World Health Organization: Latest Ebola Outbreak Moving Too Fast to Control
- Thread starter Alex Co
- Start date
This isn't enough to worry me but it is enough for me to keep a close eye on. I am in a heavily populated area and if this thing escalates further, I am getting the hell out of dodge no matter what the circumstances. I have always known that I could die in a multitude of ways but I am not going to let "virus" be one of them.
Even 34% is still pretty bad odds when you're talking about lethality. People are rightly concerned about this. Don't minimize it just because it "only" kills between 1/3 and 2/3 of infected people.008Zulu said:
And we're dealing with the Zaire variant, where it drops down to 50-60% mortality, provided that you're receiving proper care. That's still pretty extreme, considering that the Black Death "only" had around 33% mortality rate, back in the days of medieval healthcare and is recognized as one of the deadliest plague in known history.008Zulu said:
The good thing about this disease is that you don't become infectious until you start showing signs and once that happens, you become sick so quickly that the window of infection is relatively short. Main reason why this epidemic is spreading so readily in the affected countries is the tradition of having your family take care of you instead of hospitals, which places all the family members at great risk, and funeral rites where people approach and touch the deceased.
That's 1300 infected, of those 729 are already dead. The remaining people haven't all recovered, so the full number of dead hasn't been realized.yayforgiveaway said:
I would say a pandemic with a 100% mortality rate would be worse but then I'm just being pedantic.Adam Jensen said:An epidemic with a 100% mortality is the last thing we need. But at 90% this comes closeThe_Darkness said:
OT: Not to self, stop eating dead orphans.
A long standing tradition of having your family take care of you, instead of going to hospitals.LazyAza said:
Also, some tribes hold funeral rites, where you approach and touch the deceased, as a way to say goodbye (which has killed entire villages in the past), although the Ebola virus has caused allot of places to suppress that tradition.
You're also highly contagious, once you become sick, so healthcare workers often get infected, even when following basic quarantine rules, which makes this disease so hard to treat.
In the countries affected, ill people are cared for mainly at home, and not in hospitals, which are often basic compared to hospitals elsewhere. Contact with the individual's saliva, vomit, or other excretion is a huge possibility. This is also coupled with the notion that many with the disease will rather submit to the care of their family, and not go to a doctor. According to the Beeb, the number of infected is under-reported. Furthermore, general ignorance about the disease and it's transmission contributes to people being infected.LazyAza said:
CAPTCHA: "I can fix it". No I can't! I study Immunology, but I ain't got no cure.
Same, I'm in Britain and if it reaches here and David Cameron doesn't stop upping breaking promises and hating on UKIP to shut down all flights from Africa (which is likely knowing him) I'm dropping everything and fleeing to my grandparents in rural Wales. I'm not taking the risk, I'd rather have a temporary setback to my education and social liife than die a horrible, painful death from a virus that would almost certainly infect my close family tooSmolderin said:
Wrong, there is strong evidence for aerosol transmission I.E microscopic particles of virus fluid spread through the atmosphere. It lodges in the nasal cavity and/or lungs and can infect the host from there, its still consider direct contact rather than "airborne" but the fact remains you can have an infected victim pass through an area exhaling the virus and someone can pass through a few minutes after the person has left and potentially catch the virus.Irridium said:
Source [http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html]
This research shows how separated animals where infected without direct physical contact and shows the lungs and nasal membranes as the initial point of infection.
729 dead of 1300 infected so far. Also according to the WHO it's 1440 cases with 826 dead.yayforgiveaway said:
Remember the infected figure doesn't mean those people have recovered it just means they haven't died yet.
The needless alarmism and apocalyptic doom-saying in this article is ridiculous... I shake my head in shame at the standard of journalism here.
Wow, there are days that I thank my lucky stars that I was born in a 1st World Country like the U.S., where our most serious health problem is people eating too much.
This is horrible for the people in Africa. I really hope WHO can get a handle on this.
This is horrible for the people in Africa. I really hope WHO can get a handle on this.
Except there is no cure or treatment available, the most they can do is pain management.Product Placement said:
Africa just can't catch a break. ;___;
They don't have to be dead. Kissing sick relatives goodbye, cleaning up vomit, feces and blood (which is done by family members, since there isn't an abundance of nurses out there), touching a sick person with poor hygiene... all the normal stuff will infect you. And post-mortem, you still have to move and bury a dead body that had significant "external bleeding".LazyAza said:
...and cleaning up the various fluids the patient expels to avoid further skin decay. And providing optimal nutrition. And trying to bring down the fever. All of these will help stop someone from dying.008Zulu said:
Personally I'd recommend Greenland myself, unless it's upgraded it's cold resistance, then we're all screwed.Chessrook44 said:
AstaresPanda said:
OT: Still, that's the thing that always gets me about these lethal-as-hell diseases. If they're the deadliest whatsit ever, they SHOULD be burning out first.
Ok...I'm gonna say what I said in the facebook comments. This article on NYC is a: out of date already (BBC have already covered this a few days earlier) and b: it is NOT as the NYT are reporting, causing a 90% fatality. The WHO have said its closer to 55-60%.
Also...the two american doctors are already in the US and are receiving treatment at a facility designed to handle cases like theirs.
While there is no current cure of vaccine, what the article has not mentioned that alot of other sources including the BBC have, is that the US are going to field test a possible vaccine in september.
Whoever wrote that for thw NYT should be fired for causing un-needed alarmism and bad journalism.
Also...the two american doctors are already in the US and are receiving treatment at a facility designed to handle cases like theirs.
While there is no current cure of vaccine, what the article has not mentioned that alot of other sources including the BBC have, is that the US are going to field test a possible vaccine in september.
Whoever wrote that for thw NYT should be fired for causing un-needed alarmism and bad journalism.
