Will Ebola become a big problem in the United States?

[Lihu]

There are so many falsehoods in your post that I don't know where to start. Except to say that the screening is not done by the TSA. Where do you get this stuff? I can only guess.

Who screens for this type of stuff at the airport? Not that I am agreeing with what he stated, but I don't understand what are the flaws in his statements.

[trickyputt]

I forgot one fun point. Today at work my partner was telling a customer about an American General Officer charged with security over South America. The General's concern was when the ebola bug hits South America. He says they will be running to the US and bring it with them.

[Gunther]

And I'm the one who is being irrational. Now polls should decide what we do about Ebola instead of trained, educated medical professionals who have dealt with this for years. I've heard it all now.

That point was not about how to treat ebola, it was an optimistic thought that the gov't is not successfully swaying the masses anymore, at least on this issue. As has been stated here and elsewhere often, no one knows a lot about this disease, how to contain it or how to treat it, almost least of all our gov't entity charged with protecting us. Friedan just announced "new" procedures yesterday on how to deal with affected patients. Doesn't inspire confidence in me but glad you're content.

[Golfingdad]

I'll ask one more time, because you have yet to answer. Why not restrict travel? What's the downside?

The biggest downside I can think of is this:  6 months ago my in-laws went on an African safari that included Nigeria, which I believe (like I said, I'm not paying that much attention here) is one of the countries included in the list of risky places right now.  Had this scare started right after they got there, then they would just be abandoned in Africa for who knows how long, even if they aren't infected?

Wouldn't banning travel because one person might infect a few here be akin to saying that we have to ban travel from Saudi Arabia because one person might be coming to try and terrorize us? Isn't that the same thing?

Seems like providing screening for incoming travelers (like I believe they've started doing at at least JFK right now) is the simplest and fairest answer to me.

How many dead people will it take for you to care? 5....10.....50.....100? I'm just trying to gauge your tolerance for preventable deaths....

I would start talking about gun control here if we want to talk about preventable deaths because I know that'll get your dander up ;) ... but instead, let's talk about something even more related.  We have a certain amount of freedom here, and one of those freedoms is the ability to (idiotically) choose not to vaccinate.  There is no law or requirement for people to ensure that they or their kids won't contract malaria, or whooping cough, or measles, or the flu (which kills, or contributes to killing thousands a year, in America alone).

Why panic for Ebola when we clearly don't care enough to panic for any of the other diseases?  (Or guns)

EDIT:  Sorry, I was mistaken earlier.  Wife hasn't gone to bed yet so we're watching Blacklist and not Big Break yet. ;)

[trickyputt]

The only problem I have with ebola is that it dissolves your insides into jelly except for your skin and bones. Other than that I am fine. I am more concerned about rabies in the racoons thst come around here st night.

[misty_mountainhop]

Don't really care that much to get involved in this whole thread other than to say I agree a lot more with what @phan52 here is saying than anybody else.  Perhaps he was a little too precise by mentioned Fox, but network news in general does go out of their way to sensationalize things, do they not?

You guys all remember the panic the media put us through for the bird flu and the swine flu, don't you??

Of course there was 'panic' over bird and swine flu. It's no joke. I'd rather some sensationalism re. these bugs than lazy naivety and the assumption "it'll be alright". Remind me how many died from the Spanish flu post-WWI...

You should work for the CDC. You have all the answers. And BTW, their current condition means everything. If they are not symptomatic they just need to self monitor for a specified period of time. If they ARE symptomatic, they will be isolated. They have done it numerous times already and it turned out to be a false alarm. That's OK, it means they are doing their job.

Let me know when there is an outbreak of Ebola in the US. And I don't mean isolated cases, I mean an outbreak.

And do what? Quarantine themselves? They won't know they're infectious until probably too late. Did you read the pathogen data sheet I linked earlier? Ebola isn't only seriously deadly, it's very infectious, albeit the routes of transmission could be worse. It's infinitely more infectious than, say, HIV in that you need exposure to very few virions (maybe < 10) from a contaminated surface to contract the disease. HIV is a pretty rubbish virus in comparison.

