Ebola

Senecaf

Have we talked about this?
FI is worried about it. I honestly have not done any research and have been minimally concerned. My aunt is an infectious disease doctor and is in Liberia now with Samaritan's Purse. The organization those two Americans with it came from. She is flying back to the US two days before my wedding. He thinks we are all going to die.

MairePoppy

Isn't Ebola a blood borne disease?

 

Senecaf

It's contracted through bodily fluids. Urine fecal matter and blood I belive. It is not airborne. A sneeze will not transmit it. But he's all worried because the news is freaking out and the infected patients are being quarantined and surrounded by people in suits and stuff

AlexisA01

A friend is doing mission work in Liberia and he was worried about the outbreak and is debating on flying back since everybody is scared. 

mysticl

Senecaf said:

It's contracted through bodily fluids. Urine fecal matter and blood I belive. It is not airborne. A sneeze will not transmit it. But he's all worried because the news is freaking out and the infected patients are being quarantined and surrounded by people in suits and stuff

That's to limit the spread. The families caring for their own sick are going to come into contact with bodily fluids which leads to the spread of infection hence the quarantine.  The care givers in the hospital are at risk of coming into contact with bodily fluids hence the fancy suits.  I was also reading that people are afraid the quarantine facilities are basically death wards (it has a high death rate but not 100%) so they are hiding to avoid quarantine and trying alternative treatment options. Which is going to aid in the spread because the people caring for them are mostly likely not taking proper precautions against infection.  

MairePoppy

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

mysticl

MairePoppy said:

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

I just looked up the symptoms and as the disease progresses they include vomiting, diarrhea (may contain blood), and bleeding usually from the eyes (as well as other orifices as you get closer to death).  So that is a lot of bodily fluids that a care giver has the potential to come into contact with.  

JoanE2012

mysticl said:

MairePoppy said:

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

I just looked up the symptoms and as the disease progresses they include vomiting, diarrhea (may contain blood), and bleeding usually from the eyes (as well as other orifices as you get closer to death).  So that is a lot of bodily fluids that a care giver has the potential to come into contact with.  

I hope that plane that the Americans are coming over on is quarantined and that bathroom (and entire plane!) is cleaned properly afterwards.

JCbride2015

JoanE2012 said:

mysticl said:

MairePoppy said:

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

I just looked up the symptoms and as the disease progresses they include vomiting, diarrhea (may contain blood), and bleeding usually from the eyes (as well as other orifices as you get closer to death).  So that is a lot of bodily fluids that a care giver has the potential to come into contact with.  

I hope that plane that the Americans are coming over on is quarantined and that bathroom (and entire plane!) is cleaned properly afterwards.

It's a special ambulance plane specifically designed for quarantined medical patients.  Same thing about the hospital ward-- specially designed, totally quarantined.

I think the news is freaking out over nothing.  People in West Africa have a lot to be scared about, but I don't think it's going to spread in America.  As others pointed out, you come into contact with it pretty much only by caring for someone who's sick.  So you can't catch it through casual contact.

mysticl

JoanE2012 said:

mysticl said:

MairePoppy said:

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

I just looked up the symptoms and as the disease progresses they include vomiting, diarrhea (may contain blood), and bleeding usually from the eyes (as well as other orifices as you get closer to death).  So that is a lot of bodily fluids that a care giver has the potential to come into contact with.  

I hope that plane that the Americans are coming over on is quarantined and that bathroom (and entire plane!) is cleaned properly afterwards.

According to the article I just read the first patient landed today.  Transport into the country was via a private plane especially equipped to transport infectious patients. It landed at a military base which limits contact with the general population and from there the patient was transported to the hospital in an ambulance that traveled under escort.  The hospital has a self contained isolation unit with it's own lab so any specimens will not even enter the hospitals main lab let alone leave the building.  

JoanE2012

JCbride2015 said:

JoanE2012 said:

mysticl said:

MairePoppy said:

I haven't read up on it yet, either. I wondered why they needed the hazmat suits and isolation ward if Ebola is only transmitted by bodily fluids.

I'm old enough to remember AIDs coming to North America. It was scary because there were all sorts of rumors about how the disease was spread.

I just looked up the symptoms and as the disease progresses they include vomiting, diarrhea (may contain blood), and bleeding usually from the eyes (as well as other orifices as you get closer to death).  So that is a lot of bodily fluids that a care giver has the potential to come into contact with.  

I hope that plane that the Americans are coming over on is quarantined and that bathroom (and entire plane!) is cleaned properly afterwards.

It's a special ambulance plane specifically designed for quarantined medical patients.  Same thing about the hospital ward-- specially designed, totally quarantined.

I think the news is freaking out over nothing.  People in West Africa have a lot to be scared about, but I don't think it's going to spread in America.  As others pointed out, you come into contact with it pretty much only by caring for someone who's sick.  So you can't catch it through casual contact.

Oh, that's good to know!  Didn't even realize there was such a thing!  

