Posted on 09/16/2014 2:42:15 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
The United States government is sending thousands of military troops to the west African nation of Liberia as part of the Obama administration's Ebola virus-response strategy, the White House said late Monday night.
....'A general from U.S. Army Africa, the Army component of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), will lead this effort, which will involve an estimated 3,000 U.S. forces.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Respectfully, you are misinformed about the capabilities of the U.S. Army with respect to infectious diseases. Read about the U.S. Army’s role in containing Ebola-Reston.
To your point though, the Army won’t be treating Ebola. They will be providing logistical support for and protection of our personnel.
How about training refugees and immigrants from Somalia and the affected countries and send them back to their homelands to address the epidemic? As far as I'm concerned, they aren't welcome here.
“You apparently dont have much faith in our military. I am sure they are just going over to lick the bodies of Ebola patients and just rush back here to infect their families and America. Makes perfect sense.”
Do you realize that it can be transmitted for *months* post recovery by sexual activity?
What are the odds that all 3000 of these military personnel refrain from sexual activity with the locals for the duration of their stay? Even if sufficiently warned, how many of them will do it anyways? I’m not accusing *our* military of promiscuity out of turn, but *all* militaries have had this issue since the beginning of time. Will they be restricted to their base camps with no chance of seeing the outside in any form or fashion?
You don’t have to ‘lick the bodies’ to get the disease. It’s in the taxicabs of Monrovia right now. It can be transmitted via doorknob as was done in Nigeria to one of their medicos. Directly touching the patient, the fluids of the patient, or anything the fluids have touched can transmit the disease. Like money.
Will there be any locals working for the military in the kitchens, or performing any other mundane tasks? Will they undergo health screening and temperature checks several times per day? Will the military restrict access to the base camp to *only* those who have come from the US?
Will the troop be subjected to a 21d quarantine on their return to this country?
You haven’t scratched the surface yet but it is a good start.
I believe so.
At the heart of CDC's highly capable and committed global health staff are the more than 280 assignees in 50-plus countries, including approximately 40 staff detailed to international organizations. They are supported by the expertise and efforts of approximately 1,500 locally employed staff, 100 contract staff, and 30 fellows working overseas and supplemented by hundreds of headquarters staff who travel overseas each year to provide temporary technical assistance and expertise.
To suggest that the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md. is anywhere comparable to the resources and expertise of CDC is ridiculous. It has a much more circumscribed and limited mission than CDC. I have no doubt they are playing a key role in combating Ebola, which represents a possible biological weapon that could be used against us.
My point is and has been that the military should not be taking the lead role in directing and coordinating the US effort in Africa. The CDC should be the lead agency and I am wondering why Obama has taken the unprecedented step of making the military the lead agency.
Bkmrk.
I am aware of the Army's capabilities with respect to infectious diseases. They are just not comparable to those of CDC. The Army, acting on behalf of all services, is studying those diseases that could be used as biological weapons against the US. Ebola is one of them.
To your point though, the Army won’t be treating Ebola. They will be providing logistical support for and protection of our personnel.
From the Stars and Stripes via the WP: US military to lead Ebola fight; to send 3,000 personnel to W. Africa
By the end of the week, a general from U.S. Africa Command will be in place in Monrovia, Liberia — the country where transmission rates are increasing rapidly — to lead the effort called Operation United Assistance. The command will help oversee and coordinate U.S. and international relief efforts while a new, separate regional staging base will help accelerate transportation of urgently needed equipment, supplies and personnel.
In addition, the Pentagon will send engineers to set up 17 treatment centers in Liberia — each with a 100-bed capacity — as well as medical personnel to train up to 500 health-care workers a week in the region.
She said the U.S. military will train local medical personnel to treat Ebola victims, but there will be “no direct patient care” provided by American service members.
We will see how they can separate treating patients and training healthcare workers--many of whom come in contact with patients. I worry about exposure of our personnel to the disease no matter how many precautions are taken.
No need to get snarky I'm just saying even the doctors completely covered in hazmat suits are getting ebola. It's not that I don't trust the military - it's Ebola I don't trust. Quarantine the entire area. That's what kept it from spreading before, it was in remote villages and burnt itself out - send it more victims to feed on and it will continue to spread.
No kidding, kabar seems impossible to reach.
Is this a mission to get the army infected to pass this to the United States or what?
