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re: Health care worker at Dallas hospital tests positive for Ebola
Posted on 10/12/14 at 6:19 pm to StrawsDrawnAtRandom
Posted on 10/12/14 at 6:19 pm to StrawsDrawnAtRandom
quote:
People call me paranoid down here in Mexico City, but I take this shite seriously. Anyone with a background in CBRN is. It's not a joke.
I wish everyone was more aware of the danger viruses pose for humans.
Isn't it amazing that the simplest form of life poses the only major threat to the survival of the most complex life form?
Ebola is one of the most contagious viruses known. Though it isn't an airborne disease, its ease of spread via bodily fluids makes it especially scary for people.
People:
1. Touch their faces an average of 400 times per day;
2. Involuntarily exchange spittle up to 3 feet when talking;
3. Do not, on average, wash hands after using the bathroom;
4. Scratch their asses and then don't wash their hands;
5. Sneeze/cough without covering their noses/mouths;
6. Touch surfaces in public without thinking.
All of these habits, and many more, are amplified in children, of course. Kids are germs with feet.
So, for a virus like Ebola, being airborne is not necessary to quickly spread through humans. All that's needed is to get into a dense population, as it has in West Africa.
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Posted on 10/12/14 at 6:53 pm to Duke
quote:
If Mom has ebola when she does that, the family will know about it before they are symptomatic and therefore not spread it because they can't spread it until they themselves are symptomatic.
Another characteristic that makes Ebola efficient at spreading in humans is it's unpredictable incubation period. The range from contact to symptoms can be as few as 2 days and as many as 21 days. That's incredible.
Also, the expression of symptoms is varied. Typically, a low-grade fever and a feeling of lethargy are the first symptoms. However, some people can tolerate a slight fever much better than others, so while they're "bucking up" to Ebola's effects, they're spreading the virus.
There's not a way to know exactly when someone first becomes symptomatic. Symptoms can be subtle at first.
Posted on 10/12/14 at 7:06 pm to Kentucker
I'm aware of that.
The scenario what's his name was laying out was Mom has it and gives it to junior who starts spreading it around school then and hubby at work. So when she starts going really bad and they find out she has Ebola, son and dad are at that point being closely watched likely before (but not certainly because of the sometimes short incubation) they show symptoms.
This here is why it's still troubling. Especially here in America, where going to work sick is a badge of honor for many.
The scenario what's his name was laying out was Mom has it and gives it to junior who starts spreading it around school then and hubby at work. So when she starts going really bad and they find out she has Ebola, son and dad are at that point being closely watched likely before (but not certainly because of the sometimes short incubation) they show symptoms.
quote:
Also, the expression of symptoms is varied. Typically, a low-grade fever and a feeling of lethargy are the first symptoms. However, some people can tolerate a slight fever much better than others, so while they're "bucking up" to Ebola's effects, they're spreading the virus.
This here is why it's still troubling. Especially here in America, where going to work sick is a badge of honor for many.
Posted on 10/12/14 at 7:20 pm to Duke
Purdue Professor. ...Ebola primed to go airborne
Dude has been studying this particular strain since 2003 and says it can enter the lungs through the air
Dude has been studying this particular strain since 2003 and says it can enter the lungs through the air
Posted on 10/12/14 at 8:21 pm to mattloc
quote:
Dude has been studying this particular strain since 2003 and says it can enter the lungs through the air
He has been studying Ebola-Zaire, not this particular strain, which hasn't yet been given a name. It has never been seen before. While it's a strain of E-Zaire, it isn't identical and it's fatality rate appears to be somewhat lower.
It's extremely unusual for a virus to change its primary mode of infection, especially quickly. One of the factors that might promote quick mutations to an airborne status is precisely what's happening. The virus is in a completely new environment for it, dense populations of humans.
That's why we as a species must stop it before that happens.
Posted on 10/12/14 at 8:50 pm to Kentucker
I keep going over my Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) binder.
It's going to be the breaches that frick us over. And we can't stop that. It will be scary, but it won't be the pandemic (unless it changes transmission).
It's going to be the breaches that frick us over. And we can't stop that. It will be scary, but it won't be the pandemic (unless it changes transmission).
Posted on 10/12/14 at 9:02 pm to Jobu93
quote:
I keep going over my Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) binder. It's going to be the breaches that frick us over. And we can't stop that. It will be scary, but it won't be the pandemic (unless it changes transmission).
We just don't know what it's likely to do. That's why it pisses me off when "experts" try to predict its behavior in this new environment.
All I know for sure is that we'd better stop it. I hate to think what it could become.
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