North Texas Patient Tested for Ebola Virus

[KingDL1]

It should not have anything to do with politics period, this is a bad disease and if you read up on it is a lot worse and easy to spread than the CDC spokesmen have been saying. You can be infected by any fluid a person carrying the disease has if you are exposed. Even on the CDC website the technical description is much worse than the damage control being delivered in the news.

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

I get it now, CDC = government agency, distrust of government, yada yada..

[Green P1]

I bet there will be a dude with Ebola at Apogee next home game.

[Coffee and TV]

[KingDL1]

Well the next home game is what 18 days away, hopefully they will have this thing knocked out by then. If Ebola spreads people may avoid any large gatherings.

[TheTastyGreek]

Well the next home game is what 18 days away, hopefully they will have this thing knocked out by then. If Ebola spreads people may avoid any large gatherings.

If you don't have funnels available at your tailgate for chugging Ebola patient urine, I'm not even showing up.

[KingDL1]

If you don't have funnels available at your tailgate for chugging Ebola patient urine, I'm not even showing up.

That is pretty dark.

I will offer you my balls

[bstnsportsfan3]

That is pretty dark.

I will offer you my balls

No one can turn down Tony's balls for anything....ever

[oldguystudent]

That is pretty dark.

I will offer you my balls

Funnels? Balls? Ebola Urine? I'm sensing huge things for the State Fair next year!

[MeanGreenTexan]

Funnels? Balls? Ebola Urine? I'm sensing huge things for the State Fair next year!

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Unless you have a close relationship with this individual, you are probably fine.

.

The problem is the word "probably"....

[forevereagle]

.

The problem is the word "probably"....

You're right, my choice of words indicate that we can now begin to panic.

[That_Guy_Arlo]

Yeah, not really worried about this at all. Feel bad for the guy that caught it though, I hope he's able to make a full recovery.

[KingDL1]

It is getting more interesting 100 people now on watch list, when the ambulance picked the guy up he was vomiting everywhere on the way to and in the parking lot. Wonder how far that was tracked around on shoes and what not. The patient knew he likely had Ebola before he left Liberia and thought US was his only option. If he lives does he go to jail for that?

[Cerebus]

We are all much more likely to be killed in traffic than from Ebola. I would wager to guess at least one order of magnitude more likely. At least one.

In other words, stop worrying about this guy and start worrying about that dipshit texting and driving.

[FirefightnRick]

Yeah, not really worried about this at all.

Then I guess we'll see you down at Presbyterian Hospital to volunteer to help out, right?

Rick

[FirefightnRick]

UN Ebola Chief concerned it could go airborne.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2778022/UN-Ebola-chief-raises-nightmare-prospect-virus-mutate-airborne.html

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.

His comments come as organisations battling the crisis in West Africa warn that the international community has just four weeks to stop it before it spirals 'completely out of control'.

Now what is this guy so worried about? Doesn't he read GMG.com?

Rick

[greenminer]

It is getting more interesting 100 people now on watch list, when the ambulance picked the guy up he was vomiting everywhere on the way to and in the parking lot. Wonder how far that was tracked around on shoes and what not. The patient knew he likely had Ebola before he left Liberia and thought US was his only option. If he lives does he go to jail for that?

I'm guessing a lot of these 100 are precautionary. They're going to be overly cautious to contain it, and I don't blame them.

I know snot and saliva is on the list of how this virus can spread, but isn't the primary mode of transmission via blood? It seems unlikely that it would be confined to Africa for so long if it were a serious threat to transmit via a sneeze or cough.

I think it's too early to worry, but I'm not going to join others around here and make dismissive jokes either.

[TheTastyGreek]

UN Ebola Chief concerned it could go airborne.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2778022/UN-Ebola-chief-raises-nightmare-prospect-virus-mutate-airborne.html

Now what is this guy so worried about? Doesn't he read GMG.com?

Meanwhile, Vincent Racaniello, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, says:

When it comes to viruses, it is always difficult to predict what they can or cannot do. It is instructive, however, to see what viruses have done in the past, and use that information to guide our thinking. Therefore we can ask: has any human virus ever changed its mode of transmission?

The answer is no. We have been studying viruses for over 100 years, and we’ve never seen a human virus change the way it is transmitted.

HIV-1 has infected millions of humans since the early 1900s. It is still transmitted among humans by introduction of the virus into the body by sex, contaminated needles, or during childbirth.

Hepatitis C virus has infected millions of humans since its discovery in the 1980s. It is still transmitted among humans by introduction of the virus into the body by contaminated needles, blood, and during birth.

There is no reason to believe that Ebola virus is any different from any of the viruses that infect humans and have not changed the way that they are spread.

I am fully aware that we can never rule out what a virus might or might not do. But the likelihood that Ebola virus will go airborne is so remote that we should not use it to frighten people. We need to focus on stopping the epidemic, which in itself is a huge job

In one corner, a political science major and U.N. appointee, who has no medical background, and has been on the job for a whopping 24 days. Who qualifies his statements by saying things like "incredibly unlikely".

