Ebola game changer?

[TheOstrich]

I think it is a game changer - and also that its spreading to a first world country like the US was entirely to be expected. If not this epidemic, then the next. Such is the modern world.

Not good news .... and I hope it doesn't get worse. Even if it doesn't spread, it should be a terrible warning as to what might happen in the future. Hopefully concentrate a few minds .

[victor]

so it appears the public are not being told how this guy travelled to USA

Liberia -Brussels -Frankfurt or Madrid or Paris or London or Singapore airlines direct to Dallas

how many people could he have coughed/sneezed etc

the countries affected in Africa should have had their borders /air sea routes closed

[Diflower]

Suff,
That is very interesting reading. Those facts have not been widely published.
What Rodo has said is very pertinent as i have seen the result of tests on phones, bank notes and coins, and other sites were different people have access and can touch.

No Cruiser it's not at all pertinent to E bola!!
Please bother to read the facts, it is absolutely not contagious by such means.

[Workingman]

Well said Di, and Ossie.

This time it is a virus that is very virulent, but limited in the way it spreads; thankfully. According to best practice it should be containable within a certain area so long as appropriate protocols are adhered to. Let's hope so. That is why the eyes of the world will be on the USA, though it could be France, Belgium, UK..... or any of the old colonial powers. And what about the new colonial power, China?

The movement of people in these countries is far different from that of the towns and villages of W. Africa, and potentially a huge problem - it will be much easier for it to spread in places such as the USA or EU. We might have better facilities to deal with it, but we also have the facilities to allow its spread over a greater area, and to more people very quickly. It might take a day's walk to get from one village to another and back in W. Africa. An infected person can be all over the place, hundreds of miles, in the same time in the West. There is also the chance that we in the West, with our antiseptic cultures, could be more open to attack.

This time it is a virus that is very virulent, but limited in the way it spreads; thankfully. According to best practice it should be containable within a certain area so long as appropriate protocols are adhered to. Let's hope so. The American situation will confirm or deny that.

Next time it could be a flu or SARS Mk2 pandemic, then what?

[Diflower]

s, could be more open to attack.
Next time it could be a flu or SARS Mk2 pandemic, then what?

On The Beach

[TheOstrich]

On The Beach

Oh yes, that film was an absolute classic. And very, very moving. But it was about a nuclear holocaust, wasn't it, rather than a plague?

The movement of people in these countries is far different from that of the towns and villages of W. Africa, and potentially a huge problem - it will be much easier for it to spread in places such as the USA or EU. We might have better facilities to deal with it, but we also have the facilities to allow its spread over a greater area, and to more people very quickly. It might take a day's walk to get from one village to another and back in W. Africa. An infected person can be all over the place, hundreds of miles, in the same time in the West. There is also the chance that we in the West, with our antiseptic cultures, could be more open to attack .......

And we have the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia going on at present as well ......

Next time it could be a flu or SARS Mk2 pandemic, then what?

What should be absolutely understood and absolutely mandatory is that at the first sign we have a plague, anywhere in the world, that area or country should be subject to a complete travel ban.

What we have going on now is a wake-up call .....

[Diflower]

On The Beach

Oh yes, that film was an absolute classic. And very, very moving. But it was about a nuclear holocaust, wasn't it, rather than a plague?

Yes it was, but the cause doesn't much matter. There's a similar Stephen King short story where it's 'just the 'flu'.

[Suff]

What should be absolutely understood and absolutely mandatory is that at the first sign we have a plague, anywhere in the world, that area or country should be subject to a complete travel ban.

What we have going on now is a wake-up call .....

We should no longer learn by our mistakes. Remember suspected plague ships? How many times were populations decimated before this was brought in as a control?

Liberia should have shut down travel much earlier. Modern travel permits much easier passage of the disease. However, if you see the stats that I was linking to, there is an extremely low rate of spread outside of the traditional travel areas locally. These diseases, before modern travel came to Africa for the masses, used to destroy the local village or community but did not spread. Eventually the deaths became so scary that everyone ran away and it burned out.

Today Liberia is doing exactly what the US would do if they had an index case spreading the disease. Could you imagine how difficult it would be to get a full all state travel ban on the US??

We won't see the same level of spread in the US as we did in West Africa simply because this case is so far from the index. The strain he carries is already far less virulent and is already mutating out of it's original form. Only time will tell.

It will only become a wakeup call if we start to see a spread of the disease in the US. Then, I'd guess, there will be panic out of all proportion to the actual incident, fanned by the flames of press revenues. Funnily enough, this is actually what it takes to kill off Ebola. Scare everyone to death, stop them moving or interacting and then get every case to the Hospital where they can be treated by professionals. Only After, of course, an outbreak is detected.

[Workingman]

The name of the victim has been released: Thomas Eric Duncan. The Americans were, IMO, a bit slow in doing this, but at least people can now tell if they were in contact or not. However......

Mr Duncan first went to a Dallas emergency room on 26 September.

But he was sent home even as he informed hospital staff that he was from the epicentre of the African ebola outbreak that has killed thousands of people.

Two days later, he was seen vomiting on the ground outside an apartment complex as he was bundled into an ambulance.

It is not only Sky reporting this, most other media have similar information. That shows a level of complacency which could do great damage. Thankfully the way Ebola is passed on means that id does not go like wildfire. The Americans, in some ways, were very lucky this time.

Dallas Health Authority is saying that 18 people are being monitored - five of them are children. However, they are looking for other contacts of Mr Duncan so that they too can be monitored.

[TheOstrich]

The strain he carries is already far less virulent and is already mutating out of it's original form. Only time will tell.

That's one scenario. This appears to be another ....

The longer the Ebola epidemic continues infecting people unabated the higher the chances it will mutate and become airborne, the UN's Ebola response chief has warned.
Anthony Banbury, the Secretary General's Special Representative, has said there is a 'nightmare' prospect the deadly disease will become airborne if it continues infecting new hosts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... borne.html