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

[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/c...ide_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/public...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/c...ide_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.)