Posted on 08/30/2014 9:41:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The dreaded Ebola virus came to the children’s hospital in the form of a 4-year-old boy.
...
The boy died. The 30 doctors and nurses who had contact with him were placed in quarantine, forced to nervously wait out the 21 days it can take for the virus to emerge. And remaining staff so far have refused to return to work.
...
Ebola is now spreading from the remote provinces and into the teeming cities such as Freetown, where 1.2 million people jostle for space. Previous outbreaks had been limited to remote villages, where containment was aided by geography. The thought of Ebola taking hold in a major city such as Freetown or Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, is a virological nightmare
Odds of survival stand at about 50-50. Detection is difficult because early symptoms are hard to distinguish from those of malaria or typhoid, common ailments during the rainy season. While Ebola is not transmitted through the air like the flu, it does spread by close contact with bodily fluids such as blood, saliva and sweat — even something as innocent as a tainted tear.
And so now it is headed to Freetown, where the streets hum with low-level panic. People long ago stopped shaking hands. Hugs are unheard of. Plastic buckets filled with a diluted chlorine solution are posted outside many businesses to encourage hand-washing. Some of these homemade solutions tingle and burn; others smell like aromatic cleansers.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Not good.
Tick Tock.
No worries, the resident Ebola experts will be along shortly to explain to you why there is nothing to fear!
Not to worry, Gals & Guys. WHO says that “up to 20,000 will die.” I understand that the virus magically turns itself off when the total number of deaths surpass that upper limit. Carry on.
bumping.. spread rate map at page end at link
A 90% (fatality rate) of 1.2 million is 1.08 million.
And Obama has left the doors open to the country so anyone who wants in can come in.
What could happen?
I also bet the resident DR. “experts” on Fox News were being complacent again on Sunday, even amidst the death toll saying, “nothing to fear”. I would pay good money to see those jackholes have to eat their words; admit they were wrong, and then proceed to say, “ok, now it is time to panic!”
If you find a dead monkey in the jungle, DON'T have sex with the corpse, and DON'T eat it, no matter how hungry you are.
Stop commercial flights now!
You might want to keep in mind a couple of important 1st world epidemic responses. (Containers with disinfectant solutions for hand washing is actually a really good idea for a 3rd or 4th world nation.)
1) Many US businesses are already becoming epidemic aware, in small ways, like providing wipes for shopping cart handles, and having hand sanitizer about. The “upgrade” to this is not particularly unusual, just setting up a hand sanitizer stand at the main entrance, as well as providing complementary ear-loop masks.
(Importantly, ear-loop masks are not designed to keep pathogens out, but to keep pathogens in. Think surgery. If you want to keep pathogens out, you need an N95 mask.)
2) A huge advantage the US has is its communication system. In a full blown epidemic, even small towns could create robo-call telephone banks, to systematically dial every number in the area at intervals, to provide quality information, but also to solicit needs for supplies and emergencies. It optimizes logistics and emergency services, and provides “health and welfare” checks.
This —
>>A huge advantage the US has is its communication system.
>>In a full blown epidemic, even small towns could create
>>robo-call telephone banks, to systematically dial every
>>number in the area at intervals, to provide quality
>>information, but also to solicit needs for supplies and
>>emergencies. It optimizes logistics and emergency
>>services, and provides “health and welfare” checks.
...is a hugely important point.
One that needs to be stated publicly where a lot of US public health officials can see, as I don’t think they have thought that far yet.
The implications of 3-to-6 week shelter in place for a population that has less than a week’s food supply on-hand and long life Ebola transmitting bio-contamination of food distribution outlets has not sunk in.
Thanks for the ping.
You’re Welcome, GOPJ!
I doubt active virus contamination is that easy, since ebola’s data sheet indicates it is a pretty ordinary virus.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php
See “Survival Outside Host”.
You must have missed this post —
So people can contract Ebola from infected fomites, and the ID/LD 50 is only ten (10) virons. The CDC admits the Ebola virus can remain active outside the host for several days.
And you just stated in response to Flamberge:
Contact with contaminated surfaces is insidious and almost impossible to avoid. If a virus can survive for a few hours while encapsulated in a fomite or droplet, it can find a new host.
“Fomites become a problem when those infected with Ebola do not go to the hospital. People are avoiding the hospital—which could explain (at least in part) why this outbreak keeps on going.”
You just admitted that buildings can be contaminated by Ebola! People are at risk of contracting Ebola by entering Ebola-contaminated buildings, which can be grocery stores. I am an old Cold War civil defense guy and fully understand the implications of that.
The quarantine measures necessary to contain a significant Ebola outbreak in the U.S., absent widespread availability of an effective vaccine and/or treatment, will entail cessation of economic activity in the affected areas. This will have vast economic and financial effects. There will also be widespread panic which will have similar effects outside the affected areas.
This means likely economic and financial apocalypse countrywide should there be a significant Ebola outbreak in this country. Even in the absence of demographically significant fatalities.
That I understand too. Bill Quick has outlined a very possible scenario for such a financial apocalypse in the 2/3 of the U.S. not devastated by the fictional EMP pulse in his novel, _Lightning Fall_.
Basically, you have to treat Ebola bio-contamination like a persistent nerve agent in terms of PPE and decontamination procedure to be safe.
The primary difference being that you use high PH bleach water as the decontamination agent.
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