I don't think this is going to be an issue over here either.  

mysticl

And apparently they drove to the hospital on a "wide open interstate with no traffic". In Atlanta that means they shut down the route from the base to the hospital. So no one in the general public was going to have the opportunity to come into contact with the patient.

Senecaf

I'm sure it will be fine. The risk of massive spreading is very low in the states. Meanwhile, my aunt just posted on FB that she is on the way home 2 weeks early. They evacuated them.

Chipmunk415

The rational part of me is fine with bringing the quarantined doctors back for treatment. The significantly less rational/evil chipmunk/ horror disaster film buff is screaming " have these people never seen any of a dozen zombie/vampire/major epidemic film? Quarantine is ALWAYS broken and ALWAYS falliable!"

mysticl

Senecaf said:

I'm sure it will be fine. The risk of massive spreading is very low in the states. Meanwhile, my aunt just posted on FB that she is on the way home 2 weeks early. They evacuated them.

Will they have to go into quarantine?

missdelilah

The disease has a fairly long incubation period 3-21 days according to what I heard on NPR, so anyone at high risk would do well to be isolated.  I'm told that you're not infectious during this period, but I'm not a doctor, so I'll wait for someone who knows more to weigh in on this.  I don't think there should be too much of an issue with people who are not showing symptoms coming home, but I would feel better if anyone who has been exposed to the virus was put under observation.  That's just me though.

Funnily enough, we're having our wedding at what used to be the human quarantine facility in Sydney, Australia.  It became redundant once the majority of travelers were arriving by plane, is a national park, and now leased to a hotel group.  It was fairly successful for a number of diseases that were spread through person to person contact.  

@Senecaf I'm pleased to hear that you're aunt is well and coming back soon.

mysticl

missdelilah said:

The disease has a fairly long incubation period 3-21 days according to what I heard on NPR, so anyone at high risk would do well to be isolated.  I'm told that you're not infectious during this period, but I'm not a doctor, so I'll wait for someone who knows more to weigh in on this.  I don't think there should be too much of an issue with people who are not showing symptoms coming home, but I would feel better if anyone who has been exposed to the virus was put under observation.  That's just me though.

Funnily enough, we're having our wedding at what used to be the human quarantine facility in Sydney, Australia.  It became redundant once the majority of travelers were arriving by plane, is a national park, and now leased to a hotel group.  It was fairly successful for a number of diseases that were spread through person to person contact.  

@Senecaf I'm pleased to hear that you're aunt is well and coming back soon.

I read the same thing.  I'm kind of in the same camp as you on the observation thing. The doctor who was taken to Atlanta today doesn't worry me at all. They took tons of precautions to prevent exposure.  It's the other people who may have been exposed that could have a level of risk associated with them. 

Sugargirl1019

I want to read The Hot Zone again. I was fascinated by this book in high school.

theexactlee

I might be wrong in 1,000 ways but it scares the crap out of me and I wish they wouldn't bring the Ebola victims over here. Seriously terrifying. But I think I have my information almost toally from the movie Outbreak so take my opinion with a grain of salt or however that saying goes.

thejucheidea

pinkcow13

I was talking with FI and FMIL about it yesterday. I think that the media is sensationalizing this like they always do. I read in the papers that news crews were following the van the patient was in, eerily similar to the white bronco "chase" with OJ. I think it seems so scary because the mortality rate is as high as 90%. With the advanced medicine, etc that we have here in the US, I think that there is no need to worry about this particulate virus spreading. Glad to hear that your aunt is fine and gets to come back home soon.

mysticl

pinkcow13 said:

I was talking with FI and FMIL about it yesterday. I think that the media is sensationalizing this like they always do. I read in the papers that news crews were following the van the patient was in, eerily similar to the white bronco "chase" with OJ. I think it seems so scary because the mortality rate is as high as 90%. With the advanced medicine, etc that we have here in the US, I think that there is no need to worry about this particulate virus spreading. Glad to hear that your aunt is fine and gets to come back home soon.

What medicine? There is no treatment for this disease.  They can treat his fever, his pain, his dehydration, they cannot treat the virus. Granted they can do this better in the United States than they can in Africa.  But that fact is that he will either get better or he will die.  He will also become a lab rat. From studying him they may be able to develop a vaccine to prevent the disease and/or anti-viral medications to treat it.  The same goes for the woman who is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. 

I'm not worried about it spreading but that's because the quarantine/isolation procedures they are following are in excess of what is considered necessary for a blood borne pathogen. Not mention as medical aid workers they understand what is going on are highly likely to comply with the isolation procedures.  

krcb

From my understanding, ebola is usually in someone's system for 7-10 days. Dr. Brantly has had ebola since around July 26, and Nancy Writebol contracted it around the 28th. They should hopefully be "in the clear" soon and won't have much time to infect us all. I'll always be slightly afraid of ebola just from reading the Hot Zone. Talk about a crazy book with crazy exaggerations, but a real topic. *shivers*

JCbride2015

  

krcb said:

From my understanding, ebola is usually in someone's system for 7-10 days. Dr. Brantly has had ebola since around July 26, and Nancy Writebol contracted it around the 28th. They should hopefully be "in the clear" soon and won't have much time to infect us all. I'll always be slightly afraid of ebola just from reading the Hot Zone. Talk about a crazy book with crazy exaggerations, but a real topic. *shivers*

Gah!  The Hot Zone!  I had to read that in high school for some or another science class and I was terrified.  That's the one where the terrorist purposefully infects people in NYC, right?  Gosh who in their right mind would assign that to high schoolers???

