Posted on 09/23/2014 8:09:54 AM PDT by Raebie
World Health Organization researchers issued a dire new forecast for the Ebola epidemic Tuesday, one that sees 20,000 cases by November, much sooner than previous estimates. And 70 percent of patients are dying.
That's a big increase over the previous estimates of a 50 percent fatality rate.
These data indicate that without drastic improvements in control measures, the numbers of cases of and deaths from Ebola virus disease are expected to continue increasing from hundreds to thousands per week in the coming months, the WHO Ebola Response Team, led by Dr. Christopher Dye, wrote in a report rushed into print by the New England Journal of Medicine.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Is it possible to make saline solution with boiled water and salt?
Is it ideal, no. Is it better than wringing your hands, probably.
Is reusing an IV needle a good idea, NO. Can it be sterilized by boiling or steam or a pressure cooker? You tell me.
Your point about supplies is valid and may get worse. Will we just die if we cannot buy saline in a bag?
It is interesting that you know these things to ask about.
Can you make them or an equivalent? We may have to do that especially if this current resurgence of Ebola is purposeful.
What is the function of the things you mention. Someone reading this knows where to get ingredients for a functional substitute ... maybe not perfect but better than nothing.
Post the ingredients if you can.
A better host has a better change. But the bow wave of a virus through a naive population is not a pretty thing. You are kidding yourself if you think gatorade and nutrition will make much of a difference. Ive seen it a couple times now, and even the young healthies get sick - and sometimes even sicker than us old codgers.....
I will not be a victim if there is anything I can do about it. No one I know will be a victim if I can help them.
I think your point about the naive population is unfortunately the case. People think diet coke is nutritious and McDonalds is actually food.
Your point about old codgers is good, in my opinion, because we (and I am one) have been through enough illnesses to have built up antibodies and the mental attitude to do whatever it takes to defeat these things.
The human body is both amazingly easy to kill and surprisingly resilient to attack.
I will die some day and it may be Ebola but not without a fight.
naive meaning have never seen a similar virus in the past....
“Is it possible to make saline solution with boiled water and salt?”
I suppose it would be. It is 0.9% NaCl in sterile water. If things got so bad that was your only choice, do what you have to do. Same with reusing catheters.
These days, we use a plastic catheter that has a retractable needle in it. The only thing that stays inside the patient is a plastic “straw” with a hub on the end that attaches to the end of the IV tubing.
Long and short of that is you are going to have to use something like the old butterfly needle or those you draw up meds with.
I have not done an IV on myself since Paramedic class. My experience was it is more difficult just due to the positioning and knowing I am about to hurt myself intentionally.
My thought is that the best bet is to try and stay in front of it all with water and Brawndo.
For the fever part, it would seem that it could perhaps be better controlled by getting in a slightly less that normal body temperature bath as much as possible. Back during dive classes they said that the water takes heat away from your body 20 something times faster than air.
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