Will Ebola become a big problem in the United States?

[jusanothajoe]

It's all political. The lefties in here completely buy everything our government is broadcasting and approve of the moves they've made on this issue. The righties are skeptical of everything the government says and does. Not sure why there is controversy about that.

The good news is the general public is not following that form as the vast majority are in favor of a travel ban. Get it done Obola.

See, it must be a flaw in my character, cause that's funny

[saevel25]

See, it must be a flaw in my character, cause that's funny

Character flaws make people interesting

[Dave2512]

[URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/107646/] [/URL] Just so we're all on the same page about what this disease is.

Unfortunately the same generic symptoms (in the beginning) as 1000's of other things, from common cold to side effects from medications. I feel like day 10 just from the stress of my recent move.

[MS256]

Unfortunately the same generic symptoms (in the beginning) as 1000's of other things, from common cold to side effects from medications. I feel like day 10 just from the stress of my recent move.

It's going to be a mess when the height of cold and flu season gets here and more people have a fever from nothing to do with Ebola.

What do they do with all of the people with a slight fever at that point anyway? Send them away? Make them go to a hospital to be tested? Quarantined?

A mess!!!!

[Dave2512]

It's going to be a mess when the height of cold and flu season gets here and more people have a fever from nothing to do with Ebola. What do they do with all of the people with a slight fever at that point anyway? Send them away? Make them go to a hospital to be tested? Quarantined? A mess!!!!

Yeah I mentioned that earlier. My guess is this will be a handful of actual US cases and few will die because this isn't a third world country. The media will drive the fear wagon. We have been down this road before with bird flu. I have friends that still have 12 months of emergency food kits from 2003.

[dsc123]

So now they say the nurse might have been symptomatic four days earlier than we origionally thought. Oh and a guy died on a flight from nigeria to jfk, vomiting in his seat. Cdc says that wasnt ebola, though.

[Lihu]

It's all political. The lefties in here completely buy everything our government is broadcasting and approve of the moves they've made on this issue. The righties are skeptical of everything the government says and does. Not sure why there is controversy about that.

The good news is the general public is not following that form as the vast majority are in favor of a travel ban. Get it done Obola.

Some of us Lefties are also skeptical. Sheesh, just because you golf left handed you're put into "categories".

[newtogolf]

It's all political. The lefties in here completely buy everything our government is broadcasting and approve of the moves they've made on this issue. The righties are skeptical of everything the government says and does. Not sure why there is controversy about that.

The good news is the general public is not following that form as the vast majority are in favor of a travel ban. Get it done Obola.

If your statement ignores who's in office (republican or democrat) then I agree.  The POTUS has the power to restrict air flights but that must / should come from the recommendation of the CDC and thus far they aren't requesting it.  My issue isn't with the POTUS it's with the CDC who are now (finally) admitting that they preparation for Ebola and Duncan's arrival in Dallas was severely lacking.

I don't know much about medical viruses beyond what I needed to learn about how they infect, live on hosts, and resist detection since computer viruses were modeled and written to act like them in computers.  I do know very much about computer viruses as my job at one time was to study them, write / modify them and stop them from spreading.  The model of a computer virus infection is very similar to a medical virus.  For maximum infection you want to infect an area where the most number of people / computers would come in contact with the virus and then interact with other diverse groups to help spread it.   Airports, cruise ships and shopping malls are medical virus nirvana, just as infecting Google would be computer virus nirvana.

The key to stopping any computer virus is to remove the virus from host computers that could infect others while you get everyone "inoculated" / protected from it at the user level.  The most dangerous computer viruses were the ones that modified their code / signature to avoid detection and ones that had long incubation periods where the virus only replicates but doesn't do anything malicious to maximize the time the virus would be able to spread undetected.

Ebola has 3 - 7 days where it's infectious and mimics the common cold / flu before it's real symptoms show up.  People will take cold medication and aspirin to treat the symptoms and mask detection at check points unknowingly or if they are malicious, knowingly.

[David in FL]

Unfortunately the same generic symptoms (in the beginning) as 1000's of other things, from common cold to side effects from medications. I feel like day 10 just from the stress of my recent move.

