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First american ebola case diagnosed

 
 
 
Derec said:
So the Hajj is on. 2 million or so Muslims are mingling around in Mecca as we speak. The countries suffering from the Ebola epidemic right now have significant Muslim populations and Sierra Leone has a large majority of Muslims. If somebody infected with Ebola travels there and gets sick during the Hajj (shedding the virus) it could become very, very bad because it could spread far and wide from a single event.
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Yeah, that's a scary scenario.

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Rhea said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
I thought the guy in Texas helped carry a pregnant woman who was sick and they thought the illness was related to the pregnancy. And that there was no evidence that he knew she had Ebola.
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I hadn't heard that. I may be wrong, then. The charges from the Liberian Gov't were the last I read.
On the other hand - carrying sick person in Liberia - should be mentioned?
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Yeah. Quarantine usually doesn't work very well because too many people think they're not infected and don't want to be trapped with those that are.
 
Toni said:
bilby said:
Give me a call when Ebola has killed as many people in the US as influenza this year.

It's a non-issue. But it sells newspapers.
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It's not a non-issue. I work in the health care industry and I assure you: if we do not accept that there is risk, it will become a huge issue.

Unlike influenza, there are no vaccines for Ebola.


Not much in the news in my regional newspapers about Ebola.
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It's not a non-issue for the tiny number of health professionals with direct responsibility for infectious disease management.

For everyone else in the US, the tiny number of cases, and the existence of the aforementioned professionals, renders this a non-issue.

Americans are likely at greater risk from the stress engendered by irresponsible news reports making this out to be a big deal, than they are from Ebola.
 
 
 
bilby said:
Toni said:
It's not a non-issue. I work in the health care industry and I assure you: if we do not accept that there is risk, it will become a huge issue.

Unlike influenza, there are no vaccines for Ebola.


Not much in the news in my regional newspapers about Ebola.
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It's not a non-issue for the tiny number of health professionals with direct responsibility for infectious disease management.

For everyone else in the US, the tiny number of cases, and the existence of the aforementioned professionals, renders this a non-issue..
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Maybe you could explain that to the family and contacts of the patient in Texas. And the next patient. There will be a next patient.
 
barbos said:
seyorni said:
No need to worry. Healthcare workers assure us it can't be transmitted through the air.
http://theextinctionprotocol.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/ebola-contagion-tep.png?w=640
http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1...e.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

You'll only get it by direct contact with the patient. The virus can't survive on environmental surfaces.
http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1398296/ebola.jpg?w=720&h=479&l=50&t=40
http://www.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2014/September/09-15-2014Treatment_Ebola.jpg
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Is this sarcasm?
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I suppose it is.
I'm disturbed by the discrepancy between the "direct patient contact only" reassurances I'm hearing from medical authorities and the images I'm seeing on TV newscasts. They just don't jibe.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not worried about a US epidemic, just disturbed by the reportage I'm seeing: sensationalism on one side and reassuring blandishments on the other. Where's the 'here-are-the-facts' middle ground?
 
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The problem is immigration and travel. Airport personnel scrutinize people to see if they have fevers or other signs of illness before allowing them to board.

But our media just ran a story that said if a feverish person took enough OTC meds like Advil, the fever goes away.

So someone with a fever from Ebola could board a plane, and since that person is symptomatic, can travel around the world, infecting as he goes.

Right now in Texas, the guy ran from Liberia and exposed nearly 26 people, and 5 children exposed who knows how many kids at their schools and on their buses, and then after agreeing to stay at home in self quarantine, one of the families sent one child to school the next day anyway. The school promptly sent him home and the state had to serve that family with legal papers REQUIRING them to stay at home and cops are posted around their apartments, making sure they obey.

His family are immigrants themselves and thus not inclined to stay put for their own safety and the safety of others.

Hospitals in the area are clearing out wards in expectation of having Ebola or suspected Ebola patients.
 
credoconsolans said:
The problem is immigration and travel. Airport personnel scrutinize people to see if they have fevers or other signs of illness before allowing them to board.

But our media just ran a story that said if a feverish person took enough OTC meds like Advil, the fever goes away.

So someone with a fever from Ebola could board a plane, and since that person is symptomatic, can travel around the world, infecting as he goes.

