Anyone following the ebola outbreak?

[Balthazar]

Yeah, what's going on with Ebola is pretty insane. I'm just glad to live in a part of the world that has good healthcare and Ebola hasn't spread to yet.

Good healthcare has nothing to do with ebola spreading. It has to do with the fact that is is highly contagious and and there is no cure

Actually it has. The most cases of infection associated with the violation of sanitary norms and conducting some specific funeral rites. All these things are impossible in any civilized country due to higher education level, actions of the ministry of healthcare and sustainable executive power which can suppress any kind of idiotic activity with the help of guns... If it would be necessary.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Yeah, what's going on with Ebola is pretty insane. I'm just glad to live in a part of the world that has good healthcare and Ebola hasn't spread to yet.

Good healthcare has nothing to do with ebola spreading. It has to do with the fact that is is highly contagious and and there is no cure

Ebola is not highly contagious
It primarily affects those who are near the person and taking care of them for extended durations and not reporting cases because they do not want them going to the hospital etc.

What will happen if Ebola arrives in America?

First, there will be a lot of misplaced panic. But there’s no reason for most Americans to fear of Ebola’s wider spread. While Ebola is highly infectious, it is not very contagious.

It’s highly infectious because someone stricken with Ebola is very likely to get sick (and harbors a lot of virus particles that they can readily transmit to another person, given the right conditions). But the virus itself is fragile, and does not easily spread. So it’s not very contagious. In short, Ebola is harder to contract than many other viruses.

The Ebola virus can only be spread by direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, or other bodily fluids or secretions (stool, urine, saliva) of infected people. Infection can also occur if the broken skin of a healthy person comes into contact with environments that have become contaminated with an Ebola patient’s infectious fluids (such as soiled clothing).

Moreover, patients usually only become contagious – and can spread the virus — once they start contracting symptoms. Prior to the onset of symptoms, it’s typically harder to spread the virus. Yet the onset of symptoms is usually quite severe. So it’s easy to recognize that a person is sick. Moreover, stricken individuals are less likely to travel about – and spread the virus — given their debilitated condition.

All of these factors make control of the infection feasible. If isolated cases emerge in the U.S., our public health apparatus should be able to readily contain its spread.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgottlieb/2014/08/12/if-ebola-arrives-in-america-some-controversial-tools-could-be-used-to-stop-it/

[RedDiamond]

It is also possible to catch Ebola from sex, although it is not very likely: http://www.livescience.com/47218-ebola-transmission-routes.html

[NewLiberty]

Ebola is about 100 times less mutable than influenza.
This has implications for bioterrorism (if you have an antivirus, its not so likely to mutate around it).
The weaponization of ebola remains my concern in this.  I'm more concerned about stupid humans. 
The sickness is a dire tragedy, but even so, I am not one to seek governmental assistance for its resolution and prefer a less organized response.
Nature tends to balance itself out, but unbalanced humans are so very dangerous, with immense potential for deleterious effect.

"Those from whom seek help, you also empower." - NewLiberty

[Swordsoffreedom]

More ebola news for today

It looks like they are locking down a slum which has many cases of ebola so no one can get in or out

Barbed wire used to trap 50,000 people in Ebola-stricken slum

Riot police and soldiers acting on their president's orders used scrap wood and barbed wire to seal off 50,000 people inside their Liberian slum Wednesday, trying to contain the Ebola outbreak that has killed 1,350 people and counting across West Africa.

Hundreds of slum residents clashed with the gunmen, furious at being blamed and isolated by a government that has failed to quickly collect dead bodies from the streets. One 15-year-old boy was injured trying to cross the barbed wire as security forces fired into the air to disperse the crowd.

The World Health Organization said the death toll is rising most quickly in Liberia, which now accounts for at least 576 of the fatalities. At least 2,473 people have been sickened across West Africa, which is now more than the caseloads of all the previous two-dozen Ebola outbreaks combined.

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/barbed-wire-used-trap-50-000-people-in-ebola-stricken-slum-6061297

[Snail2]

Ebola is about 100 times less mutable than influenza.
This has implications for bioterrorism (if you have an antivirus, its not so likely to mutate around it).
The weaponization of ebola remains my concern in this.  I'm more concerned about stupid humans. 
The sickness is a dire tragedy, but even so, I am not one to seek governmental assistance for its resolution and prefer a less organized response.
Nature tends to balance itself out, but unbalanced humans are so very dangerous, with immense potential for deleterious effect.

"Those from whom seek help, you also empower." - NewLiberty

Weaponization has happened long time ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopreparat#Biopreparat_pathogens

[Hamuki]

Might be the end of the world.. If it goes airborn then we are screwed..

We need a cure and we need it fast.. Bad thing is just that it aint that easy ;(

[romerun]

It's getting more like 28 days. We should seriously considering moving forward with the seasteading noah's ark project.

[Hamuki]

It's getting more like 28 days. We should seriously considering moving forward with the seasteading noah's ark project.

Collect all the people who has Ebole in one place.. Give them food and hope that those who can, will survive.. Those who dont.. Yea..

[bryant.coleman]

In the past one or two weeks, there has been a huge increase in the detection of new cases:

WHO update for 14-16 August 2014 (72 hours):

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_19_ebola/en/

113 new cases.

WHO update for 17-18 August 2014 (72 hours):

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_20_ebola/en/

221 new cases. 

Huge increase in new cases from Liberia.

[Snail2]

It's getting more like 28 days. We should seriously considering moving forward with the seasteading noah's ark project.

...that 50000 quarantined people in Monrovia still have some food and didn't started panicking yet. When they get low on food and/or became really scared that will be something like 28 days.

