Patient with Ebola Like Symptoms Reported at Howard Univ. Hospital in DC!!!!!!

a reply to: jtma508

I do remember...and there is a huge difference between ebola and h1n1...the fact that 1000s have already died in africa is a big deal already...unless you are only considering how it will be in the usa. This isn't doom porn for me. This isn't the end of the world...even if the entire world had ebola the human race would still survive, but to think this isn't a major deal is naive.

No matter how unlikely one major mutation could spiral this out of control if it isn't already. It is not just the virus...it is the fact that even in America there are not enough resources to treat it. This is one argument where I hope you are right and I am wrong.

When h1n1 was around it was all over the media...you barely hear about ebola...

I can't say that I am qualified in knowing enough of about stuff like this to say 100% what will or wont happen but I take this as the current number one threat in the world right now. From my own education, prior work and my friends in healthcare.

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: grandmakdw

Now I feel better......

Unfortunately in the case of Ebola

truth hurts

but truth is the only thing that can stop a virus like this

misinformation and misleading information and being Pollyanna about it and saying Meh

will lead to more deaths and not accomplish anything but more deaths

And are people dealing with this man's urine or other bodily fluids?
Ebola is not spread like the flu or the common cold.
Getting do sick and tired of the new topics page being filled with Ebola this and Ebola that!
Look into how it spread

originally posted by: 1curious1
a reply to: ~Lucidity

And I read on the WHO website this am that the virus can live in a man's sperm for up to 70 days AFTER HE IS CURED!!!

This is the story that needs to get out!


www.who.int...

yikes

I have to wonder if Ebola was Strictly transmitted by touch or body fluids then why do people tasked with helping people in quarantine areas wear full gear with air assisted hoods? Airborn not possible huh?? Think again there is more to this issue thats not being told

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

But all the hysteria being discussed is about how it's going to go epidemic in the US. You cannot compare the situation in Africa with that of the U.S. They lack any sort of coordinated epidemiological response, they have extraordinarily short medical supplies of the most basic kind, culturally people are reacting out of superstition and are avoiding medical help being cared for instead by untrained, unprotected family and friends. There is no quarantine. There have been no deaths in the U.S. from ebola and cases present in only a small number of states. Meanwhile, there have been 4 deaths from EV-68, numerous cases of paralysis, and sickness reported in almost all states. In one year there were over 60M cases of H1N1, over 275,000 hospitalizations, and over 13,000 deaths.

All I'm saying is that people are running amok with the whole ebola situation. They're citing cherry-picked information about things they really don't fully understand and are unnecessarily fueling panic. The airborne argument, for example, is a favorite. Could ebola mutate to go airborne? Not impossible but highly unlikely. It could also mutate to make all your hair fall out. The problem with the airborne argument is that ebola does not concentrate in the lungs, is susceptible to exposure to air, and is large and heavy and will not suspend as airborne agents do. Ebola concentrates in the liver. So yes, a symptomatic ebola patient can transmit the disease by coughing or sneezing ON you but you aren't going to become infected by walking through an airport in which the ebola patient sneezed.

This is serious, yes. And needs to be dealt with --- most appropriately in Africa where the problem resides. But there are larger public health risks in this country right now. But people are just ebola-crazy.

a reply to: Lil Drummerboy

Again there ius a HUGE difference between being 'airborne' and having someone cough/sneeze ON you. Hence the positive pressure suits.

a reply to: jtma508

Well said...I heard something to the effect of this...we keep getting these diseases that cry wolf. We overcome them time and time again and let our guard down. One of these times it will be the wolf.

Now add in other factors too like the new cold war, isis, or whatever doom porn you want to add. The difference between the present time and years ago is how far we have gone from being simple.

When power goes out in cuba in a town for a week they light candles, use their solar panels etc to carry on with life. When power goes out in america for a week they kill each other..Look at katrina, hurricane sandy. The bigger they are the harder they fall.

What bothers me is that it isn't being talked about by mainstream media and the cdc enough...I think this is why there is so much speculation here...because it is all we got!

originally posted by: lostbook
Going by the twenty-one day rule, anyone who wants to travel from West Africa to anywhere else in the world should have a mandatory wait time of twenty-one days.

Uh.. but if they are made to wait in those countries for 21 days before traveling they are still in an infected country. They could pick the virus up on the 20th day of waiting. Unless you mean in isolation, but you'd have to isolate so many people it wouldn't be feasible.

a reply to: Rodinus

2 cases? What is the confirmed second case?

