Ebola

emmaaa · August 2014

The situation is really unsettling to me. This disease has serious symptoms and effects. However, I'm not really worried about coming into contact with it. FI was jokingly saying last night that this is how a zombie apocalypse will happen and will end up being like the walking dead. Haha. Granted, it's always when you least expect it...dun dun dun.

thejucheidea · August 2014

mysticl said:

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.

http://www.tekmira.com/pipeline/tkm-ebola.php

And as someone who works in clinical trials with first-in-man drugs, I don't approve of humans being called 'lab rats'. There's a whole process to drug development, and none of it involves testing people against their will.

mysticl · August 2014

thejucheidea said:

mysticl said:

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.

http://www.tekmira.com/pipeline/tkm-ebola.php

And as someone who works in clinical trials with first-in-man drugs, I don't approve of humans being called 'lab rats'. There's a whole process to drug development, and none of it involves testing people against their will.

I did read the doctor had been given an experimental serum, in Africa, he did not have to travel to the US to receive it. That same article said there is no treatment for the disease as has every single other article I have read and news report I have seen. I am aware that drugs are not tested on people against their will. I have worked for surgeons who did research so I do have a basic understanding of how the clinical trial process works. I'm sorry if I used a poor choice of words. But no matter what words anyone uses the CDC is going to be studying how the disease progresses in these patients, how they respond to any possible treatments, and I'm guessing their blood samples will be extensively studied.

blabla89 · August 2014

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

okulew29 · August 2014

blabla89 said:

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

I happen to work at a nuclear power plant... they are actually ridiculously safe in the US... I could go for pages about what went wrong with the horror stories we here. but they are pretty safe, and no one ever hears about when we have safe shutdowns, just what happens when we dont.

JCbride2015 · August 2014

okulew29 said:

blabla89 said:

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

I happen to work at a nuclear power plant... they are actually ridiculously safe in the US... I could go for pages about what went wrong with the horror stories we here. but they are pretty safe, and no one ever hears about when we have safe shutdowns, just what happens when we dont.

My aunt lives right near a nuclear plant in PA. I'm not worried about it. I trust the safety protocols. As we've seen, oil and mining take far more lives than nuclear power, not to mention environmental damage. Practically all of Europe uses nuclear.

mysticl · August 2014

JCbride2015 said:

okulew29 said:

blabla89 said:

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

I happen to work at a nuclear power plant... they are actually ridiculously safe in the US... I could go for pages about what went wrong with the horror stories we here. but they are pretty safe, and no one ever hears about when we have safe shutdowns, just what happens when we dont.

My aunt lives right near a nuclear plant in PA. I'm not worried about it. I trust the safety protocols. As we've seen, oil and mining take far more lives than nuclear power, not to mention environmental damage. Practically all of Europe uses nuclear.

It's one of those things that comes down to what you are used to. The people who live in Atlanta know how many days they have lived there without there being a problem at the CDC. The people who live near nuclear reactors know how many days they have lived there without an incident. It's everyone else who freaks out because they only hear about those places when something goes wrong or something big happens so their "exposure" to the potential threat is limited to when it is newsworthy and as a result they only have negative experiences associated with those places. That and both themes make for good disaster movies.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

I personally wonder how much news coverage this Ebola outbreak in Africa would have gotten if two US aid workers hadn't contracted it and gotten sick?

Like many many things on the news, the reality tends to get blown way out of proportion to what is actually occurring. And if you aren't in the know about the what is really going down then of course you tend to believe everything that is reported on.

For example I am from the Baltimore area and the only thing people have to go on for the city is The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Neither of which really depict the true nature of the city. Do we have murder and drug issues? Sure, but what city doesn't? It is only because murder and drug issues are the only things that are reported on because they are "interesting" is why people have a bad outlook on Baltimore. Same can be said for these Ebola patients coming to the US. Only the extreme possibilities are really being presented so people have no other knowledge are freaking the fuck out while people with common sense can take a step back and think about things a bit more sanely.

mysticl · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

I personally wonder how much news coverage this Ebola outbreak in Africa would have gotten if two US aid workers hadn't contracted it and gotten sick?

