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Ebola - all or nothing?

Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

FreshFish said:
From what I know and have heard and read, the most serious concern is not about how it spreads. Ironically, the concern is that it becomes less lethal. Because it currently kills people off so quickly, there is only a narrow window within which it can be transmitted from an infected person to others. If it evolves/mutates to be less deadly, then that window widens.
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Conceptually correct. However, the lack of a significant animal reservoir (that we know of) makes that much less likely. That is the reason we worry about "the big mutation" with influenza. It has several animal reservoirs that have close contact with humans. Additionally, the animals are repetitively asymptomatic when infected. My main problem is that with current knowledge about the virus, I feel talk about "mutations" and several other things have transitioned from "just asking questions" to hyperbolic fear mongering. This is a conversation that should happen in the literature, not the media.

FreshFish said:
Prudent caution means basically don't become complacent. Don't believe that what we know now is all that needs to be known. No reason to "fear" just remain vigilant.
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I have not met one scientist who states we know all that needs to be known. I agree vigilance is a virtue but there is a reason that most medical professionals are downplaying this. For the most part, we are pretty well prepared. Africa has **** for healthcare and they have only had 5000 or so deaths so far. (I really hate to use the word "only" there but when talking about worldwide "epidemics," it can be much worse.) Additionally, medical professionals have to combat the drastic hyperbole so they come off as being complacent.

I wish for no more deaths due to Ebola. However, I also have to put it into context. This might help ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVv8VdHReh0
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

The US has sent several thousand soldiers to West Africa to help contain the spread of Ebola.

As they finish their tour of duty there, they are flown to a base in Italy where they are kept physically segregated from contact with anyone else for 21 days before they return home.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

In a fascinating interview at the Atlantic.com about Ebola, bioweapons and pathogen expert Steven Hatfill talks about the political misuse of scientific spokesmen to “come up with a plausible explanation to explain a higher-up directive.”
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emphasis added
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

So the government should detain people for "voluntary" quarantine? Is that what the public wants? OK, but we need to quarantine the medical staffs in Texas, Nebraska and Georgia (hope no one else gets sick). We need to quarantine every passenger on every flight that had someone from West Africa on it. Yes, that means all the flights from Europe. Also, anyone who might have gone on the subway after that doctor in NYC. While we're at it, anyone who came in contact with any of the people listed above must be quarantined as well.

And this must be done a week before an election.

I don't see any potential problems there.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

Priceless said:
So the government should detain people for "voluntary" quarantine? Is that what the public wants? OK, but we need to quarantine the medical staffs in Texas, Nebraska and Georgia (hope no one else gets sick). We need to quarantine every passenger on every flight that had someone from West Africa on it. Yes, that means all the flights from Europe. Also, anyone who might have gone on the subway after that doctor in NYC. While we're at it, anyone who came in contact with any of the people listed above must be quarantined as well.

And this must be done a week before an election.

I don't see any potential problems there.
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I'm sure we'll hear on Rachel Maddow tonight that it's just another right wing plot to suppress the Democrat vote.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

SJHovey said:
I'm sure we'll hear on Rachel Maddow tonight that it's just another right wing plot to suppress the Democrat vote.
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And on Fox we'll hear how Obama is going to use this to postpone the elections. They aren't making the accusation, they're just asking the question.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

joecct said:
I'm sure you're all set for a third O'Malley term, I'm not.
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I actually haven't noticed anything about O'Malley either way for his entire tenure. It's bizarre to me that he's mentioned in the "also receiving votes" section when prez candidates come up, because he seems to have been the most inconsequential governor in American history.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

Priceless said:
So the government should detain people for "voluntary" quarantine? Is that what the public wants? OK, but we need to quarantine the medical staffs in Texas, Nebraska and Georgia (hope no one else gets sick). We need to quarantine every passenger on every flight that had someone from West Africa on it. Yes, that means all the flights from Europe. Also, anyone who might have gone on the subway after that doctor in NYC. While we're at it, anyone who came in contact with any of the people listed above must be quarantined as well.

And this must be done a week before an election.

I don't see any potential problems there.
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no problem with a quarantine of certain first level contacts or people who have returned from those locations in West Africa. Trust is the issue here. If we trusted people to faithfully report their proximity to sick people in W Africa then I think we wouldn't be dealing with such difficult actions... but as it turns out, humans are humans everywhere. Some of the pathologies that we see in W Africa are the very same pathologies we exhibit ourselves... our educational system however has winnowed away various false beliefs.

What they say about the disease. If you are near the people infected you are at risk. It is very low contagious. It is very high infectious. Those working in proximity need to take extreme caution and sometimes things still seem to go wrong because if you are basically dealing with a virus reactor 1 in 1,000,000 doesn't matter much if you are the virus version of "glowing and observable from space".

So quarantining and limiting contact for all returning medical personnel seems wise. Letting them do so in the comfort of their own home is also wise. Fact is that the person is generally unlikely to see transmission but if they do so its a pretty ****ing big problem. Generally others will not be at risk, but if they become at risk then its wise to not endure possible transmission in that period between healthy and sick. Yes it sucks.

We also cannot afford to get this disease into the animal population. Humans are much easier to quarantine. So, yes, asking people to stay home in a quasi-house arrest state is reasonable. Deal with it right and it never becomes a problem.

Abundance of caution is a virtue. So is competent reassurance. Problem is our leaders want to talk at us as opposed to talking with us. If you expect people to be stupid don't be surprised if you get exactly that.
 
Re: Ebola - all or nothing?

Just to be clear - she IS following safety protocols. The ones established by the CDC for every worker who has been over there. What she is not following is the (supposedly voluntary) quarantine set up by a politician responding to paranoia who is trying to score political points days before an election.
 
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