Posted on 09/02/2014 6:46:05 AM PDT by Qiviut
Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Friedman did not return from his visit to West Africa, where the worst outbreak of Ebola in history has spread to five countries and killed at least 1,500 people, with any good news.
Friedman told CNN hosts on Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in Africa is currently “completely out of control” and is now an “epidemic.” The CDC director added that “it will get worse in the future and our window of opportunity to turn it around is closing.”
I have never thought otherwise, and I don't believe CDC has ever said otherwise.
The technical people are still quite good. The zampolits are a problem.
Maybe so, but they’ve made it sound like you can’t catch it sitting next to someone on an airplane. And yet, clearly the number of health workers that have come down with it indicates that it’s a lot easier to catch than they thought.
If it were truly "airborne" (particles suspended for hours and drifting on the wind) all the passengers on Sawyer's airplane would be sick, and they are not.
You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!
90% of people on these threads will never get that. They will continue conflating coughed sputum droplets, etc., with a mutation of the virus permitting true airborne contagion.
I agree that the odds of Ebola developing a true airborne transmission vector is unlikely. However, the oft-cited claim from authorities that one must roll around in vomit, feces or blood to become infected is plainly ridiculous. The WHO itself clearly states in written documentation that it is transmittable via fomites (infected surfaces) and aerosol (droplets expelled via the mouth and nose). To non-medical people there is little difference between airborne droplets and individual viral particles floating in the air, and I can see why the two are conflated.
It is spread through direct contact with body fluids (blood, saliva, urine, sperm, etc.) of an infected person and by contact with contaminated surfaces or equipment, including linen soiled by body fluids from an infected person.
(snip)
However, regarding IPC measures to be implemented during interviews for contact tracing and case finding in the community, the following principles should be kept in mind: 1) shaking hands should be avoided; 2) a distance of more than one metre (about 3 feet) should be maintained between interviewer and interviewee; 3) PPE is not required if this distance is assured and when interviewing symptomatic individuals (e.g., neither fever, nor diarrhoea, bleeding or vomiting) and provided there will be no contact with the environment, potentially contaminated with a possible/probable case; 4) it is advisable to provide workers undertaking contact tracing and case finding in the community with alcohol-based hand rub solutions and instructions to appropriately perform hand hygiene.
In light of the above I think the concern is very valid. While it may not be a true airborne virus the aerosol and fomite vectors are more than enough to cause widespread infection in any human population.
Oops, that was supposed to be Asymptomatic individuals in the section about contact tracing. Sorry. I need an edit function!
Yes, they certainly are, depending on the definition of 'widespread'. Thanks for the comment.
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