<p>No, Miami, not a “non-issue”.
Active spores can linger in the air for hours, and not everyone has been vaccinated, particularly those from developing countries.
<a href=“TB is back - so could you get it? And how could you tell? | Daily Mail Online”>TB is back - so could you get it? And how could you tell? | Daily Mail Online;
<p>So, why TB vaccination is not pushed along with all other vaccination? Frankly, I do not remember my D. being vaccinated for TB. If most were vaccinated, then they would not test for TB so often and wheneve one needs to work at medical facility.</p>
<p>I don’t study diseases, but I’m wondering if having the two Americans get the disease could be the best thing to happen to the outbreak.
We can throw everything we have at it in a controlled environment and perhaps come out with more than how to prevent transmission but how to kill it.</p>
<p>" I believe its because they have so little doses and it would be harder to control and monitor the results in an African village (just taking a stab at it)."
-This is an example of incorrect statement. There are very advanced hospitals in Africa with docs trained in the USA and Europe. </p>
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<p>Yeah, I was wondering about that, too, If these “pushy” Americans hadn’t talked their way into getting access to this trial medicine, the medicine could still be plodding thru the lengthy FDA regulatory gauntlet. </p>
<p>If there were a formalized process for deciding who should get access to a scarce medicine, and I were in charge, I would put humanitarian workers who contracted the disease taking care of the sick under less than optimal conditions in a developing country at the top of the list.</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP But they don’t have level 4 containment units in Africa where they can absolutely make sure that nothing else affects the patient or spreads to outside patients… It doesn’t matter how good of a hospital they have there, its not equipped for this level of biohazard. also, TB vaccine is not that common in the US, but is in other countries. It causes a characteristic raised scar at the injection sight.</p>
<p>TB is actually not deadly in healthy adults - meaning you can be infected and never show symptoms. But if your immune system goes low then you can get the disease. That’s why it kills so many in 3rd world countries - the lack of nutrition makes them susceptible. So a TB pandemic is not a big worry in developed countries.</p>
<p>@scholarme i knew there was a reason why the US didn’t generally vaccinate, but I couldn’t remember why! thanks for that. </p>
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<p>According to Wiki, there is a level 4 unit in Gabon and one in South Africa.</p>
<p><a href=“Biosafety level - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level</a></p>
<p>@sorghum oh, i wasn’t aware of this, thanks. But where are those in relation to the outbreak (Im bad with geography)? It still might be safer to bring them to the one that is right across the street from the CDC, I’ll leave that call to the experts.</p>
<p>Reading the article about the experimental drug, it was efficacious in monkeys when administered 2 days after Ebola exposure. But people take up to 21 days to begin to exhibit symptoms. Given the difficulty of making and storing the drug, and the vagaries of exposure–it takes bodily fluids, after all–it has to be extremely difficult to decide who to give it to. Not to mention that the best dosage and method of delivery are still unknowns. All of this can only be determined in a controlled environment. </p>
<p>I suppose that they could set up an experimental facility in one of the affected African countries and treat a small group of selected patients there. Ideally, there would also be a matched control group. Getting patients and their families to comply would be incredibly difficult, judging by what has been going on. Not to mention the difficulty of setting up secure, environmentally controlled facilities.</p>
<p>I think of the yellow fever experiments done by Walter Reade…I also think of the Sinclair Lewis novel Arrowsmith. These things are not simple in the least.</p>
<p>@sorghum #69
I believe that those were build for research in controlled conditions, not widespread treatment of a pandemic.</p>
<p>@iwtgte i was just thinking about that too. The one at emory is an actual treatment/isolation center, I’m not sure how many of those exist. EDIT: After doing some research, I don’t think they designate biohazard levels for treatment centers, but the isolation building at emory was built for the CDC to handle potentially exposed employees (possible lab accidents, eg punctured suit) and is heavily equipped. It is set up to handle up to level 4 biohazards.</p>
<p>@guineagirl96 In the above posts I was likening level 4 biosafety containment centers to treatment centers, but I believe you are correct in that treatment centers are not designated the same type of required biosafety level as research centers are.</p>
<p>And Ebola is pretty obviously level 4.</p>
<p>And Ebola is pretty obviously level 4.</p>
<p>@iwtgte yes, i know. sorry the way i organized that post was weird. The first part was in response to you, the second was more a general statement. I posted myself that it was a level 4 treatment center, then got curious because i was thinking of how many possible centers there could be. Ebola is level 4 in research though, so you know that treatment center is as equipped as a level 4 research center if the cdc is using it.</p>
<p>@guineagirl96 Good fact about the potentially exposed worker treatment thing. I didn’t know that that existed. Source?</p>
<p>@iwtgte from the article i just read, it’s used pretty commonly used for CDC scientists who may have been exposed oversees to diseases (not really lab accidents- both those can happen too). Guess it just doesn’t make the news because its not everyday that it happens to be someone actually infected with a level 4/ebola seems to create a panic.</p>