Like many many things on the news, the reality tends to get blown way out of proportion to what is actually occurring. And if you aren't in the know about the what is really going down then of course you tend to believe everything that is reported on.

For example I am from the Baltimore area and the only thing people have to go on for the city is The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Neither of which really depict the true nature of the city. Do we have murder and drug issues? Sure, but what city doesn't? It is only because murder and drug issues are the only things that are reported on because they are "interesting" is why people have a bad outlook on Baltimore. Same can be said for these Ebola patients coming to the US. Only the extreme possibilities are really being presented so people have no other knowledge are freaking the fuck out while people with common sense can take a step back and think about things a bit more sanely.

This is a good point. It makes me think of the Swine Flu "outbreak" a few years ago. My place of employment went a little nuts about it. Granted we did send staff out into the community into multiple homes, schools, courts, etc. so we were kind of the perfect vehicle by which to spread infection, but they seemed extra freaked out by it. I was talking with a co-worker who was worried about it and I made the comment that it's the flu. Her response was "but people are dying from it". At which point I said people die from the flu every year. She was somewhat surprised by that information. She was truly not aware that people die from the flu because she didn't know anyone who had and deaths from the flu just aren't newsworthy.

emmaaa · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

I personally wonder how much news coverage this Ebola outbreak in Africa would have gotten if two US aid workers hadn't contracted it and gotten sick?

Like many many things on the news, the reality tends to get blown way out of proportion to what is actually occurring. And if you aren't in the know about the what is really going down then of course you tend to believe everything that is reported on.

For example I am from the Baltimore area and the only thing people have to go on for the city is The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Neither of which really depict the true nature of the city. Do we have murder and drug issues? Sure, but what city doesn't? It is only because murder and drug issues are the only things that are reported on because they are "interesting" is why people have a bad outlook on Baltimore. Same can be said for these Ebola patients coming to the US. Only the extreme possibilities are really being presented so people have no other knowledge are freaking the fuck out while people with common sense can take a step back and think about things a bit more sanely.

That is very true!

bethsmiles · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

I personally wonder how much news coverage this Ebola outbreak in Africa would have gotten if two US aid workers hadn't contracted it and gotten sick?

Like many many things on the news, the reality tends to get blown way out of proportion to what is actually occurring. And if you aren't in the know about the what is really going down then of course you tend to believe everything that is reported on.

For example I am from the Baltimore area and the only thing people have to go on for the city is The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Neither of which really depict the true nature of the city. Do we have murder and drug issues? Sure, but what city doesn't? It is only because murder and drug issues are the only things that are reported on because they are "interesting" is why people have a bad outlook on Baltimore. Same can be said for these Ebola patients coming to the US. Only the extreme possibilities are really being presented so people have no other knowledge are freaking the fuck out while people with common sense can take a step back and think about things a bit more sanely.

Considering the outbreak started in December 2013 and we aren't hearing about it until August 2014 I'm guessing we wouldn't have heard about it at all if these two Americans had not contracted it.

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826 · August 2014

bethsmiles said:

Maggie0829 said:

I personally wonder how much news coverage this Ebola outbreak in Africa would have gotten if two US aid workers hadn't contracted it and gotten sick?

Like many many things on the news, the reality tends to get blown way out of proportion to what is actually occurring. And if you aren't in the know about the what is really going down then of course you tend to believe everything that is reported on.

For example I am from the Baltimore area and the only thing people have to go on for the city is The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Neither of which really depict the true nature of the city. Do we have murder and drug issues? Sure, but what city doesn't? It is only because murder and drug issues are the only things that are reported on because they are "interesting" is why people have a bad outlook on Baltimore. Same can be said for these Ebola patients coming to the US. Only the extreme possibilities are really being presented so people have no other knowledge are freaking the fuck out while people with common sense can take a step back and think about things a bit more sanely.

