Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa: ''totally out of control"

Various bits of news from today:

 

I know nothing about diseases, etc., can Ebola not be permanently eradicated?

 

Your run will just be using your money, in order to fulfill a placebo effect.

 

Rimrocker, I'm shocked at how little is going from the EU to combat this. The total to date, according to one of your sources, and this doesn't include aid programs already in operation by various entities, like France's Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), another group with my deepest admiration, yet even so, the total reported is €3.9 million, about $5,250,000. That's a drop in the bucket. That's less than a drop in the bucket as far as what's needed there. Now I'm curious as to what US aid amounts to that's directly connected to the Ebola outbreak. This is incredibly serious. All the developed nations need to be sending 10's of millions, even 9 figures, or the death toll will rise tremendously, as will the danger of it spreading to densely populated countries like China, India, Indonesia, as well as urban areas like Mexico City, the huge, crowded cites of South America. The possiblities are damn near endless. What are they/we waiting for?

 

Can't eradicate bacteria and viruses...anymore than we can eradicate cockroaches and fire ants. If you mean, can we get immunized, then sure. We'd need a vaccine. But ,,,, "there is no market" for an ebola vaccine.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/eb...ruggle-make-ebola-vaccines-treatments-n167871

"Even though Ebola is burning out of control in West Africa, it’s not a huge potential market for a large pharmaceutical company to sink its teeth — and its assets — into developing. That leaves the U.S. government and small, niche biopharmaceutical companies.

“I don’t see why anybody except the U.S. government would get involved in developing these kinds of countermeasures,” said Dr. Sina Bavari of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Maryland. “There is no market in it.”"​

 

Not an expert but I do believe some animals, namely bats, can carry it without suffering any symptoms. Humans catch it through eating/handling such animals.

 

It's a failure of capitalism, as a company pouring in hundreds of millions would probably go bankrupt from it.

I have the upmost respect and regards for medical volunteers risking their lives to battle the epidemic.

 

Please don't freak out the idiots.

You all have nothing to worry about.

 

There was a regular poster (forgot his name) who on Sunday said in another thread he was bored sitting in Lagos airport for 6 hours waiting for a connection to S. Africa.

I linked KingCheetah's article about the person who arrived in Lagos showing symptoms a day earlier.

That's a true near miss.

 

True, that is crazy to have people in that area, and I can't imagine what it's like trying to implement level 4 biohazard protocols and containment in a 3rd world country. Like you said before, the "blessing" is that it's too contagious to spread too far, so far.

 

I agree, but most Americans have been vaccinated as youths so I don't think Ebola will be much of a threat here. Over in Africa where medical treatment is much more sparse we are seeing the disastrous effects of this disease.

 

you were vaccinated for ebola?

 

insert [not sure if serious] meme

 

It was "s land balla" in the "Stag Weekend in Prague" thread. That was truly Katy Evacuation High Alert Status. Has anyone heard from s land balla, lately?

And to think we know him.

 

He'll be fine, have faith.

 

That would be me.

 

Diverted your layover in Lagos for the way back yet?

The reason they are confident outbreaks won't occur in developed countries is many-fold:

1. The natural host doesn't live outside of Africa. It's bats and primates for the most part, maybe pigs too. Humans are the incidental host.

2. We catch the disease and die too fast to incubate too many others for an asymptomatic interval, unlike say HIV or hepatitis B/C.

3. It's spread via direct innoculation or large droplet exposures via bodily fluids. That makes it harder to contract than say the flu.

4. Sanitary practices are just on an entirely different scale in developed countries. Fewer people, less overcrowding, toilet seats, paper towels, running water, etc.

 

Texas has more bats plus pigs than any region in the Western Hemisphere. Wrong species I know, but still maybe evacuate Katy. No monkeys, though. Yet.

 

Luckily, my flight path on the way back is South Africa>Brazil>US.

We should petition United to cease their daily direct service from Houston to Lagos. More on that here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1597886-airline-government-response-ebola-death-lagos.html