Ebola in Texas

Meanwhile, the Carnival ship carrying a lab worker who handled the samples from Duncan has been denied docking at Belize and Cozumel. It is destined to come back to port at Galveston tomorrow. One Web site talked about passengers getting screened before being admitted back on land. But what's the protocol?

It surely is an interesting time.
 
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NW-Bound said:
Meanwhile, the Carnival ship carrying a lab worker who handled the samples from Duncan has been denied docking at Belize and Cozumel. It is destined to come back to port at Galveston tomorrow. One Web site talked about passengers getting screened before being admitted back on land. But what's the protocol?

It surely is an interesting time.
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These cruise ships have always seemed to me to be disease incubation prisons, except less rape. Maybe more people will look at it this way given this recent trouble. I should look at the stock market reactions, though it would take a lot to make me consider an investment.

Ha
 
rodi said:
For those wishing to impose a travel ban on all people who's flights originate in western Africa... a question:

- Do we allow our troops being deployed over there to return to the US?
- Do we allow journalists covering to return?
- Do we allow medical personel over there to return?
- Do we allow travelers from Nigeria to return - Nigeria was very effective in quarantining, and minimizing the spread - and is now Ebola free.

How long do we keep the travel ban in place?

Do we impose similar travel bans on people from Dallas?
Do we impose similar travel bans on people from Spain?
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These are all great question. Dr. Freiden pointed out the difficulties and expense of relying on charter flights resulting a several day delay of getting a team in from a European country. It is big burden for our troops and public health official to help out in Liberia. It would be simply awful if we make it virtually impossible for them to get home, in the event of a family illness, or injury (example breaking a leg).

The best probably the only way to prevent 100 case of Ebola in the USA is to prevent a 1 million cases of Ebola in Africa, anything we do to hamper that goal is counterproductive.
 
Internet Crazy Index for ebola rising...

NW-Bound said:
Meanwhile, the Carnival ship carrying a lab worker who handled the samples from Duncan has been denied docking at Belize and Cozumel. It is destined to come back to port at Galveston tomorrow. One Web site talked about passengers getting screened before being admitted back on land. But what's the protocol?

It surely is an interesting time.
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Oh, just hold them all for 21 days. We know we can't trust people to self-monitor and refrain from travel, and even though it will have been 21 days since the lab supervisor had seen that sample from Mr. Duncan, you just can't be too careful, right?

Well, maybe not. A person isn't capable of transmitting ebola unless they have symptoms from the virus replicating and demolishing their tissues. And even then, it really does take direct contact with the person or their bodily fluids. A person capable of transmitting the disease is going to be fairly ill feeling.

That's OK, though. There's plenty for everyone to fret, worry, and bloviate over. No, really. Here's a sampler from the Intertubes today (Caution - links contain Crazy):

A Senator recently expressed his concerns that Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria might intentionally infect themselves with Ebola and then hop a plane to the United States to infect us all. One news network has decided we should all worry about this threat.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security expressed their views on this. And don't forget, when a headline ends in a question mark, the answer is No.

Hrmph! We all know these diseases Don't Just Happen. They've obviously been planned by someone for nefarious purposes, or are the result of our own inattention. Or zombie apocalypse!

Meanwhile, the cranks have kicked things up a notch. Need an Ebola Cure? Homeopathy! Just dilute away until less than one molecule of 'cure' is in solution, and the 'memory' of the cure will make everything better, no side effects! *

OK, maybe not that. But, Vitamin C! It cures colds in 7-10 days. Colds are caused by a virus. Ebola is caused by a virus! We have a cure! *

Well... How about magical nano-silver? That cures everything. Ebola is a thing. Therefore... *



* May cause death. Some bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth are normal. Liquefaction of the intestines is a sign the medicine is working.

​
 
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M Paquette said:
Hrmph! We all know these diseases Don't Just Happen. They've obviously been planned by someone for nefarious purposes, or are the result of our own inattention. Or zombie apocalypse!



* May cause death. Some bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth are normal. Liquefaction of the intestines is a sign the medicine is working.

