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

Houston has the largest Nigerian population outside of Nigeria and does a tremendous amount of business w the country due to the energy industry so that isn't going to happen. Better stock up on the #ebolavaccine

 

Should I be worried?!

 

2 infected americans coming back to the U.S. Here comes the outbreak?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/health/ebola-outbreak/

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

If I understand the article correctly, these are two heroes who were caring for Ebola victims.

They are being flown in isolation chambers.

We should bring them back if that is the best care.

This is an extraction operation for heroes...no? Screw the twitter outrage.

 

The non profit I work for does work in Liberia and they are shutting that office down till this thing settles down.

I hope who ever is going to be giving those two people treatment understand the risk of treating people with ebola.

 

I think the CDC can handle it. And while we try to save 2 American citizens, we will also learn details of this new strain.

Twitterverse, as usual, can go f itself. If this is so horribly dangerous to a developed country, then it was going to get here anyway. Spanish flu, w much much less travel 100 yrs ago got to 98% of earth's population.

 

Feels like watching the movie Contagion. So surreal

 

so how many will die from this? i hope it ends soon.

 

how did previous ebola outbreaks get stopped???

 

Is this how it all ends?

 

Ebola tends to kill itself. It's hard to spread (requires bodily fluids and only is contagious once you're showing symptoms) and kills so fast that it tends to burn itself out quickly. If it were airborne or mutated to spread during the incubation phase, it would be a global nightmare.

 

I think the extra precaution is good so people don't underestimate the significance of the virus..but from what I've heard, the CDC seems confident it will be contained. I'm not worried...yet.

 

Here's a good article on it.

http://gizmodo.com/why-you-shouldnt-freak-out-about-ebola-patients-coming-1614788513

excerpt:


How to catch (or probably not catch) Ebola

Unlike even your run-of-the-mill flu virus, Ebola doesn't survive well outside of the body. It could only spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, usually blood or stool, which I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid already. Ebola is also not contagious during its incubation period, meaning you can only get sick from people who already appear to be sick. Granted, the symptoms are vague and flu-like, but the bottom line is as long as you avoid the wrong kind of contact with someone who's ill, you're in the clear.

That Ebola can only be transmitted this way means the people most at risk for contracting it are family members and caretakers of patients. Indeed, a number of doctors and nurses in Africa have gotten sick from caring for Ebola patients. In the U.S., however, we have the facilities and equipment to protect healthcare workers, so bringing over two patients poses minimal risk to everyone else.

 

Dr. Brantly received a unit of a survivor's blood - for the antibodies.
(transfusion medicine).

This link explains - and begs the question - why this "low tech" treatment has stalled for so many years.

http://www.newsweek.com/20-year-old-ebola-treatment-could-save-kent-brantly-262552

FWIW - I am an IVIG patient (IV immunoglobulin G) (for primary immune deficiency). ie antibodies from plasma donors.

IVIG is like the Gammaglobulin injections - except much more of it.

Expensive to manufacture.

Rabies treatment is a hyper-immune globulin IIRC. A higher percentage of rabies antibodies than "normal" for infused antibodies.

So I am very curious about the transfusion for Dr Brantly.
Whole blood? Plasma? IGM and IGG antibodies?

Also FWIW I know another immune deficient patient that received his mother's plasma for years. This before the advent of IVIG. His mother's plasma was frozen and he received a pint a month - to give him antibodies he lacked.

I wonder if something similar is being done now with the Ebola survivors' blood?

Those antibodies could prove to be very important.

And "at hand" - i/o waiting years for vaccines, antivirals etc.

Am praying for these folks.

 

We have a possible patient Zero. New York of course.

This really is like a movie...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/york-city-hospital-treating-potential-ebola-patient/story?id=24838232

 

So where are the smart monkeys?

 

I'm imagining an alternate universe where Michael Jordan plays through the Ebola virus, literally infecting the Jazz.

Jordan battles flu, makes Jazz sick

 

Hahaha The Ebola Game...