Body of 'African' stowaway found on US military plane

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: PurpleDog UK

Do you have info about it being airborne? I guess if someone has Ebola and a common cold it potentially could. Ebola itself is not a respiratory disease.

There have been concerns and worries for a while now that Ebola can be transmitted in an airborne fashion.
Canadian scientists showed an airborne connection between pigs and other animals....
www.bbc.com...

BUT what gets me spooked is that SWEAT can act as a transmission medium......! If someone holds a door handle or some other object which another person touches relatively quickly then Hey Presto, there's your route of transferrence......

Obviously blood, other fluids etc have to be in close personal contact but Sweat....... That worries me.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657


I've heard of that book. I wonder if there is a kindle version. Wasn't there a movie with at same title? Puts me in mind of that movie Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman. a reply to: texasgirl

I think the true story was actually the one made into a 'loosely' similar film by those Imaginative people in Hollywood.......

Our biggest threat to survival will turn out to be our smallest enemy....

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: SLAYER69



Surprising, considering it seems to be a pretty big freakin' national security issue.

If the military didn't catch this kid before he snuck onto the plane then it could potentially happen again. We lucked out; if that kid was sick with Ebola it could've been nasty.

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: SLAYER69

Surprising, considering it seems to be a pretty big freakin' national security issue.

exactly- with what is currently going on in all corners of this earth ...wow !

a reply to: PurpleDog UK

It always has been. Sadly.

There is a story on CNN right now about a man who started showing symptoms while onboard an airplane from Nigeria to Liberia who died two days later.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: AutumnWitch657

17 years...

How many times has computing power been doubled in the last 17 years?

It seems to me that our species priorities are a bit off.

I'm not trying to sound like a doomsayer alarmist. It's just that in my humble opinion we could be doing a hell of a lot better job if we focused for effort into eliminating such issues rather than landing more probes on a now dead planet, killing each other over the latest gadget on black Friday etc...

Computing power has allowed us to model protein folding in real time, sequence DNA within hours, understand how enzymes work, understand how enzymes and proteins interact, epigenetics, what purpose each gene has. This has helped understand how Ebola works:

en.wikipedia.org...

It enters humans through a gene called NPC1 which is involved with diet and appetite

en.wikipedia.org...

So it almost seems like bats and monkeys eventually gained immunity to Ebola, and formed a symbiotic relationship with the virus. They keep it alive and if anything tries to eat members of their colonies, those predators get killed by the virus.

a reply to: texasgirl

...this latest one is more deadly, killing 60% of its victims

Actually, it's LESS deadly - Zaire Ebola kills 90% of its victims - but less deadly means more dangerous when it comes to viruses.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: AutumnWitch657

17 years...

How many times has computing power been doubled in the last 17 years?

It seems to me that our species priorities are a bit off.

I'm not trying to sound like a doomsayer alarmist. It's just that in my humble opinion we could be doing a hell of a lot better job if we focused for effort into eliminating such issues rather than landing more probes on a now dead planet, killing each other over the latest gadget on black Friday etc...

Humanity doesn't act as one cohesive group, there are billions of individuals with millions of random ties between each other. "Humanity" isn't looking for new medical treatments, a few people are.

The best question, what are you doing? Why don't you go to school and get an education that would allow you to find a cure/treatment? It's always the responsibility of someone else, that's why this stuff doesn't get done. If you care then do something about it. The only people fighting this virus are people, who at one time in their life, decided they wanted to cure illness. There's nobody who was born for the purpose of fixing the problems of the world for you.

a reply to: SLAYER69

How is focussing on 1 person from a country that borders a country with some Ebola cases playing it safe?
Yes, if Ebola were new and/or air travel where 1000's of people left and entered Africa didnt exist then maybe get a bit alarmist.

As it is, Ebola is not new and 1 guy (from a continent of 1.1 billion) snook aboard a flight ...Big WOWS!


The guy who discovered Ebola says he would sit next someone with Ebola on the tube...Source

Given that the person that discovered Ebola is not worried and there are 10's of thousands of inward and outward Air passengers from Africa every year- I again ask- how can one guy on a plane from a country that is not experiencing epidemic (who didnt have Ebola) be the focus of anybodies concern?

originally posted by: soficrow
a reply to: texasgirl

...this latest one is more deadly, killing 60% of its victims

Actually, it's LESS deadly - Zaire Ebola kills 90% of its victims - but less deadly means more dangerous when it comes to viruses.