Yeah.  And that's exactly why expecting/hoping/praying that people will self-monitor and immediately rush themselves (or their small children) to the nearest hospital at the first cough is completely unrealistic.

I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I can figure that one out.

Did I say equal?  (Not a rhetorical, I very may well have)  I guess I don't mean quite equal.  I know I said 2

Yep, you said equal.  Glad to hear that you didn't mean it.  I still disagree with your math.  My country comes first.  Just the way I was raised.....and certainly a characteristic that those of us who serve in the military tend to share.

Concerned, but still of the opinion that she should stay in Africa for awhile longer instead of come home?

Good grief.  This must be indicative of my poor communication skills, because I thought I had been clear.....several times.  Ok, one more time, than I quit.

The very small handful of stranded citizens are easily handled individually.  They can be tested for the virus before coming home.....and yes, if that requires a few extra days before coming home, I'm fine with that.  Yep, even for me, my daughter, or anyone else you care to mention.   If they're infected, they can be brought home with appropriate caution and treated here.  They can also be carefully monitored once they are home, again, because of the very few numbers we're talking.  It's simply a matter of the difference in scale.

Nope, not missing, nor ignoring.  In fact, you just used the PERFECT dam  analogy to explain my side of this.  If you close the floodgates, the water is not going to give up trying to get through to the river.  It's getting there by whatever means it can, which now means up and over, and around the dam, taking how knows how many houses or trees or cars along with it.  And guess what?  It's still going to find it's way back into that riverbed, except now the fish have more things to worry about than just other fish ... they have debris coming at them.  It makes more sense to me to keep the gates slightly open, thus controlling the flow of the water.

All I'm saying is that the experts I've heard explain why it makes more sense to not restrict travel make a lot of sense to me.  And the experts saying otherwise I haven't heard yet.  I've only heard you say that they are out there, and that they are vehement. :)

As long as those waters don't end up in my Country, I'm fine.   And no......I still have the common sense to disagree with anyone that says we're more at risk by keeping infected people out, than by letting them in.  And by the way, a floodgate that's "slightly open" is extremely restrictive, compared to fully open, which is where we are now.

And the experts saying otherwise I haven't heard yet.

You need to listen to more than just CNN, the current administration and their bureaucrats (of which the CDC certainly qualifies), and the "Indian Dr. guy" if you want to hear opposing views....

[dsc123]

Here's the thing about the calls for a travel ban, we are in month 3 of the epidemic, how many times has the screening failed? Once?

[newtogolf]

Here's the thing about the calls for a travel ban, we are in month 3 of the epidemic, how many times has the screening failed? Once?

Well twice than I'm aware of, but who's counting.  I'm not calling for a complete travel ban, but I don't believe taking someone temperature is going to be prevent infected people from getting on an airplane and infecting others so they need to come up with something that has a higher certainty of identifying infected people.

[dsc123]

Well twice than I'm aware of, but who's counting.  I'm not calling for a complete travel ban, but I don't believe taking someone temperature is going to be prevent infected people from getting on an airplane and infecting others so they need to come up with something that has a higher certainty of identifying infected people.

I thought Duncan was the only one? Weren't the others doctors or nurses who were brought here in purpose?

[newtogolf]

I thought Duncan was the only one? Weren't the others doctors or nurses who were brought here in purpose?

Sorry Dan, I thought you were referring to the number of infected and contagious people that flew on commercial airlines.  We don't know what the guy that died on the flight to JFK had yet.

[Gunther]

Look, domestically they are restricting anyone who has been exposed from air travel (health care workers at Presby). If they're doing that within the country, why wouldn't they restrict those from West Africa? And this argument about "what if your kid were there?" is bogus. If you're an American in one of those places and want to get out, you go to the consulate and they'll put you on a charter or military flight. You'd be quarantined somewhere for awhile but on American soil. Benefit of being an American, one of the very few countries actually sending supplies and aid in.

[phan52]

Look, domestically they are restricting anyone who has been exposed from air travel (health care workers at Presby). If they're doing that within the country, why wouldn't they restrict those from West Africa?