Wegl13

What you don't know can't hurt you... Which is why if people thought seriously about the CDC being based in atlanta, and wondered about the pathogens they are studying on a daily basis... Two highly quarantined Ebola victims would be a mild curiosity (as it should be). I'm actually kind of geeking out about it, and I really hope to hear that Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol will make a full recovery. Dr. Brantly apparently walked himself into Emory!

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826

Ebola is a very dramatic virus with high mortality rate, but it's rate of transmission is terrible.  Yes, people are getting infected, and the long prodromal period does complicate things, but you have to be right in the thick of things to catch it to my understanding.  This is why healthcare workers suffer the most..  In the infected villages, people are handling the dead without any protection and funerary rites demand people touch the corpse often.  Ebola is still transmissible after death.  They weren't wrapping the bodies up right away  I am unsure if they are cremating them.

Ebola is carried by several different wild mammals (bats and chimps I know for sure) and these animals exist in Africa.  In the USA, I doubt they's get too far, let alone attack or infect a human.  The USA would isolate the issue long before it became a plague.  It's not impossible, but rest assured, it is highly unlikely.  

LIVE SCIENCE has a very interesting article about this very topic.

Diseases are very fascinating to me.  

blabla89

Wegl13 said:

What you don't know can't hurt you... Which is why if people thought seriously about the CDC being based in atlanta, and wondered about the pathogens they are studying on a daily basis... Two highly quarantined Ebola victims would be a mild curiosity (as it should be). I'm actually kind of geeking out about it, and I really hope to hear that Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol will make a full recovery. Dr. Brantly apparently walked himself into Emory!

It's true, I'm sure the CDC building houses stuff much scarier than ebola. I live about a mile from Emory/CDC and I'm not gonna lie, it freaks me out.

JCbride2015

blabla89 said:

Wegl13 said:

What you don't know can't hurt you... Which is why if people thought seriously about the CDC being based in atlanta, and wondered about the pathogens they are studying on a daily basis... Two highly quarantined Ebola victims would be a mild curiosity (as it should be). I'm actually kind of geeking out about it, and I really hope to hear that Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol will make a full recovery. Dr. Brantly apparently walked himself into Emory!

It's true, I'm sure the CDC building houses stuff much scarier than ebola. I live about a mile from Emory/CDC and I'm not gonna lie, it freaks me out.

I was reading an article in which CNN was interviewing people in the area, seemingly hoping for some drama, and most Atlantans were just like, "Eh, we're used to the CDC, we haven't had an outbreak yet."  

Just like a Knottie (jenna# maybe?) was saying she'd be afraid to live so close to WTC.  Eh.  You gotta live your life.  Getting in hysterics doesn't help anything.

okulew29

I have a friend who was recently in Guinea doing Peace Corps service and came home due to other illness a few months ago.  The Ebola most likely came around in Africa from people eating the meat of bats which carry it.  It is spread due to their funeral proceedings and handling of the bodies.  The WHO has warned the poeple of Africa against this, but they stick to their burial traditions and this is what continues to spread the virus.  The WHO and the US are being very cautious about it all.  I dont think we have much to worry about in the US.

mysticl

Wegl13 said:

What you don't know can't hurt you... Which is why if people thought seriously about the CDC being based in atlanta, and wondered about the pathogens they are studying on a daily basis... Two highly quarantined Ebola victims would be a mild curiosity (as it should be). I'm actually kind of geeking out about it, and I really hope to hear that Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol will make a full recovery. Dr. Brantly apparently walked himself into Emory!

Yeah, I'm finding the Science and the protocols interesting reading.  That and I figure once the make the vaccine DH is going to receive since he's in the military.  I have this personal theory that he's vaccinated for stuff we don't even know about.  

cupcait927

mysticl said:

Wegl13 said:

What you don't know can't hurt you... Which is why if people thought seriously about the CDC being based in atlanta, and wondered about the pathogens they are studying on a daily basis... Two highly quarantined Ebola victims would be a mild curiosity (as it should be). I'm actually kind of geeking out about it, and I really hope to hear that Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol will make a full recovery. Dr. Brantly apparently walked himself into Emory!

Yeah, I'm finding the Science and the protocols interesting reading.  That and I figure once the make the vaccine DH is going to receive since he's in the military.  I have this personal theory that he's vaccinated for stuff we don't even know about.  

Ditto! I dated a guy who was in the Navy for four years and he'd tell me about the crazy number of vaccines that they'd get. I've always been convinced that those vaccines were for some crazy weird shit.