Posted on 08/10/2014 12:46:23 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe
I have spent a little time compiling links to threads about the Ebola outbreak in the interest of having all the links in one thread for future reference.
Please add links to new threads and articles of interest as the situation develops.
Thank You all for you participation.
Reality bites.
Especially with the implications of the latest World Health Organization (WHO) announcement for the spread of Ebola fomites making dense urban living into...urban dying
See —
“Ebola virus spread by taxi passengers, says WHO
STEPHANIE NEBEHAY Monday 08 September 2014
REUTERS
The Ebola virus is spreading exponentially in Liberia, the World Health Organisation warned today.
The organisation said that motorbike-taxis and regular taxis are “a hot source of potential virus transmission” because they are not disinfected in Liberia, where conventional Ebola control measures “are not having an adequate impact.””
If high otside air-flow motor-bike taxies can be slimed with persistent, high lethality & infectious, Ebola slime. Then so can planes, buses, supermarkets or any other inanimate object or place a lot of people use.
Uber’s business model is _dead right there_ in the event of an Ebola outbreak in the USA.
Airlines have a cleaning infrastructure and a cleaning work force. They can train them up to use PPE and bleach everything in the plane.
Mass transit and most taxi services...doesn’t, and can’t.
Even if WHO and the international community contains Ebola in West Africa, consider what this does to NY City mass transit and taxi service in the event of an ISIS terrorist Ebola sliming there.
I have been stressing the danger of fomites in an urban environment for a long time now. I am glad someone is taking notice.
Sad fact is, we wouldn’t know if ISIS had done an ebola sliming on public transportation in NYC until several weeks later when the first primary cases started showing up to the ER’s.
And a lot of those cases wouldn’t be NYC residents. They’d be in the burbs, Boston, DC, and flyover country. Lots of tourists take the subway to save money. And hop a cab when they’re in a hurry.
"UPDATE 1-Ebola spread is exponential in Liberia, thousands of cases expected soon - WHO"
“WHO doctor contracts Ebola virus”
This one was working in an Ebola Treatment Center in Sierra Leone. He will be evacuated soon.
Even without diabolical intent, the problem could be massive.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/CDC-Potential-Ebola-Case-at-Miami-Hospital-274343711.html
“CDC Retesting Potential Ebola Case at Miami Hospital”
A patient who showed some Ebola symptoms was being retested at a Miami-area hospital after initial tests came back negative, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.
**Patient was initially tested last week. Uh oh**
Even if ISIS were not the source of the infection, they'd claim they were.
I wonder whether Ebola would spread quickly in a healthy, well-nourished population -- like we once had here. And still do, in many locations. NYC, not so much. But here in the hinterlands, I feel safe.
http://www.thehealthsite.com/news/ebola-in-india-over-1000-indians-being-tracked-for-ebola/
“Ebola in India: Over 1,000 Indians being tracked for Ebola”
[snip]
A total of 1,011 Indians, who have returned from Ebola-affected areas, are being tracked for the virus, the heath ministry Sunday said. Most of those being tracked are from the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, an official release said here.
During the past 24 hours, 201 passengers from the affected countries have arrived at the airports of Mumbai (88), Delhi (58), Chennai (24), Bangalore (15), Kochi (11), Thiruvananthapuram (4) and Kolkata (1). The health ministry said that while no passenger has been isolated at the quarantine facility Sunday, 16,531 passengers have been screened till date.
The Nigerian medicos were healthy and well fed. Didn’t stop them from being infected.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/08/us-health-ebola-pentagon-idUSKBN0H31Z420140908
Article says the Pentagon is sending a 25-bed hospital to Liberia at a cost of $22 million.
Ooohkaaay.
I’ve been hollering about fomites since this outbreak became a serious issue IMO but no one wants to hear it. The dishonestly of the WHO/CDC/etc is beyond despicable.
Bleach and a small sprayer for decontamination might be a good idea, too.
I'm not sure if it is dishonesty or normalcy bias. Either way, in previous outbreaks it has been fairly easy to attribute the known cases to eating bushmeat, direct contamination from corpses or the infected or direct contact in a clinical setting. This outbreak is large enough and widespread enough that the cases where those attributions just do not work will become evident.
The looters who died as a reward for their actions--stealing contaminated linens, etc.--should have been the eye-opener.
Yep.
There are MANY, MANY stories about Ebola patients being turned away from Ebola care centers because the centers are simply too full to take any more people. When these people are turned away they remain in the community and continue to infect people.
To point out what should be obvious:
The medical system has already been overwhelmed. Whatever impact medical care may have previously had in slowing down the spread of Ebola is now becoming increasingly irrelevant. We will soon see how fast it can spread without medical care to slow it down.
In other words, the exponential increase we are already seeing is likely to accelerate even further.
Any response with any hope of stopping this monster will need to consider how long the response will take to implement, and how big the problem will have become during that time (huge).
I don’t see any indication that a response large enough to make any difference in what is now certain to be a huge outbreak will happen.
Obama’s recent comments, in particular, are too little too late even if he actually does something (which is doubtful).
If this is not stopped in west Africa it will spread. It will be in the slums of Lagos within months at the latest. Eventually it will be in the slums of Cairo, Mumbai, and Mexico City. You can bet it will not stop there.
So...
Don’t know if this has been linked.
US Air Marshall quarantined after attack with syringe in Nigeria.
http://abc13.com/news/us-air-marshal-in-quarantine-after-syringe-attack-in-nigeria/300003/
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