Reporting on Ebola: First rule is you don’t touch anyone

Washington Post ^ | 10-1-14 | Lenny Bernstein

[dynachrome]

You don’t touch anyone in Liberia. Not kids, not adults, not other Westerners, not the colleagues you arrived with. It is the rule of rules, because while everyone able is taking precautions, you just can’t be sure where the invisible, lethal Ebola virus might be. Once the virus is on your fingers, it would be frighteningly easy to rub an eye and infect yourself.

Our first day of reporting took us to all of Monrovia’s treatment centers. All were full, or nearly so. Outside each one were very sick people who couldn’t get in. As I interviewed them, I stood four to six feet away, as MacDougall had suggested, in case the person I was talking to sneezed, coughed, spit or — worst of all — vomited.ourself.

[wrench]

Time to quit eating at Chinese restaurants once the dogs get infected here

[PA Engineer]

For your reference from the article:

Before I left, I had asked an expert how much virus is in each droplet of body fluid. At time of death, when the viral load is highest, he told me, it’s probably 500,000 to 1 million particles. And how much virus would it take to become infected? Somewhere between one and 10 particles, he said.

[exDemMom]

People get infected from bats and other animals by butchering them, and I have no doubt that they would get infected by dogs in the same manner.

That does not address whether an asymptomatic dog can pass the virus.

I do not know that Ebola can infect most mammals. Only a handful of mammals have been identified as getting Ebola: primates, shrews, something called a duiker, bats, and dogs.

[Will88]

Based on all the precautions stressed in this article: touch no one, touch no surfaces where infected people might have been, etc., all these almost dismissive reassurances we’ve heard from official spokesmen are irresponsible and should be criminal.

If this virus can live on most any surface for two hours to two days, and be picked up and infect someone, then it is very easily transmitted. All you need is some infected people out and about.

[VerySadAmerican]

This guy was there. What he’s saying is not what the cdc is saying.

[Smokin' Joe]

At 500,000 to 1 million virons per droplet, it sure wouldn’t take much to seed a large area with fomites that held tens to hundreds of thousands of virons, just waiting for the next victim. Whether this was done intentionally or by accident (infected person in the wild), the effect could leave the rest of the population tap dancing in a minefield.

[Smokin' Joe]

This guy was there. What he’s saying is not what the cdc is saying.

That seems to be a common pattern. Those following CDC protocols for dealing with the disease have often died, whether the protocols are ineffective, insufficient, or there was a lapse in biosecurity.

Remember this is a Level 4 pathogen. Considering the levels only go up to 4, any error should be made on the side of caution, not complacency as the CDC has been trying to pump all along.

[PA Engineer]

At 500,000 to 1 million virons per droplet, it sure wouldn’t take much to seed a large area with fomites that held tens to hundreds of thousands of virons, just waiting for the next victim. Whether this was done intentionally or by accident (infected person in the wild), the effect could leave the rest of the population tap dancing in a minefield.

What is even more troubling is the life of the virus on fomites. Every study has been done based on conditions in Africa. Laboratory tests at much lower temperatures paints a much more disturbing picture for western countries like the US. At much lower temperatures and UV shielding (winter), the virus lasts much longer. This is why I harp on the novelty of infection in the US, especially with influenza season. What will be the protocols come December and January in the northern states when influenza is spreading? What if there is a patient zero in Chicago? How will the health workers discern the difference during triage?

I only see one solution at this point and that is the revoking of 13,000 visas to the infected countries. It is a simple solution and easily justified.