Ebola, news and discussion

[SleepyButch]

Originally Posted by TruTexan

How can a hospital allow this sorta thing to happen when they knew this paitient had Ebola or was at the least , suspected to have it? Are they just stupid asses running this hospital? I think they aren't equipped or trained to handle this type of disease obviously. And it pisses me off they haven't been prepared to handle it, knowing that there is practically an epidemic going on in Africa and travel is involved via airlines to all sorts of countries.Talk about population control.........wow just wow.

Hospitals get people with infectious diseases every day. Someone wrote earlier that more people die from the flu. Should all of those nurses who care for those patients be quarantined?

Why would a hospital in Dallas prepare for an Ebola virus outbreak? Africa is a long way from Dallas. I do also believe that the Ebola virus has been around for a significant amount of time. According to the WHO, there were two simultaneous outbreaks in 1976. That was 38 years ago.

The hospital with the outbreak was just the unlucky facility who was chosen by patient zero (Duncan). They probably wish that the he never showed up at their facility. This could be happening anywhere at any hospital. The hospital didn't make the nurse go on a commercial flight. That was her own mistake. I don't always agree with hospital administration but I don't think any of this makes them stupid asses.

Yes, it is the hospitals responsibility to train all of their staff on how to handle infectious diseases in general. For all we know, they do this there but if you are trained on something four months ago (just an example) and it doesn't come up, you tend to forget or you tend to get careless. Hell you can still be careless. If someone is vomiting on your protective gear and you take it off, you might get some bodily fluid on you. It happens. Nurses contract HIV/AIDs in this same manner. They contract all types of diseases this way. Not all facilities can have what the CDC has with the showers and air tight rooms and such. It's unfortunate, because they should have this but that's extremely costly.

I truly believe there will be others infected and probably in the Dallas area at that hospital. It's a virus. It spreads. People do the best that they can. I'm just not going to live my life in fear at this point and blame people when I'm not the one having to go through the ordeal. I also think that when you have an abundance of people reporting on a subject, facts can get misconstrued. Keep that in mind.

Anyway, just my opinion....

[MsTinkerbelly]

For a moment i got caught-up in the statistic of 22,000 people a year dying from flu, but i think in the case of Ebola we might be comparing apples to oranges.

With the flu, most people get a flu shot and they get through the season fine, some people get the flu With/without flu shots and they come through just fine. The people most likely to die are the very young, the very old and the immune compromised. With Ebola, there is no vaccine; Young, old, sick and well...all are at the same risk of 50-90% DEATH rate.

The flu means you get sick, and in most cases you are home with family/without family, you recover and life goes on. With Ebola, you are isolated, your house is decontaminated, your pets are isolated...you will probably die unless you are one of the lucky ones, especially if there is an epidemic and there are not enough people to treat the sick.

No, do not be fooled into thinking this is the same as the flu...not yet time for panic, but I'm scared. Why isn't our Government ready?

[SleepyButch]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

For a moment i got caught-up in the statistic of 22,000 people a year dying from flu, but i think in the case of Ebola we might be comparing apples to oranges.

With the flu, most people get a flu shot and they get through the season fine, some people get the flu With/without flu shots and they come through just fine. The people most likely to die are the very young, the very old and the immune compromised. With Ebola, there is no vaccine; Young, old, sick and well...all are at the same risk of 50-90% DEATH rate.

The flu means you get sick, and in most cases you are home with family/without family, you recover and life goes on. With Ebola, you are isolated, your house is decontaminated, your pets are isolated...you will probably die unless you are one of the lucky ones, especially if there is an epidemic and there are not enough people to treat the sick.

No, do not be fooled into thinking this is the same as the flu...not yet time for panic, but I'm scared. Why isn't our Government ready?

I think it's promising that people are surviving. I think it's promising that they gave the first nurse in Dallas the blood of the doctor who survived so she could get his antibodies. She is improving. Whether that is from his blood or her own immune system, who knows. It could be both. Hopefully it will be only a matter of time before the powers at be whoever that may be are able to get a vaccine for this as well.

On Monday, a clinical trial on humans began for the Canadian-developed Ebola vaccine. We'll see how that goes.

It will be interesting to see what happens here in the next few days.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by SleepyButch

I think it's promising that people are surviving. I think it's promising that they gave the first nurse in Dallas the blood of the doctor who survived so she could get his antibodies. She is improving. Whether that is from his blood or her own immune system, who knows. It could be both. Hopefully it will be only a matter of time before the powers at be whoever that may be are able to get a vaccine for this as well.

On Monday, a clinical trial on humans began for the Canadian-developed Ebola vaccine. We'll see how that goes.

It will be interesting to see what happens here in the next few days.

Yes, with better care in the west there is a better chance of survival, IF this does not get too big to contain. With the need for isolation and decontamination, we could see this become too big, very fast.

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

For a moment i got caught-up in the statistic of 22,000 people a year dying from flu, but i think in the case of Ebola we might be comparing apples to oranges.

With the flu, most people get a flu shot and they get through the season fine, some people get the flu With/without flu shots and they come through just fine. The people most likely to die are the very young, the very old and the immune compromised. With Ebola, there is no vaccine; Young, old, sick and well...all are at the same risk of 50-90% DEATH rate.

The flu means you get sick, and in most cases you are home with family/without family, you recover and life goes on. With Ebola, you are isolated, your house is decontaminated, your pets are isolated...you will probably die unless you are one of the lucky ones, especially if there is an epidemic and there are not enough people to treat the sick.

