Ebola outbreak

[alphanguy74]

Well... might as well start talking about this, now that it's in Dallas. I wonder if we'll have any more cases?

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/dozens-screened-contact-ebola-patient-thomas-eric-duncan-n216521

[DramatistDreamer]

I read that Dallas Presbyterian initially sent him home, citing that he had nothing more serious than a low grade fever, even though he told them he'd just come from Liberia. Only days later when he was much sicker and had to be brought by ambulance did the hospital check for Ebola.

Very scary that a large hospital, the first line of defense for any outbreak, apparently does not bother to keep themselves informed.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

It's reminding me of The Stand.

A local hospital is getting ready just in case Ebola

comes to town.

.

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[Huntress]

In Frankfurt, Germany, a doctor from Uganda is currently being treated. He was part of an Italian aid organization in West Africa.

There's also another patient in an hospital in Hamburg who is reportedly "almost cured" from the disease. This man is also from West Africa.

I'm not scared easily, but I'm a little paranoid when it comes to diseases.

[marceline]

I'm not surprised. That's par for the course in ERs when you don't have health insurance. "Treat 'em and street 'em."

[DramatistDreamer]

I was reading that the man's apartment still hasn't been cleaned as they cannot find any cleaning crews willing to do it.

Apparently the workers earning minimum wage with no health benefits balk at the risk of cleaning up a hazardous environment...quelle surprise!

[marceline]

I have to say that as awful as all this is, it's shining a light on how that are just some things America's free market/private businesses can't handle. We see all the ways people put themselves at risk to earn a living and how we take all that for granted. But now we're dealing with something stronger than monetary need. The sad thing is that if this guy had flown someplace with universal health care he probably would've gotten better treatment and fewer people would've been put at risk.

[Juliajms]

I like to believe we can contain it, even though I can see a few more cases popping up. The man from Liberia originally lied about being around infected people, so I think the sort of fear that stops people from admitting they could have it, might lead to an outbreak here and there in the West. We are damn lucky it can't be transmitted until there are symptoms.

I wonder if the government is giving money and resources to that company that had a cure? We should have been doing that right from jump.

[marceline]

I believe they are. I remember hearing that further testing has been fast-tracked and resources allocated. I just hope we don't find out down the line that the pharmaceutical company ended up fleecing the government.

[Juliajms]

Right and I hope if it works, we hand it out like candy in Africa. As for the financial aspect of big pharma, I'm always torn on that. I think there is some truth in the idea that these companies aren't going to fund research and development, if it doesn't pay off. Still, we can't let them hold the world hostage when the stakes are so high. There has to be some reasonable and fair compromise.

[Sundance]

Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen is in a Dallas, Texas hospital being treated with Ebola. He has already exposed over 100 people. How did he ever get into out country? It's like anything goes now. And is he paying for his care?

This Liberian in a Dallas hospital claims he carried a pregnant woman with the disease in Africa to a hospital which turned her away because it was full. So, he carried her back home where she died. Therefore, knows full well that he was exposed to this deadly disease and could have had the it before he got on a plane and entered our country. It's possible that he came here for the better treatment.

Who is going to pay for all the medical care for the people he exposed the disease to? Who is going to pay for all the security to keep the people home he exposed the disease to?

The guy KNEW he was exposed to ebola, but chose to come here anyway!

Thousands of Americans visit abroad and should be banned from entering our country if they were visiting an area where Ebola is running rampant until there is proof that they don't have the disease. We can't be so overly nice to these possibly-infected people at the same time exposing multiple innocent other people.

[DramatistDreamer]

Hopefully this man can recover, I pray that he does. In the event he does recover, I think he should face charges as he lied when asked at the airport whether he had been exposed within the last 21 days. At the time, his temperature was normal, so all they had was his word. In reality, that's all that anyone truly has in these cases.

I know this will not be what many want to hear but in a vast, globally connected country like the U.S. which is connected to other countries, North and South, I honestly don't believe a travel ban would prove effective. There will be ways around it. The U.S. can't even conquer cyber security, so I don't foresee a travel ban providing anything but a pacifier effect.

If the U.S. were an island or a small country, I could see a travel ban working.

As much as people won't like to hear this because it is a complicated, time and labor intensive strategy, the only true answer is to contain Ebola where it lives and breathes...in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Nigeria stamped out whatever Ebola outbreak it had so Africa is not incapable of containing the disease, even in a country that has problems with corruption and political strife. Nigeria does have better infrastructure and a better performing economy but at the very least, none of these countries are as big and expansive as Nigeria. The U.S. has stepped up its efforts to help set up infrastructure in Liberia and I've heard that Great Britain and France are performing similar efforts in the other countries. Nigeria, I understand is lending expertise and Ghana has been structuring a Command Center.

The countries with outbreaks which have high poverty rates and lots of political squabbling need to be obliged to improve their efforts or risk an end to financial and logistical support. Delivery of supplies and humanitarian aid have been delayed (with deadly, disastrous consequences), particularly in Sierra Leone because of political infighting. This strikes me has the height of hubris!

I understand the fear but we have to be pragmatic and realistic and not operate based on reactionary impulses. Institute a travel ban in a multicultural, multiethnic, globally connected, large country like the U.S. and watch people find a way around it (by the way, Duncan flew in from Belgium).

[Juliajms]

This is absolutely the answer and the only ethical thing to do imo. We should have thrown the resources of the entire developed world into stopping this disease in it's tracks from the beginning. Then it would have been less likely to be on our doorstep now.

Cost is about the last thing I'm worried about. A disease like this is every bit as dangerous as ISIS. If we have the money to fight them on foreign soil, we've got the money to stop this epidemic in Africa, before it really breaks out in the west. People who are afraid for their lives will lie. I can't really blame the guy for that because I think it's what many people would do in the same situation.

I can however, blame the hospital who sent him home, after he came in presenting symptoms. That was sloppy and we need to do better as a society. Look at how many people in health care have been infected. These people are supposed to be the experts. It makes me think this is going to be harder to control then some media outlets would have us believe.

[Huntress]

The disease has reached Europe: A nurse who works in a hospital in Madrid, Spain, has been diagnosed with Ebola.

She had been taking care of a patient from Liberia.

[DramatistDreamer]

He had been in Liberia but he was not from Liberia. The patient was a priest/missionary and Spanish citizen who, after being diagnosed with Ebola was flown back to Spain and subsequently died a few weeks ago.

Authorities and medical researchers are still trying to trace the nurse's movements during and after the priest's care (apparently she went on vacation after he died) but one medical researcher speculated that some breach in care protocol may be the connection to her infection (e.g. cross contamination while removing protective gear which requires assistance and precision and care).

I wonder if people are aware that this latest incarnation of Ebola (which has been around in the public consciousness since the 80s/90s) has been spreading for almost a year now. This didn't just happen in a vacuum or spread like wildfire-- it has been happening FOR MONTHS!

While the U.S. and half the Western world has been handwringing over ISIL/ISIS, as if they will be on all of our doorsteps tomorrow, ebola and the enterovirus has been consistently killing people for quite some time now, with little notice until recently.