Ebola, news and discussion

[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.

[TruTexan]

The latest in Dallas news reports that there will be a Congressional hearing set to investigate he how's and why's of the issues with the spread of Ebola with the Hospital Person in charge and the CDC's Dr. Friedman.

They also transported the newest nurse that's become ill with Ebola to Atlanta to be treated there in a biocontainment hospital that's already been in place. But the thing is, she called the CDC with a low grade fever the day she flew, she had 99.5 degree fever, and asked if she could still fly or not, and someone from the CDC told her she could. This will be investigated as well. She should NOT have flown knowing the protocol for a highly contagious disease exposure that she had, she just should have stayed home, so she not only exposed her family, friends, and fiance, but the innocent other people on the same return flight back to Dallas and on to other areas from there.
There was over 100 people she exposed herself to when she flew, and some have called the CDC and have stated to News here in Dallas that they haven't gotten an answer yet, and there is at least 1 child that was exposed on that flight and now the child and their family are in quarantine. There are several others in the Belton Tx ISD that have been on that flight and the school district there have told the parents to keep their kids home for 21 days, as well as some employers telling employees not to come into work to remain off until the 21 days of waiting period is over for watching for signs and symptoms of Ebola. It seems to me that the CDC dropped the ball when someone there told the nurse she could still fly and so the list continues to grow for exposure. They decontaminated the plane supposedly, a couple of times, but they still used it for several other flights afterwards until the CDC and Frontier Airlines worked together to Ground that plane.

There will be discussion tonight about a decision to send the 1st nurse ill with Ebola to Atlanta as well. They will make that decision known by morning is what the news has said.

A Judge in Dallas is going to get a court to order for a no fly, no public transportation and limit public venues for those remainders of individuals in Dallas and surrounding areas to stop the spread through limited contact with the public as much as possible.
Governor Rick Perry is supposed to Declare a State of Emergency for Texas because of the Ebola outbreak. I haven't seen anything on the news from him though, we'll see tomorrow.

An interview over the phone with the National Union Rep. for Nursing claims that nurses from Texas Presbytarian Hospital, where Duncan 1st went and returned to with Ebola diagnosis the 2nd time, are saying Nurses have told them that there were NO PROTOCOLS, that nurses were left to figure out for themselves how to treat this patient and they had limited PPE type equipment in order to treat this patient with the deadly disease. They've also reported that nurses that had taken care of him, were told to resume other nursing duties with patients and have exposed those patients to Ebola because they(nurses) themselves were exposed to it. They also stated that Duncan was left in a room with other patients while he was sick, for around 5 hours before they even decided to isolate him.

I don't take any of this lightly, but I sure as heck don't think these nurses would be lying about all this to get attention. I think they are trying to anonymously whistle blow this situation and that it's going to come out in the end.

I feel for everyone involved that's been exposed and I wish them well and pray that they don't succumb to this deadly dreaded disease.
I pray for the nursing staff that's tested positive as well.

I don't think this will be over for while , there are too many that have been exposed already: more than 100 on the planes from Vinson's flight to Ohio and to Texas, more than 75 hospital personnel with Duncan and both Nurses that are out self monitoring on paid leave from the hospital, 48 in direct contact with Duncan, 1 direct contact(pham's boyfriend) from Pham, 3 direct contacts with Vinsonin Cleveland(her fiance and family members/friends).
This is just too much exposure for it to be over before it even starts to get bad. The CDC is trying to track down all passengers on the flights she took and has asked that if any of them took certain flights, to please come forward and call the CDC.

I think it was a wise decision on CDC's part to send Vinson to Atlanta to be treated there because certainly shows that the hospital in Dallas doesn't know what it's doing and wants to say it does, yet exposure happened and they haven't contained it. It is wise to limit personnel to treat Ebola patients in a facility suited for taking care of Ebola patients.


ETA .... this is one HUGE chain reaction of a failed system and the outcome is only going to get worse before it gets better.

[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.