No, do not be fooled into thinking this is the same as the flu...not yet time for panic, but I'm scared. Why isn't our Government ready?

I was the one who referenced the 22,000 flu deaths. If you re-read what I said, I was not comparing the two diseases at all, I was comparing the level of media hysteria per death in the US. Incidentally, those 22,000 did not experience a peaceful recovery at home with loved ones. They died. The death rate between the two diseases is very different and ebola is clearly more lethal if contracted but dead is still dead.

I think the why and how of hospital preparation as it is (not idealized) was well addressed by SleapyButch.

Originally Posted by Kelt

I am having a bit of a problem understanding some of the reactions in the US to problems controlling an infectious disease...
<snip>
When I watched the video interview attached to the story out of Kansas I was glad that the Dr pointed out that 22 thousand people in the US died of the flu last year and yet folks are blasé about even getting inoculated against it. He also put up the thought that if 22 thousand people died of Ebola there would be rioting in the streets. I agree.

[Jesse]

Check this new website out!
"EbolaDeeply.org is a nonprofit “impact journalism” project that aims to provide better information on the current Ebola outbreak to Western media, while providing health information and alerts to rural African communities. It was designed to give perspective on the outbreak by aggregating news, data, analysis and expert opinion. EbolaDeeply was founded by CNN anchorwoman Isha Sesay, who is from Sierra Leone, and Lara Setrakian, founder of NewsDeeply and SyriaDeeply. "

http://www.eboladeeply.org/

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Check this new website out!
"EbolaDeeply.org is a nonprofit “impact journalism” project that aims to provide better information on the current Ebola outbreak to Western media, while providing health information and alerts to rural African communities. It was designed to give perspective on the outbreak by aggregating news, data, analysis and expert opinion. EbolaDeeply was founded by CNN anchorwoman Isha Sesay, who is from Sierra Leone, and Lara Setrakian, founder of NewsDeeply and SyriaDeeply. "

http://www.eboladeeply.org/

Thanks Jesse, this looks promising, the executive summary seems quite thorough.

Thanks for the source links too, their outbound links seem to be credible as well.

[Jesse]

You're welcome, Kelt. Hopefully, we will hear some semblance of truth from this site. I am over the media drama.

Originally Posted by Kelt

Thanks Jesse, this looks promising, the executive summary seems quite thorough.

Thanks for the source links too, their outbound links seem to be credible as well.

[firegal]

This is an example of the russian roulette that is played and has been for a very long time.

The risk benefit... all based on money/cost.

If there was a small pox outbreak in any state there isnt enough vaccines available {again decisions based on $] to give to all that would possibly be exposed, they would prioritize..... how ever they decide.

This is an example of one where there is a vaccine and because it hasnt been a issue [in there eyes] they dont ensure there is enough on hand due to cost and shelf life and storage.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by Kelt

I was the one who referenced the 22,000 flu deaths. If you re-read what I said, I was not comparing the two diseases at all, I was comparing the level of media hysteria per death in the US. Incidentally, those 22,000 did not experience a peaceful recovery at home with loved ones. They died. The death rate between the two diseases is very different and ebola is clearly more lethal if contracted but dead is still dead.

I think the why and how of hospital preparation as it is (not idealized) was well addressed by SleapyButch.

I did mention that the 22,000 died, not sure where you got peaceful recovery? I pointed out that most people get the flu and can handle it at home. I compared it to Ebola where everyone needs medical care, probably as an inpatient in a hospital. I still think that the hysteria stems from a disease we (general population) know little about, and IMO we are not currently equipped to handle in mass quantities.

I compared the flu to Ebola in an effort to show why I (read I) was more concerned/scared regarding a possible Ebola outbreak.

[traumaqueen]

Originally Posted by SleepyButch

The hospital with the outbreak was just the unlucky facility who was chosen by patient zero (Duncan). They probably wish that the he never showed up at their facility. This could be happening anywhere at any hospital. The hospital didn't make the nurse go on a commercial flight. That was her own mistake. I don't always agree with hospital administration but I don't think any of this makes them stupid asses.

Yes, it is the hospitals responsibility to train all of their staff on how to handle infectious diseases in general. For all we know, they do this there but if you are trained on something four months ago (just an example) and it doesn't come up, you tend to forget or you tend to get careless. Hell you can still be careless. If someone is vomiting on your protective gear and you take it off, you might get some bodily fluid on you. It happens. Nurses contract HIV/AIDs in this same manner. They contract all types of diseases this way. Not all facilities can have what the CDC has with the showers and air tight rooms and such. It's unfortunate, because they should have this but that's extremely costly.

Nailed it... protocols and systems do not withstand the failure of a person to exercise good judgement. A breach in a PPE protocol can be understandable due to poor or lapsed training... repeated training and extensive measures can be taken to make up for that. Hopping on a commercial flight as a medical professional undergoing self monitoring/reporting - is poor judgement. Massive difference.

[cricket26]

all the comments are great and because we are all half way intelligent people we know this all comes down to the $$

the nurses in this situation are heroes and for them to request working conditions necessary to preserve their own lives as well as their patients lives is not too much to ask...no matter what the cost...

there will be a meeting tomorrow at 2pm to discuss a possible declaration of emergency by governor rick perry which may bring much needed federal funds