I am choosing to believe the infectious disease specialist I heard on NPR the other day. He told me it would be easily contained in the USA and I refuse to believe different.
I agree, and like I've said, I'm not freaked out, I just want education and preparation, starting with first responders. Obviously the public could use some as well, as far as how it spreads, etc. I am not worried, at all, about it becoming airborne, and I don't want mass hysteria to prevail.
My hospital is ready. We've been ready. There is nothing for us to do but stay vigilant. I can't say it isn't scary, but its because its new and we all have fear of the unknown.
Listen people who are 'freaking the fuck out', don't go poking your paper-cut riddled finger in the orifices of someone with active Ebola and you will be JUST FINE.
You haven't randomly caught AIDS yet have you?
i am fully aware of how likely overhyped my paranoia is, but i have been terrified of ebola for YEARS. i never thought i would actually have to worry about it though, and the fact that it's now in the same country is freaking me the fuck out. and the fact that i travel all the time and could end up trapped in a small space with someone who has it? regardless of logic.
Did you read 'Hot Zone' too? That's why I get freaked out about it....
When you go to the hospital in the US, do they not ask if you've travelled outside of the country in the past 2 months?
It took 2 days to get him into isolation. That's actually ridiculous. He came from Liberia. That should have been question 1.
It's entirely possible he lied.
You have to understand what it's like in Liberia right now. This disease has absolutely devastated the nation. People have watched their loved ones die all around them. They cannot touch them or hug them or kiss them or even tell them they love them. They aren't allowed to care for the bodies of their loved ones after they pass.
On top of that, we're talking about a country with years and years worth of reasons to mistrust the government and foreigners. Authority figures and outsiders have done terrible things to Liberians. So they're not convinced this disease is real or that the people who are there to help aren't instead hurting them. My guess is that he wasn't forthcoming about his country of origin, which resulted in a delay in placing him into isolation.
I remain concerned about the people of West Africa and for this man and his family.
But I'm not in any way worried that Ebola will spread throughout the US the way it has in West Africa.
I am not concerned about this at all either. That was the only question I wondered, as I am not from the US, and don't know if they ask there as they do here. I was curious if it was standard practice.
As Lhc stated, those are the reasons for the rampant spread of Ebola through west Africa. I hope it brings more attention to the situation to help get it under control in West Africa.
You have to understand what it's like in Liberia right now. This disease has absolutely devastated the nation. People have watched their loved ones die all around them. They cannot touch them or hug them or kiss them or even tell them they love them. They aren't allowed to care for the bodies of their loved ones after they pass.
On top of that, we're talking about a country with years and years worth of reasons to mistrust the government and foreigners. Authority figures and outsiders have done terrible things to Liberians. So they're not convinced this disease is real or that the people who are there to help aren't instead hurting them. My guess is that he wasn't forthcoming about his country of origin, which resulted in a delay in placing him into isolation.
I remain concerned about the people of West Africa and for this man and his family.
But I'm not in any way worried that Ebola will spread throughout the US the way it has in West Africa.
I am not concerned about this at all either. That was the only question I wondered, as I am not from the US, and don't know if they ask there as they do here. I was curious if it was standard practice.
As Lhc stated, those are the reasons for the rampant spread of Ebola through west Africa. I hope it brings more attention to the situation to help get it under control in West Africa.
That's good you're not, but some people are expressing concern. I get it, but the reasons for the swift spread throughout Liberia and Sierra Leone have to do with specific factors that aren't present here.
They do not ask about whether you've traveled outside the US every time you go to the hospital, but given certain symptoms, they will. I'm presuming that they probably did in this case, although perhaps not.
I am guessing that any hospital that doesn't make this a priority in their line of questioning will certainly be doing so now.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Sept 30, 2014 19:21:47 GMT -5
it's disconcerting to me because he had symptoms (you are contagious as soon as you have symptoms according to the CDC), went to the hospital after 2 days and was sent home, only to be finally isolated 2 additional days later.
From what I understand, it makes you very weak, and if he was living with family here it's entirely possible that someone in his home came in contact with some of his bodily fluids. I mean, if your husband or child was sick and missed the toilet would you leave it or clean it up? And if you thought it was just a general flu bug you might not be as careful as if you suspected it was Ebola (though, given the fact that he was in an infected country it would be reasonable to assume it might be the case). It's those 'handful' of family members that I'm more concerned about - not so much that it would get out of the hospital.
I can think of a number of scenarios where a person who was newly infected with it might have an 'issue' in public... which scares the crap out of me! I know *I* won't be cleaning it up in public, but imagine the janitorial crew who has to clean it up not knowing that the person was in contact with the virus and on down the line...
Call me crazy if you want, that's fine, I swear I'm not normally a germaphobe, but this one has me worried.
I just can't be breezy about Ebola. Can't. I mean, I'm not locked in a bunker, but if there was a case in my town....
The stomach flu isn't airborne either (only transmitted via bodily fluids!) and that shit goes around every single year. And since ebola basically turns people into a puddle of bodily fluids, I could see how avoiding them might be challenging if a number of people got infected. And I know they keep saying, "Survival rates are better with good treatment," which is true, but a 60% fatality rate is still shitty. Better than 90% but still worse than...... uh, like anything else we deal with.
Don't get me wrong- I think our focus should be in combating it in the countries that are suffering so deeply right now, not in building our zombie walls, but that doesn't mean I won't get a little sweaty thinking about it.
Well we don't tend to keep every person with the flu in highly contained isolation units lol