​
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The last book I read in my Kindle Lending Library (free books for Amazon prime customers) was Wired. A techno thriller the main plot being an Al-Qaeda like group was working with a brilliant but troubled biochemist. She develops a strain of Ebola which is only triggered after you eat Pork. Thus prevent good Muslim from catching the disease and ironically good Jews. It was written a couple of years ago before this outbreak by a molecular biochemist. Part of me always wonders about this outbreak..;)
 
M Paquette said:
...
A Senator recently expressed his concerns that Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria might intentionally infect themselves with Ebola and then hop a plane to the United States to infect us all. One news network has decided we should all worry about this threat.
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I have little doubt that ISIS would be thinking about this. The question is what is the chance of their success? Why get infected themselves then enter the US, if they could collect body fluid of patients (which is a dime a liter - pardon the bad pun) for a low-tech dissemination, à la Rajneeshee method. See this for a description of this crude and disgusting propagation method.

However, the link provided by Paquette assured us that it would not be so easy. Indeed, the girlfriend of Duncan and three more persons in close contact with Duncan have not been infected. Yet, the nurses were infected despite their precaution. Do we really know how the virus is spread?

However, the close friends of Duncan have been stigmatized and are having trouble looking for a place to live. Their pastor said “They are physically well, but we are working feverishly, no pun intended, on their transition,” he said. :) See: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...mie-home-quest-for-quarantined-in-dallas.html.
 
NW-Bound said:
IIndeed, the girlfriend of Duncan and three more persons in close contact with Duncan have not been infected. Yet, the nurses were infected despite their precaution. Do we really know how the virus is spread?
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Bear in mind that the nurses were tending to a patient in the most severe stages of the disease, and were directly exposed to body fluids containing live virus, with the vomiting, diarrhea, and dialysis setup (bleeding with port installation and setup).

The disease is very infectious, with only 1-10 live virii needed to infect someone. It's not particularly contagious, with R0 of about 2 (compare to measles at R0 of 18), and only transmissible when a patient shows symptoms.

The nurses may have been contaminated through problems in the design or implementation of the protocol. The exterior of their protective gear was almost certainly contaminated with the live virus while working with the patient.
 
NW-Bound said:
I have little doubt that ISIS would be thinking about this. The question is what is the chance of their success? Why get infected themselves then enter the US, if they could collect body fluid of patients (which is a dime a liter - pardon the bad pun) for a low-tech dissemination, à la Rajneeshee method. See this for a description of this crude and disgusting propagation method.

However, the link provided by Paquette assured us that it would not be so easy. Indeed, the girlfriend of Duncan and three more persons in close contact with Duncan have not been infected. Yet, the nurses were infected despite their precaution. Do we really know how the virus is spread?

However, the close friends of Duncan have been stigmatized and are having trouble looking for a place to live. Their pastor said “They are physically well, but we are working feverishly, no pun intended, on their transition,” he said. :) See: Ebola Fears Stymie Home Quest for Quarantined in Dallas - Bloomberg.
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The problem with scooping stuff up is that left outside an animal over a few hours the virus dies. Its not like anthrax where the bacteria goes to a spore state and can live in the wild for 100 years. Now if you want to smuggle fruit bats ...
 
spncity said:
Burleson, Texas is just south of Ft. Worth, Texas. A relative there says they got automate phone calls and this info:

Letter from Burleson Independent School District

October 17, 2014

Dear Burleson ISD Parents and Guardians:

The health and safety of our students and staff is our most important consideration. We work diligently to keep you informed of important matters affecting our schools and district, and we have information to share with you.

It has been well publicized that a second health care worker was diagnosed with the Ebola virus and traveled on a flight from Cleveland to Dallas earlier this week.

District leaders confirmed today that a parent of a Centennial High School student was aboard that flight.

It is important to note that the parent, student and other family members are not exhibiting any symptoms and are not considered contagious. The parent and BISD have been in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and the Texas Department of State Health Services. Officials from these entities have confirmed the parent’s seating location aboard the flight was in a “low-risk” area. The family is following the Texas Department of State Health Services protocols and has chosen to keep the student at home as a precaution.

The family is cooperating entirely with Burleson ISD and other agencies. There are no other family members at any other BISD campus. Additionally, the district is working with the Centers for Disease Control, Texas Department of State Health Services, County Health & Human Services, and city officials from Burleson.

