Ebola in the USA... Anyone Concerned?

[AlterJoule]

If I didn't have my son, I wouldn't worry a bit. He just turned 1 two days ago and so it's my job to protect him from everything. But if you're a parent you know that often times your worries are exaggerated and irrational.

More than Ebola, I worry that I'll fall back into laziness and never provide the ones I love the life they deserve. Laziness, that's a far scarier disease...

 

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[DeletedUser394]

So he was willing to risk killing the entire world, in order to live.

Even if everyone on earth had ebola... the world would not end as there would still be a few billion survivors. lolz

 

[Guest3722A]

DC now has someone with symptoms... Interesting wag.

 

[Unknown]

This is all just a build up for some large Pharma company to release their Ebola vaccine. I give it two weeks max before you can line up and protect yourself from Ebola for just $5,000!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Just so we're clear...

I don't fear Ebola. I fear the government's management of Ebola.

 

[loop101]

Even if everyone on earth had ebola... the world would not end as there would still be a few billion survivors. lolz

What normally happens after a pandemic, is that about 50% of the surviving population is found to be genetically immune to the disease. However, the surviving population might be quite small.

Australia has twice engineered viruses to kill rabbits (24 were released in 1860), some of the first attempts to use viruses to eradicate mammals.

"..those 24 rabbits multiplied into millions. By the 1920s, less than 70-years since its introduction, the rabbit population in Australia ballooned to an estimated 10 billion.."

http://geography.about.com/od/australiamaps/a/Feral-Rabbits-In-Australia.htm

Supposedly South African doctors were working on a virus to kill Africans, which could have easily mutated in to something less discriminating.

"As head of the military's chemical and biological warfare division, he is accused of creating viruses that would only attack black people. The Health Professions Council (HPC) has ruled that he does have a case to answer."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16756908

 

[throttleforward]

I think another thing this will expose, and @Iwokeup will back this up, is there is almost no surge capacity in our medical system for anything outside of the norm, especially in our emergency rooms and intensive care wards.

As an example, when I worked in EMS in Richmond, a capital city with 11 hospitals in the area, it would not be unusual to have only a handful of available hospital beds in the entire city, especially during the winter.

Just one patient with ebola in a typical American city will severely tax that city's specialized ability to handle these kinds of pathogens. More than one is almost out of the question except at the largest hospitals, without starting to take risk (e.g. taking a patient with another pathogen out of a negative pressure room to make space for a new suspected ebola patient).

So while ebola will likely never reach more than a handful, maybe a dozen cases until the end of the African pandemic, the medical system will severely tested.

 

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[Writer]

Here's a photo of the crew cleaning up the Ebola vomit outside the Dallas apartment, captured by a newscrew.

Don't think using a pressure washer is a good idea.

Hazmat suits? Naww....

These guys got everything under control.

We have nothing to worry about.

Don't worry, the hazmat team is even taking selfies:

 

[Iwokeup]

I think another thing this will expose, and @Iwokeup will back this up, is there is almost no surge capacity in our medical system for anything outside of the norm, especially in our emergency rooms and intensive care wards.

As an example, when I worked in EMS in Richmond, a capital city with 11 hospitals in the area, it would not be unusual to have only a handful of available hospital beds in the entire city, especially during the winter.

Agreed.

Just one patient with ebola in a typical American city will severely tax that city's specialized ability to handle these kinds of pathogens. More than one is almost out of the question except at the largest hospitals, without starting to take risk (e.g. taking a patient with another pathogen out of a negative pressure room to make space for a new suspected ebola patient).

So while ebola will likely never reach more than a handful, maybe a dozen cases until the end of the African pandemic, the medical system will severely tested.

Agreed again. Especially as the Corporate Overlords that run most ERs have long deferred needed personnel and infrastructure improvements needed to handle out of the ordinary.

 

[Bananas]

Mismanagement of quarantined family of Patient Zero:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...la-quarantine-24-hours-sneezing-coughing.html

Here are some quotes from this article:

Today MailOnline returned to the family's small apartment to find a family without answers, without power following violent electrical storms that brought down lines and running low on food, water and diapers for their youngest child.

Most troubling of all some family members are beginning to show cold-like symptoms.

Ms Jallah repeatedly wiped her eyes - which appeared sticky

The family has also had no instruction about how to dispose of the waste already accumulating in their small second floor apartment. The waste, which may be contaminated, includes soiled diapers.

My concern over the way this situation is being handled rises each time I read something new. The CDC has now come out with a statement that the border "can't" be closed. Other countries have closed their border to infected countries but according to the CDC Chief "restricting travel between the US and West Africa would likely backfire and put Americans more at risk of contracting Ebola."

I'd love to know how that works exactly.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/ebola-us-border-111581.html

 

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[Writer]

One of the things that can be learned about this story is how much US hospitals need process improvements.
When I moved to the US and went to the hospital/doctor/dentist for the first time I could NOT believe how many forms I had to fill out, often with redundant information. By the last form I had cramps in my hand, and wrote down my name and address at least twentyfive times. I was shocked, being used to just say :"This is my name, I don't feel well".

Too many forms (i.e. too much information, AND worse, redundant information) will make any decision making more difficult, and will drown whatever information is necessary. In US hospitals everything is rendered even more complex by the amount of people the patient has to talk to before finally talking to a doctor (which stays in the room three to four minutes if your lucky, and reads God-knows which form for about 35 seconds before asking the same things that the patient told to the nurses).

 

[masaldana2]

I think that the government will say that it's under control to avoid panic.
That's how it is with nuclear accidents.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Normalcy Bias: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
A mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption ...is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur.