Oh my gosh, you're right. Don't know what I was thinking. Thanks for catching it!

the only thing scarier than Ebola breaking out in the US, is the fear of Ebola breaking out in the US.
Scary stuff alright, if just one infected person gets through - the amount of interaction in 3 weeks would cause a catastrophic outbreak!

originally posted by: Jukiodone
a reply to: SLAYER69

Given that the person that discovered Ebola is not worried and there are 10's of thousands of inward and outward Air passengers from Africa every year- I again ask- how can one guy on a plane from a country that is not experiencing epidemic (who didnt have Ebola) be the focus of anybodies concern?

Ebola isn't breaking out in west-Africa every year. That makes anyone coming from that part of the world a potential nuclear weapon that should be properly assessed before they're allowed in.

I don't mean heard them up like cattle, I mean being thorough and sure!

therefore,1 west African sneaking in on a plane deserves focus!

originally posted by: James1982
Humanity doesn't act as one cohesive group, there are billions of individuals with millions of random ties between each other. "Humanity" isn't looking for new medical treatments, a few people are.

A few people in some of the best labs in the world. We 'Humanity' spend billions upon billions on other types of research, yet issues such as these seem to be put on the back burner. I dunno, I'm a student of history. All one has to do is look at how 'humanity' has been through several mass plagues etc. Do we really need another one if we have the potential means to eliminate such threats?

The best question, what are you doing?

I'm doing the same as you in that I'm openly discussing the situation and giving my opinion on the topic. Is that such a bad thing? I'd like to see MY tax dollars go towards more research and hopefully the eventual elimination of such hazards. Is that such a bad thing as well?

It's always the responsibility of someone else, that's why this stuff doesn't get done.

Then what the hell are all those in labs worldwide doing? Oh, wait, Big pharma doesn't see a profit margin in curing a potential threat from third world countries eh?

originally posted by: Jukiodone
a reply to: SLAYER69

How is focussing on 1 person from a country that borders a country with some Ebola cases playing it safe?
Yes, if Ebola were new and/or air travel where 1000's of people left and entered Africa didnt exist then maybe get a bit alarmist.

As it is, Ebola is not new and 1 guy (from a continent of 1.1 billion) snook aboard a flight ...Big WOWS!

Mary Mallon

a reply to: SLAYER69

Well thankfully I don't think any humans can be a neutral reservoir for the virus. That is not saying there couldn't be.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Interesting case, pertinent issues. You also might find this law review relevant.

Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health

When health department officials forced Mary Mallon into the city ambulance and took her against her will into Willard Parker Hospital and then to her isolation on North Brother Island in March, 1907, they acted with uncertain legal authority. ….

…..Mallon obtained private laboratory analyses of her feces and urine beginning in July, 1908, a full year before her court appearance. Continuing through August and September of that year, she sent specimens to be analyzed at the Ferguson Laboratory on 42nd Street in Manhattan. It is unlikely she would have bothered to do this if she were not planning some sort of attempt to prove her innocence. After a six-month hiatus, she resumed her quest for private laboratory opinion in April, 1909, sending seven more samples to George Ferguson in that month alone. Mallon then wrote to Ferguson directly seeking information about all of her specimens and received a response that "none of the specimens submitted by you, of urine and feces, have shown Typhoid colonies."14

….Corporation Counsel Francis K. Pendleton and George P. Nicholson, counsel to the health department, based their argument during Mary Mallon's habeas corpus hearing on sections 1169 and 1170 of the city code (see above). "It is evident," they wrote, "that sufficient power rests in the Board of Health for the isolation of Mary Mallon"--evident, they believed, because of laboratory results showing her to be "infected with the contagious.bacilli of Typhoid in large quantities."30 In support of this conclusion, the lawyers presented the numerous positive laboratory reports of Mallon's stool samples.

