outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

how about this madness

http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/09/04/illegal-immigrant-related-pandemic-diseases-are-appearing-in-the-us/

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/the_invasion_of_enterovirus_evd68.html

meanwhile in dallas officials seem to be handling things well

from cnn.com

Cleanup delayed
As concerns grow over how many people he may have exposed to the deadly virus, a plan to sanitize the apartment was delayed late Thursday.
Brad Smith of the Cleaning Guys, the company hired to sanitize the apartment, said they do not have the proper permits to transport hazardous waste on Texas highways.
Smith said authorities sent them away late Thursday before they entered the apartment and told them to come back with proper permits. It's unclear how long that will take.
"The permit is being processed through DOT (Department of Transportation) because it is a special permit," Smith said.
"This is a unique situation. Once awarded our hazmat teams will be allowed back inside to do their jobs."

CNN: Dr. Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia University's school of public health, called the handling of the quarantine "hair raising."

<3 cnn.com

EBOLA IN DC & MARYLAND

UNNECESSARY IRONIC ALL-CAPS HAVE INFECTED ILX

Let me know when DC ebola fatalities exceeds http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/traffic-fatalities

RIP Thomas Eric Duncan

My office sent out an Ebola advisory note to everyone today advising that we don't travel to countries with outbreaks. Thanks for the tip guys! I guess I should reconsider that vacation to Liberia.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O4ADBA8

mmhmm

I mean, ebola is transmitted through fluid contact, so it might, or it might just make you a prepper

How long can ebola just hang out on surfaces and remain contagious?

Also, have any of the usual right wing subjects started calling him Barack Ebola?

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/obola-explained

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/By-n99jIMAESe_o.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/us/texas-health-worker-tests-positive-for-ebola.html

yup

Are ebola patients always protected by dancing police officers?

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/10/13/us/13ebola1-web/13ebola1-web-articleLarge.jpg

that's like a mile from where i used to live. ebola pls

Plane grounded at lax for over two hours now bc a passenger is displaying flu-like symptoms and has had contact w someone from Africa. A twitter user @gingerhazing is one of those stuck on the plane and is livetweeting it

twitter user and up and comic comics artist! Not to diminish her ebola paranoia liveblogging contributions

Yes after posting that I swiped left on her profile and found that out. lol at how out of touch with my own field I am.

All clear I guess-- moral: do not barf in public if you or people around you have anywhere you need to be anytime soon

boy, do some people really mistrust the federal government

and/or racist

stop me if you've heard this one

"they're doing it on purpose to seize power during a crisis"

or this one

"obama's endangering american lives because he identifies with africans more than americans"

oy.

i wonder if someone at the hospital didn't follow protocol, or if the protocols were lacking. either way: scary. feel terrible for the nurse.

the hospital claims she was, but they've been pretty disgustingly dishonest about a few things already so it's hard to take their word for it. i think i read something earlier today that said the CDC was disputing that this was the case. (and not to get too realpolitik, but i found it pretty shocking that the CDC would call out the hospital like that so quickly.)

that said it should be understood that caring for patients with ebola is not risk-free and that adherence to guidelines minimizes the risks of transmission but does not eliminate them. viruses are small and can thwart event the best-laid plans. even removing protective gear can be hazardous -- in fact it's thought that this is where a large part of the danger lies, in exposing oneself while taking off contaminated PPE

@gingerhazing says it turns out it was just a scare, passenger does not have ebola symptoms other than vomiting, did not actually have contact with anyone from west africa just someone from south africa (miscommunication).

I was actually pondering how these workers can safely remove the suits, because whenever I use cleaning gloves I puzzle over how to take them off without just getting the same bleach on me that I was trying to avoid all along. Do they take some kind of shower in the gear first?

iirc they spray the suits down with bleach solution before they take them off. and i think the way they take off the gloves and booties is to peel them off by rolling them inside out from the ends. there's probably some similar principle in how they get the suits off.

here

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/pdf/ebola-ppe-cleaning-crews.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/ppe-poster.pdf

the thing with these things is that adherence is crucial to minimizing risk, but in practice it's just not realistic. there will be lapses. it's incredibly fatiguing to do over and over, and humans will make mistakes, even if their lives and the lives of their patients depend on doing it right

cf The Checklist Manifesto

Though I don't doubt that the people treating the ebola patient used every tool available to minimize their exposure risk.

16 Members of Doctors Without Borders Infected with Ebola, Nine Dead

read today the number of new cases could reach 10k/week by december

that's pretty scary

1918 flu pandemic still scarier imo

bubonic plague still scarier imo

cool contest guys

ya i was beng tongue in cheek if not obvious

plagues POO

Last night a guy on the train got up, put his umbrella on an empty seat, went out between the train cars, and proceeded to loudly vomit for about three stops. I guess that was preferable to throwing up in the train but I wonder about the people walking below.

― Immediate Follower (NA), Wednesday, October 15, 2014 2:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ding ding ding - we have a winner for Chicago Ebola vector

― BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, October 15, 2014 2:48 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NPR's man in Texas, speaking to the BBC, pretty squarely put the failure to contain ebola in Dallas (to whatever extent) at the feet of the Fed gov, specifically the CDC. This is one thing I do not want to federal gov't to sleep on and get wrong, the way they do with everything else. Which makes me realize, yes, we are all doomed.

btw the NYT had a story about how the Liberian military is trying to "rebrand" themselves by being helpful in this crisis, which i guess is necessary if you're best known for shooting govt officials.

not sure i understand why this is the CDC's fault

Because they apparently left it up to the local hospital to handle it without providing much (any?) support or establishing/enforcing standard guidelines for putting on, taking off or cleaning equipment/suits.

For example, apparently in Africa the procedure is no one puts on or takes off protective gear without a trained third party witness present. This was not happening in Dallas, not least because I don't think anyone there was specifically trained in current ebola procedure.

the CDC has been issuing guidelines on what to do since practically day 1 ... easily googleable

but is oversight of that hospital the CDC's job or is that the texas health departments?