Ebola has reached America

[Robert Paulson]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/30/a-dallas-hospital-is-evaluating-a-patient-for-possible-ebola/

when is the time to panic?

[joshv06]

I live in Houston.

I think that it will spread. Fast.

ETA:

Ebola in Texas
Stock Market ATH
US Bombing in Syria, Russia threatens to push back
ISIS potential terrorist attack

Gee I wonder which is the one that will send is overboard..

[snappa4ever]

This is very unfortunate I hope they cure this disease quickly and not alot of people are affected. And the people affected I hope they get a cure.

[Bonam]

Crucial test to see if the US disease control system works I suppose. If there are more than 2-3 other related cases found in the next 2 weeks, it's likely to escape control. At this point though, it's still likely that this particular case can be contained.

But if one guy can fly back from West Africa with Ebola with nothing stopping him, so can others, meaning many more such cases are likely. Time to implement quarantine measures of some sort. If you are arriving in a Western country and have been in an Ebola-affected country in the last month, you should be held in quarantine pending results of an Ebola test.

[TaunSew]

Is it possible this could spread faster within America than within Africa?  I think most people in Africa are subsistence agriculturalists or urban dwellers who don't really commute long distances.

The thing about America is people are so afraid of losing their jobs that they don't even take sick days when they need them.  There could also be more personal contact in American culture than African culture (such as shaking hands with strangers).  Then public gatherings like sport arenas where you can have large groups of people in close proximity with each other.

[SecureExchange]

unreal it depends on what will happen this month

if it's not spreading then it will be alright

[Hamuki]

PANIC EVERYONE PANIC NOW!

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!

Now.. Lets go back to our BTC..

[Rigon]

Perhaps now would be a reasonable time to begin restricting reentry from high-risk regions, thus discouraging travel. This man probably traveled to Liberia to visit a "sick" relative and was then allowed to board a flight to the US.

[Elwar]

Where can I find my closest FEMA camp so I can get the best cot before everyone else is rounded up?

[Fabrizio89]

In case you are worried or interested about the matter, the science community of Reddit is doing an ama in whick many interesting questions are answered http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2hy3r9/science_ama_series_ask_your_questions_about_ebola/ the situation doesn't look so bad.

[newflesh]

lol no need to panic, the Ebola scare-mongering has been hugely overplayed by the media.

At least the drug corps can make a shitload of money selling Ebola 'vaccines.'

[awesome31312]

Don't worry about Ebola spreading in Dallas. The Cowboys have shown us that people in Dallas can't catch anything.

[Elwar]

Don't worry about Ebola spreading in Dallas. The Cowboys have shown us that people in Dallas can't catch anything.

lol

[RodeoX]

Na, Ebola is not contagious enough to overwhelm the health care system here, like it did in Africa. It's bad for the guy who is infected though. 

[PeanutCoins]

How did he get the disease? Sharing fluids with a sick person? Something about this doesn't make sense. If you can't get this from someone who isn't showing symptoms, there must be a lot of people sharing body fluids with Ebola patients in Africa.

[RodeoX]

How did he get the disease? Sharing fluids with a sick person? Something about this doesn't make sense. If you can't get this from someone who isn't showing symptoms, there must be a lot of people sharing body fluids with Ebola patients in Africa.

I think you are exactly right. Often the infection comes from caring for a sick family member. He apparently started showing symptoms 4 days after arriving from Africa (Liberia I think). Four days later he was diagnosed. That means that people who were in contact with him after he was sick but before he was quarantined will need to be isolated and tested.
In Africa many people don't trust hospitals or doctors and prefer to go to traditional healers. They have nothing to offer people and when they go home, they get sicker and infect more people. In the west I doubt this would happen. if anything we put too much faith in medicine and what it can do.

Just to point out how culturally different it is in Africa, I heard a radio song to help prevent the spread of Ebola. Since new cases are transmitted from eating bush meat, the refrain goes: "Ebola; If you find a dead monkey don't eat it, Ebola."
Now if you have to tell people not to eat a dead monkey they find... You have a real disease problem.