….O'Neill eloquently insisted that the health department could not legally keep Mary Mallon in confinement for life:

If such an act as this can be done in the case of any person said to be infected with typhoid germs, it can be perpetrated in the cases of thousands of persons in this city who might be said to be infected with tuberculosis and other kindred diseases. If the mere statement that a person is infected with germs is sufficient, then that person can be taken away from his or her home and family and locked up and imprisoned for life on North Brothers [sic]Island. That is what has happened in this case.37

The power of medicine to define who endangered the public's health received considerable public discussion during Mary Mallon's 1909 court hearing. For example, a "New Thought Student wrote to the New York Times:

If one unfortunate woman must be labeled "Typhoid Mary," why not send her other companions? Start a colony on some unpleasant island call it "Uncle Sam's suspects," there collect Measles Sammy, Tonsilitis Joseph, Scarlet Fever Sally, Mumps Matilda, and Meningitis Matthew. Add Typhoid Mary, request the sterilized prayers of all religionized germ fanatics, and then leave the United States to enjoy the glorious freedom of the American flag under a medical monarchy.41

…..in 1907 the city reported over 4,400 new cases of typhoid fever and alleged tracing only two of them to Mallon. There were far more dangers menacing the health of New Yorkers than could be accounted for by this one woman. Typhoid fever lurked throughout the city.

….Mallon's privately acquired laboratory results from the Ferguson Laboratory were all negative, verifying to her satisfaction what she already believed, that she was healthy. The health department laboratory repeatedly (but intermittently) found her feces infected, suggesting to health officials that her health was only skin deep. The court, for reasons that went unexplained, accepted reports from the laboratory that found her infected and rejected reports that claimed her healthy. The files record no evidence of discussion on this point.

….In 1909 they had identified only five healthy carriers in New York City, but the health officials knew that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of others yet to be found. ….[But] The health department budget and ability (or interest) did not extend to locking up thousands of healthy New Yorkers.

….Mary Mallon's legal case brings to light an important question: is it possible to protect the health of the population and at the same time not infringe on individual liberty? This question presupposes that we want the protection public health programs provide, and at the same time that we are vigilant of individual freedom. In pitting these two strongly held values and legal positions against each other, a dilemma arises that is at least sometimes, if not often, impossible to resolve.

….Current fears of living in a police state put limits on plans to isolate large numbers of people, even in the face of potential public health dangers. Mass isolation has been used in Cuba, where the state has created a community within the boundaries of which all AIDS sufferers must live, but such authoritarian behavior on the part of the government in the United States would not easily be met with cooperation.59 Charles Chapin knew, early in the century, that "there certainly would be most energetic opposition on the part of the public" to such policies. Besides, Rosenau had insisted, "It is unnecessary to place bacillus carriers incommunicado."60 But that is, just what health authorities did with Mary Mallon in 1907 and, what the court reinforced in 1909: they forced one woman to live in isolation in the name of protecting the public's health. From the legal point of view, justice could be served in allowing such abridgment of individual liberty.

I find it alarming that someone (who could have Ebola) would sneak onto a plane and travel some where else in the world. I have children and when they are in school, all the kids pass the germs around in the community. Summer break is a break from all the illnesses. This story smacks of the suicide bomber's mission to create stress and havoc on other people/ countries. I said yesterday, Africa should be quarantined as a continent. I don't know how else this could be contained. How can anyone trust anyone now? We need to act responsibly and quarantine.

Individual liberties? That is an extreme luxury ideal during good times. Have you ever hear of the song Ring around the Rosies?

originally posted by: frugal
I find it alarming that someone (who could have Ebola) would sneak onto a plane and travel some where else in the world. I have children and when they are in school, all the kids pass the germs around in the community. Summer break is a break from all the illnesses. This story smacks of the suicide bomber's mission to create stress and havoc on other people/ countries. I said yesterday, Africa should be quarantined as a continent. I don't know how else this could be contained. How can anyone trust anyone now? We need to act responsibly and quarantine.

Hopefully someone will listen to your rational concerns about your summer break not being ruined by Ebola and just get on and quarantine Africa!

Maybe nuke it from orbit....we could round up any kids local to you with runny noses and send them there beforehand- should ensure you are sniffle and therefore stress free this summer?