Why, yes... Yes our unit could!
Posted on 08/01/2014 10:25:35 PM PDT by CorporateStepsister
Now, should the medical workers in the Ebola infected countries use robotic technology to handle patients, administer certain drugs, and then do certain functions that could prevent the spread of the disease to the workers in the medical field?
I thought this would be a much better way to have patients taken care of and reduce risk drastically in regards to patient to doctor/carer transmission.
I read that yesterday. I tend to think they know how to take the precautions necessary.
” I tend to think they know how to take the precautions necessary.”
Which is why it’s infected so many US trained meds already.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/02/us-usa-healthcare-cdc-idUKKBN0G201A20140802
And maybe not:
“Newly released federal documents show that oversight gaps at the CDC Division of Select Agents and Toxins (DSAT) may have contributed to biosafety lapses at six laboratories handling pathogens including smallpox, influenza and monkeypox. As a result, the inspectors may have put public safety at risk.”
Well, since I don’t want anyone to talk to me when I’m sick...it might not be a bad option.
Someone that wants love and attention when they are sick...maybe not.
Why, yes... Yes our unit could!
I didn’t say it was impossible, just difficult. However, the more times you are exposed the greater the chances.
People ignore the handrails, door handles, elevator buttons, and myriad other mutual and public contact surfaces the virus can be transmitted to--and from. From there, a scratch, rub your eye, touch your mouth, and you are infected.
The chief reason Ebola hasn't made it to the first world is geography. The reservoir species don't live here.
There, the infection may be attributed to transmission by contact with the body during funerals, but here, the infection may be passed on otherwise--something which could be masked by the funerary procedures there.
With a variable incubation period (2 to 21 days) attribution is something that may be a wee bit harder to nail down.
So, next time you use a handrail, watch to see if the person in front of you wiped sweat off their brow before touching it...because that is the level of awareness you will need to avoid it if it gets loose here, and even that is no guarantee.
Was it a Tom Clancy book that wrote about harvesting the Ebola virus in some nun who was effected then spreading it worldwide via canisters? I swear I remember reading this book.
Level 3 biohazard suits would be just as good and a lot less expensive.
Yep, living test tubes. Good thinking.
I believe it was “Debt of Honor” that happened in, turning Ebola into an air spreadable weapon
Viruses that spread by direct contact with secretions and are not transmitted via a pneumonic vector do not become epidemic but remain endemic. Despite all the fears HIV remained confined to homosexual men, iv drug abusers and women who had sex with infected men or gave birth after being infected. Usually these viruses do not widely affect first world countries with good hygiene that experience a freezing winter. However there are pockets in first world countries of humans concentration that mimic African living conditions and practices. For instance the refugee centers in the southwest have close quarters and very poor hygeine in a very warm environment.There are similar refugee centers in Europe. So far there is no evidence that ebola has infected any of those centers.
That and other things I understand are problems in horrifically poor countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia like reusing needles, not have enough clean hot water and disinfectant, some of the local medical staff not having proper training and a good understanding of dealing with biohazards. That and I read that the so called “isolation wards” in some of these African hospitals are little more than cinder block buildings with no AC or contained ventilation systems. Imagine wearing a level 3 biohazard suit in sweltering heat and humidity.
Also the medical personnel they do have are in very short supply and overworked leading to the mistakes and sloppiness that comes from exhaustion.
I don’t think robotics have gotten to the point they could give the proper intensive care necessary to treat critically ill patients and are not a cost effective solution. But perhaps one day.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, I am preparing.
The virus can be transmitted in the sweat of the victim.
"Bodily fluids" is something we have been conditioned to think of as blood, feces, semen, but in this case includes sweat, tears, saliva, and urine as well. These contain significant enough viral loads for infection.
Now, if you will, consider the number of surfaces in an urban environment (first world) where people casually make contact with the emanations of others, whether they realize it or not. Door handles, handrails, countertops come to mind immediately, and these are the sort of surfaces which could have the still infectious virii present.
This doesn't have to be airborne, it can be aerosolized by a sneeze.
Try that out on the subway. The virus doesn't care how technologically advanced you are, or what your country's GDP is, it is a virus and will do what viruses do--replicate at the expense of the host.
I'm not trying to panic anyone, just make sure people know this is a dangerous pathogen and more readily contracted than people apparently assume.
BTW, the virus survives indefinitely at -70C.
As far as the American Southwest goes, in the absence of infected individuals or the migratory fruit bats that are the vector, I wouldn't expect any cases of Ebola. The pathogen has to be present to have infection.
In the event the pathogen is introduced, by whatever means, to the western hemisphere, expect different results.
According to news reports it lives nearly a month on hard surfaces.
Truth be told, I think this is spreading mainly because despite exposure to Western society and technology, they are still suspicious of us. Which means that they might at some point refuse normal medicine and any other intervention. It’s a complete miserable situation.
Just think of the jobs that could be created having people clean the subways and other areas on a constant basis. I think in a perverse way, Ebola will help re-employ Americans.
Good idea; I for one plan on buying plenty of water and a double lock. Throw in a gun (that later) and I’m going to be set.
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