EBOLA, too close for comfort

[m25operator]

I am sure most of you have heard of victim #2 here in Dallas ( ebola ), all is well they say, just a small break in protocol is all. We are monitoring a group of 50 or so, taking temperature twice a day,  and oh my😨, someone else is ill, that was allowed to go home, and mix with others. To put it in perspective.

1) apartment where Mr. Duncan lived = 5.4 miles from my home.
2) hospital where he was treated and died = 5.1 miles.
3) neighborhood where victim #2 lives = 9.0
All 3 are heavy,  popular locations.

The 2nd patient has been out and about for 5-7 days.
Color me concerned.

[MinotBob]

I too am in Dallas until next spring.

1) apartment where Mr. Duncan lived = 2.5 miles from my home.
2) hospital where he was treated and died = 1.0 miles.
3) neighborhood where victim #2 lives = 5.0

That's definitely too close for comfort.

[deepwater]

here in Peru they're talking about closing the borders. hope I can get out before hand. we haven't had any cases here, but they are getting ready for it in some of the South American countries. Brazil has even set up special hospitals just for possible ebola cases and quarantine procedures. sounds like they are more on the ball than our clowns.

Deep.

[alfsauve]

... just a small break in protocol is all. We are monitoring a group of 50 or so, ...

The CDC, which is overseeing all of this, has become famous in the last couple of months for "breaks in protocol."

I'm not in panic, but I don't think officials have been totally honest with the public.


And I'm a comfortable 8.1 miles from CDC HQ and labs

[brushmore]

I am not too worried about ebola, just yet (but I not in Dallas either).  Sure it is a horrible disease but so far the  amount of people that died in Africa is about the same number that dies in the US from flu every year.  On top of that the conditions that those people live in Africa are absolute squaller so the death and transmission rates won't necessarily transfer over to the Western World.

What does worry me is that this disease is already been politicized. When the government doesn't want to put travel restrictions on west Africa because they don't want to be seen as racist then there is a big problem.  This should be easy to contain but they'll never let a good crises go to waste.   

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

I am not too worried about ebola, just yet (but I not in Dallas either).  Sure it is a horrible disease but so far the  amount of people that died in Africa is about the same number that dies in the US from flu every year.  On top of that the conditions that those people live in Africa are absolute squaller so the death and transmission rates won't necessarily transfer over to the Western World.

What does worry me is that this disease is already been politicized. When the government doesn't want to put travel restrictions on west Africa because they don't want to be seen as racist then there is a big problem.  This should be easy to contain but they'll never let a good crises go to waste.   

Not to nitpick your post, but . . .   

It's not the number of people who die, it is the mortality rate, which for ebola is ca. 70% of the cases die. With flu, the mortality rate is in the single digits IIRC.

As for it being politicized, well, yeah, that's the point. Look at how this government handled the original cases. They ignored the cases in Africa, then, without fanfare, announced they were bringing the 2 missionaries with ebola into the US, completely bypassing the question of "should we". They just did it. And since both recovered, they can now say "See, no big deal, we can handle this." Only they can't.

It reminds me of the scene in V for Vendetta where John Hurt as the Big Brother figure announces angrily that "We need to remind people why they need us". Think this is happening right before the election by coincidence? Think that the US government owning a patent on an ebola strain is a coincidence? Or the fact that the US .gov owns the only trial cure?

As to the OP - anywhere in the western hemisphere is too close for comfort. It is not a disease anyone here is prepared to handle - witness CDC and the Dallas hospital. Nor is there any real biological resistance to the disease, no natural immunities, which means the mortality rate here could be much higher than 70%. Especially since we don't have a clue as to why the 30% of the victims in Africa survive.

Remember how we were taught in school how evil and vile the North American settlers were in the 17th through 19th Centuries were for giving smallpox-infected blankets to the Indians? Bringing ebola into this country intentionally is the same thing IMHO.

[tombogan03884]

Brushmore, two things you overlook about the cases in Africa, 1) the normal death toll is around a 100 or so then it burns it's self out, (kills off the local "fuel")
2nd West African Hospitals are far more experienced in dealing with Ebola than the US CDC which "accidentally" sends contagious diseases through the regular mails to wrong addresses.

http://townhall.com/news/us/2014/07/16/cdc-director-admits-safety-problems-at-germ-labs-n1862896

[billt]

Obama has said publically you cannot get Ebola from sitting next to someone on a bus who's infected with it. Yet now 2 nurses have caught it while dressed in full protective gear, in an isolation ward of a hospital. This latest gaff should be placed next to his statement that "ISIS is not Islamic". Public Idiot #1.

[alfsauve]

.... just a small break in protocol is all. ....

So the CDC director is between the backstop and the target.   The above statement was basically throwing the infected nurse under the bus by saying,  hey, our protocols are perfect she must have done something wrong.   Now he's backpedaling, trying not to insult the healthcare workers.  But that means taking up the opposite position of:   Hey, we don't know what we're doing.

What's overlooked in many of the press articles is that you have to factor the likelihood of something happening with the effect it causes.   And while Ebola's R0 (infection rate) may be only  a 2, the Case Fatality Rate is 70% at best.   So which would you rather have?  Ebola?  Or Measles whose R0 is near 18, but CFR less than 0.2% (in the US)? 

[tombogan03884]

Now there's a second nurse reporting symptoms according to a CNN "breaking News" email this am.

Here's another cheery thought for you.
I've been seeing reports that intelligence and counter terror professionals are concerned about the possibility of "Suicide bomber" Ebola carriers. This guy Duncan in Dallas lied to authorities in Liberia to get on the plane, he claimed he had not been near any Ebola patients, but in fact had close contact with at least one.
What is his background, could this have been intentional ? Is it the beginning of a wave ?