Ebola epidemic

Originally Posted by Lucille

They will carry antibodies.
I have not seen studies showing whether and what percent of survivors become carriers of the actual virus.

What she said.

My biggest concern related to this outbreak over other out breaks is the length of time the outbreak is lasting. Other outbreaks burned themselves out pretty fast. This one is dragging on for so long that the chances of viral mutation in humans could be greater. If this virus were to mutate the outcome could be catastrophic. If it goes that direction though, I am willing to bet no government efforts would be able to hide it because of the scale on which it would occur, despite anyone's feelings about government coverups.

Rich, I'm with you on the germaphobe thing but I found that regular hand washing and not touching my face have worked the best. I am of the school of thought that antibacterial sanitizers, wipes, etc contribute to resistant bacteria.
Just by not touching my face and washing my hands a lot, has kept me from getting a cold or flu for the past few years... and I work the retail front for my company on the weekend.

Originally Posted by j_dunlavy

regular hand washing and not touching my face have worked the best.

That is very good advice.

However

Having been a school nurse for decades, one can talk oneself blue in the face and little kids still wipe their runny noses with the backs of their hands instead of a Kleenex, eat off other kids trays in the cafeteria, play in the bathroom (especially the boys) without washing their hands, and give each other smoochy gooey hugs.

Originally Posted by Lucille

play in the bathroom (especially the boys) without washing their hands

lol, the "boys are gross" thing does have some merit...

kids make great carriers, don't they... i feel like my snakes are cleaner than some kids.
I just assume all public surfaces are petri dishes, usually because kids touch them. I just wash up whenever I go to; touch food, need to wipe my eye or get home, all after being in public. My wife opens the door with her butt or a kleenex to avoid the filthiness of the door handle that everyone else puts their gross hands on.

but back to the subject at hand:
I also think humans will be wiped out by influenza, not ebola. Ebola just has such frightening symptoms that people are really scared of it. It's partly the wow factor. Stuff like the Spanish Influenza scare me more because they are airborne and can have very high mortality rates.

Yeah man... You have to wonder about the geniuses that design bathroom doors such that while you are inside the bathroom you have to grab a handle in order to pull the door open to exit. At least someone has the brainpower to put a trashcan close to that door (in some cases) so you can cover your hand with a paper towel while grabbing that handle. I've seen far, FAR too many people coming out of the stalls who will not wash their hands and go right to the door to exit.

As for kids, well, Connie and I pretty much avoid them like, well, the plague.

Besides washing our hands frequently AND using antibacterial hand wipes, we also take dietary supplements to boost the immune system. A boosted immune system is probably one of your strongest defenses against pathogens that get through all your other defenses.

Oh, and about ebola, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be anywhere near someone infected that is sneezing or coughing. The media is playing down the transmission of the virus claiming it takes direct contact with bodily fluids to be contagious. Like you need to take a bath in their blood or something. Virus particles are so small that their can be zillions of them emitted in a single sneeze. Just out of curiosity, how many virus particles does it take entering your body before YOU become infected?

You know, it might be a real good idea to stock up on some "hurricane provisions" in case it becomes a real good idea to stay in the house and not venture out for a few weeks. I don't trust the government controlled media one bit to let me know how bad things really are before they are WAY beyond being B-A-D.

BTW, did anyone read about a meeting between Obama and a bunch of leaders from Africa? I'll be curious to see if Obama begs off of this meeting and sends Biden in his place......

Originally Posted by WebSlave

The media is playing down the transmission of the virus claiming it takes direct contact with bodily fluids to be contagious.

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

I can well understand why even in foreign countries when someone knocks on your door and smiles and says 'Hi, we're from the government, and we're here to help you', the correct response is to slam the front door in their faces, run out the back door, and disappear.

Originally Posted by Lucille

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

Yeah, that struck me as very strange as well. It's not like the medical personnel didn't understand the risks and took every precaution they felt was needed to protect themselves. Maybe this strain of ebola is a new animal they weren't prepared to deal with. Been reading some rumors that at ground zero there is a lab experimenting with ebola. Also rumors of scientists being spotted more interested in collecting samples than helping anyone. Maybe all just "doom porn" talk, of course, but who knows?

