Writer of The Coming Plague warns "you are not nearly scared enough about Ebola"

“Experimental drugs and airport screenings will do nothing to stop this plague. If Ebola hits Lagos, we’re in real trouble,” warns Pulitzer-prize winning writer of The Coming Plague, Laurie Garrett.

This author put out a statement claiming that if Ebola hits Lagos, we're all in real trouble. Haven't there already been some cases in Lagos? Here is a link to her statement;

You are not nearly scared enough of Ebola

Attention, World: You just don't get it.
You think there are magic bullets in some rich country's freezers that will instantly stop the relentless spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa? You think airport security guards in Los Angeles can look a traveler in the eyes and see infection, blocking that jet passenger's entry into La-la-land? You believe novelist Dan Brown's utterly absurd description of a World Health Organization that has a private C5-A military transport jet and disease SWAT team that can swoop into outbreaks, saving the world from contagion?
Wake up, fools. What's going on in West Africa now isn't Brown's silly Inferno scenario -- it's Steven Soderbergh's movie Contagion, though without a modicum of its high-tech capacity.

These have been kind of my thoughts too, lately. IMO this disease is much more widespread, at least in West Africa, than they are telling us. There are many cases that are going unreported because the people there don't trust doctors. In just the last two days, there were 56 more reported deaths. Also, other countries are now cutting off all travel into the region. Korean Airlines has cut off all of their flights to the entire continent of Africa.

Using a tactic not seen in centuries; countries cordon off Ebola-hit nations

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is so out of control that governments there have revived a disease-fighting tactic not used in nearly a century: the “cordon sanitaire,” in which a line is drawn around the infected area and no one is allowed out.

Cordons, common in the medieval era of the Black Death, have not been seen since the border between Poland and Russia was closed in 1918 to stop typhus from spreading west. They have the potential to become brutal and inhumane. Centuries ago, in their most extreme form, everyone within the boundaries was left to die or survive, until the outbreak ended.

Troops began cordoning off a large triangle around the area where the borders of three nations most infected by the disease meet. Those nations are Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Fox News even reported that emergency food drops are taking place in the region.

Here's more from the statement above by the author;

Last week, my brilliant Council on Foreign Relations colleague John Campbell, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, warned that spread of the virus inside Lagos -- which has a population of 22 million -- would instantly transform this situation into a worldwide crisis, thanks to the chaos, size, density, and mobility of not only that city but dozens of others in the enormous, oil-rich nation. Add to the Nigerian scenario civil war, national elections, Boko Haram terrorists, and a countrywide doctors' strike -- all of which are real and current -- and you have a scenario so overwrought and frightening that I could not have concocted it even when I advised screenwriter Scott Burns on his Contagion script.

She also states that no drug or vaccine has been effective against Ebola. She states that only Dr. Brantly recovered after receiving one of these experimental drugs and that there is no clear evidence that the drug is what caused his recovery. After all, the disease doesn't kill 100% of its victims. He may have survived on his own accord if he was healthy and had a strong immune system.

The disease seems to be raging across these African nations and it baffles me that there remains nations having full travel with the region. When is this going to stop? When it's too late and the disease has escaped Africa?

I suggest reading the article in its entirety. It's very informative and she seems to know what she's talking about.

Unless it becomes airborne, there's really no reason to worry.

a reply to: Painterz

With the way it has already been spreading in West Africa, could it possibly be airborne?

a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

originally posted by: Painterz
Unless it becomes airborne, there's really no reason to worry.

I disagree completely.

As I posted in another thread:

I, myself, am worried about this. In my job, I interact with about 120 people on a daily basis that have interacted with many others who have also interacted with 100+ other people on a daily basis. That easily becomes thousands of people interactions per day that could spread this in no time without even knowing I've been exposed (which then comes home to my family).

So ya, this worries me.

originally posted by: PLAYERONE01
a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

Peter Piot (the guy who "discovered" ebola) says he'd sit next to a sufferer on the Tube..I trust him over a doom porn author with bills to pay.
What a scientist says
In terms of is this the end- ask yourself one question: Where did Ebola come from?
If Ebola has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet- why has it not happened so far?

a reply to: tinker9917

It's fear-mongering. They WANT you to be afraid. how you deal, is up to you.

I would have been more worried about the H1N1 than Ebola
and that came and went with nothing but hype.
I am much inclined to see this "writter" has a greater interest to promote
the book in this incident and as we know. Doom sells

originally posted by: Jukiodone

originally posted by: PLAYERONE01
a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

In terms of is this the end- ask yourself one question: Where did Ebola come from?
If Ebola has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet- why has it not happened so far?

Who says it has not mutated and is not about to become the new "Black Plague"

The common and most informed opinion on Ebola by any and all medical authorities is that Ebola is NOT airborne. This is a fact as of the time of writing. Whether this changes, given that there are many more infections than usual in previous outbreaks and as such may create vectors previously unseen, is unknown. But it is not airborne ATM.

Transmission The Ebola virus is highly contagious, but is not airborne. Transmission requires close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, as can occur during health-care procedures, home care, or traditional burial practices, which involve the close contact of family members and friends with bodies. In Guinea, around 60% of cases have been linked to these burial practices, with women, who are the principal care-givers, disproportionately affected.

As for fear, read this:

Fear is hard to overcome Six months into the outbreak, fear is proving to be the most difficult barrier to overcome. Fear causes contacts of cases to escape from the surveillance system, families to hide symptomatic loved ones or take them to traditional healers, and patients to flee treatment centres. Fear, and the hostility it can feed, have threatened the security of national and international response teams. Health-care staff fear for their lives. To date, more than 170 health-care workers have been infected and at least 81 have died. Outbreak control is further compromised when fear causes airlines to refuse to transport personal protective equipment and courier services to refuse to transport properly and securely packaged patient samples to a WHO-approved laboratory. Fear has spread well beyond west Africa, leading some to suggest that imported cases, also in wealthy countries, could ignite widespread infections in the general population. In countries with well-developed health systems, such a scenario is highly unlikely, given the epidemiology of the Ebola virus and experiences in past outbreaks.

