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hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 02:19 AM Oct 2014

Let's assume for a minute that some people are correct in saying that "they"

(They being the government, CDC, WHO or whoever) are lying to us about Ebola and that it is spreading worldwide.

So?

There's really no point in getting excited.

Either Ebola is hard to catch, and it's a matter of persistent effort to confine it to West Africa and ending the outbreak there.

or

It's very easy to catch, in which case there is really no good way to prevent a spread.

At the same time, it's better to look at history than at speculative stories to see what happens during a plague. Oddly enough, it seems that most people end up going about their business until/unless they get sick. There are some nasty stories from the Middle Ages, but also this:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/09/20/349271621/ebola-battlers-can-learn-from-venices-response-to-black-death

Do some reading and see how life went on during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918. Things got so bad then that it dropped out of my high school history book completely! (:sarcasm Seriously though, did you learn anything in school about the small pox and yellow fever epidemics that swept the US from Colonial times into the 19th century? What about the on-going plague of Tuberculosis that lasted until a range of antibiotics were developed after WWII?

Two things I do know for certain:

1. We're all going to die of something.

2. Life will go on.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Let's assume for a minute that some people are correct in saying that "they" (Original Post) hedgehog Oct 2014 OP
Well, defacto7 Oct 2014 #1
Mother Earth will, on occasion, cull the herd and that is indeed documented. eom Purveyor Oct 2014 #2
The point isn't to get excited. It's for the government and the hospitals pnwmom Oct 2014 #3
Well, there you go - I only vaguely recall the steps taken a few years back hedgehog Oct 2014 #6
But the numbers of cases of Ebola in West Africa are dwarfing those other outbreaks. n/t pnwmom Oct 2014 #7
As is true with Yellow Fever and many other diseases jberryhill Oct 2014 #9
Some people live off the excitement of impending doom. liberal_at_heart Oct 2014 #4
I can't worry about Ebola when ISIL (pronounced Asshole) is going to chop my head off OffWithTheirHeads Oct 2014 #5
You made me LOL silverweb Oct 2014 #8
they call it "Safe" way to lure you in jberryhill Oct 2014 #10
Fuckers. They also told me Baby back ribs were on sale cheap. OffWithTheirHeads Oct 2014 #13
Yes, but do you know where those 'baby' ribs come from? randome Oct 2014 #14
From Squirrels? Shit, Kill me now! OffWithTheirHeads Oct 2014 #15
Same place as baby oil and baby powder, I imagine jberryhill Oct 2014 #18
Yellow fever killed 6 of my mother's siblings in Montreal in the 1920's. There Nay Oct 2014 #11
You can't control what people on DU choose to discuss or You're not the boss of us cali Oct 2014 #12
I don't think anyone is lying.. sendero Oct 2014 #16
Maybe This Is All A Ploy To Keep People From The Voting Booths In November?.....nt (sarcasm or not?) global1 Oct 2014 #17
Does make me wonder what our Corp owned Govt is up to while we all look the other way. misterhighwasted Oct 2014 #19

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
3. The point isn't to get excited. It's for the government and the hospitals
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 02:33 AM
Oct 2014

to take all the necessary steps to rein in this disease and not just assume that our system is so superior everything will be easy.

We've already shown that we didn't even have a workable plan for the disposal of toxic waste -- or, actually, the Federal government had two different, conflicting, plans that still haven't been reconciled.

hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
6. Well, there you go - I only vaguely recall the steps taken a few years back
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 03:10 AM
Oct 2014

when there was concern over H1N1 (I think) flu. IIRC, if you came into the ER with a fever, you were masked and isolated from other people. Now, it's hard to say what would have happened if the threat had increased, but without looking it up, I can't even tell you what year that was. On the same note, who here (without checking Wiki) could tell me about the SARS outbreak in Toronto, Canada?

 

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)
9. As is true with Yellow Fever and many other diseases
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 05:15 AM
Oct 2014

Diarrhea is a top ten killer on this planet, and is hardly a blip in the US. There are reasons for that.

There are reasons why, if you travel from the US to certain areas, you have to be immunized against things like typhus.

liberal_at_heart

(12,081 posts)
4. Some people live off the excitement of impending doom.
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 02:37 AM
Oct 2014

It is tragic that people are dying of ebola. It is also tragic that hundreds of thousands die of hunger every day. I'm glad the researchers are working hard to try and find a cure for ebola. Personally, I will go to bed tonight, get up in the morning and take my children to school, pick them up from school, and cook dinner. My husband even flew to Texas recently and I am not automatically assuming that he has contracted ebola simply by flying to Texas.

 

OffWithTheirHeads

(10,337 posts)
5. I can't worry about Ebola when ISIL (pronounced Asshole) is going to chop my head off
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 02:57 AM
Oct 2014

on my next trip to Safeway! What the fuck? Lets get our priorities straight!

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
14. Yes, but do you know where those 'baby' ribs come from?
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 08:56 AM
Oct 2014

[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

Nay

(12,051 posts)
11. Yellow fever killed 6 of my mother's siblings in Montreal in the 1920's. There
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 08:26 AM
Oct 2014

were only 3 kids left. She was little when it happened, but they all got sick. Only 3 survived.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
12. You can't control what people on DU choose to discuss or You're not the boss of us
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 08:30 AM
Oct 2014

You can't control how people react to this story. All you can do is provide the best information out there. Me? I see it as a story as much about the healthcare system as anything else. Oh, and no, it's not either ebola is hard to catch or easy to catch.

sendero

(28,552 posts)
16. I don't think anyone is lying..
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 09:02 AM
Oct 2014

... I just think their predictions are based on rosy scenarios that don't play out in real life. Who would have even dared to suggest that the sequence of event leading to the situation in Dallas would have happened?

I also believe that gov't agencies have a vested interest in downplaying the issue just like they did with the economic crash. Panic isn't going to help so I don't strictly speaking disagree with the approach but there are limits.

I don't think a pandemic outbreak of Ebola in the US is very likely at all, but I bristle at those who declare it is totally impossible, I don't think that is true either.

misterhighwasted

(9,148 posts)
19. Does make me wonder what our Corp owned Govt is up to while we all look the other way.
Fri Oct 3, 2014, 12:52 PM
Oct 2014

Maybe some dirty deal or the TPP agreement is being signed ...quietly, behind closed doors.

Just sayin

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