Undue worry over ebola or due diligence

big soft moose said:
my freind theresa who's a practice nurse in MK says they've had over 30 people coming in thinking they've got ebola
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I wish I could say that I was surprised !!!

BTW I'm not trying to downplay it too much - without a doubt West Africa desperately needs assistance to get this contained and under control.
However as things stand, panicing over the risk to the UK seems to be completely unfounded at the moment and there's a HUGE difference between taking sensible precautions and outright hysteria!
 
what an absolute ass hole

I hope he realises that if there was an outbreak a face mask alone wouldnt actually stop her getting infected if she was associating with ill people
 
SarahLee said:
I wish I could say that I was surprised !!!

BTW I'm not trying to downplay it too much - without a doubt West Africa desperately needs assistance to get this contained and under control.
However as things stand, panicing over the risk to the UK seems to be completely unfounded at the moment and there's a HUGE difference between taking sensible precautions and outright hysteria!
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Nigeria and Senegal are now EVD free , the WHO says this is a success for followling protocol and effective containment. (its a shame liberia/SL/ and EQG didnt do the same much sooner)
 
big soft moose said:
my freind theresa who's a practice nurse in MK says they've had over 30 people coming in thinking they've got ebola

do you know anyone who's got ebola ? No
have you been to west africa in the last month ? No
do you know anyone who's been to west africa in the last month ? No

so why the f*** do you think you've got ebola then you hypochondriac timewaster ? , well i was reading this thing on the internet....
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I've heard similar tales. I'm not a clinician, but my work involves research into innate immunity and inflammation, so we use a lot of research models that exploit the ways in which cells respond to infection. This means we work reasonably closely with the infectious diseases department, and the clinicians there have been getting people phoning them directly every day thinking they have ebola. They're basically asking the same questions of the callers, but a couple of the doctors have jokingly said they're going to tell the receptionists just to say "no you don't" and hang up.
 
JonathanRyan said:
An interview on Today. It was last week and I don't recall who was being interviewed but from the tone it was "somebody in authority" at the navy.

The interviewer was incredulous and asked the question a number of different ways to be sure but there was no doubt in the answer: we are parking a fully equipped hospital off the coast of Sierra Leone and the one thing the doctors on board are not allowed to treat is ebola. They are there to deal with injuries or any other illness for the crew only but they will not under any circumstances allow somebody they suspect of having ebola on board. When you think about it, this is perfectly sensible but it was a surprise to hear it.

Actually it may have been the captain. 30 seconds in - clear question, clear answer. I think it's safe to assume that those are his orders.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29655854
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That does not sound good. It is being reported that people in that country are very reluctant to go to medical centres etc. because they pose a high infection risk.
 
Gremlin said:
and mean while it seems the poor dog that this thread started about died for no reason :(
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It was an unpopular decision made by the authorities, but the public outcry was bizarrely disproportionate IMO, and I’m a dog lover.
 
Gremlin said:
and mean while it seems the poor dog that this thread started about died for no reason :(
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The nurse did have ebola, it's just that she has now tested as clear of it. Some of the headlines about that were not completely clear, made it sound like she didn't have it in the first place.
 
ghoti said:
The nurse did have ebola, it's just that she has now tested as clear of it. Some of the headlines about that were not completely clear, made it sound like she didn't have it in the first place.
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Indeed, and she's still in isolation.
She has to test negative again to be classed as clear.
 
do we actually know if dogs can even catch/carry ebola ?
 
big soft moose said:
do we actually know if dogs can even catch/carry ebola ?
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I expect they can carry it. Whether they can develop EVD from this strain I have no idea. Obviously the worry would be that if the dog can carry it and develop the disease then if you hang around you have a dying dog that's excreting biologically hazardous faeces and vomit (and possibly blood), and then it must be disposed of carefully and expensively when it finally dies. Not to mention the costs involved in isolation.
Even if it doesn't develop the disease, you'd still have to isolate it indefinitely if it's a carrier as you don't want the virus becoming endemic in carrier populations in Europe. Unfortunately, probably cheaper and less of a gamble just to put it down.
 
big soft moose said:
do we actually know if dogs can even catch/carry ebola ?
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No. As in "the last article I read on this said the medical community was unsure if dogs could either catch or carry ebola". Which is odd really. But I guess the people in Sierra Leone have more important stuff to do.

As I said earlier, I don't like animal experiments, but this one could have been worthwhile.
 
I stole this...

Increasingly concerned at the impending threat of the Ebola virus, badger community leaders have called for the introduction of a human culling programme.

“We’re proposing an initial pilot programme,” Furry Rita told us yesterday, “by having marksmen to shoot the pilots of the planes that seem to be bringing in the virus into the country. The pilots may not have Ebola themselves, but they are obviously carriers so need to be eliminated for the good of everyone else.”

“Of course we’ve no idea how much humans spread Ebola,” continued Rita, the co-leader of the Harold Woods badger colony, “but vaccinations are too much hassle, so it’s much easier to shoot some as an experiment and then we can see what effect this has on the rest of the population.”

Fellow badger leader Manky Kevin warned that further slaughter may be necessary, but on the plus side he stressed that it would be scientific and humane.

“Moving on, we’re proposing a broader cull but can assure people that it will be conducted scientifically,” he said, stereotypically wisely. “So we suggest that the cull is restricted to a geographical region around Heathrow, let’s say Middlesex to start with. Once we’ve wiped out a couple of million, we can take stock.”

“The cull will have no real significant impact on human population numbers as there are millions of them out there. In the long run I’m sure they’ll thank us.”
 
JonathanRyan said:
Now if you want to get scared about ebola and get to merge this with your fear of zombies then read this

http://bigamericannews.com/2014/09/...eases-picture-of-first-ebola-zombie-captured/

If not then you may find this more interesting ;)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-zombie-story-is-a-complete-hoax-9777916.html
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Interestingly, Argus which is currently en route was used as the ship USS Argus in the Brad Pitt film War War Z - that managed to stave off zombie attacks so they should be ok with Ebola !
 
A Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone last year is in a "serious condition" after being readmitted to an isolation unit in London.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the virus is still present in Pauline Cafferkey's body after being left over from the original infection.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34483584
 
and hasn't infected anybody in the meantime thus demonstrating that all the panic last year was pointless
 
It isn't new knowledge that the virus can remain in the body for extended periods of time.
I do feel for her though; she had seemed so lucky to survive first time round.
Hopefully she will this time too.
 
The doctors looking after her have said they expect her to make a recovery as it's harder the first time around.

Apparently Ebola can stay in the body for up to two years, but the carrier isn't contagious once the initial infection has been forced out of the blood. (apparently it 'hides' in places like breast milk, eyeballs and semen - which is why ebola survivors are urged to wear condoms afterwards as a precaution).
 
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