And this argument about "what if your kid were there?" is bogus. If you're an American in one of those places and want to get out, you go to the consulate and they'll put you on a charter or military flight. You'd be quarantined somewhere for awhile but on American soil. Benefit of being an American, one of the very few countries actually sending supplies and aid in.

False equivalency. You are making an assumption that everybody in West Africa has been exposed.

The experts say that if there is a ban, people will cross borders by land and lie about where they have been when boarding flights. Knowing who has been where is a huge part of any control.

[Gunther]

False equivalency. You are making an assumption that everybody in West Africa has been exposed. The experts say that if there is a ban, people will cross borders by land and lie about where they have been when boarding flights. Knowing who has been where is a huge part of any control.

Don't agree, I'm saying if you're from there, the assumption should be you've been exposed. If a few cross borders, so be it but that's a stretch. Gotta have a passport and visa to get in here. How many have the means to fake their papers. You keep referring to experts - they are not. We have to do what we can to keep em out, for now.

[phan52]

Don't agree, I'm saying if you're from there, the assumption should be you've been exposed. If a few cross borders, so be it but that's a stretch. Gotta have a passport and visa to get in here. How many have the means to fake their papers. You keep referring to experts - they are not. We have to do what we can to keep em out, for now.

Oh, but you are.

There are over 30 million people in West Africa in the countries affected. That's a pretty wide assumption on your part that everybody is exposed. Somebody who has not travelled recently but wants to get out can just go from Sierra Leone to Nigeria or somewhere else where it is contained or non-existent and travel from there. They don't have to fake papers. Borders are relatively open in that part of Africa. You are just asking potential patients to unknowingly spread it to other countries. If they are traveling from Liberia, it is good to know that.

[Golfingdad]

Good grief.  This must be indicative of my poor communication skills, because I thought I had been clear.....several times.  Ok, one more time, than I quit.

The very small handful of stranded citizens are easily handled individually.  They can be tested for the virus before coming home.....and yes, if that requires a few extra days before coming home, I'm fine with that.  Yep, even for me, my daughter, or anyone else you care to mention.   If they're infected, they can be brought home with appropriate caution and treated here.  They can also be carefully monitored once they are home, again, because of the very few numbers we're talking.  It's simply a matter of the difference in scale.

If, by clear, you mean you spoke like a politician and answered a direct question with a very indirect answer, then, yeah I suppose you could say you answered it.  But it was a very simple question, that required a very simple (yes or no) answer and, no, you never gave one prior.

And now I'm fascinated by the fact that you are saying that all we need to do is screen people for a few extra days before they come home.  How is that any different than screening them once they get here?  I would be totally fine with either of those, but that isn't the impression you were giving before.  You were saying "close the floodgates," implying to me that you meant to make them all in Africa for who knows how long.

Yep, you said equal.  Glad to hear that you didn't mean it.  I still disagree with your math.  My country comes first.  Just the way I was raised.....and certainly a characteristic that those of us who serve in the military tend to share.

And in case you were wondering, your condescending snarkiness is not missed

As long as those waters don't end up in my Country, I'm fine.   And no......I still have the common sense to disagree with anyone that says we're more at risk by keeping infected people out, than by letting them in.  And by the way, a floodgate that's "slightly open" is extremely restrictive, compared to fully open, which is where we are now.

But that is the entire point ... those waters will very likely still end up in your country, now only after having traveled to several other places, potentially affecting more people.  You keep pretending like you think I'm so stupid as to think that people not coming here is better for us than people coming here.  That isn't at all what I'm saying, nor has it ever been.

You need to listen to more than just CNN, the current administration and their bureaucrats (of which the CDC certainly qualifies), and the "Indian Dr. guy" if you want to hear opposing views....

I don't watch CNN (I actually saw that snippet on The Daily Show - cue mocking in 3, 2, 1 ...), I was simply trying to provide a citation for a claim I made.  The sentence ...

was an invitation for you to provide me with some info on an expert sharing your opinion.  Who knows, it might make sense to me.