Understanding Ebola

[Jeff Young]

Since when are you a minority Jim? I thought the Liberals were in power, that makes you a majority does it not?

He means in here.

It's true in most car forums which are dominated by older white male conservatives. I see this phenom happening time and time again. It is initially "presumed" that everyone thinks like that, jokes/posts get put up that are offensive to folks on the left, we stay quiet for a while, finally take it no more, respond, and the right wingers are "offended" and "insulted."

Some folks ultimately realize that guys who own cars come from all walks of life and tolerate all viewpoints. See: Pete, David, Keith, others. Others just can't believe (Lonesome Nutjob actually started a thread with this as the TITLE) that someone who leans left can like, own and enjoy cars. Talk about a big FU.

Anyway, the answer is have Al, Larry and LB tone it down a bit, that's all.

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

Da fuq?

I didn't thread drift anything. Right now, there is mass ebola hysteria in the US over a disease that EIGHT people in the US have contracted, one died from and several survived.

Most of those eight contracted it in West Africa.

This is one huge media freak out, and Al's blog post was a big part of it.

See:

Ebola hysteria: An epic, epidemic overreaction - CNN.com

And yes there was a political motive behind Al's post, and Larry and other's pile on: to show that ebola was some national disaster of biblical proportions and Obama was screwing up the response. THAT was the intent of the thread from the start.

Your basic problem remains. Al, Larry and Lonesome Nutjob post/start/incite arguments characterizing people who disagree with them as incompetents, marxists, whatevers. I don't see myself, or Terry, or Doug, or Jim starting that shit.

That's your problem. You guys tolerate it, which is fine, because you don't understand the system over here (who would) but if you aren't a right wing conservative, about 100% of what Nutjob posts, 80% of Larry and 50% of Al is basically a big fuck you to things that are important to you.

I suppose that is fine for tolerating that, but don't get upset when I, or Jim, push back every once in a while.

We aren't the root cause and no, I'm not playing "it's the other guy." Take a look at the threads in this place from the last few weeks and think about the reason for them....

Nothing political about it, you'd like it to be but it's not. Both sides should work on this. I'm not trying for hysteria, but it is something we should be very aware of. I don't believe there is anything I've said in this thread that I can tone down anymore.

 

[Jeff Young]

Nothing political about it, you'd like it to be but it's not. Both sides should work on this. I'm not trying for hysteria, but it is something we should be very aware of. I don't believe there is anything I've said in this thread that I can tone down anymore.

Going back and reading all of this tripe, I have to agree. most of the Obama stuff came from Larry and Howard.

My apologies for lumping you in.

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

Going back and reading all of this tripe, I have to agree. most of the Obama stuff came from Larry and Howard.

My apologies for lumping you in.

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate that.

 

[Larry L.]

...posts get put up that are offensive to folks on the LEFT, we stay quiet for a while, finally take it no more, respond, and the RIGHT wingers are "offended" and "insulted."

:lol: LOOK WHO'S CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK!!! Oh dear lord - that's rich!

...The answer is have AL, LARRY AND LB TONE IT DOWN A BIT (!!!) that's all.

:lol: 'Suggest you review 99.9% of your own posts, sir, and see if it dawns on you just whom 'tis who really needs to "tone it down" a bit. Hint: start with your language...then follow that up by reviewing your insults...and then your constant name calling....

I see no point in engaging any further on the topic...

 

[Jac Mac]

I caught a bit of the Jeremy Kyle - USA show today after a late lunch... can you please tell me which episode you fellas might be appearing in!!!

 

[John]

I was watching an interview with a prominent bacterial and viral specialist yesterday on the Ebola crisis,

his words, no we don't have to panic, its not airborne and can only be contacted through bodily fluids.
so simple hygiene is the main defense.

john

 

[Robert May Eng.]

I was watching an interview with a prominent bacterial and viral specialist yesterday on the Ebola crisis,

his words, no we don't have to panic, its not airborne and can only be contacted through bodily fluids.
.

john

So the natives wont be going at it like rabbits will they ? Thats how aids got a grip.

Bob

 

[Larry L.]

"I was watching an interview with a prominent bacterial and viral specialist yesterday on the Ebola crisis, his words, no we don't have to panic, its not airborne and can only be contacted through bodily fluids." - john

The problem with that is one's definition of "airborne". It's been pointed out by many "experts" that if an infected person sneezes onto a door knob, counter top, seatback tray on an airliner, or someone else's clothes, etc., etc., the disease can infect anyone who touches those items. Sneezing into someone's face - even the back of their head - quite obviously can pass the virus along as well...as can coughing onto all the above. An infected person who simply uses a public 'loo'/'john'/'restroom' can pass the virus along by - eh, you get the picture.

Why travel from 'ground zero' countries wasn't banned from the get-go makes absolutely NO sense to me at all from a 'containment' standpoint. None.

 

[Keith]

Coughing and sneezing - that's the big danger. I understand they do not even know how long this bug can exist once it has left a 'host', on a hard surface for example. So, yes, it can spread easily, just like the common cold.

However,

What I don't understand though, is why has it taken this long to leave Africa? We've known about it for many years and if it IS virulent, why hasn't it broken out before?

 

[Larry L.]

