Ebola fears grow with Europe and Asia on alert

[grahamhgreen]

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-holds-emergency-talks-growing-ebola-threat-084704564.html

Bart Janssens, MSF's director of operations, warned that governments and global bodies had no "overarching view" vision of how to tackle the outbreak.

"This epidemic is unprecedented, absolutely out of control and the situation can only get worse, because it is still spreading, above all in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in some very important hotspots," he said.

"If the situation does not improve fairly quickly, there is a real risk of new countries being affected," he told La Libre Belgique newspaper.

In Canada, local media reported that a Canadian doctor had put himself in quarantine as a precaution after spending weeks in west Africa treating patients with the virus alongside an American doctor, who is now infected.

[Iron Man]

1. This is getting scary.

[Pisces]

2. Wow, this sounds like something we should be focusing on. I hope we have the best

people working on how to contain this virus. It is scary business.

[Bragi]

3. The CDC is not ignoring this

They're doing what they can in a foreign country that has limited resources with which to do much of anything.

Their daily briefings on the topic are informative:

See for example: http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0728-ebola.html

[840high]

5. Good.

[CanonRay]

4. TS Eliot said it best...

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper"

[jwirr]

6. Couple of years ago my daughter visited Mexico. Some kind of epidemic broke out while they were

there. They had to contact our embassy and before they got on the plane to return they had to be examined. When their plane landed in Texas they were examined again.

All countries should be more careful now and it should be assumed that this epidemic could be carried by anyone moving out of the area of the disease. We know how this moves but we cannot totally control the contact the citizens of that area have with others.

[dickthegrouch]

8. I am NOT being examined by TSA for a medical condition

If they don't provide licensed medical practitioners who have sworn an oath of Doctor/Patient confidentiality, I guess I won't be flying any longer

[jwirr]

20. I did not ask her but I am sure that it was doctors who did it. I agree that I would not want to be

examined by the TSA. Heard too many weird things about them.

[msongs]

7. our congress and presidents spend trillions on war. meanwhile regarding ebola......snoooze nt

[conservaphobe]

9. Ebola Not A Significant Threat To U.S., CDC Says

The deadly outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa is unlikely to spread outside of that region and into the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday (July 28).

“No Ebola cases have been reported in the United States and the likelihood of this outbreak spreading outside of West Africa is very low," CDC spokesperson Stephan Monroe, Ph.D., the deputy director at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said in a teleconference. "I want to underscore that Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population."

While the virus has little chance of spreading to the U.S., the CDC has deployed 12 staff members to the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help contain the outbreak that has infected 1,201 people and killed 672 people so far (making it the largest Ebola outbreak in history). These CDC members will not directly interact with any infected patients, but will manage databases and train teams to track down those who may have been exposed to symptomatic patients. The CDC expects to cycle in new staffers every 30 days until the virus is stopped. Along with this system, the CDC has issued a series of alerts to health workers and travel warnings to civilian travelers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/28/ebola-united-states_n_5628364.html

[leftstreet]

10. The OP is about Europe and Asia n/t

[conservaphobe]

11. And the first sentence of that article says it is unlikely to spread outside West Africa. nt

[B2G]

15. And it doesn't explain why

We've already seen one person board a plane with it.

What exactly is stopping others?

[HereSince1628]

21. In developed nations sick people have better acess to healthcare

and when they do, their healthcare systems have resources to get pretty good infection control

Yes, I know. Parts of America are questionably representative of developed nations.

[Aerows]

23. No kidding

that's not exactly comforting.

[leftstreet]

18. It's about Europe and Asia's fears

It's not about what the WHO or MSF have to say

It's about what countries outside the hot zone are doing to prepare should it spread

[Zorra]

12. Even you think you may have Ebola, continue to shop and spend! nt

[grahamhgreen]

13. It's a plane ride away. May as well be in Mexico for all intents.

[B2G]

14. WHY isn't it a significant threat to the US?

That critical piece of information seems to be lacking from his statement.

[conservaphobe]

16. The article goes on to explain.

I couldn't post the whole thing without violating copyright.

[B2G]

17. I read the whole thing and it explains very little

They seem to think they can track down and isolate anyone who was exposed. Consider this.

One person arrives from the hot zone on Day 2 after exposure. The incubation period is up to 21 days. First symptoms mimic the flu closely. How many people can be exposed in that timeframe? And then each one goes on to spread it further.

And that's just one case. They don't call it Patient Zero for nothing.

Doctors Without Borders have already stated that spread is inevitable.

[smirkymonkey]

19. I was wondering the same thing. With such a long incubation period, I would think that if there is

a fear of the disease spreading to Europe and Asia, there is absolutely no reason why it couldn't' spread to the US. It's only a quick plane ride away.

[Aerows]

22. It's pretty damn disturbing

and even when people survive it they are contagious for up to seven weeks - long enough to seem well, but able to infect others.