2014 Ebola Outbreak

[Not Kuno]

Why are they being brought here anyway? Research on vaccine/cure or just treatment for the patient?

[Jaybar]

Why not both?

[Quicklet]

I think treatment. Apparently there are something like 4 hospitals in the U.S. with special isolation units equipped to handle stuff like this, and the goal is to support the body while it tries to fight off the virus. I'm generally uneasy about the risks of bringing someone back with the virus, even with tons of precautions being taken. The bigger risk though is probably the incubation period that occurs before actual symptoms begin to appear.

[Kuya]

Why not both?

I read it's both. They want to try new treatment on them.

[Tarage]

To be honest, it'd be a dick move to send people abroad to fight diseases like this and then go "Nah bro, you're on your own" if they get sick.

You are more likely to die from a car accident than from ebola. People are just paranoid motherfuckers for all the wrong reasons.

[Quicklet]

I'm pretty sure if I had to choose between getting in a car accident and contracting ebola, I'd take the car accident.

[Boyiee]

You're more likely to be in a car accident, and die, than contract Ebola... But with a 90% kill rate if you contract it you are more likely to die from Ebola than from a car accident.

[Quicklet]

You're more likely to be hit by lightning than a lot of things that people worry about. Doesn't make it a good analogy.

I wonder, though, if the 90% kill rate is primarily because the countries where these outbreaks have occurred (like the Congo) just have such limited hospital facilities that proper treatment is just impossible given how contagious and deadly it is. I'm not sure what exactly you do to stop a virus that essentially melts your internal organs when there's no medication to treat it.

[kuronosan]

To be honest, it'd be a dick move to send people abroad to fight diseases like this and then go "Nah bro, you're on your own" if they get sick.

You are more likely to die from a car accident than from ebola. People are just paranoid motherfuckers for all the wrong reasons.

Um.

I think you mean more likely to get into an accident than contact Ebolavirus.

You get Ebola, you're all but dead.

[Kuya]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/us...088400000&_r=2

The reason we are bringing these patients back to our facility is because we feel they deserve to have the highest level of care offered for their treatment,” Dr. Bruce S. Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory who will be involved in their care, said at a Friday afternoon news conference.

Both patients will receive what Dr. Ribner described as “supportive care” focused on maintaining their vital functions, like blood pressure and breathing.

“We depend on the body’s defenses to control the virus,” he said. “We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection.”

The director of the disease centers, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, agreed that the patients posed little risk to others. And he added: “These are American citizens. American citizens have a right of return. I certainly hope people’s fear doesn’t trump their compassion.”

[Helm]

In before ebola spreads to US wildlife.

[Blubbartron]

In before it suddenly mutates and becomes airborne, as life is known to occasionally do.

[Pirian]

Better watch out for airborn gonorrhea and herpes, too

[Helm]

AFK stealing a bunker.

[thetruepandagod]

In before it suddenly mutates and becomes airborne, as life is known to occasionally do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20341423

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/r.../ebola-eng.php

Airborne ebola you say?

[Cliron]

Isn't Emory affiliated with the CDC's centre in Atlanta? Of all the places in the country, I'd imagine it ranks as one of the safest/top hospitals for infectious diseases.

[Moss]

Isn't Emory affiliated with the CDC's centre in Atlanta? Of all the places in the country, I'd imagine it ranks as one of the safest/top hospitals for infectious diseases.

yeah, the isolation unit they are using was developed with the CDC

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/CD...269486261.html

[Tymon]

The truncated explanation is that there is absolutely no danger of these two individuals being treated here. Zero. Nil.

The possible danger is in travelers coming back from Africa with no symptoms and them becoming symptomatic once they have arrived in the States, after transmitting the disease.

Even then, a national pandemic is incredibly unlikely with how the disease spreads. This is killing people in Africa because it's Africa. They have no health care infrastructure. No containment. Businesses are being told their office buildings are contaminated with Ebola and their response is "Oh well, send in the workers anyway."

The chance of an actual first-world pandemic is almost certainly nonexistent.

[zoobernut]

http://www.ktvn.com/story/26194421/n...possible-ebola

NYC Hospital Testing Patient for Possible Ebola

Posted: Aug 04, 2014 3:19 PM PDT
Updated: Aug 04, 2014 3:19 PM PDT



A New York City hospital says it's performing Ebola tests on a patient who recently traveled to West Africa.

Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan says a male patient with a high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms came in Monday. The hospital says it placed him in strict isolation and he's undergoing medical screenings.

Officials at U.S. airports are watching travelers from Africa for flu-like symptoms that could be tied to the recent Ebola outbreak there.

The Ebola virus causes a hemorrhagic fever that has sickened more than 1,600 people, killing nearly 900 mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. It's spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.

A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least three Americans have been tested in the U.S. He says all three tested negative. (AP)

Saw this today and thought I would share it here. The Hot Zone was a scary ass book when I was a kid.

[Kuya]

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and...ntal-treatment

However, a pair of Americans who had been providing healthcare to EVD patients in Liberia have exclusively received an experimental treatment after they also fell ill. Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol are being brought to Atlanta to receive treatment.

The experimental medication is called ZMapp and is created from monoclonal antibodies, which are the proteins created by the immune system of an organism that has previously been infected with the virus. The serum has been through rodent and primate testing, but is not ready for human trials. Animal models were given the medication 24 or 48 hours after the onset of symptoms, while the two Americans received treatment much later. However, they seem to be doing well

Writebol did not respond to the first dose of the serum. Brantly, on the other hand, showed signs of improvement within an hour of treatment. The next day, he was able to bathe himself and board the plane for Atlanta. Writebol received a second dose (the last of the serum available) and has been faring better. She is due to return to the US tomorrow (Tuesday).