[BADecker]

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever. It kills about half of those who contract it. It sometimes, though not always, leads to uncontrollable bleeding. But it's difficult to contract. The only way to catch Ebola is to have direct contact with the bodily fluids — vomit, sweat, blood, feces, urine or saliva — of someone who has Ebola and has begun showing symptoms.

Modern public-health systems can manage diseases that travel through bodily fluids. The techniques are laborious, but known. You isolate those who have contracted the disease, or might have contracted it. You find out who's been near them. You screen them for the disease. You isolate anyone who shows symptoms. You do this until the disease is stamped out. It works. And modern public-health systems know how to do it.

Read more at http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/163957-2014-10-01-don-39-t-panic-over-ebola-in-america.htm .

[TECSHARE]

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever. It kills about half of those who contract it. It sometimes, though not always, leads to uncontrollable bleeding. But it's difficult to contract. The only way to catch Ebola is to have direct contact with the bodily fluids — vomit, sweat, blood, feces, urine or saliva — of someone who has Ebola and has begun showing symptoms.

Modern public-health systems can manage diseases that travel through bodily fluids. The techniques are laborious, but known. You isolate those who have contracted the disease, or might have contracted it. You find out who's been near them. You screen them for the disease. You isolate anyone who shows symptoms. You do this until the disease is stamped out. It works. And modern public-health systems know how to do it.

Read more at http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/163957-2014-10-01-don-39-t-panic-over-ebola-in-america.htm .

A couple things wrong with that quote...first of all the original mortality rates were around 90% for the first outbreaks they saw of ebola. The current strain has a lethality rate of about 70%. It has mutated since then and become less lethal, but unfortunately it has also become more infectious. This time there are many more cases of persons infected by objects touched by the infected, which was previously less common. Even in a modern healthcare system this could be a huge issue. Remember the black plague? That only killed about half the people infected with it. This current strain kills 70% of the infected.

[Singlebyte]

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever. It kills about half of those who contract it. It sometimes, though not always, leads to uncontrollable bleeding. But it's difficult to contract. The only way to catch Ebola is to have direct contact with the bodily fluids — vomit, sweat, blood, feces, urine or saliva — of someone who has Ebola and has begun showing symptoms.

Modern public-health systems can manage diseases that travel through bodily fluids. The techniques are laborious, but known. You isolate those who have contracted the disease, or might have contracted it. You find out who's been near them. You screen them for the disease. You isolate anyone who shows symptoms. You do this until the disease is stamped out. It works. And modern public-health systems know how to do it.

Read more at http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/163957-2014-10-01-don-39-t-panic-over-ebola-in-america.htm .

A couple things wrong with that quote...first of all the original mortality rates were around 90% for the first outbreaks they saw of ebola. The current strain has a lethality rate of about 70%. It has mutated since then and become less lethal, but unfortunately it has also become more infectious. This time there are many more cases of persons infected by objects touched by the infected, which was previously less common. Even in a modern healthcare system this could be a huge issue. Remember the black plague? That only killed about half the people infected with it. This current strain kills 70% of the infected.

I have also heard mortality rates all over the board from 50% - 90%.  The World Health Organization (WHO) now lists on their FAQs a death rate near 90%.  Possibly because those people whom become infected reside in countries with substandard health care facilities.

Source (FAQ #1)
www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/

Also, it appears a second US case (Dallas again) is now possible.  
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/01/texas-ebola-patient/16525649/

[Balthazar]

How did he get the disease? Sharing fluids with a sick person? Something about this doesn't make sense. If you can't get this from someone who isn't showing symptoms, there must be a lot of people sharing body fluids with Ebola patients in Africa.

Infected person is relatively safe while no symptoms have been developed. However, infection through blood transfusion or sexual intercourse is still possible.