<p>Nrdsb4, no matter how many scientific articles you like or how loudly you scream, people are going to be continued to be brainwashed by the media’s shrieking about the near-end of the world.</p>
<p>Keep on fighting, but I fear it’s a losing battle with some. People believe what they want to believe, facts be damned. </p>
<p>No-one is shrieking about the end of the world. People are rightfully annoyed and concerned that a guy who probably knew or or at the very least strongly suspected he had a deadly virus got on a plane and exposed an entire community. Personally, I would prefer he never got a Visa.But, there’s no shrieking. </p>
<p>There was a scientist on CNN this morning blasting the media for its sensationalistic reporting without fact-checking with experts. Such stories just keep fueling the panic, even here in CC, which represents a more educated slice of the general public. </p>
<p>News conference right now on CNN.</p>
<p>The experts are not doing much to instill confidence, either. That’s part of the problem, imho.They’re having another press conference now. They are working diligently. Great.</p>
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<p>Okay, you’re wrong right out of the gate. They use thermometers which take the temperature from the tympanic membranes (the ear) or from rubbing it accross the forehead. Disposable covers are attached to the probes and discarded immediately afterwards.</p>
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<p>Wiped it around his wrist?! </p>
<p>Okay, you’re really stretching there, aren’t you?</p>
<p>If some nut case kills that man because of the media frenzy surrounding this nonsense, I wish we could hold each and every media person who is participating in this madness liable for his death. </p>
<p>Blame the media. lol.</p>
<p>Reading this thread is like watching an SNL skit where the people are saying one thing with surety, while their friends in background are doing the just the opposite. Those are funny because of the disconnect.</p>
<p>Let’s take two quotes together and then juxtapose what the quotes say against current CDC policy and guidelines for medical personnel re patients with Ebola-like symptoms, e.g., the father and daughter taken off the plane in NJ.:</p>
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<p>Based on the above quotes, then there is little to no issue about possible infection and the chances of being infectious are too low to be of concern. Specifically, airline passengers are being told there really is no issue at this early stage if the possible infected passengers touched other passengers via shaking hands etc. In the early stages even a little sneezing is no big deal for surrounding people to be concerned about. </p>
<p>Sounds good so far.</p>
<p>However, if the CDC really believed this were true re the no cause for concern, why is it policy that when such planes and people are met that the medical personnel dress in hazmat suits and are told not to touch the person(s) body directly at all and to be sure to wear masks to avoid inhaling any fluids, which may evaporate or splash off the possible infected parties? </p>
<p>Maybe people have missed the little (actually big) fact that medical personnel do NOT act and dress this way when addressing people with a cold, much less something supposedly harder to catch than a cold. </p>
<p>I will believe all this no issue mantra when the CDC has no problem sending its personnel to escort these supposed low-grade risk people with basic lab coats and gloves, which incidentally is still MORE protection than any of the passengers and the general public ever have. </p>
<p>Clearly, what is considered necessary for medical personnel is not necessary for the passengers and the general public. Hum…</p>
<p>So what do you believe - what people tell you or your lying eyes? Yep, definitely an SNL skit.</p>
<p>I want to thank Nrdsb4 for her excellent posts on this thread. It’s helpful and enlightening to have her commenting here.</p>
<p>Sure hope he didn’t get infected. What nightmare that would be for his own sake as well as containment’s sake. You all act as if the US is so different from Liberia. Some small pockets round the country may not be all that different. It’s bad enough that more likely than not rats and mice are infected. </p>
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<p>Could that be cause colds are relatively harmless if caught? Hmm, let me think…gee, this is a toughie. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.</p>
<p>momoffour #603 – that jives with other studies which shows that not only do the uninsured get less care in the ER, they wait longer for the less care that they do get.</p>
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<p>Yes, and not just compassionate, but also informed. Two qualities that are sadly lacking in much of the discussion surrounding this.</p>
<p>I’m one of the paranoid ones but assuming they followed standard disinfecting procedures between ambulance calls, I think chances are low that the homeless guy got infected.
I don’t get the fear that someone would kill him – if you think someone is infected you run away, you don’t risk any contact.</p>
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<p>You are being somewhat non specific here. Are you referring to the difference between passengers who flew with Mr. Duncan (asymptomatic) who were told they weren’t at risk vs. passengers who flew on a plane with a symptomatic (high fever, vomiting) passenger? Because those aren’t apples and oranges.</p>
<p>As for the hazmat, I think that is the difference between what is needed for actual protection, and what is needed to appease demanding, hysterical citizens, or those who are tasked with meeting those people and won’t agree to do so unless they are given this equipment. Overabundance of caution has already been stated enough times to have made sense.</p>
<p>For some of these issues and fears, the best thing to do is this: LOOK at AFRICA. Do the patterns of infection there support some of these assertions? That a sneeze (not really a symptom associated with ebola), which we have already noted here doesn’t carry high concentrations of virus even in an infected person, especially one in the early stages who is able to be out and about, would be capable of infecting people in the general vicinity? </p>
<p>If you keep going back to Africa and considering their patterns of infection and keeping in mind the general education of the public, their cultural behavior with regard to burials, their medical system, their access to PPG, the understanding of how to use that properly, etc., some of these far out “what if” scenarios make very, very, very little sense. We should be seeing millions infected there instead of mere thousands.</p>
<p>And 30,000 Americans will die of influenza here in the US this year , with little to no fanfare.</p>
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<p>Just watch the news, medical personal are literally taking no chances if they think a person may be infected. </p>
<p>Even in NJ with the father and daughter, they disinfected the waiting room of the medical center before letting anyone else back in. When last did you hear that being done for the common cold? </p>
<p>BTW, A colleague f mine says the next guideline coming down is to designate specific ambulances for transport of suspected patients. When have you heard that being done, even for the most severe flu? Like, never.</p>
<p>For the record, scientifically, I could easily believe the low-grade infection status in the early stages, BUT the CDC is not acting like that, so I smartly question what they are saying. </p>
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<p>You are seriously going to discount the major difference which exists with regard to virulence and why something with very low virulence does not demand the same vigilance/resources? </p>
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<p>Do the infection rates/patterns in Africa reflect high grade infection status in early stages?</p>
<p>No, they do not.</p>
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<p>In case of malaria, the reason you see symptoms is because virus shed, namely you get sick because there’s so many of them attacking. So symptom means shedding. Interesting that Ebola symptoms show with few virus. How does the body know to get sick when there’s so few virus?</p>
<p>Regarding the uninsured getting less care in the ER, are we factoring in the fact that the uninsured are much more likely to use the ER in the first place? If this is about money buys you more tests, of course, that true. And, it’s true everywhere. If anyone thinks the average pregnant woman in Liverpool is getting the same kind of care as Princess Kate I have a bridge for sale. 
I also have no idea what this has to do with Mr. Duncan unless it goes to the fact the he got antibiotics for a stomachache, but I’m guessing we could find an insured person to whom that has happened, as well. He’s also not getting experimental drugs. A conspiracy, of course. (sarcasm)</p>
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<p>You can’t compare this to malaria. You must look at it in the context of how ebola behaves, not marlaria, not the common cold, not influenza. Influenza is a virus which is contagious during its incubation period, thus the very high rates of transmission during epidemics. It is completely irrelevant in a conversation about ebola. As is malaria.</p>