a flight across the continent. In other words our affluence in the USA may contribute to the spread of the disease.

[olevetonahill]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10413425_789014681139924_2142346042343554840_n.jpg ?oh=7b65050e019f05d7f65aa3313115db1c&oe=54C25ED8&__gda__=1420920672_d09d564394f455496a29537457da223 1

[yermom]

Don't bet on that. In Africa it might be easier to contain the spread geographically because few people have cars or they don't hop a flight across the continent. In other words our affluence in the USA may contribute to the spread of the disease.

Compare the story of Nigeria to the rest of the current outbreak. Lagos is a HUGE city and very dense

[yermom]

Nigeria is now officially Ebola free:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/who-declares-nigeria-ebola-free-after-42-days-no-cases-n229536

and by huge, i mean Lagos has more that twice the population of NYC

[IGotNoTiming]

It has really been amazing to watch all of the media (from far left to far right) fear mongering the hell out of the public. There should be fines levied against media outlets for spreading misinformation. They have a resposibility to maintain journalistic accuracy.

[Eielson]

It has really been amazing to watch all of the media (from far left to far right) fear mongering the hell out of the public. There should be fines levied against media outlets for spreading misinformation. They have a resposibility to maintain journalistic accuracy.

I don't really follow the news, so I guess my opinion isn't worth much in this regard, but I haven't felt that's the case. I hear a lot more of this "DONT WORRY ABOUT FEAR MONGERING" than any actual fear mongering.

[Eielson]

But WTF is an Ebola Czar? And why doesn't he have any kind of medical training, PhD, Bachelor's of Science, etc?

Somebody upload the Star Trek facepalm.

[8timechamps]

Based on what? None of that is new information. This has always been scary as **** and everyone was thankful it was deep in Africa and not here

The difference is that here we know to stay the **** away from dead bodies and aren't scared of health care workers for the most part.

It will spread a lot slower here but it's still scary as ****

I assume you were responding to my post. It's only based off of the limited knowledge I have of viruses and mutations (and granted, it's pretty limited).

From everything I've seen, the virus can only be spread through direct contact with liquids from an infected person. Like I said, I'm not saying I don't believe that, but it does appear that it could be a little easier to obtain than that. I know it's not airborne (and hope it never mutates to that), but I think there's some question about how long the virus survives outside of the body (in a discharged liquid). So, if I'm infected and cough up a bunch of crap and spit it on your kitchen counter (for the sake of this example, we'll assume we're hillbillies)...then you come along and just happen to put your lacerated hand in the same spot. At what point is the virus dead? Can you put your hand in it 3 hours after I spit it on your counter? 12 hours? a day?

Obviously, this is a ridiculous example, but I start thinking about being on an airplane, and crazy thoughts occur. They're already germ tubes.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I don't really follow the news, so I guess my opinion isn't worth much in this regard, but I haven't felt that's(fear mongering by the media) the case. I hear a lot more of this "DONT WORRY ABOUT FEAR MONGERING" than any actual fear mongering.heaven forbid president Obola or his Democrats be accused of malfeasance or even negligence, when it's apparent He's the most bad apple president we've had. And, He's not about to change His MO.

[jkjsooner]

I don't really follow the news, so I guess my opinion isn't worth much in this regard, but I haven't felt that's the case. I hear a lot more of this "DONT WORRY ABOUT FEAR MONGERING" than any actual fear mongering.

It's a little of both. They tell you not to worry but then put sensationalist headlines out there as well and in general just act really dramatic. Basically news in general is terrible compared to what it was 30 years ago. They're more like "A Current Affair" now than they used to be.

[FaninAma]

Or not.What is your point? You are arguing both sides of the issue. Ebola is transferred by exactly the same methods as varicella and rotavirus. Or haven't you noticed the CDC recently added high efficient filter respirators to their recommended equipment guidelines for healthcare professionals treating Ebola patients?

It's more contagious than HIV which has cost this country hundreds of billions of dollars so does the fact that Ebola is more contagious than HIV make it more or less of a threat? It approaches or equals the transmutability of rotovirus and varicella and is similar in its method of transmission......bodily fluids, secretions, waste and contaminated droplets of saliva.

BTW, I've treated several dozen patients with rotovirus and the required equipment was face mask(paper) , gown, glove with hand washing and I am unaware of a healthcare provider contracting rotovirus from treating a patient the way healthcare workers have contracted Ebola from taking care of Ebola patients.