I won't be shocked, but i expect the second (and maybe up to 4 other cases) to come from the first confirmed patient's home (where 4 other people lived, and are still living despite it being the place he fell ill and shed plenty of virus). The girlfriend is probably at high risk and anyone that took care of him. I hope they hosed that place down with bleach before they put up curtains over the windows and locked themselves in.

originally posted by: jtma508
a reply to: rockpaperhammock

No. Perhaps you weren't around back when the H1N1 end-of-the-world discussions were flying around ATS. An extremely large number of conditions have 'ebola-like symptoms' and ER's/clinics around the country are handling any patient with these symptoms AND who has recently been in that part of the world as suspect. That's it. Over-abundance of caution given the current climate and especially with the cluster-frack that happened in the Dallas hospital. This is never going to become the widespread crisis that some fear-mongers here (and elsewhere) are whipping it up to be. Ain't gonna happen.

You are wrong/right all at the same time. Ebola is bad but at this stage in the US not a huge deal yet. That being said very few people are looking at the bigger picture.



We tend to overreact in the western world. Hospital staff and governments are going to react to every suspected case in the coming days. Reports from all over the country are going to pour in and panic might start setting in. Financial markets already crumbling might be pushed over the fine line into free fall. Store shelves might start emptying in mass. Truckers might stop driving into certain areas.


What we need to stop this is strong unified leadership starting at the top. The president needs to come out and calm people and the national guard units need to be put on alert. This could escalate in a very real way dear readers.

originally posted by: grandmakdw

Observation: It appears the US CDC is purposely lying to the American public about Ebola.

If it is so hard to catch, then how did Docs in haz mat suits catch it in Africa? They certainly weren't touching patients.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
we need to close our borders to people from infected countries until the pandemic is over,

and to protect ourselves,
shut down everywhere infected people have been in the US for 21 days,
harsh, yes, hurt the economy, probably,

but that is better than millions upon millions of deaths.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as Ebola being used purposely as terrorism:
All they have to do is shave and pretend they are from South America and walk through the southern border. We have let lots of sick people in through the border. Active TB cases have been let in. The new mystery virus that causes a polio like illness Obolio, looks like the origin is the kids from south america.

So all they have to do is shave

walk through the southern border

they can even have a fever and be vomiting

and the US will let them in

if they aren't vomiting

the US will give them a piece of paper and tell them to report to someone, but never follow up

and give them a ticket to anywhere in the US they want to go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Easy easy easy to weaponize Ebola that way. Heard that scenario all over the radio yesterday.

Hi, pleased to meet you! Sorry to quote like this but I really wanted to address some points regarding what you wrote.
First of all, I want to make clear that this is in no way intended to be hurtful, an attack or anything of the like. I just want to clear some things and have a good exchange of opinions.

a) The Hazmat Suits issue. Hazmat Suits are uncomfortable, hot, and only as effective as the person wearing it is with protocols. There is something that seems to be prevalent in all of the ebola threads and that is the idea that infrastructure and technology solve all the problems: that is simply not true. Infrastructure is only as effective as the people using it. Odds are that the doctors that got it did so due to the stress of working non stop in a hostile environment, every day, for long hours and dealing with a population that, frankly, wants them out of there fast. Also, people forget that most of the foreign help in the african countries came from NGOs (Samaritans Purse, Doctors without Borders, Red Cross). All of the NGOs begged for help since february-march onwards and received none. That means that safety material was starting to run out. Second, they cant control all the variables that present themselves dealing with this kind of epidemic. That is why they asked, begged and warned of the storm that was brewing. Odds are that they did not get it because the Hazmat are not safe, but because they were tired, stressed and overwhelmed.

b) The South American issue. I agree that with the actual situation a quarantine period is needed for everyone coming in from the hot zone. That should be applicable in all of the unnafected countries today because it would be the only way of containing this if it keeps spreading. 21 days period quarantine when arriving and then standard isolation to anyone symptomatic that is already on the soil. Why the isolation and not the quarantine for zones? Because to quarantine a zone is a sure way of helping the virus spread. If there is anything that Sierra Leone and Liberia really taught us this time is that quarantine is innefective and counter productive for stopping an epidemic. Isolation is harder, yes, but you actually isolate the virus instead of creating a virus soup with a lot of potential hosts in a closed zone.