Considering the outbreak started in December 2013 and we aren't hearing about it until August 2014 I'm guessing we wouldn't have heard about it at all if these two Americans had not contracted it.

bethsmiles · August 2014

@goldchocobo - It's really sad how accurate that picture is.

blabla89 · August 2014

mysticl said:

JCbride2015 said:

okulew29 said:

blabla89 said:

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

I happen to work at a nuclear power plant... they are actually ridiculously safe in the US... I could go for pages about what went wrong with the horror stories we here. but they are pretty safe, and no one ever hears about when we have safe shutdowns, just what happens when we dont.

My aunt lives right near a nuclear plant in PA. I'm not worried about it. I trust the safety protocols. As we've seen, oil and mining take far more lives than nuclear power, not to mention environmental damage. Practically all of Europe uses nuclear.

It's one of those things that comes down to what you are used to. The people who live in Atlanta know how many days they have lived there without there being a problem at the CDC. The people who live near nuclear reactors know how many days they have lived there without an incident. It's everyone else who freaks out because they only hear about those places when something goes wrong or something big happens so their "exposure" to the potential threat is limited to when it is newsworthy and as a result they only have negative experiences associated with those places. That and both themes make for good disaster movies.

Exactly. I mean I lived near the power plant for 18 years (although this was before Fukushima) - and I never worried much about it either. My point is that there are *potential* hazards almost everywhere, and it's crazy how the media coverage affects the perception of them.

mysticl · August 2014

blabla89 said:

mysticl said:

JCbride2015 said:

okulew29 said:

blabla89 said:

JCbride2015 said:

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.

Pretty much, yeah. Half the people on my facebook feed (Emory friends) are posting positive articles and well-wishes for the patients. The other half (people from my hometown) are freaking the fuck out. I'm tempted to point out that they all live within a few miles of a nuclear power plant...

I happen to work at a nuclear power plant... they are actually ridiculously safe in the US... I could go for pages about what went wrong with the horror stories we here. but they are pretty safe, and no one ever hears about when we have safe shutdowns, just what happens when we dont.

My aunt lives right near a nuclear plant in PA. I'm not worried about it. I trust the safety protocols. As we've seen, oil and mining take far more lives than nuclear power, not to mention environmental damage. Practically all of Europe uses nuclear.

It's one of those things that comes down to what you are used to. The people who live in Atlanta know how many days they have lived there without there being a problem at the CDC. The people who live near nuclear reactors know how many days they have lived there without an incident. It's everyone else who freaks out because they only hear about those places when something goes wrong or something big happens so their "exposure" to the potential threat is limited to when it is newsworthy and as a result they only have negative experiences associated with those places. That and both themes make for good disaster movies.

Exactly. I mean I lived near the power plant for 18 years (although this was before Fukushima) - and I never worried much about it either. My point is that there are *potential* hazards almost everywhere, and it's crazy how the media coverage affects the perception of them.

When that happened the local news did a story on "could it happen here". They mentioned a somewhat local nuclear power plant that I didn't even know about. What they failed to mention was the dozens of nuclear reactors located on aircraft carriers and submarines stationed at the local Naval base. I mean if you want to freak people out educate them on the risk, that would have been the way to go.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

flantastic said:

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.

Which makes it a pretty bitchy disease (like most, I suppose). Kill the helpers.
And Maggie, I also think the world community wouldn't be so worried about the Israel/Gaza situation if everyone weren't already invested in loving or hating Israel. If that shit went down elsewhere, I'm afraid people just wouldn't care that much about bringing it to ceasefire.

I completely agree @flantastic. I am sure there are other countries out there that have been fighting for just as long, if not longer and we just don't ever hear about it. We only hear about things if it could potentially effect us as a country which I think is kind of sad, but I guess that is the news for ya.

jenna8984 · August 2014

goldchocobo said

Diseases are very fascinating to me.

@goldchocobo Have you heard about the supposed origins of Lyme disease in ticks? Russian biological warfare started on Plum Island and "accidentally" made it's way off the island on birds and into Lyme, CT. Google that shit. Scary.

larrygaga · August 2014

Eh, we all gotta go somehow. Ebola, heart disease or a motorcycle accident. Don't fret, lovies! Just pay attention and always wash your hands. No sense in being scared!

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