View Full Version : Science in Africa
cameraman
08-28-14, 03:29 PM
Wow. There is a paper in the current issue of Science titled "Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak". The paper has 58 authors from 13 different institutions.
ABSTRACT: In its largest outbreak, Ebola virus disease is spreading through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. We sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone to ~2,000x coverage. We observed a rapid accumulation of interhost and intrahost genetic variation, allowing us to characterize patterns of viral transmission over the initial weeks of the epidemic. This West African variant likely diverged from Middle African lineages ~2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources. Since many of the mutations alter protein sequences and other biologically meaningful targets, they should be monitored for impact on diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies critical to outbreak response.
That is just the research. Here's the rest of the story...
When the young woman arrived at the Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone in late May, she had high fever and had just miscarried. The hospital suspected she had contracted Lassa fever, because the viral disease is endemic in the region and often causes miscarriages. But Ebola virus disease, another hemorrhagic fever illness, had been spreading in neighboring Guinea for months, so when she began bleeding profusely, staff tested her for that virus as well. The results were positive, making her the first confirmed case of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
The young woman, who eventually recovered, is now at the heart of a tragic but potentially important research tale. In a paper online this week in Science, a collaboration led by Stephen Gire and Pardis Sabeti of Harvard University and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, report sequencing and analyzing the genomes of Ebola virus samples from 78 people in Sierra Leone who were diagnosed with Ebola between late May and mid-June, including the young woman who came to Kenema's hospital. The 99 complete sequences—some patients were sampled more than once—provide insights into how the virus is changing during the outbreak, which could help improve current diagnostic tests and, in the long term, guide researchers working on vaccines and treatments.
The study, however, also highlights the unrelenting toll the outbreak has taken on health workers on the front lines. More than 50 co-authors from four countries helped collect and analyze the viral sequences. Five of them contracted Ebola virus disease themselves and died.
That first diagnosed case in Sierra Leone infected no one at the hospital, says Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who works with the Kenema hospital's Lassa fever research center and is also a co-author on the paper. But a team from the ministry of health was immediately dispatched to the woman's home village to find out where and how she had been infected. They learned that she had attended the recent funeral of a traditional healer—an herbalist—who had been treating Ebola patients from across the nearby border with Guinea.
The team found 13 more people who were infected, all women who had attended the burial. It was those mourners who largely sparked Sierra Leone's outbreak, which has sickened more than 900 and killed more than 390 people. Blood samples from 12 of those mourners and other infected people have allowed Gire, Sabeti, and their colleagues to track how the virus changed as it spread. “It is the first time that the real evolution of the Ebola virus can be observed in humans,” says Sylvain Baize of the Institut Pasteur in Lyon, France, who sequenced some of the first Ebola virus samples from patients in Guinea, where the current outbreak originated, but who was not involved in this project.
That's about half the article the rest is here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6200/989.full
Amazingly enough it isn't behind Science's paywall, they ever so magnanimously:rolleyes: have made all the Ebola papers open access.
BTW, newspapers and especially tv are horrible places to learn anything about what is happening in Africa.
datachicane
08-28-14, 04:26 PM
Very interesting stuff, thanks.
BTW, newspapers and especially tv are horrible places to learn anything about what is happening.
Fixrd.
TravelGal
08-31-14, 03:18 AM
Very interesting stuff, thanks.
Fixrd.
Indeed. ^^^ I have a friend who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. She posts all the Peace Corps updates, reminding people that Senegal is not Sierra Leone. :rolleyes:
Ebola, Ubola, Ibola, Webola. ;)
http://s7.postimg.org/i9xfvu15n/Bu2ijs_SIUAA59_J1.jpg
http://s9.postimg.org/gtizdkz8v/keep_calm_because_we_all_gonna_die.png
Seems to me we should be restricting travel from a few places.
stroker
10-03-14, 10:24 PM
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
:p
So we've been working on plans for our response to what will be the inevitable call for suspected Ebola because someone blew chunks in the mall. Not that we are truly worried, but we've seen the overreaction by some other agencies to silly incidents. Trying to keep our response rational, safe, and limited - and in support of the health officials.
Anyways, this animated graphic isn't going to help "keep calm and..."
Ebola spreads slower, kills more than other diseases (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/how-ebola-spreads/?clsrd)
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
:p
Andromeda Strain says, "No."
cameraman
10-14-14, 03:53 PM
So we've been working on plans for our response to what will be the inevitable call for suspected Ebola because someone blew chunks in the mall. Not that we are truly worried, but we've seen the overreaction by some other agencies to silly incidents. Trying to keep our response rational, safe, and limited - and in support of the health officials.