Meanwhile, the guy who has literally written the book on how viruses work says that change to airborne transmission is unprecedented in human virus history.

Replace the words "airborne transmission" with "climate change", and tell me how seriously you'd take the U.N. guy's assessment.

[KingDL1]

I'm guessing a lot of these 100 are precautionary. They're going to be overly cautious to contain it, and I don't blame them.

I know snot and saliva is on the list of how this virus can spread, but isn't the primary mode of transmission via blood? It seems unlikely that it would be confined to Africa for so long if it were a serious threat to transmit via a sneeze or cough.

I think it's too early to worry, but I'm not going to join others around here and make dismissive jokes either.

Not that I have seen, all bodily fluids including sweat. From the World Health Organization website:

Infection occurs from direct contact through broken skin or mucous membranes with the blood, or other bodily fluids or secretions (stool, urine, saliva, semen) of infected people. Infection can also occur if broken skin or mucous membranes of a healthy person come into contact with environments that have become contaminated with an Ebola patient’s infectious fluids such as soiled clothing, bed linen, or used needles.

More than 100 health-care workers have been exposed to the virus while caring for Ebola patients. This happens because they may not have been wearing personal protection equipment or were not properly applying infection prevention and control measures when caring for the patients. Health-care providers at all levels of the health system – hospitals, clinics, and health posts – should be briefed on the nature of the disease and how it is transmitted, and strictly follow recommended infection control precautions.

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/

3. Who is most at risk?

During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are:

• health workers;
• family members or others in close contact with infected people;
• mourners who have direct contact with the bodies of the deceased as part of burial ceremonies.

More research is needed to understand if some groups, such as immuno-compromised people or those with other underlying health conditions, are more susceptible than others to contracting the virus.

Exposure to the virus can be controlled through the use of protective measures in clinics and hospitals, at community gatherings, or at home.

[CaribbeanGreen]

Meanwhile, Vincent Racaniello, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, says:

In one corner, a political science major and U.N. appointee, who has no medical background, and has been on the job for a whopping 24 days. Who qualifies his statements by saying things like "incredibly unlikely".

Meanwhile, the guy who has literally written the book on how viruses work says that change to airborne transmission is unprecedented in human virus history.

Replace the words "airborne transmission" with "climate change", and tell me how seriously you'd take the U.N. guy's assessment.

This is like the Georgia Tech/Cumberland of posts.

[TheTastyGreek]

This is like the Georgia Tech/Cumberland of posts.

I didn't mean for it to be combative... This whole thing can be pretty terrifying if you let it get to you.

But, I'm about as worried that Ebola will mutate to become airborne (in the medical sense, not in the literal sense that coughing or sneezing sprays infectious droplets) as I am that it will become sentient, get elected president, and start a nuclear war with Russia. Both are conceivable in the most theoretical, "but, WHAT IF??" sense... But no human transmitted virus has done either in the past, and from a stochastics perspective... I'm not betting on either. But, I'm more of a Bayesian than a frequentist, so I wouldn't be so bold as to say either is absolutely impossible.

Ebola is plenty scary as it is. Some non-doctor idiot doesn't need to make it scarier just because he's working for the UN and coordinated earthquake and tsunami response efforts before.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Seems to me Ebola, SARS, West Nile, H1N1, etc... are all plenty deadly if not treated properly, but apparently Western Medicine has treatment plans for them (as seen with the speedy recovery of the Medical Missionary who came back and was cured in Atlanta within a few days).

Ebola has the terror advantage though of a fear-mongering fiction movie that did well at the box office years ago.

[oldguystudent]

Something very odd about me. I don't seem to possess a sense of fear. At least not in the sense of imminent danger. I do fear long term insolvency and the like, but I mean dark alleys (happened), strange lands (happened), terrorists (might've been accused in a foreign airport once), guns held to my ribcage demanding the $15 in my wallet (happened), waking up in holding cells in countries where I can't even read let alone speak (just...don't ask), being within a mile of the epicenter of a 7.1 earthquake (the ground liquified), jumping on top of my girlfriend to shield her from shards of falling glass during a different 6.7 earthquake (I never lay naked in bed under a window again), finding myself in a battle of honor on the street 10 (them) against 2 (us) (actually enjoyed that one), or watching never a snap under center high school football in a rickety middle school stadium (ok. it scares me to go back to that).

So maybe it'll be the cause of my imminent untimely demise, but I feel zero concern for this ebola thing. Zero. None. Nada.

I'm no hero. I'm probably just stupid and destined for an early checkout. (Let's face it, I'm actually immortal against my will)

[forevereagle]

waking up in holding cells in countries where I can't even read let alone speak (just...don't ask)

But now I really, REALLY want to.