Ebola virus outbreak

sleepytrees

snubbleste wrote: »

Yeah, but do you have your iodine tablets?

****

The One Who Knocks

A good article explaining what would happen if Ebola reached a developed country such as the US:

So here's a detailed look at how Ebola in America might go down:

1) The first 24 hours: identify the outbreak

The most likely way for Ebola to arrive in the United States would be an infected person flying from West Africa who has Ebola but doesn't even know it. Ebola can hide in a person's body from two days to three weeks before symptoms emerge. And people don't transmit Ebola during that incubation time — they're only contagious once they show symptoms.

Once an initial Ebola patient starts feeling sick, she'll probably seem at first like she has the flu or traveler's diarrhea. (Some of the more famous symptoms of Ebola, like bleeding from orifices, don't tend to come on until later. And bleeding doesn't even happen in about half of cases.)

Although the patient would now be contagious, that doesn't mean that it's exceptionally easy to catch. It's not. Ebola doesn't spread through the air. And it's harder to catch than things like the flu. You can't get it from a cough, sneeze, or just being on the same plane or in the same public space. The only way to get Ebola is to touch a patient's bodily fluids, like vomit, diarrhea, or blood.

Now would be when speed and public awareness plays a big role, no matter where in the world an Ebola patient is. The patient or someone around her will have to figure out: (1) This is something that looks like the flu or diarrhea and (2) This person was just in a country that has Ebola.

If people realize that this might be Ebola early on, they should be able to avoid getting infected by keeping away from the patient's bodily fluids. But if that doesn't cross their minds for a while, people will be more likely to get the virus by accident. In that first day of symptoms, every hour counts.

2) The next step: isolate the patient

In US hospitals, any suspected case of Ebola would be treated as a potential risk until tests come back negative. This means that standard procedures to protect other patients and health-care workers from the patient's bodily fluids would be put into place.

Because Ebola doesn't spread through the air, hospital workers wouldn't have to wear respirators or what you might think of as full Outbreak gear. However, they would protect their body and face from fluids that might splash on them, using things like gowns or full body suits, masks, gloves, and goggles.

Anything that touches the patient would be sterilized or disposed of in a safe manner. And if the patient dies, the body would be carefully handled so that it won't be a danger to anyone, either.

Better adherence to these safety guidelines is one reason why the virus wouldn't spread as quickly in the United States as it has in West Africa. For example, over there, some health-care workers have gotten infected, most likely because the rules weren't followed as closely. And there's actually a reason for that — people who are supposed to wear protective suits in 100°F weather will get extremely hot and might cut corners, says Michael Osterholm, of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. But US hospitals are more climate controlled, he says, and even that small difference makes a breach less likely.

3) Track down other potential patients

Detective work is a major part of controlling a disease like Ebola. Experts would interview the patient, her relatives, and other potential close contacts to monitor them and make sure that they don't spread the disease to others.

Officials will then suggest various options for these people, depending on the level of risk, including watching and waiting, isolation at home, and testing for infection.

Tracking down contacts has been especially problematic in West Africa in ways that unlikely to happen in the US. An editorial in the major medical journal The Lancet says "The geographical spread of cases and movement of people in and between the three countries presents a huge challenge in tracing those who might be infected." And the World Health Organization says that "low coverage of contact tracing" is one key problem it uncovered in a recent assessment the Ebola response in Liberia.

4) Keep patients in hospital until they're not a threat

It's important to remember that about 40 percent of the patients in this Ebola outbreak have survived. There's no specific pill or shot that will make an Ebola infection go away, but doctors can try to make the patient comfortable, give IV fluids, and treat symptoms.

To prevent Ebola from spreading, health authorities wouldn't release a patient from the hospital until it's clear that she won't be a danger to others.

This might seem intuitive, but it hasn't always happened in West Africa. For example, the BBC reports that there are several missing patients in Sierra Leone — where some people don't trust that medical care will help them. That, obviously, increases the odds that the outbreak will spread.

The best case scenario and the worst case scenario

To sum up, the best case scenario is that someone coming back from, say, Guinea, realizes that she might possibly have Ebola as soon as she starts feeling sick. Everyone makes sure not to touch her vomit or diarrhea or other fluids. And the outbreak ends with just one patient.