[jkjsooner]

What is your point? You are arguing both sides of the issue. Ebola is transferred by exactly the same methods as varicella and rotavirus.

I think the links I provided indicate the opposite.


It's more contagious than HIV which has cost this country hundreds of billions of dollars so does the fact that Ebola is more contagious than HIV make it more or less of a threat?

You are completely ignoring what made HIV/AIDS a very dangerous disease. The problem is that a person is infected and contagious for up to a decade before they show signs of the disease. That is why it became a worldwide health crisis. People were spreading the disease years before they knew they had it.

Ebola has two things working against it. 1) It isn't spread unless someone is symptomatic. 2) People get sick and die or are cured relatively quickly.

So, yes, Ebola is more contagious than HIV but contagiousness is only one part of the equation.

[TAFBSooner]

A doctor friend told me a new Ebola joke,

but you probably won't get it.

[FaninAma]

I think the links I provided indicate the opposite.



You are completely ignoring what made HIV/AIDS a very dangerous disease. The problem is that a person is infected and contagious for up to a decade before they show signs of the disease. That is why it became a worldwide health crisis. People were spreading the disease years before they knew they had it.

Ebola has two things working against it. 1) It isn't spread unless someone is symptomatic. 2) People get sick and die or are cured relatively quickly.

So, yes, Ebola is more contagious than HIV but contagiousness is only one part of the equation.
Then why don't you with your extensive medical background explain how the transmission of Ebola differs from Varicella and rotovirus or even RSV. Are you trying to say these viruses aren't transmitted by bodily fluids. The reason that Ebola isn't considered airborne is because it cannot attach to the respiratory epithelium although the CDC seems to be hedging on this assertion with the introduction of the respirators with high efficiency air filters. Why did they do this if they aren't worried about airborne transmission?

And the fact that HIV does not kill quickly is offset in economic terms by the fact medical facilities don't have to spend astronomical amounts of resources isolating HIV patients and buying specialized equipment or dedicating a lot of their staff(i.e. cannot cross treat other patients) to HIV patients like they do Ebola patients.

[FaninAma]

I found this article interesting. I know the progressives on the board will dismiss it because of the web site from which it originated but I would ask that you at least review the Army recommendations that indicate Ebola may actually be more communicable in colder weather much like influenza is.
http://www.teaparty.org/u-s-army-ebola-goes-airborne-temperature-drops-63635/


The study pointed out that filoviruses, which include Ebola and the Sudan virus used in this particular study, have stability in aerosol form comparable to influenza. -/

[yermom]

teaparty.org quoting infowars?

why not just link to the government study?

[FaninAma]

teaparty.org quoting infowars?

why not just link to the government study?
Quit pulling lame crap like this. Excerpts of the US Army study are imbedded in the article.

[8timechamps]

I found this article interesting. I know the progressives on the board will dismiss it because of the web site from which it originated but I would ask that you at least review the Army recommendations that indicate Ebola may actually be more communicable in colder weather much like influenza is.
http://www.teaparty.org/u-s-army-ebola-goes-airborne-temperature-drops-63635/

/[/b]

Can you break that quote down into layman's terms? I think I'm thrown off by the "aerosol form" part.

[FaninAma]

It means that the virus survives significantly longer in aresolized repiratory droplets when the ambient environmental temperature and humidity are lower just like the influenza virus does. Ever wonder why flu seems to hit harder during the winter months? This is one reason why. Another reason is that people tend to aggregate indoors in more confined spaces during the cold winter months.

http://www.weather.com/health/cold-flu-activity/flu-season-strikes-winter-20140122

[8timechamps]

It means that the virus survives significantly longer in aresolized repiratory droplets when the ambient environmental temperature and humidity are lower just like the influenza virus does. Ever wonder why flu seems to hit harder during the winter months? This is one reason why. Another reason is that people tend to aggregate indoors in more confined spaces during the cold winter months.

http://www.weather.com/health/cold-flu-activity/flu-season-strikes-winter-20140122

Is it possible that could cause the virus to mutate and increase the chances of it becoming airborne?

[yermom]

Quit pulling lame crap like this. Excerpts of the US Army study are imbedded in the article.

excerpts and commentary by teabagger loonies.

[hawaii 5-0]

I was in Dallas last week. No problem.

Now someone please hand me a Kleenex. Imma bout to sneeze.


5-0

[Turd_Ferguson]

excerpts and commentary by teabagger loonies.

Dum.

[FaninAma]

Dum.