Whenever I've read discussions about mutating pathogens (both natural and man made) and how thin the line is between just another flu season and extinction, the phrase often gets expressed that "humanity will not go out with a bang, but with a whimper."

It scares the living hell out of me to think of scientists (who cannot seem to get even a three day weather forecast correct, and have already created enormous blunders in the environment) playing around with genetic manipulation with no more of a thought than "let's see what happens...." So you have to wonder whether somewhere, SOMEONE has already opened up Pandora's Box and can't shut it now.

Originally Posted by Lucille

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

I suspect that part of it is how long the virus can survive outside the host; 2 days if I am not mistaken. Coupled with the fact that an ebola patient is oozing mass amounts of virus out of every pore and leaking from every orifice... I'm sure it gets tracked around very quickly. Also, have you ever seen someone sneeze from a distance and not cover their mouth? pretty gross right. In the hot zone it would be deadly mist that lands on all nearby surfaces, gets inhaled, etc. You don't have these sorts of problems with HIV or Hepatitis (maybe some with Hepatitis).
Think of it this way; if you have ever gotten ink (or something of the sort) on you without realizing it; how long before it was turning up all over the place, like say, on your face. Then you are thinking "where the heck did all this ink come from?" It is the same thing, but with deadly ebola ink.

I've seen at least one article suggesting that they were brought back more for research than management, since the cry for a vaccine is growing louder and gaining strength.

(Re: the mosquito comment I saw earlier today - I'm pretty sure Ebola is a non-vector borne disease)

I'm sure they got the best working on this.

Scientist Working on Gov’t Ebola Drug Joked about Culling Population with GMO Virus
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative...s-3006738.html

Media coverage is now focusing on the experimental Ebola treatments being given to two American Ebola patients who contracted it while caring for victims in Africa — the site of the world’s deadliest outbreak.

But that Ebola treatment was developed by a leading bioengineering scientist from the University of Arizona who was caught on camera “joking” about wiping out humanity. Dr. Charles Arntzen suggested the use of a “better” genetically engineered virus during a post-lecture Q&A focused on over-population issues, citing the 2011 Hollywood film ‘Contagion.’

As Truthstream Media previously reported, on February 2, 2012, Dr. Charles Arntzen, head of The Biodesign Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, responded to a question pertaining to whether feeding some eight billion people in the world was worth it, or whether population reduction should be pursued.

In response, Dr. Arntzen quipped:

“Has anybody seen ‘Contagion’? That’s the answer! Go out and use genetic engineering to create a better virus… 25 percent of the population is supposed to go in Contagion.”

While this comment was made prior to the current Ebola outbreak fears, it is unsettling given the fact that Dr. Arntzen was already working a biotech vaccine for Ebola.

Among the many high level projects Dr. Arntzen has worked on for DARPA, as well as private biotech industry include an edible vaccine with genetically engineered medicine/vitamins grown into foods like bananas and even work on bioterrorism vaccine antigens for U.S. Biowarfare Defense alongside Mitch Hein, the founder of Epicyte – the biotech firm that created spermicidal anti-bodies grown in corn to slow human reproduction.

A great deal of related research into other bioweapon treatments is directly based upon Dr. Charles Arntzen’s pioneering research.

Among these experimental treatments are a storable genetically engineered Anthrax vaccine for use during a biological attack, as well as research into biopharmaceutical treatments for the plague, cholera and other infectious diseases that could create a pandemic.

In light of this background, statements like the one made by Arntzen hardly convey trust in a process that is already less than transparent and prone to speculation, various states of unrest and panic on the part of the public. The Daily Mail reported that much of the local population in Sierra Leone have been distrustful of medical workers there and blamed the deaths on a ‘government conspiracy’.

Someone casually remarking on culling some 25% of the population with a bioweapon is THE LAST PERSON you’d want to trust with creating an already dangerous countermeasure to Ebola, which carries a death rate as high as 90%.

And yet, that is exactly who has been leading this biowarfare research for decades now…

According to "the hot zone" the Ebola virus strain that showed up in Reston Virginia (yes we had an ebola outbreak in the US) was one that could be transmitted through the air but it was a non-lethal strain to humans. Supposedly none of the lethal strains were transmittable that way. That does not mean one couldn't have mutated.