The worst case scenario is that this person is ill for days and in contact with a whole lot of people before anyone realizes that something unusual is going on and brings her to a hospital. But it's still unlikely that Ebola will get farther than a local problem in one city or town. Even in the worst case scenario, "I don't think we’ll have a serious public health threat in any of the developed countries," Osterholm says.

wendell borton

Its geting serious now all right, a man died in Lagos of it.

crockholm

danniemcq wrote: »

CERN gave us the internet, i'm sure lots of people back then thought the same.

What you are seeing in the LHC is the building blocks of everything around you.

The closer we look at smaller things the more we understand. Look at germs for instance. who would have thought when we first seen them under a microscope that they were such an important part of our life.

Fundimental research into "stupid projects" have led to x-rays, mris, night vision goggles and CERN themselves due to the LHC have had massive boosting in the research of cryogenic research and grid computing to name but two.

and for the record putting something like that into the LHC wouldn't work. The virus itself is to big

Honestly Dannie,my post did not deserve such a lucid response, I thought that the idea of rounding up viruses,pedophiles and scumbags and trying to force them into a black hole would be even too farcical even for an AH serious answer.

Boy howdy,was I wrong.

My deepest apologies to the LHC after hours fan club.

danniemcq

crockholm wrote: »

Honestly Dannie,my post did not deserve such a lucid response, I thought that the idea of rounding up viruses,pedophiles and scumbags and trying to force them into a black hole would be even too farcical even for an AH serious answer.

Boy howdy,was I wrong.

My deepest apologies to the LHC after hours fan club.

ah here don't put yourself down like that, you only deserve the best. We value all our users here on boards and there is no need for apologies, we're all friends here.

Have a great day now ya hear?!

crockholm

danniemcq wrote: »

ah here don't put yourself down like that, you only deserve the best. We value all our users here on boards and there is no need for apologies, we're all friends here.

Have a great day now ya hear?!

I hear?!

Gringo180

Just looking at the state the world is in now you would feel its maybe time for a virus to decimate mankind, we have been doing it to ourselves for long enough.

Turtwig

The world is better than it's ever been since humanity appeared.

Gringo180

Turtwig wrote: »

The world is better than it's ever been since humanity appeared.

You must not be watching the news are you?

RenegadeDisco

FFS why don't the EU put a travel ban to West Africa??

Turtwig

Gringo180 wrote: »

You must not be watching the news have you?

I have been and I stand by what I said. Humanity is largely the best it's ever been since its dawn.

Turtwig

RenegadeDisco wrote: »

FFS why don't the EU put a travel ban to West Africa??

It's not necessary.

PucaMama

RenegadeDisco wrote: »

FFS why don't the EU put a travel ban to West Africa??

havnt you heard? sure ebola isnt that bad at all sure those people are only pretending to die

B.A._Baracus

An outbreak is the theme of many a hollywood movie .... Sure, even Outbreak :P :pac:

But it's scary to think if it really happened.

My name is URL

RenegadeDisco wrote: »

FFS why don't the EU put a travel ban to West Africa??

Kinda pointless really. Anyone that can afford a flight to Europe can a afford to be rerouted if necessary

Calibos

PucaMama wrote: »

havnt you heard? sure ebola isnt that bad at all sure those people are only pretending to die

No one is saying it isn't bad if you catch it, they're trying to explain to those of a paranoid "The sky is falling" disposition, that there are very specific reasons why theres only been 2000 deaths from it in the last half century since its discovery and why it will never be a global problem unless it mutated and became transmissable from a sneeze, became less deadly and became transmissible while asymptomatic. As someone mentioned earlier. Rabies is 100% fatal if not treated. Why then have you not confined yourself to holidaying only in Ireland, the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Australia and Antartica?? Everywhere else on the planet has Rabies.

Calibos

Gringo180 wrote: »

You must not be watching the news are you?

Read This Thread

The One Who Knocks

PucaMama wrote: »

havnt you heard? sure ebola isnt that bad at all sure those people are only pretending to die

Oh FFS..

People are dying in West Africa because they are uneducated about ebola. Because they are coming into direct contact with the blood/vomit/faeces of an infected person. You can't get it by being in the same room as someone who's infected, and it's near impossible to get it from them coughing/sneezing as it's not airborne.

You need to understand how little the locals know about ebola. If every single person in West Africa was told "Do not touch sick people who show symptoms of Ebola including for example fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches and sometimes heavy bleeding" and "Do not touch the dead bodies of suspected or confirmed Ebola patients." it would be gone in a matter of weeks!