Second, to postulate a theory you should research or be informed regarding the parameters you are dealing with, yes? Let's start with the geographical issue. South America is down from Central America. Mexico is part of North America. While population from Mexico is mostly brown or golden skinned, South America was built due to the influx of european inmigration. That means that if you were to visit a country in South America and walked the streets of most of the principal cities, you would find no difference in skin colour than what you would find at your own grocery store. I can assure you, if I was standing besides you, you would not even think I am from South America unless you heard me speak. And then you might be confused by my accent because I learned english listening to The Beatles songs and interviews. Most of South Americans are descendants of spanish and italian inmigrants. That throws the theory of a terrorist attack pretending to come from South America down the drain. Second, if you are talking about terrorist and are refering to muslim terrorists, then you should know that Islam is not predominant, there is hardly muslim people in South America. Actually, almost every country in South America is Roman Catholic Apostolic and, except for two terrorist attacks against Israel institutions (both twenty years ago) in Argentina, there is no terrorism around here except for narcotrafic and human dealing (two criminal dealings that are present in the whole world). Also, it would be far easier for a terrorist to get to the States from Europe than from South America. South America has very little dealings with Africa and no direct flights from there. If you wanted to mount a biological attack from South America odds are that you would be dead before you even got to the States. The trip is too long doing the route West Africa, South America and North America. It is far easier to jump from Africa to Europe and then to America. Plus, no one in its right mind would come to South America expecting good health care =). The terrorist cells existing in South America are guerrilla groups.

There is no pandemic going on right now. There is an epidemic in West Africa and a possible outbreak in the States. Pandemic means that the pathogen has spread over the world or jumps continents so, technically, we could be seeing the beginning of a pandemic right now. But IF we are seeing one, then it is starting in the States. If this grows into a pandemic, then the starting point of it will be West Africa and the big spread will come from the States.

C) Ebola as a bioweapon is not smart. If you want to attack something, you usually want to have control over the attack. The problem with this kind of viruses is that they can't be controlled. That goes for both the American government and the terrorists. None of them would bet on this kind of attack because the danger of it going out of control is way too big and would put in jeopardy the same people planning the attack. Bioterrorism is a danger, yes, but not with this kind of pathogens. And you can say a lot of bad things about terrorists, but if there is anything you can say is that they are not stupid.

So, again, to postulate something you should research the subject from every angle you can get or then you just postulate an idea with no basis.

edit on 3-10-2014 by YodaCoda because: I think this came in bold, trying to correct it.

Do people not remember when Western aid workers first started coming down with Ebola? Suddenly we started getting tons of reports everyday of people in Western countries presenting with "Ebola-like symptoms." To date only one of those cases have turned out to be Ebola and that's Duncan. Because of Duncan Ebola is back in the news. As such the networks are going to cash in on that the same way they always do. Perpetuating unnecessary fear.

The company that makes ZMapp, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has run out of supplies.
www.cnbc.com...

a reply to: Xcalibur254
So far we have a patient in ATL, Dallas, Nebraska, and DC (ebola like symptoms in DC).

originally posted by: Rodinus
a reply to: FamCore

2 cases in the USA and people start going panic stricken and bonkers!!

We in Europe have a lot more to worry about compared to you folks in the USA!

We are much nearer...

Come on... You dont hear about the rest of us here on this massive great planet getting our knickers in a twist!

Take it easy and relax... The weekend is here.

What, US worry? Seen the RSOE map lately? Have a nice winter. "Closer", lol.
RSOE EDIS

a reply to: RunForTheHills

more coming...new one in a georgia jail..just symptoms

www.wsbtv.com...

originally posted by: Lil Drummerboy
I have to wonder if Ebola was Strictly transmitted by touch or body fluids then why do people tasked with helping people in quarantine areas wear full gear with air assisted hoods? Airborn not possible huh?? Think again there is more to this issue thats not being told

The answer is spittle. Go through the alphabet out loud and see what letters are more likely to produce spittle. We speak when we exhale and tiny, almost invisible spittle is always produced to some degree.

If someone is working near a patient's mouth, there is usually always a verbal exchange. I don't want to be too graphic, but the SARS experience showed that health care workers contracted it through spittle in the eyes as they had full gown and gloves as well as face masks.

originally posted by: rockpaperhammock
a reply to: RunForTheHills

more coming...new one in a georgia jail..just symptoms

www.wsbtv.com...

They are saying (in less than 12 hours) that he tested negative and they are "certain he does not have ebola."

He claimed to have traveled from Nairobi (Kenya) first then went to Nigeria then to DC then Atlanta. DC again. Not verified yet.

My question is, why can't they test the two in DC this fast?

originally posted by: RunForTheHills
a reply to: Xcalibur254
So far we have a patient in ATL, Dallas, Nebraska, and DC (ebola like symptoms in DC).

There are six or possibly seven cases of ebola in the U.S., on U.S. soil. One walked in. The others were brought or are being brought in.

The first two brought to Emory in Atlanta. A third unnamed brought to Emory. At one time they were reporting a fourth brought to Emory but he may have gone to Nebraska instead. I am not clear on that. Now the journalist is going to be taken to Nebraska. And then there is the man in Dallas.

The new suspected case at the Atlanta jail they are saying tested negative. The two possible cases in DC are as yet unknown.

So this makes six or seven actual ebola infected people in the U.S. (some "recovered" though the virus can live in some bodily fluid for weeks if not months) and some still ill.