'Ebola Doctor' in US hospital now

[Peach]

"American Uncensored News Network"?

Still the question, why the belief Ebola does not exist in the US already? The US has the geography wherein it is found in animals. Just because no humans have been infected does not mean it isn't somewhere IN the US.

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Still the question, why the belief Ebola does not exist in the US already? The US has the geography wherein it is found in animals. Just because no humans have been infected does not mean it isn't somewhere IN the US.

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

 

[Peach]

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

Mainly safaris, and Dr. Brantly is showing improvement:

The top U.S. health official said today the American doctor being treated for the deadly Ebola virus in Atlanta “seems to be improving,” and downplayed fears the disease could take hold in the U.S.

The patient has been identified as Kent Brantly, who became infected while working with the North Carolina-based charity Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia. Brantly arrived in Atlanta yesterday to be treated in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital. He is expected to be followed within days by Nancy Writebol, an aid worker also infected in Liberia.

Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program that he was hopeful on Brantly’s recovery but “can’t predict the future for individual patients.” He also said a widespread outbreak among Americans is unlikely because, compared to Africa, the U.S. has better infection controls in hospitals and in burial procedures.

VIDEO: Two Ebola Victims to Be Treated at Atlanta Hospital
“Could we have another person here, could we have a case or two? Not impossible,” Frieden said. “We say in medicine never say never. But we know how to stop it here.”

Medical care of the two U.S. citizens at Emory may take two to three weeks if all goes well, Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said in an Aug. 1 news conference. There is no cure for Ebola. Patients get fluids, blood transfusions and antibiotics to fight off infections with the hope their immune systems can fight off Ebola’s onslaught.

U.S. Ebola Patient Improving as More African Aid Sought - Businessweek

I am not one to be panic stricken, yet I see the chance, however slight, that Ebola, or a similar pathogen, could be in the US, not yet discovered. The CDC states any additional infected can be identified and treated quickly; I do not dispute that, it makes sense to be in the forefront of treatment however, not sitting back assured it cannot start here in the USA. All knowledge gained will used in treatment of other diseases, I believe.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

Mainly safaris, and Dr. Brantly is showing improvement:

The top U.S. health official said today the American doctor being treated for the deadly Ebola virus in Atlanta “seems to be improving,” and downplayed fears the disease could take hold in the U.S.

The patient has been identified as Kent Brantly, who became infected while working with the North Carolina-based charity Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia. Brantly arrived in Atlanta yesterday to be treated in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital. He is expected to be followed within days by Nancy Writebol, an aid worker also infected in Liberia.

Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program that he was hopeful on Brantly’s recovery but “can’t predict the future for individual patients.” He also said a widespread outbreak among Americans is unlikely because, compared to Africa, the U.S. has better infection controls in hospitals and in burial procedures.

VIDEO: Two Ebola Victims to Be Treated at Atlanta Hospital
“Could we have another person here, could we have a case or two? Not impossible,” Frieden said. “We say in medicine never say never. But we know how to stop it here.”

Medical care of the two U.S. citizens at Emory may take two to three weeks if all goes well, Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said in an Aug. 1 news conference. There is no cure for Ebola. Patients get fluids, blood transfusions and antibiotics to fight off infections with the hope their immune systems can fight off Ebola’s onslaught.

U.S. Ebola Patient Improving as More African Aid Sought - Businessweek

I am not one to be panic stricken, yet I see the chance, however slight, that Ebola, or a similar pathogen, could be in the US, not yet discovered. The CDC states any additional infected can be identified and treated quickly; I do not dispute that, it makes sense to be in the forefront of treatment however, not sitting back assured it cannot start here in the USA. All knowledge gained will used in treatment of other diseases, I believe.

Not many people go on safari in Liberia or Sierra Leone.

 

[Peach]

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

Mainly safaris, and Dr. Brantly is showing improvement:

The top U.S. health official said today the American doctor being treated for the deadly Ebola virus in Atlanta “seems to be improving,” and downplayed fears the disease could take hold in the U.S.

The patient has been identified as Kent Brantly, who became infected while working with the North Carolina-based charity Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia. Brantly arrived in Atlanta yesterday to be treated in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital. He is expected to be followed within days by Nancy Writebol, an aid worker also infected in Liberia.

Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program that he was hopeful on Brantly’s recovery but “can’t predict the future for individual patients.” He also said a widespread outbreak among Americans is unlikely because, compared to Africa, the U.S. has better infection controls in hospitals and in burial procedures.

VIDEO: Two Ebola Victims to Be Treated at Atlanta Hospital
“Could we have another person here, could we have a case or two? Not impossible,” Frieden said. “We say in medicine never say never. But we know how to stop it here.”

Medical care of the two U.S. citizens at Emory may take two to three weeks if all goes well, Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said in an Aug. 1 news conference. There is no cure for Ebola. Patients get fluids, blood transfusions and antibiotics to fight off infections with the hope their immune systems can fight off Ebola’s onslaught.

