From this very thread: i think it's key that if you're around a patient in the worst stages of the disease—as health-care workers are going to be—they are emitting lots of fluids, and those fluids are likely to contain the ebola virus.
it probably seems like it's more contagious than it actually is since we don't read news stories about the 100s of medical professionals working in west africa who don't get ebola.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Monday, October 27, 2014 8:27 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Orson Wellies (in orbit), Thursday, 30 October 2014 17:08 (nine years ago) link
Africa is full of overcrowded public transport — buses, minivans and some trains. There are no known instances of transmission in those environments. On July 20, a dying Liberian-American flew to Nigeria and was vomiting on the plane. All 200 people aboard were monitored; none fell ill.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/ebola-ask-well-spread-public-transit/
― schlump, Thursday, 30 October 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link
So, what you are trying to say here is that rubbing infected vomit into open sores is the only known method of ebola transmission? Or are you still only saying that the probablility of contracting ebola through proximity to infected vomit is fairly low, because I acknowledge that. I also acknowledge that the very best way to prevent the spread of an infectious disease is to reduce the reservoir of infected individuals as much as possible, which means that Africa is where 99.5% of the effort needs to be concentrated.
But, it would be nice if someone would clearly explain how those very few medical practitioners, who knew they are being exposed to live ebola virus and who were using best-practice protective measures, managed to contract it anyway. Because I am fairly sure that these low-probability cases represent an avenue of infection that a) exists and b) is difficult to prevent 100% of the time through the prescribed protective measures.
You can't just hand wave away these cases and insist that 'you can't get ebola unless you're extraordinarily careless or stupid.' These cases prove that contention is false.
― oh no! must be the season of the rich (Aimless), Thursday, 30 October 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
the point is those doctors/nurses were directly treating people who were in final stages of the disease producing huge amounts of fluids, exponentially greater risk for infecting others and those are not the kind of people who can sneak out to Williamsburg on the subway to go bowling they will be p much incapacitated already
― anonanon, Thursday, 30 October 2014 17:57 (nine years ago) link
IDK, I like to get a little incapacitated when I go to Brooklyn Bowl too
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:04 (nine years ago) link
― anonanon, Thursday, October 30, 2014 2:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
nyer piece - last week? week before? - was strong on detailing the conditions in overwhelmed clinics; otm
― schlump, Thursday, 30 October 2014 20:08 (nine years ago) link
OMG! Breaking news!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/maine-pizzeria-awaits-nod-police-deliver-pizza-ebola/story?id=26574508
Stay tuned for our panel discussion with 3 noted pizza experts an a 6-page thinkpiece in our weekend edition.
― StanM, Friday, 31 October 2014 07:22 (nine years ago) link
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/11/02/potential-ebola-patient-being-tested-at-duke-results-monday-morning/2/
The Associated Press and other press outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed.
Even though widespread panic gets them all those nice clicks they like so much?
― StanM, Wednesday, 5 November 2014 04:43 (nine years ago) link
want to share a couple of articles i've read over the past couple of days that i think were very strong
there's this from the NYT, which only mentions ebola as a means of illustrating the larger point of the way the public misperceives health threats and the deleterious effects on policy this can have, but is a very good read. the author cites and links to some of the work of lisa rosenbaum, who writes the clearest, most insightful stuff on the human side of medicine this side of atul gawande
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/emotion-is-not-the-best-medicine-ebola-case-further-shows/?ref=health
then there's this (free) essay in the new england journal of medicine, written by a couple of HIV/AIDS activists, describing their reaction to the ebola hysteria. i wasn't around for most of the worst of the AIDS scare firsthand, but the ugliness of that time is one of the first things i think about when i see some of the more troubling responses to ebola's arrival in america
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1413425?query=TOC#t=article
― k3vin k., Friday, 7 November 2014 04:44 (nine years ago) link
hey so what happened? haven't heard a peep about EBOLA since, oh, last Tuesday.
― sexxx attic (will), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:27 (nine years ago) link
everybody got sick and died
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:28 (nine years ago) link
it's just ~so weird~
― sexxx attic (will), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:29 (nine years ago) link
you can still panic if you want to
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:29 (nine years ago) link
Crap, now my Ebola commemorative plates are as worthless as my Franklin Mint Benghazi Coins and my Ground Zero Mosque pewter figurine chess set.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:33 (nine years ago) link
sounds like things aren't going well in Mali right now, but I guess it doesn't matter since no one in the US is sick
― Free Me's Electric Trumpet (Moodles), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:36 (nine years ago) link
Death toll has passed the 5000 mark.
― how's life, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
yeah pardon my glibness upthread. the media's boredom w/ ebola in the last 7 days is offensive on multiple levels.
― sexxx attic (will), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:46 (nine years ago) link
white people etc
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
alas no surprise. Dr Spenser's press conference in NY seemed to come off well tho (except for de Blasio comparing the health workers to the US military cuz you know "HELPING" PEOPLE).
― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:50 (nine years ago) link
They're just deliberately avoiding unnecessary panic by not turning every suspected case into a headline. Which is a good thing + food for the conspiracy crowd simultaneously, I suppose.
