US importing ebola

[Knowing]

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/01/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html

Atlanta (CNN) -- The Ebola virus is coming to the United States for what's thought to be the first time, as two Americans return home after getting infected while helping others cope with the outbreak ravaging West Africa.
The first patient is expected to arrive in the United States on Saturday afternoon, U.S. officials said. The aircraft carrying that person will land at Georgia's Dobbins Air Reserve Base, then take off again for Liberia to get the second American infected with Ebola.
Both are expected to head to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, according to Dr. Bruce Ribner, who oversees the special isolation unit where they will be treated. On Friday, he described the patients as "stable" and "safe to transport."
There was an Ebola strain tied to monkeys -- Ebola-Reston -- in the United States during the 1990s, though no humans got sick from it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thus, what is happening now appears to be the first time a symptomatic person with Ebola will be in the country and treated at a U.S. hospital.

Didn't they just destroy the smallpox they accidentally kept?

 

[PlanetJosh]

Reminds me of the new tv show The Strain in which a deadly virus was brought to the U.S. on a commercial airliner by the bad guys.

 

[UglyCasanova]

It is the transmission to the US that we don't know about that should worry you, not these two under careful monitoring being transferred to the CDC. I would be more worried about H5N1 than Ebola though. Ebola is a nasty virus but in its current form I think it poses very little risk of a massive pandemic, especially in the developed world. That said, these things do mutate.

The media is jumping all over this, but I think an even greater risk to human civilization is the threat that we can prevent that we are largely ignoring: that of an asteroid striking the Earth. History shows that it WILL happen again, and Chelyabinsk should have been a wake up call for everyone. The gun is loaded and pointed at our collective heads but we chose to ignore it.

 

[Spungo]

I'm guessing Paul Krugman is behind this.
First he said we need a housing bubble. Then he said we need total war (because WW1 didn't bankrupt Germany and Russia, leading to dictatorships in both countries?). Now we need ebola. At least this one is loosely based in reality.

Black Death and its effects on the economy

The great population loss brought favourable results to the surviving peasants in England and Western Europe. There was increased social mobility, as depopulation further eroded the peasants' already weakened obligations to remain on their traditional holdings. Feudalism never recovered. Hilton and other scholars have argued that those peasants who survived famine, plague and disease, found their situation to be much improved. The period 1350–1450 was for them a golden age of prosperity and new opportunities. Land was plentiful, wages high, and serfdom had all but disappeared. It was possible to move about and rise higher in life. Younger sons and women especially benefited.[22] As population growth resumed however, the peasants again faced deprivation and famine.[3][23]

Overall, this seems like a weird idea. In the days of the Black Death, we generally tried to contain the plague, not bring it to countries that don't have it.

 

[Ronstang]

If you want to go to a shithole like Africa to help people that is great, but it you then contract a rare and deadly disease that is contained on that continent then you should stay there and be treated there...period. These people are going to die anyway so why put the entire first world at risk?

 

[Capt Caveman]

I'm guessing Paul Krugman is behind this.
First he said we need a housing bubble. Then he said we need total war (because WW1 didn't bankrupt Germany and Russia, leading to dictatorships in both countries?). Now we need ebola. At least this one is loosely based in reality.

Black Death and its effects on the economy



Overall, this seems like a weird idea. In the days of the Black Death, we generally tried to contain the plague, not bring it to countries that don't have it.

:biggrin:

 

[Fanatical Meat]

If you want to go to a shithole like Africa to help people that is great, but it you then contract a rare and deadly disease that is contained on that continent then you should stay there and be treated there...period. These people are going to die anyway so why put the entire first world at risk?

Lets see you say that if a family member gets ill in a foreign land. Ebola is a 3rd world problem because of sanitation and close living conditions. People with Ebola are not contagious until the virus cripples them. Its similar to aids, some of the infected persons body fluids need to make into your blood. I'm going to make an assumption that everyone caring for them will be sealed off pretty thoroughly.

 

[dmcowen674]

US importing ebola

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/01/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html

Didn't they just destroy the smallpox they accidentally kept?