Right now in Texas, the guy ran from Liberia and exposed nearly 26 people, and 5 children exposed who knows how many kids at their schools and on their buses, and then after agreeing to stay at home in self quarantine, one of the families sent one child to school the next day anyway. The school promptly sent him home and the state had to serve that family with legal papers REQUIRING them to stay at home and cops are posted around their apartments, making sure they obey.

His family are immigrants themselves and thus not inclined to stay put for their own safety and the safety of others.

Hospitals in the area are clearing out wards in expectation of having Ebola or suspected Ebola patients.
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Correction: travelers may be infected with Ebola but not yet show any symptoms, including low grade fever. They cannot infect anybody until they have symptoms including that low grade fever. So screening for travelers with symptoms will miss some infected people. Screening by questioning will miss some of those who are infected because sometimes people may not realize they were infected, or may not realize the danger or may not care.

Unfortunately, there is no rapid Ebola screening test. Tests take time and only start to identify infected individuals after some time has passed.
 
Toni said:
bilby said:
It's not a non-issue for the tiny number of health professionals with direct responsibility for infectious disease management.

For everyone else in the US, the tiny number of cases, and the existence of the aforementioned professionals, renders this a non-issue..
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Maybe you could explain that to the family and contacts of the patient in Texas. And the next patient. There will be a next patient.
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Perhaps there will, probably there won't. Either way, worrying that it could be you is like worrying about being struck by lightning. It's vanishingly unlikely, so for sane people it is a non-issue.

It is more important to look both ways before crossing the road. Where's the thread on that?
 
credoconsolans said:
The problem is immigration and travel. Airport personnel scrutinize people to see if they have fevers or other signs of illness before allowing them to board.

But our media just ran a story that said if a feverish person took enough OTC meds like Advil, the fever goes away.

So someone with a fever from Ebola could board a plane, and since that person is symptomatic, can travel around the world, infecting as he goes.

Right now in Texas, the guy ran from Liberia and exposed nearly 26 people, and 5 children exposed who knows how many kids at their schools and on their buses, and then after agreeing to stay at home in self quarantine, one of the families sent one child to school the next day anyway. The school promptly sent him home and the state had to serve that family with legal papers REQUIRING them to stay at home and cops are posted around their apartments, making sure they obey.

His family are immigrants themselves and thus not inclined to stay put for their own safety and the safety of others.

Hospitals in the area are clearing out wards in expectation of having Ebola or suspected Ebola patients.
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That "and thus" is an unwarranted slur.

What makes you think that being immigrants has any bearing on their likelihood of obeying quarantine rules or recommendations?
 
bilby said:
credoconsolans said:
The problem is immigration and travel. Airport personnel scrutinize people to see if they have fevers or other signs of illness before allowing them to board.

But our media just ran a story that said if a feverish person took enough OTC meds like Advil, the fever goes away.

So someone with a fever from Ebola could board a plane, and since that person is symptomatic, can travel around the world, infecting as he goes.

Right now in Texas, the guy ran from Liberia and exposed nearly 26 people, and 5 children exposed who knows how many kids at their schools and on their buses, and then after agreeing to stay at home in self quarantine, one of the families sent one child to school the next day anyway. The school promptly sent him home and the state had to serve that family with legal papers REQUIRING them to stay at home and cops are posted around their apartments, making sure they obey.

His family are immigrants themselves and thus not inclined to stay put for their own safety and the safety of others.

Hospitals in the area are clearing out wards in expectation of having Ebola or suspected Ebola patients.
Click to expand...
That "and thus" is an unwarranted slur.

What makes you think that being immigrants has any bearing on their likelihood of obeying quarantine rules or recommendations?
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I think we shall have to see how this thing plays out.
I was in China during both the SARS and the Bird Flu outbreaks. However the worst killer lies in the various strains of Flu that kill 250,000 to 500,000 people per year. I suppose we're so used to it that it's no longer an epidemic.
 
bilby said:
Toni said:
Maybe you could explain that to the family and contacts of the patient in Texas. And the next patient. There will be a next patient.
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Perhaps there will, probably there won't. Either way, worrying that it could be you is like worrying about being struck by lightning. It's vanishingly unlikely, so for sane people it is a non-issue.

It is more important to look both ways before crossing the road. Where's the thread on that?
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You didn't read the link I posted in post #67, did you? Other hospitals have admitted patients with symptoms and a travel history consistent with Ebola . Diagnosis hasn't been confirmed because testing takes time, especially since this is not a standard test but available at far fewer testing facilities. Then there is transport to testing lab which can perform appropriate tests-- the samples themselves are capable of transmitting disease.