For example, here's some questions posed to health workers through an ebola helpline: "Will eating raw onions once a day for three days protect me from Ebola? Is it safe to eat mangoes? Is it true that a daily intake of condensed milk can prevent infection with Ebola?" Some people even believe that it's the people in hazmat suits that have brought ebola to their villages. They are mostly clueless. Believe it or not, it's difficult to contract ebola.

It's also traditional to wash the bodies of the deceased, and this is continues to happen despite the implications.

So yes, while it's a concern if you live in West Africa and don't know how ebola is spread, to developed countries it's not currently, and probably never will be of great concern. It needs to evolve first.

It's really annoying to see how much of a feeding frenzy the media are having with this.

woodoo

A pharmaceutical company no doubt have a cure but are just waiting for it to reach the west before releasing it.

Turtwig

woodoo wrote: »

A pharmaceutical company no doubt have a cure but are just waiting for it to reach the west before releasing it.

Sure homeopathy cures everything!

No known modern medicine cure or anti viral treatment for Ebola specifically. It's a messy aul virus.

Hootanany

Anyone mention the outbreak in Washington yet in the monkey house

Turtwig

That was covered in some sensationalized book. Still very interesting though. Maybe we're naive but on current form Ebola should only be localised to small pockets. Still crappy for anyone who contracts it.

ceadaoin.

The One Who Knocks wrote: »

Oh FFS..

People are dying in West Africa because they are uneducated about ebola. Because they are coming into direct contact with the blood/vomit/faeces of an infected person. You can't get it by being in the same room as someone who's infected, and it's near impossible to get it from them coughing/sneezing as it's not airborne.

You need to understand how little the locals know about ebola. If every single person in West Africa was told "Do not touch sick people who show symptoms of Ebola including for example fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches and sometimes heavy bleeding" and "Do not touch the dead bodies of suspected or confirmed Ebola patients." it would be gone in a matter of weeks!

For example, here's some questions posed to health workers through an ebola helpline: "Will eating raw onions once a day for three days protect me from Ebola? Is it safe to eat mangoes? Is it true that a daily intake of condensed milk can prevent infection with Ebola?" Some people even believe that it's the people in hazmat suits that have brought ebola to their villages. They are mostly clueless. Believe it or not, it's difficult to contract ebola.

It's also traditional to wash the bodies of the deceased, and this is continues to happen despite the implications.

So yes, while it's a concern if you live in West Africa and don't know how ebola is spread, to developed countries it's not currently, and probably never will be of great concern. It needs to evolve first.

It's really annoying to see how much of a feeding frenzy the media are having with this.

I have also read that people have been "rescuing" their relatives from quarantine and bringing them back home. They believe that the doctors are trying to kill them.

Mr.Micro

woodoo wrote: »

A pharmaceutical company no doubt have a cure but are just waiting for it to reach the west before releasing it.

Nope, there is no cure. Can be up to 90% mortality. With most viral infections....immunisation with a vaccine, before infection, if there is one, is the only treatment. There is no vaccine for Ebola as far as I know.

ardinn

Because we arent bothered enough yet - Cue a false alarm about a case in europe, let the fear set in and politicians make some knee jerk decisions, and then "poof" A vaccine!

Turtwig

ardinn wrote: »

Because we arent bothered enough yet - Cue a false alarm about a case in europe, let the fear set in and politicians make some knee jerk decisions, and then "poof" A vaccine!

If only it were that easy. Proof! A wild vaccine appeared.

ardinn

Turtwig wrote: »

If only it were that easy. Proof! A wild vaccine appeared.

It's "poof"

:cool:

The One Who Knocks

ceadaoin. wrote: »

I have also read that people have been "rescuing" their relatives from quarantine and bringing them back home. They believe that the doctors are trying to kill them.

Exactly. You just wouldn't get this sort of thing in a developed country.

The Backwards Man

The One Who Knocks wrote: »

Exactly. You just wouldn't get this sort of thing in a developed country.

Indeed.

>.>

<.<

donegal__road

I remember hearing on the news on our way to the airport in 2003, the World Health Organisation have advised against any unnecessary travel to Toronto because of the SARS outbreak.

I was living in Toronto at the time and was flying back the next day. I was living right beside where the SARS hot-spot was in Chinatown. 33 people had already died, a friend of mine was a nurse in the hospital where the outbreak was, and my father-in-law was quarantined for a week.... still didn't put me off heading over. People went about their business as normal.