It is obvious he hasn't even read the article because if he had he would have seen the matereial form the Army Dept. of Infectious Diseases imbedded separately within the text of the article.

[Eielson]

Is it possible that could cause the virus to mutate and increase the chances of it becoming airborne?

It's possible that Ebola could mutate and become airborne. It's thought that Reston ebolavirus may have been airborne, but I don't think they're certain, and that particular type doesn't infect humans (at least for now). I wouldn't worry about this outbreak becoming airborne, though. While it is "theoretically possible," the odds of OU winning a national championship in football this year are exponentially higher. Perhaps a future outbreak could be airborne, but I'd bet we'll have vaccines by then. Until now, it really wasn't financially plausible for pharmaceutical companies to make a vaccine for something that only kills a couple hundred people in Africa each year...most of which couldn't have afford the vaccine anyway. Now that it's killed thousands, and has spread to the US, I suspect we'll see a vaccine within the next 10 years.

[jkjsooner]

I guess it's theoretically possible for HIV to become airborne.

[jkjsooner]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh0J3FTa_uc

[SoonerBBall]

I guess it's theoretically possible for HIV to become airborne.

Exactly. Theoretically is the key word.

"No virus that causes disease in humans has ever been known to mutate to change its mode of transmission. This means it is highly unlikely that Ebola has mutated to become airborne. It is, however, droplet-borne — and the distinction between the two is crucial."

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/10/13/read-this-to-get-a-better-understanding-of-how-ebola-spreads/
Author: Dr. Celine Gounder is an internist, infectious diseases and public health specialist and medical journalist.

[Eielson]

I guess it's theoretically possible for HIV to become airborne.

Your obsession with HIV is creepy.

[Sooner91ATL]

All viruses mutate over time, but no pathogen infectious to humans has evolved to change its mode of transmission, that we know of (once it has infected humans). HIV now has several sub-families or "clades" that have similar genetic markers and vary by region of Africa and the world. There are also two different types, HIV 1 and HIV 2. The HIV virus has been circulating in humans for a century or so, and it has mutated to some degree, but it still transmits the same way, via bodily fluids. If left to spread long enough and in enough people, Ebola will also mutate in some ways. But this likely means, in the short run, changes in how it affects the infected, not the mode of transmission. Based on current evidence.

There is a difference between "airborne" and "droplet" spread. Pathogens like smallpox and measles are highly contagious and are airborne, which means the pathogen itself can be suspended in the air for some amount of time due to its physical characteristics (inside a droplet of mucous or saliva), be inhaled by a human, and then the pathogen has to be able to invade the body through specific receptor cells in the lung tissue. Usually in the lower respiratory tract. TB is the classic example, as it hangs in the air encased in a microscopic moisture droplet and is inhaled.

Droplet spread means when someone sneezes or coughs, droplets are ejected from their nose and mouth and some of these, even microscopic, may land on a person such that they are able to contact that person's mucous membranes -mouth, nose, eyes. Sometimes they land on surfaces and people touch the surface and then their eyes/mouth, etc. Flu spreads via droplets. There is no evidence that Ebola spreads like this, but it makes logical sense that there is some level of risk, however small, and that is why the precautions for droplet spread were added to federal recommendations for health care workers. Whether or not spread would occur like this depends on the stage of illness of the infected person, how much virus is in the saliva or mucous of the individual, and how viable the virus may be outside of the body. And of course, a susceptible host needs to be present to be infected.

This outbreak of ebola will be studied and the scientific literature will advance in the next couple of years on the topic of spread. Virologists will examine the virus more deeply, and we will likely find out things we don't yet know about the virus. Some of the spread that has occurred has been unexpected and seemingly random, compared with existing knowledge of past outbreaks. I suspect there will be new and better protocols for health care workers and patients developed in coming months/year. Unfortunately, there is no way to prepare for every contingency in advance, and a lot of the learning you do with a new emerging infectious disease is on the fly.

The two nurses who were infected, for example, was likely because of some failure in the protection protocol that was fairly severe. That guy was barfing all over the apartment with his fiancee and the kids in there, and none of them got sick. But two suited-up nurses contract the virus? Strange. More will be known as the science progresses.

[olevetonahill]

I been running a Low grade fever, I must have the Eboola !

[Sooner91ATL]

I been running a Low grade fever, I must have the Eboola !

a beer or two usually cures a hangover.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Bubba, you is in luv!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93QBpOutYaM

[olevetonahill]

a beer or two usually cures a hangover.

Aint hungunder. I think im really sick er sompun