1. Ebola has high morbidity in Africa because of the abysmally poor quality of their healthcare systems.
2. People who die of Ebola in Africa typically succumb to a heart attack, caused by electrolyte imbalances due to the horrific diarrhea that is part of the progression of the illness. The dehydration and electrolytic imbalance leads to irregular heart rhythms and cardiac arrest.
3. Because we have very good care infrastructure by comparison, we have been able to get the few cases into treatment quickly and do things like hydrate and maintain electrolytic levels. So, thus far the morbidity has been much lower in patients in the US. Well, except for the guy in Dallas.
4. We have devoted tremendous resources to the few cases that have been here in the US, and to those who contracted the disease in Africa and were brought to the US for treatment. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps millions per patient.
5. All this works in the US if the numbers are low. Even our healthcare system would be taxed if the numbers were in the 100’s or if a large number of cases occurred simultaneously in say, 40 cities across the US.
So, I'm wondering if the folks in Washington are thinking that with our porous borders, an inexpensive way to create terror and perhaps even economic chaos, would be to extract the virus from one of the victims in Africa, either dead or alive, and then infect radical terrorist carriers who then deploy to say 100 different cities in the US and proceed to figuratively “hug everyone they can” as they begin to be symptomatic and thus contagious.
Pretty nasty idea, but then again, so was 9/11. Anyone have confidence that such a scenario has been anticipated by DHS and CDC?
I must have meant mortality instead of morbidity. Ooops!
When physicians at the Nebraska Medical Center got their first Ebola case in September, they knew they'd rely heavily on sophisticated blood-test machines to monitor the man's condition. They didn't expect the virus might leave the machines incapacitated for longer than the patient.
Several leading manufacturers of high-tech diagnostic devices have alerted hospital laboratories that they will restrict service, support and warranties for equipment used to test blood and organ functions for Ebola patients. Fearing infections, some decline to have their technicians perform tuning and maintenance the expensive devices often require. Others advise labs to quarantine the equipment after use on Ebola patients or even destroy it.