That is from the WHO website, link below.

WHO Ebola

originally posted by: Chronogoblin
a reply to: tinker9917

It's fear-mongering. They WANT you to be afraid. how you deal, is up to you.

I'm not AFRAID, but I am cautious.

originally posted by: tinker9917

originally posted by: Jukiodone

originally posted by: PLAYERONE01
a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

In terms of is this the end- ask yourself one question: Where did Ebola come from?
If Ebola has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet- why has it not happened so far?

Who says it has not mutated and is not about to become the new "Black Plague"

The black plague was also in a time where nutrition and medicine were almost non existent
and besides.. I think I saw someone mention the Ebola virus has a patent..so IF that is true
it probably wont mutate unless they want it to..

a reply to: Rezlooper

Great catch. F&S& ...but about those quarantines...

Struggling Liberia Creates "plague villages" in Ebola Epicentre

To try to control the Ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa, Liberia has quarantined remote villages at the epicentre of the virus, evoking the "plague villages" of medieval Europe that were shut off from the outside world.

With few food and medical supplies getting in, many abandoned villagers face a stark choice: stay where they are and risk death or skip quarantine, spreading the infection further in a country ill-equipped to cope.

….Aid workers say that if support does not arrive soon, locals in villages like Boya, where the undergrowth is already spreading among the houses, will simply disappear down jungle footpaths.

"If sufficient medication, food and water are not in place, the community will force their way out to fetch food and this could lead to further spread of the virus," said Tarnue Karbbar, a worker for charity Plan International based in Lofa County.

….The World Health Organization and Liberian officials have warned that, with little access by healthcare workers to the remote areas hidden deep in rugged jungle zones, the actual toll may be far higher.

….Neighbours Guinea and Sierra Leone have placed checkpoints in Gueckedou and Kenema, creating a cross-border quarantine zone of roughly 20,000 square km, about the size of Wales, called the "unified sector".

Within this massive area, Information Minister Lewis Brown described more intense quarantine measures in Lofa county, ring fencing areas where up to 70 percent of people are infected.

"Access to these hot spots is now cut off except for medical workers," he said in an interview this week.

….Yacouba Sylla, the driver of a motorbike taxi in the border area, also complained of a slump in his business.

"Ebola hasn't arrived here, but it is going to kill us anyway before it gets here, as we will die of hunger," he said.

originally posted by: Painterz
Unless it becomes airborne, there's really no reason to worry.

The ignorance is strong with this one...

originally posted by: Lil Drummerboy

originally posted by: tinker9917

originally posted by: Jukiodone

originally posted by: PLAYERONE01
a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

In terms of is this the end- ask yourself one question: Where did Ebola come from?
If Ebola has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet- why has it not happened so far?

Who says it has not mutated and is not about to become the new "Black Plague"

The black plague was also in a time where nutrition and medicine were almost non existent
and besides.. I think I saw someone mention the Ebola virus has a patent..so IF that is true
it probably wont mutate unless they want it to..

You missed my point. The black plague was caused by a bacteria the traveled through rodents/fleas. Had nothing to do with nutrition. Ebola is a virus contracted through contact (hopefully not airborn), but still has no cure or vaccine.

My point is, that this could wipe out 2/3 of the population over a few years, just like the black plague did.

originally posted by: Rezlooper Haven't there already been some cases in Lagos?

it would appear so; www.theguardian.com...

eta - well at least 1

originally posted by: Jukiodone

originally posted by: PLAYERONE01
a reply to: Painterz

And of course your extensive qualifications and background in this field will carry enough weight to call Laurie Garrett out on this i guess

Peter Piot (the guy who "discovered" ebola) says he'd sit next to a sufferer on the Tube..I trust him over a doom porn author with bills to pay.
What a scientist says
In terms of is this the end- ask yourself one question: Where did Ebola come from?
If Ebola has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet- why has it not happened so far?

What's happening now hasn't happened before. And where does it say it has the ability to wipe out every human on the planet? I've never heard that one before. I've heard that it has a fatality rate of about 50% to 90% depending on the area I suppose, depending on hygiene. And, the guy who discovered it is just as full of crap as anybody to make a statement like that. Yea, like he'd actually sit next to an Ebola sufferer. He lost my faith in anything he has to say when he makes that statement, as if Ebola is nothing but a common cold.

originally posted by: Rezlooper

Haven't there already been some cases in Lagos?

originally posted by: RoScoLaz4

originally posted by: Rezlooper Haven't there already been some cases in Lagos?

it would appear so; www.theguardian.com...

eta - well at least 1

There is 11 confirmed and 1 suspected (2 days ago).

Nigeria’s small number of cases — 11 confirmed and one suspected

NY Times

a reply to: skitzspiricy

But how many of those are actually in Lagos, a city of 22 million people? Hopefully, these 11 cases aren't all there in Lagos, or that may be pretty hard to contain in a city of that size.

originally posted by: Rezlooper
a reply to: skitzspiricy

But how many of those are actually in Lagos, a city of 22 million people? Hopefully, these 11 cases aren't all there in Lagos, or that may be pretty hard to contain in a city of that size.

It's in the link i provided;

The cases have occurred in Lagos, a city with 20 million people, many of them jammed into teeming slums where the virus could become unstoppable.

NY Times