U.S. Ebola Patient Improving as More African Aid Sought - Businessweek

I am not one to be panic stricken, yet I see the chance, however slight, that Ebola, or a similar pathogen, could be in the US, not yet discovered. The CDC states any additional infected can be identified and treated quickly; I do not dispute that, it makes sense to be in the forefront of treatment however, not sitting back assured it cannot start here in the USA. All knowledge gained will used in treatment of other diseases, I believe.

Not many people go on safari in Liberia or Sierra Leone.

Yet trade with the Congo is is the tens of millions, each month. And my question about knowledge in dealing with other infectious agents, anything to be gained there?

 

[Samson]

If you actually took the time to do the slightest bit of research on the Ebola virus, you'd know that the person who took the picture would only be risking infection if they had touched that arm - being near it isn't enough. Ebola is transferred by bodily fluid contact. It's not airborne.

I am not concerned with Ebola mutating or "somehow getting out in the open".

Thanks.

I'll take my cue from the director-general of the World Health Organization


Constant mutation and adaptation are the survival mechanisms of viruses and other microbes," she said. "We must not give [Ebola] virus opportunities to deliver more surprises.
WHO: Ebola moving faster than control efforts - Health - MSN Healthy Living

Did you know that every time you get a cold, it's a new mutation?

All viruses mutate, all the time. But it's incredibly rare for a disease to change the way it's transmitted by mutation.

Gee The Director-general of the World Health Organization seems to have omitted the "incredibly rare" song-and-dance you seem to be convinced of.

Wonder if she knows a tad more about the situation than you do?

Odds are, she does.

Why?

 

[Samson]

All viruses mutate and adapt.

The odds of Ebola mutating to change the way it's transmitted are about the same as AIDS mutating to an airborne disease.

I give your odds making skill about as much credability as a Doctor's chance of being infected with a very difficult virus to contract......


Wupps....guess that's happened, huh.....

You really are dead set on keeping the Fear, aren't you?

I never understand that.

Whether or not you understand is irrelevant.

Clearly, Medical Professionals have contracted a disease you claim "odds are very small" that ANYONE can contact.


Keep burying your head in the sand.

 

[Samson]

It appears it has already crossed the border:


Ebola Already in the USA, Across Mexican Border, Doctor Alleges

EARLY ALERT: A doctor and border patrol agent scheduled to appear on the Conservative Commandos Radio Show this coming Tuesday allege that illegal aliens from Africa who have come across the US-Mexican border are infected with Ebola, and the Obama Administration is covering it up by falsely calling their cases Tuberculosis (TB).
Their story should be published in a newspaper Sunday. Watch for update here. We will insert the link here to the published article as soon as it appears, expected overnight.
The chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO), Zack Taylor states that West African illegal immigrants are presently coming into the U.S. through Mexico. These West Africans have been apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley sector in the last few years. Some of these groups speak Spanish in order to infiltrate into the United States posing as Central American immigrants. This speaks to planning and collusion that some of these groups were taught to speak Spanish so they would “blend in” with other illegal immigrant groups.

Dr. Jane Orient, one of Arizona’s top physicians as well as other researchers have received information, from Border Patrol informants, that as many as 100,000 West Africans are being admitted to the United States under the same provisions that President Obama is presently admitting so-called “unaccompanied minors”. These people are from the same region of the world as the uncontained outbreak of Ebola. As Dr. Orient said in her interview on The Common Sense Show, on June 30, 2014, “It is not a matter of if Ebola comes into the United States, but when.”

Meanwhile, the respected news website DC Clothesline reports “The U.S. Is Quietly Establishing Ebola Quarantine Centers” (July 29, 2014), first reminding us that: “Fatality rates can reach 90% and the incubation period is two to 21 days. THERE IS NO VACCINE OR CURE (CDC).” And “Ebola hemorrhagic fever broke out in West Africa in March, and is totally out of control as one of the most deadly illnesses has crossed into seven African countries. The illness causes fever, headache, and internal and external bleeding. It is transmitted person to person through body fluids, and has up to a 90% mortality rate.”

Full Story: Ebola Already in the USA, Across Mexican Border, Doctor Alleges | AUN-TV

"American Uncensored News Network"?

Still the question, why the belief Ebola does not exist in the US already? The US has the geography wherein it is found in animals. Just because no humans have been infected does not mean it isn't somewhere IN the US.

Just a matter of time.

 

[Samson]

"American Uncensored News Network"?

Still the question, why the belief Ebola does not exist in the US already? The US has the geography wherein it is found in animals. Just because no humans have been infected does not mean it isn't somewhere IN the US.

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

I agree with you on this point.