Hospitals and clinics really need to get up to speed FAST
 
Toni said:
bilby said:
Perhaps there will, probably there won't. Either way, worrying that it could be you is like worrying about being struck by lightning. It's vanishingly unlikely, so for sane people it is a non-issue.

It is more important to look both ways before crossing the road. Where's the thread on that?
Click to expand...


You didn't read the link I posted in post #67, did you? Other hospitals have admitted patients with symptoms and a travel history consistent with Ebola . Diagnosis hasn't been confirmed because testing takes time, especially since this is not a standard test but available at far fewer testing facilities. Then there is transport to testing lab which can perform appropriate tests-- the samples themselves are capable of transmitting disease.

Hospitals and clinics really need to get up to speed FAST
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The existence of fear is not evidence that fear is justified.

Ebola is in the news. All of a sudden, healthy people who would normally shrug off a sniffle or mild fever are instead presenting at hospital.

That tells us exactly nothing about Ebola; and quite a lot about hypochondria and the power of the media.

BTW, it is just about this time each year that common cold incidence peaks.

Hospitals should expect to get busy; as a result of reports of Ebola. I predict that there will be no confirmed cases that are not directly linked to the original patient. Most likely, there will be no more confirmed cases at all.
 
bilby said:
Toni said:
You didn't read the link I posted in post #67, did you? Other hospitals have admitted patients with symptoms and a travel history consistent with Ebola . Diagnosis hasn't been confirmed because testing takes time, especially since this is not a standard test but available at far fewer testing facilities. Then there is transport to testing lab which can perform appropriate tests-- the samples themselves are capable of transmitting disease.

Hospitals and clinics really need to get up to speed FAST
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The existence of fear is not evidence that fear is justified.

Ebola is in the news. All of a sudden, healthy people who would normally shrug off a sniffle or mild fever are instead presenting at hospital.

That tells us exactly nothing about Ebola; and quite a lot about hypochondria and the power of the media.

BTW, it is just about this time each year that common cold incidence peaks.

Hospitals should expect to get busy; as a result of reports of Ebola. I predict that there will be no confirmed cases that are not directly linked to the original patient. Most likely, there will be no more confirmed cases at all.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are incorrect. Sniffles and Ebola have nothing to do with each other. Why do you refuse to believe that there are not others who have crossed into the US while asymptomatically incubating Ebola?

Why do you believe that all cases are in the news? They are not.

I would be much more surprised if any contacts of the Ebola patient in Texas became ill than if there are no more cases of Ebola in the US. Especially since there ARE.
 
Toni said:
bilby said:
The existence of fear is not evidence that fear is justified.

Ebola is in the news. All of a sudden, healthy people who would normally shrug off a sniffle or mild fever are instead presenting at hospital.

That tells us exactly nothing about Ebola; and quite a lot about hypochondria and the power of the media.

BTW, it is just about this time each year that common cold incidence peaks.

Hospitals should expect to get busy; as a result of reports of Ebola. I predict that there will be no confirmed cases that are not directly linked to the original patient. Most likely, there will be no more confirmed cases at all.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are incorrect. Sniffles and Ebola have nothing to do with each other. Why do you refuse to believe that there are not others who have crossed into the US while asymptomatically incubating Ebola?

Why do you believe that all cases are in the news? They are not.

I would be much more surprised if any contacts of the Ebola patient in Texas became ill than if there are no more cases of Ebola in the US. Especially since there ARE.
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Capital letters are not evidence.

I understand that you believe this; but I won't share your belief without evidence.

Ebola is a nasty virus, in the conditions of West Africa. It is a trivial threat in the First World, where medical hygiene is a matter of routine. But it makes great news headlines, if you are a media company that makes money from fear.

Ebola isn't particularly easy to catch. It is very dangerous once you have caught it, so it's sensible to take extreme precautions when dealing with known or suspected cases. If it was easy to catch, half of West Africa would be dead by now.
 
I will give it to Toni that testing alone cannot meet the burden of identifying Ebola carriers BEFORE they develop symptoms which have become a vector for contamination/infection. That because the viral load has to reach a level high enough to be detected in the blood stream. Meaning that an infected individual is not going to be removed from contact with the public based on testing alone. Considering the potential for false negatives resulting from a low viral load. Leaving detection to rely on symptoms which at that point is too little too late.

