My students have been very curious about Ebola (since we live in south texas) and since I teach science they have been asking me questions. Basically I have told them that while it's contagious, the chance of it getting here is small. And I also pointed out that more people die from the flu every year. But I've been debating whether that is a good comparison. Don't people die more due to complications from the flu, not the flu itself. Like they already have a weakened or vulnerable immune system and the flu topples their dominoes? Whereas Ebola can take out an otherwise healthy person. Please correct me if wrong.
No, people die due to the flu. Children and the elderly are more susceptible to the flu due to their immune system not being as strong as someone who is 20 something, but you don't have to be immunocompromised to die from the flu.
H5N1 and H1N1 seem to be particularly dangerous and I believe have a higher mortality rate among previously health adults.
Post by jordancatalano4ever on Oct 18, 2014 8:16:15 GMT -5
Okay. Well then I can stand by what I told them. I know that their worries are fueled by media hype as always seems to be the case with major events. But I try to be reassuring and sound reasonable to counteract their anxiety.
You guys, right now, the headline on CNN (on TV) is "Excessive Ebola Covererage?" and there are experts discussing whether or not CNN has contributed to the hysteria. (They have not, according to the experts. FYI)
Is that funny, or do I need more coffee? The sun isn't up yet so I can't tell - lol.
From my understanding, many flu deaths are actually caused by pneumonia. But the person wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if they hadn't gotten the flu, KWIM? Like they got the flu, it progressed, they get fluid in their lungs (pneumonia) and die.
Not a bacteriologist, but I think you're right and wrong insofar as pneumonia isn't a specific bacteria or a separate virus or something. It's a fluid collection in the lungs that is infected. There are a lot of different ways to get pneumonia, but by analogy, if someone had a bucket fall on their head and it killed them, your wouldn't say they died because their brain got exposed to the air. You'd say a bucket fell on their head and that bucket probably shouldn't have been perched on that ledge like that. KWIM?
Totally tangent but you should ask your H about the new ICD 10 codes. There are some really funny new ones, like injured due to a flying trampoline and lots of other ridiculousness. I'm sure there is a falling bucket code.
If flu caused the pneumonia and the pneumonia caused the death you can say flu caused the death. Because it did.
Exactly. If I fall off a ladder and break my neck then When asked how I broke my neck I would likely say "falling off a ladder" not "the impact with the ground"
From my understanding, many flu deaths are actually caused by pneumonia. But the person wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if they hadn't gotten the flu, KWIM? Like they got the flu, it progressed, they get fluid in their lungs (pneumonia) and die.
Yes the flu can lead to pneumonia, ARDs, severe sepsis or septic shock, etc. That is true for all disease processes once you look at the pathophys.
Ok, I wasn't arguing that flu doesn't kill people. I was arguing that it does, by process of pneumonia. So a lot of times people or news stories say that someone died of pneumonia, but the flu was really to blame.
We're on the same side, guys!!
Yep, I wasn't disagreeing. Just adding in that the same concept is true for all disease processes once you look at the pathophys. The media doesn't always have the best track record of accurate reporting
You guys, right now, the headline on CNN (on TV) is "Excessive Ebola Covererage?" and there are experts discussing whether or not CNN has contributed to the hysteria. (They have not, according to the experts. FYI)
Is that funny, or do I need more coffee? The sun isn't up yet so I can't tell - lol.
I was at urgent care this morning and there was a sign that said "Ebola Advisory! If you have been to Africa in the last 30 days and have a fever, please let us know immediately."
*headdesk*
Also, the admin said that their ebola "plan" is basically "run like hell."
So now CNN is telling us we're all overreacting, and helping us put the ebola threat into perspective. But weren't they fanning the flames all along? I need to go search CNN articles from the past couple weeks.
Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola after six weeks with no new cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz, speaking in the capital Abuja, said it was a "spectacular success story".
Nigeria won praise for its swift response after a Liberian diplomat brought the disease there in July.
The outbreak has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
An estimated 70% of those infected have died in those countries.
The WHO officially declared Senegal Ebola-free on Friday.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to discuss how to strengthen their response to the threat posed by Ebola.
European countries have committed more than 500m euros (£400m; $600m) but the UK is pressing to double that amount.
I was listening to a story about this on NPR.
There was praise for the doctor at the private clinic who suspected Ebola. The clinic then refused to let the patient leave until testing was done. Once the test was positive then there was a massive effort to determine the number of people potentially exposed- the list swelled to 900 at one point. There was also an education campaign that covered thousands of private homes.
11 people contracted it and 8 died. It really was impressive to hear how it was contained. The swiftness of the response effort as well as the breadth of it was what caught my attention.
I heard this on the way in this morning as well. I'm really excited for Nigeria, and impressed by how well they contained it and the seeming efficiency/effectiveness of their protocol. Way to show up the US, Nigeria!
