Posted on 10/31/2014 4:49:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I have a joke about Ebola, but you probably won’t get it.
Seriously though, everyone and their dog is freaking out about Ebola reaching the U.S.
I get it. I really truly do. Any deadly disease is scary, but Ebola is super-duper scary. Anything that causes 70 percent of people who catch it to die counts as super-duper scary in my book.
Thing is, you won’t catch it. I won’t catch it. According to NPR, Ebola isn’t contagious until after symptoms are present. On top of that, it is only spread through bodily fluids like blood, vomit and other things that your average person off the American street avoids touching. In a place where healthcare is pretty on top of things (relatively speaking) and the water is clean, it’s a pretty easy virus to contain. The easiest way to avoid Ebola here in the US is just to wash your hands.
I am not trying to minimize the thousands of deaths this virus has caused in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. However, the ease of catching Ebola is much higher when in areas where the general population does not have access to clean water or decent health care. It is a story I’m sure you already know. The true outbreak is occurring in countries where poverty is high and the resources and the money to enact good infection control are hard to find.
But back to my original point — here in America, there is no reason to panic. And yet every time you turn on a television, another news caster is spreading fear about Ebola on American soil.
Why? Ratings.
Nothing gives a TV show more views than a good old fashioned panic. On top of that, it gives the media an allowance to avoid the actually scary stuff.
Some of you may see where I’m going with this already. Why aren’t we hearing more about the fact that previously-eradicated diseases like measles are on the rise again? Speaking of measles specifically, it is at a 20 year high in the US, according to the CDC. Why? Because people aren’t vaccinating.
The same goes for other illnesses like influenza. According to the CDC, the flu claimed up to 49,000 lives in America during the 2006-2007 flu season alone. Another source estimates 36,000 people in America will die from the flu or complications from the flu each flu season. And yet we don’t hear the media freaking out about that. In a way, it’s even more terrifying when the answer to avoiding the flu is as simple as a yearly vaccine.
Granted, there is no vaccine for Ebola, but Ebola isn’t spread through the air like these other illnesses. We’re avoiding the big topics.
I think it all boils down to how much we, as consumers of media, want to be scared. Like I said, a panic creates ratings. It’s the same reason scary movies are popular. It’s the same reason I’m going to a haunted corn maze in a couple days and paying to get scared out of my pants. We like controlled fear.
If we treated the new outbreak of measles and the yearly outbreaks of influenza the same way we’re treating the American Ebola “crisis,” we’d cross the line from controlled panic to actual, real-life terror. Not only are they far more likely to kill us, they are around because of our own stupidity. Vaccines do not cause autism, but the incorrect belief that they do has brought back measles. Each year, we see a new vaccine to help with the flu, but people don’t get it because “it’s just the flu.” We skip out on washing our hands, forget to cover our mouths when we sneeze and don’t stay home from school or work when we’re sick. It’s our own fault. It’s our Frankenstein’s Monster in a way – the fact that we created the problem makes it all the more terrifying.
We can hear about Ebola and panic safely. We know that we’re probably not going to catch it. But the flu? That’s much more likely. For us Americans, Ebola is the horror movie we go see with our friends; the flu is the serial killer waiting for us in our apartment.
The authoress
Kjerstine Trooien is currently reading:
"Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation" by Derald Wing Sue
If ya ever git a bowl’a chips in a restaurant, yer a goner...
False logic. You may AVOID touching it, but you may nevertheless touch it. If you are to the point of thinking you'd better wash your hands, you're probably too late.
"I never lie, and I'm always right" - George Leroy Tirebiter
We already have enough diseases in this country and the author mentions just a few.
I am against importing all contagious or infectious diseases which includes Ebola, the ones she mentioned and others like EV-D68.
I do wish that the EV-D68 and other anti biotic resistant diseases walking across the border were getting as much attention as Ebola.
How Is the Flu Virus Spread?
The flu is a highly contagious disease. The flu virus is spread when you either inhale infected droplets in the air (spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes) or when you come in direct contact with an infected person's secretions (by kissing, touching, sharing objects such as spoons and forks). You can also transfer the flu virus to your hands by touching smooth surfaces such as doorknobs, handles, television remotes, computer keyboards, and telephones. Then when you touch your hands to your nose, eyes, or mouth, the flu virus gets absorbed.
Why Do People Usually Get the Flu in Winter?
Flu outbreaks occur more frequently in the winter months. Many factors may play a role in the flu's seasonal pattern including. Here's why:
The flu virus survives for longer periods indoors in winter because the relative humidity of indoor air is very low in comparison to the outside air.
The flu virus may stay suspended in the air for prolonged periods and thus infect others by being inhaled. The flu virus droplets can also infect by landing on sensitive body areas such as the eyes, nose, or mouth.
In winter, humans tend to be indoors more and thus have closer contact with each other, which makes it easier for the flu virus to spread.
How Long Am I Contagious After I Get the Flu?
You are contagious for up to seven days after the onset of the flu, although the flu virus can be detected in secretions up to 24 hours before the onset of symptoms. This means you might transmit the flu virus a full day before your flu symptoms begin.
Well, there's a known bedrock of basic, fundamental, solid "Science". Political Science.
When you come to my house with your pitchforks to take me to your H1N1/SARS/AIDS/Ebola detention camps I have something waiting for you.
The CDC has "admitted" no such thing. The CDC says what the scientists and physicians who are familiar with Ebola have always said: Ebola is spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids. Direct contact includes droplets.
You can't link to a page about transmission of flu and tell people that is how Ebola spreads. If Ebola spread as easily as influenza, it would be raging through every country in the world by now. It isn't. It just doesn't spread very easily.
I do think the author of this blog has a point. It's a fun sort of scary to watch something going on that has absolutely no chance of affecting you personally. But the things that really kill--no one is paying any attention to them.
Where do you see “conservatives” “begging” this administration to imprison anyone? A nurse returned from an Ebola infested country, where she was supposedly working with Ebola patients and her roommate in Africa came down with the disease. Using an abundance of caution, several STATES have tried, without success, to quarantine her to protect their citizens. Where do you see the media or Mr. Obama in that picture?
Think of it as a 3 week vacation.
Told ya.
The real issue is, we should have never allowed Ebola to even enter the US in the 1st place, if this admin was on the ball and doing it's job. They refuse to even use the tiniest of common sense on this issue, because its all about the optics and politics for them. Ebola may be hard to transmit but the mortality rate is about 70%, so why even take the chance? And now that its here, some people want to argue on the false premise that its hard to catch. That ain't the point.
Kindly cite where I’ve stated anything else?
Nice to see they’re admitting fomite transmission even if it’s only ‘needles’. Still see they’ve got the ‘It’s just like HIV’ meme going strong.
Who wants anyone imprisoned? People want her to show concern for Ebola and self quarantine herself. The doctor in NYC showed utter disregard for NYers, the nurse is doing the same. The arrogance of her actions and statements is astounding. People are angry at her and for good reason.
“According to NPR”
.... Which is my bible ....
Almost 300 African doctors have died of this most recent outbreak.
logic dictates you must have symptoms before you can notice symptoms..
So therefore you would be contagious before you had noticed and validated your symptoms to know you had a problem
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