ebola

i am not buying the media's take on ebola not being highly contagious.
here is why.
1. anytime you see a patient with ebola, every one else is covered in what looks like head to toe protection. if it is not contagious, why the isolation suit?
2. experimental evidence - if you take ebola infected pigs, put them in cages in the same room with uninfected simians in different cages, the simians come down with ebola.
see this
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20341423
3. the media seems to get these things wrong a lot. there is an enormous difference between saying there is no proof of ebola airborne transmission between humans and saying it cannot happen.
to prove it cannot happen we would have to put humans with active ebola in a room with uninfected humans without masks and see what happens. no doctor would do that - it is unethical.
as far as i can tell, ebola is very very contagious. if i got on a plane for a 3 hour flight, and someone was sneezing and coughing, i would get off the plane. the air recirculates. it is not worth it.
same for buses, movie theaters, restaurants, supermarkets. can't wait for flu season. will be real interesting.

I heard you can spread it by sitting on the back of sports cars with your legs wide open.

Media hype is always 1/2 BS.

Interesting link that was sent to me:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZaC-RcfhMTA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

gleibig said:

i heard you can spread it by sitting on the back of sports cars with your legs wide open.

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hahahahaha!!!!!!!!! Rotfl

Why do all these epidemics start from Africa?

gleibig said:

I heard you can spread it by sitting on the back of sports cars with your legs wide open.

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Moisted said:

Why do all these epidemics start from Africa?

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HUH? you hear of the bird flu? SARS? Swine Flu? That's not Africa.

Scientifically disease starts from where there is a concentration of people and animals. Viruses mutate and jump from species to species.

willabeest said:

to prove it cannot happen we would have to put humans with active ebola in a room with uninfected humans without masks and see what happens. no doctor would do that - it is unethical.

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I'll be the uninfected guinea pig for the right price. God knows I could use the money right now!

willabeest said:

i am not buying the media's take on ebola not being highly contagious.

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Media in other parts of the world (at least Europe and India) do indeed present it as highly contagious... It spreads like wild fire in Africa regions where it appears. Something's up with the media in US
As for the full cover suits that's standard CDC fare i guess.

Zoom said:

Media in other parts of the world (at least Europe and India) do indeed present it as highly contagious... It spreads like wild fire in Africa regions where it appears. Something's up with the media in US
As for the full cover suits that's standard CDC fare i guess.

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do you have a link to non USA media?

I am on business travel so i just watched the TV here and news mention that containing the contagion would cost a hefty sum of money, which is clealry not available in places where it's spreading. Otherwise for previous outbreaks of Ebola i remember seeing news feeds from Euronews and such, and the name of the virus was prefixed with "very contagious" usually.. It transmits upon contact, so any object that came in contact with a patient becomes potentially contagious. So it's not as catastrophic as airborne stuff but still, can be very difficult to contain.. As per the CDC themselves mention:

Exposure to Ebola can occur in healthcare settings where hospital staff are not wearing appropriate protective equipment, including masks, gowns, and gloves and eye protection.

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They also mention animals as a vector, such as bats.. i guess mosquitoes are in too ?

Zoom said:

I am on business travel so i just watched the TV here and news mention that containing the contagion would cost a hefty sum of money, which is clealry not available in places where it's spreading. Otherwise for previous outbreaks of Ebola i remember seeing news feeds from Euronews and such, and the name of the virus was prefixed with "very contagious" usually.. It transmits upon contact, so any object that came in contact with a patient becomes potentially contagious. So it's not as catastrophic as airborne stuff but still, can be very difficult to contain.. As per the CDC themselves mention:

They also mention animals as a vector, such as bats.. i guess mosquitoes are in too ?

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i found this. 50 days survival on a fomite if dried tissue culture?
URVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C) Footnote 52 Footnote 61. One study could not recover any Ebolavirus from experimentally contaminated surfaces (plastic, metal or glass) at room temperature Footnote 61. In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) Footnote 53. When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days Footnote 61. This information is based on experimental findings only and not based on observations in nature. This information is intended to be used to support local risk assessments in a laboratory setting.

A study on transmission of ebolavirus from fomites in an isolation ward concludes that the risk of transmission is low when recommended infection control guidelines for viral hemorrhagic fevers are followed Footnote 64. Infection control protocols included decontamination of floors with 0.5% bleach daily and decontamination of visibly contaminated surfaces with 0.05% bleach as necessary.

It's coming with our boarders in shambles and no restriction of travel to effected countries its just a matter of time before it spreads in the states. On the other side I don't think its as bad as they make it seem. Threw proper precautions infection can be avoided and even if you do get infected it's not going to kill you. (They kept that old lady alive and she was like 100.)