Reliance on the first onset of symptoms which is a fever of 101.5 or above is already too little, too late. However, based on what I developed on and detailed in my previous posts, I cannot fathom that Ebola would reach any epidemic proportion in the US.

A protocol of high watch for Ebola has already been established in Florida. A patient reporting in a medical facility in Sarasota was immediately placed in isolation. Released I believe yesterday. Though showing symptoms similar to Ebola, X was released from isolation based on a negative result test. At the point of symptoms, the viral load is high enough that it would not result in a false negative. If I recall another patient was placed in isolation and observation in D.C. Again, symptoms similar to the early symptoms of Ebola, specifically high fever and extreme fatigue. Patient X was released from isolation as he had malaria not Ebola.

Establishing a parallel here between the paranoia which surrounded the onset of HIV cases in the US in the early 80's and the current paranoid frenzy regarding Ebola :

-I anticipate that US residents of Sub Sahara origin may encounter the same type of ignorance based fear as the one which targeted gay males. I need to add that to some extent, still today, there are still myths circulating among the general public regarding HIV transmission/contamination, myths which affect how so many Americans will interact with gay persons.

(As a non fictive example of how ignorance fueled by myths will result in the victimization of one group or other other, my good friend in Ga. reported to me what happened in the large Church she used to be a member of : a member of their music ministry had revealed his HIV sero positive status. The congregation required he left based on the belief he was a health hazard to them)

-There have already been reports of African American kids being nicknamed "Ebola" in some schools. The association of ethnicity (specifically Black/AA) to Ebola is already starting.

If there is any concern to an onset of increase in human to human transmitted highly contagious diseases it should focus on :

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/ev-d68.html

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/outbreaks/EV-D68-states.html

The second link gives us an overview of the high number of US States with at least one confirmed case. The fist links tells us about secondary ailments resulting from being infected with D68. Mind you the onset now of neurological damages observed in several cases among infected children.

Regarding flu vaccination : the immunization so many of us will receive addresses one strain, not the variety of them. Meaning that people being flu vaccinated still need to observe contagion prevention/control measures. Rather than falling under a false sense of security. While each year what I will observe in stores and other public spaces is a high number of Americans (and no, not immigrants) sneezing in their hand and coughing without taking the precaution to contain their contaminated droplets by coughing in a tissue or handkerchief! Let alone the number of employed persons who will still show up at work with the early onset of flu symptoms instead of staying home and limiting their contact with the general public.

When addressing hourly wage paid workers who depend on a number of worked hours per week to meet their budget and work for a company which does not offer as a benefit sick leave, they are often dismissive of staying home. I have often wondered why so many home health care agencies will not offer such benefit while they rely on their field workers (hourly wage paid weekly income) to exercise contagion/contamination measures and decide for themselves to show up at a client/patient's home. Most of the time, though exhibiting symptoms of a respiratory contagious illness, they will not report them to their clinical manager for fear of being told " you are to stay home". Those are not immigrants but folks who are yearly expected to complete their Continuous Education Units, emphasis being placed on Contagious Diseases Control/Prevention.
 
Toni said:
bilby said:
The existence of fear is not evidence that fear is justified.

Ebola is in the news. All of a sudden, healthy people who would normally shrug off a sniffle or mild fever are instead presenting at hospital.

That tells us exactly nothing about Ebola; and quite a lot about hypochondria and the power of the media.

BTW, it is just about this time each year that common cold incidence peaks.

Hospitals should expect to get busy; as a result of reports of Ebola. I predict that there will be no confirmed cases that are not directly linked to the original patient. Most likely, there will be no more confirmed cases at all.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are incorrect. Sniffles and Ebola have nothing to do with each other. Why do you refuse to believe that there are not others who have crossed into the US while asymptomatically incubating Ebola?

Why do you believe that all cases are in the news? They are not.

I would be much more surprised if any contacts of the Ebola patient in Texas became ill than if there are no more cases of Ebola in the US. Especially since there ARE.
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Total number of confirmed Ebola patients in the USA as of right now: ZERO.

It is very sad for Mr Duncan's family that he has died of this dreadful disease; but his passing does render the USA 'Ebola free' once again.

I stand by my original assessment; Most likely, there will be no more confirmed cases in the USA at all.
 
Is this true? I heard the disease spread so quickly in Africa because the dead are traditionally washed and then the water drunk by the mourners. I cannot understand something so abysmally ignorant but I live here in the comfy, well-educated USA.
 
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