There are so many falsehoods in your post that I don't know where to start. Except to say that the screening is not done by the TSA. Where do you get this stuff?

I can only guess.

So I see...

[Gunther]

And then there were 3...

[newtogolf]

I'm guessing @phan52 has never heard of what happens on a cruise ship when Norovirus rips through it and infects a high percentage of the passengers and crew in a matter of days.  I haven't read one post here that demonstrated panic.  Being cautious, isn't panic.

As for who's performing the screening, I was mistaken in that I read the union that represents the TSA was concerned about the screening but the reason is they also represent the Customs and Border Patrol.  It is actually the CBP that does the screenings which imo is actually a downgrade from TSA.  CBP can't figure out how much booze someone took off a cruise ship but now they are going to screen for ebola....great choice.

If their screening process is anything like the job they do after returning from an international flight or cruise I can see it now,

CBP Agent: "Do you have ebola?"

Passenger: "Nope"

CBP Agent "Okay, have a nice day"

Quote:

Five airports in the United States – John F. Kennedy in New York, Newark in New Jersey, O’Hare in Chicago, Washington Dulles and Hartsfield in Atlanta – will screen passengers arriving here from three Ebola-affected countries in West Africa. Those airports handle 94 percent of the travelers coming from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. JFK Airport will begin screening passengers on Oct. 11 by asking them questions, performing temperature checks and collecting travelers’ contact information. The other airports will implement the new procedures next week.

CBP employees will perform the checks. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for information about protective equipment for employees. CBP, which includes the Border Patrol, provides security and facilitation operations at 328 ports of entry throughout the United States.

What's sad about this is some like @phan52 think this is somehow about Obama or the democrats, it has nothing to do with him or them.  I'd be as concerned if GW was in office and was taking the same initiatives or lack of.

[saevel25]

New reports have told that the hospital in Texas didn't follow correct guidelines. Supposedly the patient was not immedietly taken to isolation, and nurses did not wear regulation suites or took adequate precautions to not get infected. So the initial report that they were infected even though they followed all the correct guidelines when handling a patient with Ebola.

[Gunther]

New reports have told that the hospital in Texas didn't follow correct guidelines. Supposedly the patient was not immedietly taken to isolation, and nurses did not wear regulation suites or took adequate precautions to not get infected. So the initial report that they were infected even though they followed all the correct guidelines when handling a patient with Ebola.

They followed CDC guidelines in place at the time. Those guidelines are in their 3rd iteration in 3 weeks. All the while they were telling us they were prepared in the weeks leading up to Duncan's arrival, they weren't.

[saevel25]

From what I heard this morning the guy was being treated was left waiting with other sick patients around him, as well as being tended by nurses who didn't wear proper protection. In no way were they following the correct CDC guidelines. It took one nurse to finally get them to actually move the original patient into isolation. Even then a few nurses wore suites that exposed skin.

I don't think any CDC guidelines would authorize such actions with regards to Ebola.

That hospital screwed up big time.

[misty_mountainhop]

Maybe. 20:20 hindsight and all that. How was he initially processed? Was ebola even a consideration at that point in that hospital? What's certain, is that people better be awake to the potential of this virus now . It's sort of laughable but this could easily turn into Steven King's "The Stand", although maybe without the supernatural bits and bobs. I liked that book too...

[Patch]

Here we go again....... http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-diagnosed-in-second-dallas-nurse-105542930.html

[David in FL]

The biggest downside I can think of is this:  6 months ago my in-laws went on an African safari that included Nigeria, which I believe (like I said, I'm not paying that much attention here) is one of the countries included in the list of risky places right now.  Had this scare started right after they got there, then they would just be abandoned in Africa for who knows how long, even if they aren't infected?