What I don't understand though, is why has it taken this long to leave Africa? We've known about it for many years and if it IS virulent, why hasn't it broken out before?

My knee jerk guess is because the disease used to be centered in poor rural areas of 'ground zero' countries...areas where the population was pretty much isolated. Certainly those folks weren't hopping onto buses, trains and planes and 'flitting off' to here and there.

 

[Jeff Young]

Coughing and sneezing - that's the big danger. I understand they do not even know how long this bug can exist once it has left a 'host', on a hard surface for example. So, yes, it can spread easily, just like the common cold.

However,

What I don't understand though, is why has it taken this long to leave Africa? We've known about it for many years and if it IS virulent, why hasn't it broken out before?

Because it is relatively hard to transmit, despite some of the scaremongering, and relatively easy to contain. Ebola has been around a long time and there have been many outbreaks. Because it is hard to transmit, once you quarantine it, it generally goes away. Nigeria was declared Ebola free yesterday. The US is a week or two away and we only had 8 cases, one death, with most of those cases (six I believe) being infected in Africa and brought here for treatment.

Just a massive, unnecessary media freak out over this. Serious? Yes. End of the world? Absolutely not.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

More people will get killed or injured whilst driving and texting this week than Ebola will kill.
Maybe the media should concentrate on that.

 

[Larry L.]

More people will get killed or injured whilst driving and texting this week than Ebola will kill.

FOR NOW, Pete. And hopefully in total by the time this whole episode ends.

But, all of us KNOW exactly when we've put/are putting ourselves at risk when driving and/or texting, don't we. Can we say the same re: Ebola? N-O-P-E.

:sad:

 

[John]

the only way one could contract it from some one sneezing on the back of your head is if you then wiped your hand over it, then rubbed either your eyes or mouth, or an open wound with your hand, as I repeat, it is not airborne, you have to physically touch infected body fluids then transmit them to your self via any of the above methods to ingest yourself with the virus.
it seems to be just another media hype that's gone way out of hand.
causes yes, panic hardly.

john

 

[Larry L.]

the only way one could contract it from some one sneezing on the back of your head is if you then wiped your hand over it, then rubbed either your eyes or mouth, or an open wound with your hand...

Exactly ...you've just perfectly illustrated exactly how one COULD in fact get infected that way, have you not? That's why I included it.

Furthermore...if an infected person sneezed on the back of someone's head AND that person then leaned back and rested his head on his seat's headrest - guess who would be exposed NEXT if the virus lived on the headrest long enough? Right...the next person who sits in that seat and rests his head on the headrest.

 

[David Morton]

Offical W.H.O. figures this Sunday morning/ In Africa : 10,000 affected with Ebola virus resulting in 5000 dead with a projected 10,000 orphans.

 

[marc]

Ebola as a virus can survive for a few minutes in humid and cooler areas if it mutates to a airborne disease. In Africa the natural habitat may breed the contact version but its mainly hot and dry. If there were more rain in Africa that may be part of the vast spread. Climates have changed a bit in the US and I would suspect Africa also is experiencing similar changes.
Why is America being scared by Ebola? It made it to America, It did spread to those that did not go to Africa. And our Major Media outlets thrive on "If it bleeds it leads!" reporting. The Dallas hospital that cared for the Ebola victim reports a 25% loss of business due to the death and subsequent additional infections. Had this person gone to any hospital in the states you would have had the same consequences. Being in Dallas I don't worry. I know that the under informed don't get it. And they freak out. It must be the drugs...

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

For anyone interested, there is a very good article in this week's New Yorker about Ebola. It is written by Richard Preston, a science journalist with quite a bit of experience on this topic, as he wrote a book about similar viruses a few years back, called "The Hot Zone". I recommend his TNY article. It is extremely well done.

I have read various items in the popular press and also, astonishingly, in the medical press, including (I think) in news releases about Ebola. Some of these items make the claim that Ebola is not extremely contagious. I think that is absolutely nonsense.

I have not been able to find anything I consider authoritative and reliable which talks about the minumum number of Ebola virus particles that will cause infection and illness in an immunocompetent host. I strongly suspect no one knows that information, because I can think of no reliable way to actually figure it out.

When I see official publications which describe Ebola as "not very contagious" it makes me think that everything else contained in that publication is bullshit as well. The contagiousness of the Ebola virus is, as far as I am concerned, NOT known. It may not even be possible to figure it out in the present instance. I would regard with suspicion anyone or anything who advises you that it is "not very contagious" It IS very contagious, and it is pretty god damn dangerous as well. I am glad people treated in the USA are getting well (so far) but no one should in any way think this is close to ending. It is not.

I should point out, I suppose, that there are different elements of contagiousness. For example, there is probably a minimum number of virus particles that, if a patient were exposed to that number, would like cause infection and illness. That is not exactly the same thing as a degree of contagiousness. All sorts of things go into assessing the degree of contagiousness- number of viruses to which a person was exposed, how long the exposure lasted, their baseline health, other medical conditions, etc. But to describe a disease which has killed so many patients, contacts of patients, medical providers, and most of all medical providers sickened who were supposedly protected against it- to describe that disease as "not very contagious" seems the height of irresponsibility to me.

 

[Larry L.]

Well said, Doc.