[MoonRise]

Also there are currently cases where doctors refuse to go to places where an outbreak occurred to treat patients due to the high risk of catching the fever. Only emergency response teams are out there, hopefully a cure is found soon. This is kinda like rise of the planet of the apes ending, alz 112 spreading over plane network.

[Swordsoffreedom]

On the bright side of the Ebola Front
Atlanta Georgia

The ebola patients have been released and pose no further risk to the public
Releasing American Ebola patients poses no risk to public: hospital

 ATLANTA -- Calling it a "miraculous day," an American doctor infected with Ebola left his isolation unit and warmly hugged his doctors and nurses on Thursday, showing the world that he poses no public health threat one month after getting sick with the virus.

Dr. Kent Brantly and his fellow medical missionary, Nancy Writebol, who was quietly discharged two days earlier, are still weak but should recover completely, and no one need fear being in contact with them, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who runs the infectious disease unit at Emory University Hospital.

Brantly's reappearance was festive and celebratory, a stark contrast to his arrival in an ambulance under police escort three weeks earlier, when he shuffled into the hospital wearing a bulky white hazardous materials suit.

"I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family," Brantly said, choking up as he read a written statement. Then he and his wife turned and hugged a parade of doctors and nurses, hugging or shaking hands with each one. For some, it was their first direct contact without protective gear.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/releasing-american-ebola-patients-poses-no-risk-to-public-hospital-1.1969654#ixzz3B4Ttxo3I

[RedDiamond]

"Clinicians working in Liberia have informed WHO that 2 doctors and 1 nurse have now received the experimental Ebola therapy, ZMapp.
The nurse and one of the doctors show a marked improvement. The condition of the second doctor is serious but has improved somewhat.
According to the manufacturer, the very limited supplies of this experimental medicine are now exhausted."


http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/21-august-2014/en/

[RedDiamond]

In the past one or two weeks, there has been a huge increase in the detection of new cases:

WHO update for 14-16 August 2014 (72 hours):

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_19_ebola/en/

113 new cases.

WHO update for 17-18 August 2014 (72 hours):

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_20_ebola/en/

221 new cases.  

Huge increase in new cases from Liberia.

WHO just published the new numbers:

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_22_ebola/en/

Between 19 and 20 August 2014, a total of 142 new cases (again most of them in Liberia).

So it looks like it is spreading at slightly slower speed now,  althought the numbers are so small and inaccurate that no reliable conclusion can be drawn.

[itsAj]

"Clinicians working in Liberia have informed WHO that 2 doctors and 1 nurse have now received the experimental Ebola therapy, ZMapp.
The nurse and one of the doctors show a marked improvement. The condition of the second doctor is serious but has improved somewhat.
According to the manufacturer, the very limited supplies of this experimental medicine are now exhausted."


http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/21-august-2014/en/

I think the important point is the fact that the medicine/antidote works. With it working it is possible to make more of this medicine in order to treat more people who have contracted this disease. As it stands now, anyone who contracts this disease is almost certain to die from it so any medical advancement is good news.

[RedDiamond]

"Clinicians working in Liberia have informed WHO that 2 doctors and 1 nurse have now received the experimental Ebola therapy, ZMapp.
The nurse and one of the doctors show a marked improvement. The condition of the second doctor is serious but has improved somewhat.
According to the manufacturer, the very limited supplies of this experimental medicine are now exhausted."


http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/21-august-2014/en/

I think the important point is the fact that the medicine/antidote works. With it working it is possible to make more of this medicine in order to treat more people who have contracted this disease. As it stands now, anyone who contracts this disease is almost certain to die from it so any medical advancement is good news.

Unfortunately nobody can yet say does it work or not (and what possible harmful side effects it has). It has now tested only with five humans. And about 50 % of patiens will survive anyway (without ZMapp).

[bryant.coleman]

WHO just published the new numbers:

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_22_ebola/en/

Between 19 and 20 August 2014, a total of 142 new cases (again most of them in Liberia).

So it looks like it is spreading at slightly slower speed now,  althought the numbers are so small and inaccurate that no reliable conclusion can be drawn.

Unfortunately, I don't think that there has been any slow down. A large slum in Monrovia, with a population of 50,000+ is under quarantine. No one knows how many people are dying of Ebola there, as there is no communication. So I have to say that the latest data release from the World Health Organization is incomplete, at least as far as Liberia is concerned.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Well it looks like the Ebola virus is still in its spreading stage
Impacting different countries around the world.

'Underestimated' Ebola outbreak spreads

Ebola continues to spread in West Africa as Sierra Leone voted to pass a new amendment imposing jail time for anyone caught hiding an Ebola patient.

With 142 new cases recorded, the total number is now 2,615 with 1,427 deaths, the World Health Organization said Friday. The group added that the magnitude of the Ebola outbreak has been "underestimated."

Many families hide infected loved ones in their homes," the organization wrote in an assessment. "Others deny that a patient has Ebola and believe that care in an isolation ward — viewed as an incubator of the disease — will lead to infection and certain death. Most fear the stigma and social rejection that come to patients and families when a diagnosis of Ebola is confirmed."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/23/ebola-spreads-in-nigeria-liberia-has-1000-cases/14489251/

[RedDiamond]

Research team says migrating fruit bats responsible for outbreak:

"The largest-ever outbreak of Ebola was triggered by a toddler's chance contact with a single infected bat, a team of international researchers will reveal, after a major investigation of the origins of the deadly disease now ravaging Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria."

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/23/ebola-outbreak-blamed-on-fruit-bats-africa