<p>The most important way to contain the spread is informing the public not only of symptoms but how the virus is spread. The old wash your hands, use hand sanitizer is recommended. According to an infectious disease expert in our area, the virus can remain viable on surfaces for 10 days. That’s a good long time. So it highlights the need for constant cleaning of public places.</p>
<p>This is interesting. Dr. Gupta on CNN does a demo of wearing & taking off CDC recommended protective gear.
<a href=“Video News - CNN”>Video News - CNN;
<p>If the blood transfusion from Brantley to the other Ebola victims is found to work, wouldn’t it make sense to have only those who share Brantley’s blood type to care for future Ebola victims? </p>
<p>The article in the LA Times said that Pham’s mother begged her stop nursing Duncan. As a mother I understand that totally and now the mother’s worst fears are realized.</p>
<p>I read a Wall Street Journal headline (couldn’t access the entire article) about family members bribing body collection workers to say the relative hadn’t died of Ebola and giving a death certificate. I don’t know if this is true and didn’t get to read the whole thing, but as with attempts to contain HIV it sounds like they are finding that education only goes so far to change entrenched culture and superstition.</p>
<p>I think the reactions to this are like the reactions to most epidemics. Most people are–perhaps understandably–not terribly concerned about doing anything concrete to stop it until they realize that THEY might be affected personally. At that point, some people’s response is measured, some people’s response has a tinge of panic, and some people are irrational. </p>
<p>While we’re at it, we’d better stop issuing visas to people carrying passports from most of the Middle East, for obvious reasons. Especially Saudi Arabia, the home of almost all of the 9/11 terrorists. (Remember, at least some of them were living in Germany, so we have to go to the passport level, not the country of flight’s origin level.)</p>
<p>Completely agree with going to the passport level not the airplane level and have no idea why people think it’s outrageous to suspend Visas or insist on a health check and quarantine before travel from the affected areas. It makes a lot more sense than taking temperatures with fancy new thermometers at five airports which everyone seems to agree would have changed nothing at all. </p>
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Seems like an obvious thing to do, but we don’t because ostensibly Saudi Arabia is our “ally”</p>
<p>I also don’t understand why some think it’s outrageous to suspend visas or insist on health checks and quarantines before travel from affected countries. </p>
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<p>Who’s going to pay for all of this? The American taxpayers?</p>
<p>“Who’s going to pay for all of this? The American taxpayers?”</p>
<p>Well, there we go. We want to be safe, but we will not pay a dime for it. </p>
<p>I, for one, would be happy to see my taxes contributing to an effort like this.</p>
<p>The thing about a plague is, you can spend $1M to stop it now, or $1B to stop it when it arrives on your doorstep. Metaphorically speaking. This is, of course, leaving out any humanitarian concerns.</p>
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Yes, US taxpayers and taxpayers in other rich countries. And we should be paying not for charity, but for our own self-interest. </p>
<p>You can see how economically devastating to a US community just one ebola case is. This fire needs to be stamped out while it’s still on the other side of the ocean.</p>
<p>It is possible to do both. You can lock your door and then be in a better position to offer aid to others.</p>
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<p>My running partner works in the lab at that hospital! I guess I’d better not give her any hugs. ;)</p>
<p>There is a potential case in Kansas City also. </p>
<p>Yesterday a man shouted “I have Ebola” on an L. A. bus and it prompted the hazmat crews to come out. </p>
<p>All these false alarms are costly. </p>
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<p>Good lord. Yes, there are things we have to pay for that we’d rather not. We cannot treat running our country and protecting our citizens like an a la carte buffet. Actually, we have been, which is why funding for public health initiatives has been cut to the point that we are less able to respond to this kind of crisis than we should be.</p>
<p>^^ Any idea how they thought this person might have been exposed? </p>
<p>There are internet rumors that Pham’s boyfriend has been admitted with symptoms. But the sources are unfamiliar to me. </p>
<p>The man in Kansas City was a medical officer on a ship in one of the hot zone countries.</p>
<p>I would like to see just a little more emphasis on the “protecting our citizens” part of this. As for NIH funding, when the list of stupid studies comes out that case is going to be harder to make, imho. </p>
<p>The WHO has raised the fatality rate on Ebola to 70%. So I’m going to ask a very controversial question. Is there any evidence that the medical care being given in the hot zone is actually bringing down the death rate of the disease? I couldn’t find any articles asking or answering this question. </p>
<p>I’m not talking about educating people not to touch the dead and other methods to prevent the spread of the disease. I’m talking about treatment once the patient has been diagnosed.</p>