― StanM, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 20:07 (nine years ago) link
World Health Organization trials show new Ebola vaccine to be highly effective
― Lee626, Friday, 31 July 2015 12:24 (nine years ago) link
it's over!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35308743
― goole, Thursday, 14 January 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link
maybe not...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/01/15/ebola-case-reported-in-sierra-leone-one-day-after-who-declared-the-outbreak-over/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_ebola-920am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
― sleeve, Friday, 15 January 2016 16:44 (eight years ago) link
they were pretty straightforward about the fact that they expected some recidivism
― Copy rights, pleasing all star wars fans, hiring professionals. (forksclovetofu), Friday, 15 January 2016 16:45 (eight years ago) link
great roundup from huffington post here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ebola-panic-us_us_56fabbd7e4b014d3fe243d86?n4h5rzyr8vs6mvx6r
― goole, Tuesday, 29 March 2016 19:29 (eight years ago) link
Anthrax making another comeback:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-11/scientists-warn-anthrax-just-one-threat-as-russian-permafrost-m/7720362
Ice-age diseases potentially to follow.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Thursday, 11 August 2016 11:07 (eight years ago) link
this seems scary: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/19/asia/china-coronavirus-spike-intl-hnk/index.html
― JoeStork, Monday, 20 January 2020 21:03 (four years ago) link
We all gonna die and no one gives a fuck?
― nostormo, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:32 (four years ago) link
the population of the wuhan metropolitan area is like 20million and we're talking about only a few hundred cases currently, seemingly all or mainly from tainted meat consumption. i'm not worried
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:34 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-UnC2QpsU
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:37 (four years ago) link
I'm not worried, but that's still the *reported* number of cases. The question is how fast it can spread. Certainly the Chinese government is taking it seriously enough to more or less lock down Wuhan, which is nothing to sniff at for a population of 11 million. 26 dead so far, a couple of cases in the US, a couple in Europe. Those numbers are tiny, but if I've learned anything from movies and books it's that we're all going to die and/or turn into zombies.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:39 (four years ago) link
26 million people are on quarantine. This is serious. Cases are spreading woeldwide and i wouldn't believe the chinese numbers
― nostormo, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:40 (four years ago) link
― nostormo, Friday, January 24, 2020 1:32 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
go to hell imo
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
Not worried too, but this looks like SARS part 2, numners will rise probably
― nostormo, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlxmKsTvcLg
the people will survive imo
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:47 (four years ago) link
Everything is grist if all you want to do is amuse yourself, but if you're going to make fun of it, at least say something witty.
― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:56 (four years ago) link
I got a couple of disposable face masks yesterday.
― Yerac, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:57 (four years ago) link
My shoulder hurts, is it coronavirus
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Friday, 24 January 2020 21:01 (four years ago) link
is it your dominant arm?
― Yerac, Friday, 24 January 2020 21:02 (four years ago) link
Xi Jinping just called it a 'grave situation' and 30 Chinese provinces are now on high alert.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 25 January 2020 14:11 (four years ago) link
48 million people on lockdown, 42 deaths, that discrepancy shows that the Chinese government must know even more than it is saying out loud.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 January 2020 14:15 (four years ago) link
I've been writing about this on the China thread, but to sum up.My wife is from Hubei, her sister is in Wuhan and parents in Ezhou, both on lockdown now. Actually sister and her son were due to fly over to the UK on Wednesday, obviously that has been cancelled. Everyone is just staying home, which works for a while but not forever of course. Also the summer school I run brings about 200 students from Wuhan to the UK every summer, this is also a concern, school will be out of business if they cancel. The word is that this isn't as serious as SARS but is spreading more rapidly.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 January 2020 14:58 (four years ago) link
Holy shit Camaraderie! Best wishes for your fam.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 25 January 2020 15:38 (four years ago) link
so far all is fine! just a bit of a stress, of course, and my wife is pretty worried of course.it's really odd to see Wuhan and especially Ezhou on the news
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 January 2020 15:45 (four years ago) link
obv I don’t know how this will all shake out but the level of hysteria in some corners of the internet borders on imo wishful fantasies that it’s a worse case scenario and level of subconscious craving for this sort of apocalypse is it’s own sort of frightening
― Mordy, Monday, 27 January 2020 16:33 (four years ago) link
Nothing new under the sun, etc. Eschatological yearnings are here to stay.
― pomenitul, Monday, 27 January 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link
a lot of people subconsciously prefer the apocalypse over their status quo; nb i think this is to some extent misguided but it isn't new
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Monday, 27 January 2020 16:36 (four years ago) link
only to some extent misguided to prefer apocalypse to their status quo?
― Mordy, Monday, 27 January 2020 16:43 (four years ago) link
Depends on your status quo, no?
― pomenitul, Monday, 27 January 2020 16:45 (four years ago) link
part deliberate understatement as a joke, part i am sympathetic to thinking that a radical upheaval of everything feels preferable to just trudging along sometimes
e.g. the very real pain of having your head sawn off still works as a joke preference after you've had toothache for long enough
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Monday, 27 January 2020 16:45 (four years ago) link