Our local, state and national health officials assure us there is no significant risk of possible transmission of the virus through indirect contact. The Centers for Disease Control has not recommended we perform additional cleaning or implement specific protocols at this time as they assure us this situation is very low risk. In an abundance of caution, district leaders have decided to proactively implement high-level disinfecting of Centennial High School, beginning this evening. BISD is taking additional measures at all campuses including increased cleaning throughout the weekend.
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I bet there will be a lot of empty classrooms there Monday.
 
Eh, as long as you stay within Texas border, nobody will hassle you. :hide:

Sorry, bad joke! :flowers:
 
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meierlde said:
The problem with scooping stuff up is that left outside an animal over a few hours the virus dies. Its not like anthrax where the bacteria goes to a spore state and can live in the wild for 100 years. Now if you want to smuggle fruit bats ...
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From CDC Web site:

Ebola dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours; however, virus in body fluids (such as blood) can survive up to several days at room temperature.​

So, it does not stay viable as long as some other viruses, but still long enough for bad guys to make an attempt.
 
We now have some good news. The "family" that was extensively exposed to the original Dallas ebola patient have all passed quarantine. No new infections. :dance:

This was a pretty close living arrangement and nobody caught ebola despite him being pretty sick. The only transmissions were to healthcare workers exposed to the worst ebola end of life symptoms. I've heard various unconfirmed stories about kidney dialysis being done which can be pretty messy.

This leads me to believe that with better quarantine/treatment protocols ebola presents a very limited threat outside the developing world. Of course all bets are off if Central America and/or Mexico develops a massive outbreak and the collective population decides to come here for treatment.
 
No exposed skin on healthcare workers. Buddy system to watch putting on and taking off off protective gear. And probably also spray down with bleach. Then the US will match the WHO protocols for treating Ebola patients.

The three days where healthcare workers weren't completely covered seems the most likely time they were exposed.
 
2B said:
We now have some good news. The "family" that was extensively exposed to the original Dallas ebola patient have all passed quarantine. No new infections. :dance:
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Very good news indeed. However, as mentioned in an article in my earlier post, they still do not have a place to live because of the stigma.
 
NW-Bound said:
Very good news indeed. However, as mentioned in an article in my earlier post, they still do not have a place to live because of the stigma.
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Ingorance is a separate issue. They were living in the "West African Immigrant Community." Are they trying to move back there or is the problem finding a rental Dallas-wide? In Liberia, heathy orphans are left to starve due to fear and superstitiion.
 
2B said:
Ingorance is a separate issue. They were living in the "West African Immigrant Community." Are they trying to move back there or is the problem finding a rental Dallas-wide? In Liberia, heathy orphans are left to starve due to fear and superstitiion.
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Clay Jenkins will probably find them a new home in Highland Park:LOL:
 
Meadbh said:
Good news from Nigeria and Senegal:

Ebola: How to stop the disease ‘dead in its tracks’ - The Globe and Mail
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Really good article. Thanks for sharing. It really outlines a "how to" in terms of how to combat the disease. Too bad the US didn't take it seriously enough.

Considerable relief that the relatives sharing a home were not infected. We're hoping that there are no new cases as a result of Duncan and this just ends up being a nightmarish lesson that means next time we have an imported case appear, the situation won't be treated nearly so cavalierly.
 
Dallas cancels Halloween!

Dallas Cancels Halloween Amid Ebola Concerns - National Report | National Report

I'm not picking up that news from any other source. You'd think if city officials canceled it there would be loads of reports, but only the one so I'm suspicious.

Based on some other headlines such as "White House To Be Painted Green For “Earth Month” In 2015" this appears to be a satire site.
 
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audreyh1 said:
Dallas cancels Halloween!

Dallas Cancels Halloween Amid Ebola Concerns - National Report | National Report

I'm not picking up that news from any other source. You'd think if city officials canceled it there would be loads of reports, but only the one so I'm suspicious.

Based on some other headlines such as "White House To Be Painted Green For “Earth Month” In 2015" this appears to be a satire site.
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OMG! Next thing you know, Dallas will cancel Cowboys football!:D
 
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