So now CNN is telling us we're all overreacting, and helping us put the ebola threat into perspective. But weren't they fanning the flames all along? I need to go search CNN articles from the past couple weeks.
CNN is awful. All they do is manufacture hysteria, about every single topic.
48 people who had initial contact with Duncan cleared from quarantine. Including his fiancé.
So your kid who goes to school with someone who's parent was on a plane with the nurse who may have had a fever? They cool.
But some school in Oklahoma is telling a kid to stay home because he was on the cruise ship with the lab tech who tested negative for Ebola. And someone is coughing a lot on the subway near me. I am scared. Lol
I don't want to "like" this, but I need a button for shaking my damn head.
There was praise for the doctor at the private clinic who suspected Ebola. The clinic then refused to let the patient leave until testing was done. Once the test was positive then there was a massive effort to determine the number of people potentially exposed- the list swelled to 900 at one point. There was also an education campaign that covered thousands of private homes.
11 people contracted it and 8 died. It really was impressive to hear how it was contained. The swiftness of the response effort as well as the breadth of it was what caught my attention.
And yet, a fraction of that have caught it in the US, and it's OMGWTFBBQ!!!!
The CDC released new guidance today for healthcare workers. This is shocking! Especially since their previous protocols were more than enough.... LMFAO
I get being scared, but to refuse to treat patients with Ebola like symptoms (ie, a fever- at least that seems to be the line some are drawing) is not OK with me. What if cops and firefighters were like "nope" for 9/11? Some professions have more risk - I don't think you should be able to elect which parts of your job to do when shit gets tough.
Did people act this way about aids when we thought it was more easily transmitted than we do now?
All of that being said, they deserve better training and support. I hope all hospitals make this a priority.
If the cops are firefighters said, "you have not given us raises in years, have cut our benefits, fought our union every step if the way, have not trained us, and are sending us in to a burning buildings wearing nothing but jeans and a t-shirt, so fuck you" I would have no problem with them walking off.
If we are talking about someone who is adequately trained, dressed, and compensated for the job and the risk, but refuses to do it, well, good riddance. But no, I don't blame someone who is handed a brochure and a face mask, and is told, "go get that Ebola, tiger" from saying, "JFC NO."
Honestly, I am troubled by the attitude that people should just be grateful for their shitty jobs and do them regardless of whether and how the risk escalates. If the hospital is not willing to devote a portion of their bottom line to adequately training and uniforming it's workers to deal with this new risk, I fully support nurse walk outs. I'm disgusted that people think these nurses should just ben diver and take it.
I'd rather die alone of Ebola in my hospital bed, than know I went out spraying a $35k/yr earning nurse wearing nothing but scrubs sprayed with my death vomit because 9/11.
ETA - whoops, I just realized this is a very old post. I'm on my ipad and it redirected me to the wrong page. Sorry if you've changed your mind since and I missed it.
This has to be rumor. At present, only the CDC, Emory, Nebraska and the NIH have the ability to test for Ebola. They will not do the test unless the patient fits a certain criteria.
"Now, Rhode Island Hospital, the biggest medical center in a state with a West African community of about 20,000 people, plans immediately to isolate and test anyone with any Ebola symptoms, even without a fever, if the person has traveled anywhere outside the country in recent weeks.
“Even Canada,” said Dr. Leonard Mermel, medical director of the hospital’s department of epidemiology and infection control. “We’ll whisk away more people than we need to.""
It's hard for me to take him seriously. Supposedly RI Hospital is a designated Ebola hospital, yet they sent Ashoka Mukpo to Nebraska, despite the fact that his father is the head of the ICU at RIH. That guy from Massachusetts was sent to Nebraska as well.
That says to me that RIH is nowhere near ready to handle ebola cases, or they would already been doing so.
I read part of an ebola denier's thread on mothering.com yesterday (in the anti-vax section of course) and my head nearly exploded. Don't go there unless you want to feel like punching stuff.
I was at urgent care this morning and there was a sign that said "Ebola Advisory! If you have been to Africa in the last 30 days and have a fever, please let us know immediately."
*headdesk*
Also, the admin said that their ebola "plan" is basically "run like hell."
You know, every one I work with is slightly sick and feverish now. It's like how everyone gets sick when they read The Shining.
Well crap. I just started reading The Shining.
No, No, I just realized I said The Shining when I meant The Stand.
You'll probably be fine.
My mom always figured they tainted the Stand with some sort of virus that made everyone just slightly ill and totally paranoid when they read it. (FYI, in case you haven't read it, the Stand is an apocalyptic piece about a virus that wipes out all but the chosen few..)
I read part of an ebola denier's thread on mothering.com yesterday (in the anti-vax section of course) and my head nearly exploded. Don't go there unless you want to feel like punching stuff.
There is no part of that site that isn't anti vax. It all makes my head explode.