That's the biggest downside?  That a handful of people might be "abandoned"?  Come on.......  No one would be abandoned.  Instead, because it would be such a small number, they could easily be tested and monitored individually and all precautions taken......just as with the small number of authorized healthcare workers that would still be helping over there.

Wouldn't banning travel because one person might infect a few here be akin to saying that we have to ban travel from Saudi Arabia because one person might be coming to try and terrorize us? Isn't that the same thing?

Come on.  Not even close to the same thing, and you certainly understand that.  And again.......no downside.

I would start talking about gun control here if we want to talk about preventable deaths because I know that'll get your dander up ;) ... but instead, let's talk about something even more related.  We have a certain amount of freedom here, and one of those freedoms is the ability to (idiotically) choose not to vaccinate.  There is no law or requirement for people to ensure that they or their kids won't contract malaria, or whooping cough, or measles, or the flu (which kills, or contributes to killing thousands a year, in America alone).

Why panic for Ebola when we clearly don't care enough to panic for any of the other diseases?  (Or guns)

My statement was in response to a very specific statement by @phan52 ......where he intimated that "isolated" cases were ok.

Regardless, you must have been up late last night.....  You certainly aren't going to compare a right guaranteed under our constitution with a decision to allow non-citizens infected with a deadly disease to travel without restriction to the U.S.  Right?

Again.  No panic.  Simple prudence and common sense.......with very little to no downside.  I have to admit, I'm struggling to understand why anyone would even hesitate to implement an aggressive travel restriction.  Can someone please explain the upside to continuing to allow unrestricted travel at this point?

They followed CDC guidelines in place at the time. Those guidelines are in their 3rd iteration in 3 weeks. All the while they were telling us they were prepared in the weeks leading up to Duncan's arrival, they weren't.

Yep.  Hospital officials are saying the the CDC is constantly changing protocols.  You'd have thought they would know the best way to handle something like this.  If you listen to @phan52 , they've got it nailed.  Unfortunately, he seems to be one of the few outside of the federal bureaucracy that believes it.....

[trickyputt]

Sure. Communication upside. Proper communication would have stopped the thing from the getgo.

[Slice of Life]

No. Far from a big problem. A minor nuisance at best.

[phan52]

I'm guessing @phan52 has never heard of what happens on a cruise ship when Norovirus rips through it and infects a high percentage of the passengers and crew in a matter of days.  I haven't read one post here that demonstrated panic.  Being cautious, isn't panic.

As for who's performing the screening, I was mistaken in that I read the union that represents the TSA was concerned about the screening but the reason is they also represent the Customs and Border Patrol.  It is actually the CBP that does the screenings which imo is actually a downgrade from TSA.  CBP can't figure out how much booze someone took off a cruise ship but now they are going to screen for ebola....great choice.

If their screening process is anything like the job they do after returning from an international flight or cruise I can see it now,

CBP Agent: "Do you have ebola?"

Passenger: "Nope"

CBP Agent "Okay, have a nice day"

Yup, I'm sure that is the protocol they are following.

Seriously, these people are working with CDC staff as well. And BTW, if you think that is a downgrade from the TSA, I can only assume that you don't travel internationally.

Yep.  Hospital officials are saying the the CDC is constantly changing protocols.  You'd have thought they would know the best way to handle something like this.  If you listen to @phan52, they've got it nailed.  Unfortunately, he seems to be one of the few outside of the federal bureaucracy that believes it.....

Yeah, all they have done is deal with this for decades. I guess we should listen to media pundits who has been around it for, what, three weeks at best?

The fact that the only two people to date who have contacted the disease are healthcare workers who were working with Duncan while he was in his death throes, points out how difficult it is to contract the disease. There were scores of people exposed to him previously but nobody contracted it.

[jusanothajoe]

You don't have to worry about travel from other countries being banned, cause if they did they would have to close the border.........................................and that might hurt some ones feelings.