See, IMO, the problem is that common sense has become so incredibly uncommon, especially among government bureaucrats. There are relatively simple steps they could take to reduce the odds of this thing spreading, and yet, they refuse to do so. The guy in Dallas lied to get here. Now, he's getting world-class treatment. It's naive to think that others won't notice this and try to do the same. (Hello? Common sense.)

The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 killed up to 100 million people, 3-5% of the world's population. Yes, our medical system has greatly improved since then, but so has our mobility. Now, diseases that would have to spread by ship over weeks can spread in hours, thanks to air travel. And what about mass transit? Population density? As I've said before, it's not that I believe Ebola is comin' to git me. But I do believe that common-sense precautions will not be taken in time to stop this from spreading here in the U.S.

Of course, it's important to not over-react too. I'm not wearing a hazmat suit to the grocery store, but I'm also not sitting back thinking our gooberment has this thing under control, no matter how many press conferences say otherwise.

 

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[brandonrush]

Well this is reassuring....

National Nurse Survey Shows Hospitals Still Not Prepared for U.S. Ebola Patients
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org...ws-hospitals-still-not-prepared-for-us-ebola/

 

[daivey]

wow holy shit, i retract my statement.

Here's a photo of the crew cleaning up the Ebola vomit outside the Dallas apartment, captured by a newscrew.

Don't think using a pressure washer is a good idea.

Hazmat suits? Naww....

These guys got everything under control.

We have nothing to worry about.

 

[HumbleBeginnings]

Just watched a great eye opening multi-part documentary from vice on youtube. It was a follow up video after they made one a couple years ago. All I can say is bush meat looks nasty.

 

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[HumbleBeginnings]

I wonder if he was trying to make a statement.

A call to action maybe?

 

[Land Baron]

http://heavy.com/health/2014/10/thomas-eric-duncan-ebola-patient-texas-mai-wureh/



IMO, this is the threat beneath the threat. If the virus was truly becoming an issue of concern, do you trust the government or any politician to provide accurate and truthful intel? Sure they will, about 24 hours after they retreat to their underground bunkers.

Exactly ! Your cynicism is commendable

 

[AllenCrawley]

A friend of mine that is a remote site medic and spends a lot of time in Africa shared this site with me to stay up to date:

http://www.internationalsos.com/ebola

 

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[Testament]

This guy might know a thing or two about Ebola: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning...but-not-a-cause-for-panic-says-its-discoverer

So one of the discoverers of Ebola came out to say that there's no cause for panic, and he would sit next to someone with Ebola on a train? That goes a long way to quell my fears. Thanks for posting that.

 

[Lauryn]

I live in Dallas and I am not concerned- With the right precautions Ebola can easily be contained and with the Western medicine and medical practices I don't think it will be a severe problem here. Just like with anything, I think it is important to be aware of the problem, wash your hands, keep an eye out for symptoms but other than that I am just going to go about my day to day life like normal.

What she said.

 

[Writer]

Ebola patient in Dallas died this morning.

 

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[twdavis]

Ebola patient in Dallas died this morning.

Just saw this as a breaking news report on NBC.

Kinda concerning but hopefully they can take the blood of the first patient brought back and make something of it.

 

[Writer]

Second person with Ebola in Dallas/Fort Worth area has been quarantined.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/br...-in-observation-within-hours-of-duncan-death/

 

[Jakeeck]

Second person with Ebola in Dallas/Fort Worth area has been quarantined.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/br...-in-observation-within-hours-of-duncan-death/

What a crappy article with a very misleading title. It's not even confirmed that he has it.

Not to say there isn't a good chance that he has it, however.

 

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[Guest3722A]

Something I want to add here as it doesn't necessarily relate to ebola, but it does relate to post 9/11 and some of the issues that need to be better controlled. Also, I don't really care if anyone believes me but I'm putting this out there because I care.
Anyway, after 9/11 I had started a decent business and I hit the point to where I was looking for a larger building, and one of the building I went to look at was this filthy disgusting pos, that basically needed a good cleaning. BUT in the building at the time, perhaps on a month to month was a group of non-english speaking people who were in there bottleing an off-brand of juice. Now obviously there's no way that they would've passed code to be able to use this facility to work with any type of food product, and I knew they didn't speak english because I tried communicating and they didn't understand a word. Anyway, maybe about a month later I saw their juice bottles being sold in the gas station that was at the end of the block......

Now, fwiw, who knows??? However, I believe that this is something that should be of concern and thought about. That's all I want to say here. And again, I only say this because I care.

 

[eqttrdr]

not suggesting anything here but I seriously dont understand why --

Why does the CDC own a patent on Ebola 'invention?'

http://www.naturalnews.com/046290_Ebola_patent_vaccines_profit_motive.html#ixzz3FhM3q735

 

[loop101]

A guy on airline flight sneezed, then joked about either being from Africa, or having Ebola, so this was the response (from Reddit):

 

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[CashFlowDepot]

It is amazing to me that the US has not stopped travelers from the infected region. Where I live, if any of the last TEN stamps on your passport where from West Africa, you cannot enter the country.

I would be very concerned if I lived in the USA or travelled to the USA or any country which has not put restrictions on travel from West Africa.

I would not consider it "systems in place" when a patient walks in to a hospital, tells the doctor they are sick and have been in West Africa, then the doctor sends them home.

Don't trust anything you hear on TV or from theUS goverment or read in the newspapers.

If more cases are reported, there will be panic and riots everywhere. What's your plan if/when that happens?

 

[Guest3722A]

Agree. I'm interested to now see if this thing gains traction, and if so, then how well it executes CENTS. Literally