Media is making news, not reporting it. News its nothing but propaganda and has been for a while. They know what to say, when to say it to get you to conform to there ideas. Social media has given them ridiculous amounts of information on how to manipulate large groups of people.

That's the key, "proper precautions", cleaning up everything that has been in contact with patients, and avoiding animal vectors. Not so easy in some african countries And even think of it, in that airplane, who was in that seat before you, dont think they clean that as per CDC recommendations...

Well the surgeon general said he thought perhaps a million infections before it dies down... And probably many more in the US than what we've seen so far but to put things in perspective, 3/4 of a million people die in the US from heart disease and it's related illnesses. Per year. Of course if the virus mutates you have a whole other problem.

It's contagious, sure, but not nearly as contagious as a bunch of other diseases: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola

It's the exoticism that makes it scary I guess. There are lots of diseases that're worse.

FF Drifter said:

It's contagious, sure, but not nearly as contagious as a bunch of other diseases: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola

It's the exoticism that makes it scary I guess. There are lots of diseases that're worse.

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thanks, I like this factual information, vs the Drama from FOX or CNN.
FOX and CNN are simply video tabloids. When they report on topics that I am aware of, facts and accuracy take a back seat to hype.

Yeah regular flu kills a lot more, and spreads a lot faster since it's airborne. Still, care is needed since that virus is still quite unpleasant.

interesting ...well one positive is it gets lots of folks thinking like an epidemiologist and microbiologist....now all you car guys are learning about viruses, prions, and daves favorite zoonosis. hey you guys learned what a fomite is.......use that in your next conversation.

DRIFTER said:

It's coming with our boarders in shambles and no restriction of travel to effected countries its just a matter of time before it spreads in the states. On the other side I don't think its as bad as they make it seem. Threw proper precautions infection can be avoided and even if you do get infected it's not going to kill you. (They kept that old lady alive and she was like 100.)

Media is making news, not reporting it. News its nothing but propaganda and has been for a while. They know what to say, when to say it to get you to conform to there ideas. Social media has given them ridiculous amounts of information on how to manipulate large groups of people.

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Travel is restricted from those countries. How about you get all the facts. Dude flew from Brussels and it was not a connecting flight. As long as people can travel to other airports in the world and then wait a couple of days, they can next travel anywhere.

Ebola stocks have been climbing lately and seem to be accelerating. You can search yahoo finance yourself for ideas.

Now the Patient in Dallas is Critical. Since it takes the Virus up to 21 days for patients to show symptoms, we will know a lot more about its spread by the Elend of October.

The Virus survives longer on colder surfaces so it may get worse in The Fall.

Lessening the dangers of Ebola by comparing it to other diseases (e.g. Influenza, etc) is fallacious because influenza has already spread worldwide. Ebola is still relatively contained to a few regions (although it has been spread around the world recently).

If you wanted to make a valid comparison, you would have to compare a fully spread Ebola to a fully spread Influenza.

Even then the comparison is not a valid one (if you are using it to lesson the dangers of Ebola) since Influenza is deadly more for the old and the weak, or the very young and the weak. Healthy adults are far less likely to die from Influenza than from Ebola given similar conditions. I.E., while statistically, far more people are likely to die from influenza, the reasons are (1) because it has spread world wide; and (2) those deaths are far more likely to occur in those in a pre-weakened state.

So please stop spreading the nonsense that "Well, millions more die from influenza per year, so Ebola is not a large concern," reasoning.

20 or so days to incubate is incredibly long meaning it keeps it's host alive so much longer to spread before killing it. Killing your host quickly is certainly not good for the disease and Ebola does not do it.

Turbo2Go,

You are indeed correct. A pathogen that has a high fatality rate will ultimately "burn itself out" quickly. Keeping the host alive for a period of time is ideal for a pathogen to spread.
I'm afraid what we will find out is that ultimately the Ebola virus is far more contagious than people originally thought. See in Africa, the current treatment is basically observation, isolation and supportive care (fluids, nutrition, etc). In the US, the first infected patient was placed on dialysis, the ventilator and had central lines placed. These are not typically what patients in Africa receive. These treatment methodologies and equipment may actually help spread the pathogen in a manner that many had not suspected.
Personally, I would not be surprised if we see more cases pop up in the US. As others mentioned above, when the flu season rolls around, the hospitals & clinics will have a tough time differentiating the two in the acute setting.

Yeah the flu is around the corner. Will make a mess of things when people panic and think they have contracted ebola...
@KSXNSX: one major difference though is the flu is airborne, which is a very quick means of propagation. Ebola only propagates on contact. When they assess the lethality of a virus the vector of propagation is taken into account - airborne contaminants are likely impossible to contain, whereas contact only means proper measures can contain them. Even if, taken individually, ebola has got a very high fatality rate, overall it will take less lives than the flu.