7-29-2014

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3186720/posts?page=35

[SIZE=+1]Ebola Bio Kits Deployed to National Guard Units In All 50 States[/SIZE]

The Department of Defense informed Congress that it has deployed biological diagnostics systems to National Guard support teams in all 50 states, according to a report published by the Committee on Armed Services.

Some 340 Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS) units have thus far been given to emergency response personnel. The systems are “rapid, reliable, and [provide] simultaneous identification of specific biological agents and pathogens,” says executive officer for the DOD’s Chemical and Biological Defense group Carmen J. Spencer.
The Chemical and Biological Defense Program has sharpened the DoD diagnostics portfolio by increasing the capability of our fielded system, some 340 of which have been provided to the Military Services.


The Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System is a portable system capable of rapid, reliable, and simultaneous identification of specific biological agents and pathogens. By partnering with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Food and Drug Administration, we have made accessible additional diagnostic assays for high consequence, low probability biological threat agents for use during declared public health emergencies.


This collaboration has facilitated the availability of viral hemorrhagic fever diagnostic assays for use during a declared emergency and adds previously unavailable preparedness capabilities to this fielded system.

 

[gotsmack]

Lets see you say that if a family member gets ill in a foreign land. Ebola is a 3rd world problem because of sanitation and close living conditions. People with Ebola are not contagious until the virus cripples them. Its similar to aids, some of the infected persons body fluids need to make into your blood. I'm going to make an assumption that everyone caring for them will be sealed off pretty thoroughly.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/06/ebola-virus-west-africa/7314875/

http://www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Ebola/Why-is-Ebola-so-contagious-20140728

"Ebola is spread by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or individuals, or people who died from the disease. This includes sweat, blood and saliva."

You can compare Ebola to AIDS when you can get AIDS from contact with someone's sweat.

 

[sandorski]

I'm guessing Paul Krugman is behind this.
First he said we need a housing bubble. Then he said we need total war (because WW1 didn't bankrupt Germany and Russia, leading to dictatorships in both countries?). Now we need ebola. At least this one is loosely based in reality.

Black Death and its effects on the economy



Overall, this seems like a weird idea. In the days of the Black Death, we generally tried to contain the plague, not bring it to countries that don't have it.

Your views on what Krugman has "said" are horribly skewed

 

[Fanatical Meat]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/06/ebola-virus-west-africa/7314875/

http://www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Ebola/Why-is-Ebola-so-contagious-20140728

"Ebola is spread by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or individuals, or people who died from the disease. This includes sweat, blood and saliva."

You can compare Ebola to AIDS when you can get AIDS from contact with someone's sweat.

Its similar, not identical. Again I'm sure any and all care workers will be well protected.

 

[Victorian Gray]

If you want to go to a shithole like Africa to help people that is great, but it you then contract a rare and deadly disease that is contained on that continent then you should stay there and be treated there...period. These people are going to die anyway so why put the entire first world at risk?

Nobody is putting the "entire first world at risk" in this situation.

btw, the survival rate is almost 50% so either or both of these people could possibly recover.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

^^not sure of that 50% figure. Everything I've seen is close to 90% fatality rate but that is being treated in a shithole place. So maybe it is 50% in good conditions.

 

[MongGrel]

Did we need another one ?

 

[MongGrel]

7-29-2014

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3186720/posts?page=35

[SIZE=+1]Ebola Bio Kits Deployed to National Guard Units In All 50 States[/SIZE]

The Department of Defense informed Congress that it has deployed biological diagnostics systems to National Guard support teams in all 50 states, according to a report published by the Committee on Armed Services.

Some 340 Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS) units have thus far been given to emergency response personnel. The systems are “rapid, reliable, and [provide] simultaneous identification of specific biological agents and pathogens,” says executive officer for the DOD’s Chemical and Biological Defense group Carmen J. Spencer.
The Chemical and Biological Defense Program has sharpened the DoD diagnostics portfolio by increasing the capability of our fielded system, some 340 of which have been provided to the Military Services.


The Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System is a portable system capable of rapid, reliable, and simultaneous identification of specific biological agents and pathogens. By partnering with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Food and Drug Administration, we have made accessible additional diagnostic assays for high consequence, low probability biological threat agents for use during declared public health emergencies.


This collaboration has facilitated the availability of viral hemorrhagic fever diagnostic assays for use during a declared emergency and adds previously unavailable preparedness capabilities to this fielded system.

I would think they all ready have them to begin with, probably all the way from 9/11.

I doubt the units are Ebola specific.

 

[brycejones]

^^not sure of that 50% figure. Everything I've seen is close to 90% fatality rate but that is being treated in a shithole place. So maybe it is 50% in good conditions.

This outbreak the fatality rate has been about 60%

 

[brycejones]

I would think they all ready have them to begin with, probably all the way from 9/11.

I doubt the units are Ebola specific.

I wonder what Alex Jones have to say about this...

 

[sandorski]

I would think they all ready have them to begin with, probably all the way from 9/11.

I doubt the units are Ebola specific.

Also, better to do it now then wait until it's too late. On the off chance they are needed.

 

[MongGrel]

Also, better to do it now then wait until it's too late. On the off chance they are needed.

Like I said, they probably all ready have them.

Looks just like someone did an inventory report of what's there all ready I would imagine.

And trying to make news out of it.

They didn't suddenly freak out and start deploying them, they have been distributed that way a long time I imagine.

*edit* after rereading, the key phrase is "have made accessible" I suppose.

They took em out of the closet so they know where they are I guess.

:thumbsup:

 

[MongGrel]

I wonder what Alex Jones have to say about this...

Yeah Stewox should be foaming at the mouth over this one, maybe he's off composing pages of images to mass dump on us

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah Stewox should be foaming at the mouth over this one, maybe he's off composing pages of images to mass dump on us [/QUO

in another thread he outed himself as not living in the US. Maybe he's a North Korean propaganda guy and is in jail for failing.

 

[shira]

^^not sure of that 50% figure. Everything I've seen is close to 90% fatality rate but that is being treated in a shithole place. So maybe it is 50% in good conditions.

There was one major outbreak of Ebola strain "Zaire" (the strain in the current outbreak and the one considered the most lethal) where the death rate was 90% and another major outbreak of EBOZ with a death rate of 88%, but the overall death rate from that strain is about 60% (and in the current outbreak, the death rate is about 55%). I think that the consensus in the medical community is that with optimal supportive care the death rate would be much lower. Which is why bringing infected Westerners back to their home countries for care is so important.

Note also that with proper isolation protocols, the chance of Ebola getting transmitted to the general population in the West is extremely small. In the third-world countries where Ebola is endemic, the tradition is for families to treat their sick at home and to bury their dead, practices which greatly increase the chances that people will come into contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola victims and get infected themselves.

 

[shira]

this outbreak the fatality rate has been about 60%

730/1323 = 55%.

 

[Victorian Gray]

^^not sure of that 50% figure. Everything I've seen is close to 90% fatality rate but that is being treated in a shithole place. So maybe it is 50% in good conditions.

In the latest outbreak figures being released show a death rate running at around 55%.

In past outbreaks the mortality rate has varied from roughly 50% to 90%

there's a good chart here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease#Prognosis

 

[Brovane]

I hope with the proper care that both patients can recover. I feel this is the right thing to do and the Hospital seems to be taking all the proper procedures to make sure the patients stay isolated.

On a practical note I feel that at some point Ebola is going to make its way to the US and in a uncontrolled fashion, somebody with the disease gets on a International flight and arrives. By bringing both of these patients over to the US they get the best supportive care possible to get there bodies the best chance to fight the infection. Also this gives some exposure to the US medical community about Ebola in a controlled situation. This also test out the isolation facilities and the procedures in the US. I am sure that everything is being documented and after everything is over will be studied and put into a paper to be distributed. I would rather these type of procedures get tested out in the US in a controlled situation and maybe discover any issues than in a situation where we have a outbreak in the US.