I disagree that just because its never been detected, then it never will be, or that we should ignore relaxed border security because its never been detected. Anyone living in their fantasy world that claims that infected individuals will be identified before entering the USA is astonishingly ignorant of how easy it is to enter the USA undetected.

One wonders what other fundamentals these ostriches have missed.

 

[Peach]

Still the question, why the belief Ebola does not exist in the US already? The US has the geography wherein it is found in animals. Just because no humans have been infected does not mean it isn't somewhere IN the US.

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

I agree with you on this point.

I disagree that just because its never been detected, then it never will be, or that we should ignore relaxed border security because its never been detected. Anyone living in their fantasy world that claims that infected individuals will be identified before entering the USA is astonishingly ignorant of how easy it is to enter the USA undetected.

One wonders what other fundamentals these ostriches have missed.

Always a chance that one area as yet developed in the US could have something very much like Ebola, of course..........

 

[Samson]

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

I agree with you on this point.

I disagree that just because its never been detected, then it never will be, or that we should ignore relaxed border security because its never been detected. Anyone living in their fantasy world that claims that infected individuals will be identified before entering the USA is astonishingly ignorant of how easy it is to enter the USA undetected.

One wonders what other fundamentals these ostriches have missed.

Always a chance that one area as yet developed in the US could have something very much like Ebola, of course..........

Of course you could be right: Or that if a case was discovered, it was never made public.

I'm certain the government's first reaction to a case of Ebola in the USA will not be to Alert The Media.

 

[Rikurzhen]

We "believe" that it does not exist in this country already because no trace of it has ever been found here.

There is absolutely no reason to think that it is.

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

The amount of traffic aspect only applies if you're positing multiple vectors of infection. A Patient Zero scenario only requires one person from there to come here.

Secondly, medical identification of the symptoms isn't so automatic and for that to begin requires the patient to choose to come before a physician. The patient's GP is different than the State Department analyst who tracks all US citizens incoming from the Hot Zone. There isn't one entity which has all the information to put 2 + 2 together immediately. That fuller picture is going to come downstream of the initial GP contact initiated by the patient. Until the patient takes steps to seek treatment, all that you present in your response is not being implemented.

Now the question becomes what the patient, or patients, are doing in their life and how much risk they present to the people they come into contact with. Can we count on them going home and getting into bed and staying there, isolated from everyone? Or are they traveling on connecting flights within the US, are they taking the subway and sneezing in these enclosed spaces, do they vomit on someone?

I've been reading the back and forth in this thread. You're focusing on the low risk of epidemic. That's a sensible approach. What you're not acknowledging is the Expected Value calculation in play here. Low risk of an event with a very high cost creates a different expected value than a low risk of an event with a miniscule cost. This makes an ebola outbreak here different than a syphilis outbreak.

 

[Peach]

A lot of uncharted lands, I'll take your word for it, no reason to "think it is". I do not believe it is best to rely upon negatives as proof, and with somany that visit Africa returning to the US withing the incubation period, I think the US should be prepared, should another outbreak start in the US.

I agree, we should be prepared. But the odds of an "outbreak" here are a lot lower than people seem to think.

The thing is - the incubation period can last as long as 21 days, but on average it only lasts 5-6 days - and people are only infectious while symptomatic. Someone who returns from Africa and gets sick a few days later will immediately be identified as a possible Ebola infection and treated as such.

Not to mention, there really isn't very much traffic between that region of sub-saharan Africa and the US.

The amount of traffic aspect only applies if you're positing multiple vectors of infection. A Patient Zero scenario only requires one person from there to come here.

Secondly, medical identification of the symptoms isn't so automatic and for that to begin requires the patient to choose to come before a physician. The patient's GP is different than the State Department analyst who tracks all US citizens incoming from the Hot Zone. There isn't one entity which has all the information to put 2 + 2 together immediately. That fuller picture is going to come downstream of the initial GP contact initiated by the patient. Until the patient takes steps to seek treatment, all that you present in your response is not being implemented.

Now the question becomes what the patient, or patients, are doing in their life and how much risk they present to the people they come into contact with. Can we count on them going home and getting into bed and staying there, isolated from everyone? Or are they traveling on connecting flights within the US, are they taking the subway and sneezing in these enclosed spaces, do they vomit on someone?

I've been reading the back and forth in this thread. You're focusing on the low risk of epidemic. That's a sensible approach. What you're not acknowledging is the Expected Value calculation in play here. Low risk of an event with a very high cost creates a different expected value than a low risk of an event with a miniscule cost. This makes an ebola outbreak here different than a syphilis outbreak.

Yes, and makes finding treatment ever more urgent, that cannt be done without both the virus and the host available. Many died before a treatment for malaria was found, but one was, eventually. Once again, US containment cannot be compared to central Africa; a .00001 percent chance of more fatalities vs. a 50/50 chance the US holds some virus, not yet seen in humans, as infectious, yet more contagious and just as virulent.