Posted on 08/05/2014 6:51:32 AM PDT by Chickensoup
We can only guess at this point. My guess is their quarantine area was not large enough and the area outside it became contaminated. They were disposing buckets of waste. Where was it going? Was it protected from animals, etc. who could have moved the virus outside the quarantine area? It lives 6 days outside a host.
On the ground, on a boot, on a hand, in an eye. That’s my guess.
My understanding is that they were exposed before they started wearing the protective gear. The patients they were caring for had not yet been diagnosed with Ebola.
Would our water treatment facilities and septic systems kill the infected waste/virus? Just curious.
I’ve seen that question raised other places.
What about the waste treatment/sewers of major cities. There are lots of animals in/out of those things. Any of which could carry the disease and in worse case become a host species.
Your idea that the quarantine area isn’t large enough seems right. However, it seems to me that the idea that it can only be transmitted from contact with bodily fluids is blown away. Six days outside the host on a surface such as the ground sounds very long for a virus, doesn’t it?
I think there is enough chlorine in municipal water and residual in sewage plants to kill viruses. If not they can just increase chlorine levels till it does. Not a concern imo. My biggest concern is someone dying outside a containment area and animals feeding on it within the 6 day transmission. It would be spread in the wild and could eventually wind up in an asymptomatic carrier species like the bats in Africa. Then it’d be just like Africa. In the wild with periodic recurring outbreaks.
“Six days outside the host on a surface such as the ground sounds very long for a virus, doesn’t it?”
Yeah, that’s why I don’t like the “it can only be transmitted by bodily fluid” statement. In 6 days the body that deposited it won’t be around and it won’t be fluid. If true surface contact transmission could be a nightmare in cities.
I think you’re reading too much into things. They’d love to figure out how to prevent it too, but so far haven’t. They haven’t said “oh we know how to stop it so there’s no more need for research”, we’ve known how to stop it for a long time, and we’ve been trying to figure out how to prevent it for a long time. But it’s an illusive little bug, hard to find, hard to treat.
***My understanding is that they were exposed before they started wearing the protective gear. ***
That makes no sense. Dr. Brantly graduated from med school in 2009. He had to have known about wearing complete protective gear when treating patients.
***The patients they were caring for had not yet been diagnosed with Ebola.***
If that’s the case, then something has changed. People who are without symptoms, according to conventional “wisdom”, cannot transmit the disease.
You must come in contact with someone who is actively sick, and then, you must come in contact with their bodily fluids. There is supposed to be a quarantined area.
The only thing I can see is that the quarantined area became broken, and the perimeter of it should be enlarged, unless the virus has changed, and now there is a new strain. If that’s the case, then we are in a heap of trouble.
From what I have read on the internet(not always trustworthy but nonetheless) Dr. Brantley became infected because the person that handled and cleaned his protective gear was infected. I had heard that the missionary that was also given the serum was the person responsible for handling his gear and that she was infected before him. Maybe she was becoming symptomatic but not enough to realize that she could have Ebola. I don’t know. I guess it’s all hearsay right now because as usual, we are just not being given the truth and that is exactly why I am concerned.
The fact that we are lied to on a regular basis and blatantly is pretty much why I am concerned about Ebola this time around. We could be in the midst of a possible epidemic and we would still be lied to. These are some very scary times.
Here’s an “interesting” article that just reinforces what I think of the CDC Chief and his blathering:
Many US hospitals not prepared for Ebola
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/04/many-us-hospitals-not-prepared-for-ebola/
A few ‘choice’ excerpts from article:
Many hospitals are poorly prepared to contain any pathogen. That’s why at least 75,000 people a year die from hospital infections. If hospitals can’t stop common infections like MRSA, C. diff and VRE, they can’t handle Ebola.
Frieden argues it’s unlikely people sick with Ebola with board planes, because the symptoms are so debilitating. Despite what Frieden is saying, the agency sent bulletins to U.S. hospitals on diagnosing Ebola, providing protective gear for healthcare workers, and preventing the spread to other patients.
But will hospitals follow the precautions? Unlikely. For example, an estimated 14,000 patients die each year from Clostridium difficile, a health care infection spread by diarrhea. Invisibly small fecal particles contaminate bedrails, curtains, nurses’ uniforms and other surfaces, carrying the disease from one patient to another. The same could happen with Ebola if precautions are ignored.
The CDC also needs to improve its own infection control rigor. In the last three months, three incidents of the CDC mishandling pathogens — anthrax, avian flu, and smallpox – have come to light. Why assume the agency’s ready for Ebola?
Every outbreak since 1976 has been stopped in Africa, this current one isn’t the first outbreak.
Third world country, third world conditions. No incinerators, steam sterilizers and lax quarantine protocols. I saw a video of an African Doctor entering a quarantine tent with nothing other than a plastic fence separating the tent from the outside world and the fence was about 1 foot from the tent. He promptly grabbed the fence with two gloved hands to move it aside.
***He promptly grabbed the fence with two gloved hands to move it aside.***
Good grief! That’s utterly ridiculous! It’s no wonder that this is epidemic there. I wonder if educating them will help. It sounds like it won’t if even the doctors do not follow proper quarantine procedure.
***The fact that we are lied to on a regular basis and blatantly is pretty much why I am concerned about Ebola this time around. We could be in the midst of a possible epidemic and we would still be lied to. These are some very scary times.***
I feel the same way.
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