Obama’s family going to go help there as well or are they going to stay thousands of miles away on this one?
How many people did the Army have in Africa fighting Ebola six months ago?
No, we don’t, but we always do. This time, CDC and USAID begged for a military response. It’s out of control over there and the longer it is, the more chances it has to come here.
I think you are stuck on the word “lead.” I haven’t read anything that suggests the CDC won’t be making epidemiological decisions. Just because the Army is providing logistical support, physical protection, and training doesn’t mean they are dictating the strategy for containing Ebola. (We shall see, I guess.)
Yes, I read that Stripes articles. Here’s a key quote:
“The U.S. military, with its enormous logistical capability, extensive air operations, and highly skilled medical corps, could address gaps in the response quickly.”
Army research into Ebola.
August 21, 2013
Fort Detrick, Maryland
“Experimental Ebola Treatment Protects Some Primates Even After Disease Symptoms Appear”
According to first author James Pettitt of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the research team previously demonstrated that the treatment—known as MB-003—protected 100 percent of non-human primates when given one hour after Ebola exposure. Two-thirds of the animals were protected when treated 48 hours after exposure.
“”“We had a large footprint in Africa,” Cummings said of the Defense Department’s response to the first Ebola cases reported in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire. Since that time, the Defense Department has answered numerous calls for assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO), nongovernmental organizations and ministries of heath and defense, he said.
Defense personnel provide a wide array of support to the Ebola-stricken African nations, from logistical help to guides for clinical management of the virus””
I realize that as a sailor you never witnessed the parts of the Army that deals with disease and biological agents, but your raging against the Army isn’t making any sense, and your arguments seem to be shifting somewhat.
It is hard to follow what makes you so mad about the Army.
“I am aware of the Army’s capabilities with respect to infectious diseases. They are just not comparable to those of CDC.”
If you look at the links I provided earlier, and understand the situation in Africa you should cringe at your own statement.
“The United States has already spent $175 million responding to the outbreak and has dispatched 100 CDC experts, among the largest deployments of agency personnel in its history.”
Wow, a whole one hundred people. Do you know how underwhelming that is given the current stage of the epidemic growth? The military is sending over 3000. You are right, the army’s capabilities don’t compare to the CDC’s the DWARF it!!!
“Quarantine the entire area. That’s what kept it from spreading before”
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/distribution-map-guinea-outbreak.html
The current confirmed outbreak area is about 120,000 square miles!!!!!!! If we took every member of our entire military we could not enforce a quarantine on an area that large.
Ozarkgirl, no offense intended. I am sure you are a great gal, as are most of the people here. While we rightfully despise much of what Obama has done, and rightfully question most everything our government does, it still surprises me how hatred of the governments crimes against us clouds the judgment of many. That surprise sometimes bursts out snarkier than it should, sorry. We SHOULD be concerned about our military personnel going over there. But I don’t think any of us has the information we need to be assured of safety to the level which we would like. But they have done this before. We face the risk of ebola coming to America whether they go or not. Hopefully their efforts will help stop the spread and save many lives. There are no guarantees for Americans safety either way. But the risk of a globally spread ebola pandemic seems a much greater catastrophe than the alternative.
I am ex-Army.
I work for the U.S.Military.
The Army has medical occupation specialties.
Doctors, nurses, medical technicians, dentists, etc.
And may contract medical specialists and researchers.
Soldiers are not trained to be doctors, beyond basic first aid/battlefield emergency treatment of serious wounds to stabilize the injured/ill until they can be transported to a hospital/trauma center for proper treatment.
Soldiers do not have the level of specialized medical training for them to be individually effective in this kind of situation (highly contagious serious disease).
The soldiers role can only be as gofers and guards.
Consequently the risk of soldiers catching ebola is higher than the politicians will admit to.
Please understand, no career politician will be the one who cries “Fire” in the theater...even when there is a fire. They do not want a panic. So they seek to assure all that all is well, there will be no problems, no chance for infection, etc etc. They will lie to avoid panic.
Unless, of course, they seek panic to accomplish some goal of theirs (”never let a crisis go to waste.”)
So in summary, sending 3,000 or whatever soldiers to a place where even the trained medical personnel are catching the disease, is VERY dangerous.
VERY.
The S&S report indicates to me that the military will be providing more than just logistical and force protection support.
Will these troops all be trained physicians and nurses? If not,why in God’s name are they being sent??????
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