Anyways, this animated graphic isn't going to help "keep calm and..."
Ebola spreads slower, kills more than other diseases (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/how-ebola-spreads/?clsrd)
You need to be up on your biohazard response because you are now going to be cleaning up all of those norovirus and influenza virus contaminated chunks spewed all over the mall and called ebola.
You need to be up on your biohazard response because you are now going to be cleaning up all of those norovirus and influenza virus contaminated chunks spewed all over the mall and called ebola.
Don't I know. :rolleyes:
I've already seen video of folks in fully encapsulated suits (which is overkill) walking down the aisle of a packed airliner. :irked::rolleyes:
We are equipped and training to handle all of this and worse. My fear is being called out by panicked but well meaning sister agencies.
cameraman
10-14-14, 04:30 PM
The real issue seems to be de-gowning, de-masking and de-gloving properly. A quick assessment of the folks at this hospital had most people failing at some point of the process. It is a remarkably nit-picky process to do exactly correctly. They are now trying to preemptively harass people into the compliance that they should already be doing because old habits are hard to break.
Ebola requires a mind bending level of attention to minute details of all the biohazard protocols. To have to maintain that level in a busy hospital setting is a royal PITA. You can do it but man it will slow down your day.
And the really annoying thing is for all the billions of dollars the government has spent on bioterrorism/biopreparedness a surprisingly small amount was spent on our emergency care systems. As in the ERs themselves in the hospitals. The ACA lowered the load on ERs ever so slightly but the daily patient churn through the big city ERs is largely unabated just more people are paying their bills. Our emergency-care system is underfunded, overstressed, and asked to bear a larger burden for the health of the mass public than either hospital or outpatient care do. The guy in Texas wasn't queried about his travel history the first time he was in the ER and that isn't even slightly surprising. Our emergency rooms are the first response, both in terms of treatment and surveillance but we have not done near enough training and our current day to day standards are not up to ebola standards. They could be but that costs significant money and the ER facilities are largely privately held hospital corporations and are not going to be happy about the large increase in costs to raise the safety bar to ebola levels.
We are equipped and training to handle all of this and worse. My fear is being called out by panicked but well meaning sister agencies.
The CDC claimed just the other day that all our hospitals were ready. That appears now not to be the case. Be careful out there.
Meh. All they need to do is get the tiger back in its cage @ the zoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLdk2C25Z14
Stay safe out there, Elmo. Perhaps a few less $$$ should have been spent on other services rather than new DHS toys for the local PDs. :saywhat:
http://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20141014/acid_picdump_32.jpg
cameraman
10-14-14, 06:53 PM
This just popped up in the inbox...
Dear Faculty and Staff,
Like other health systems across the globe, we are preparing for potential cases of Ebola. Please know that we are extremely conscious of the threats the disease poses to the health of our community and our staff, and we have mobilized three separate teams to ensure the safety of everyone here at the University of Utah. The teams of physicians, nurses, and support services have developed detailed protocols and procedures to identify, contain, transport, isolate, and treat suspected or real cases. Our highest priority is the preparation of a safe environment in which to provide care for an Ebola victim. We are training nurses and physicians in key contact areas in advanced barrier protection and modifying care areas to separate and dispose of infectious waste. We are also in communication with both the Centers for Disease Control and the Utah Department of Health to obtain new information and directives, and we recommend that you visit the CDC’s site at: www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/.
In the following days, we will post detailed information and periodic updates on Ebola preparedness on the health sciences intranet, Pulse. We will also provide the dates and times of two town hall meetings where employees can learn about our preparations to manage Ebola patients and ask questions of our physician experts and administrators.
Please remember these basic facts about Ebola:
Humans can be infected by coming into direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person, such as from their blood, sweat, feces, vomit, sputum and semen.
Ebola is not spread through casual contact and is not a respiratory disease that is spread through the air.
An individual infected with Ebola is not infectious until they have symptoms.
Symptoms of Ebola typically include: weakness, high fever, aches, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain. Additional experiences include rash, red eyes, chest pain, throat soreness, difficulty breathing or swallowing and bleeding (including internal).
Since these symptoms are common to many illnesses, when we evaluate patients it is critical to think about Ebola - we must ask about travel to an area of West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) where there is active transmission of the virus, or if the individual had contact with another known or suspected case of Ebola.
Typically, symptoms appear 8-10 days after exposure to the virus, but the incubation period can span two to 21 days.
Thank you for your attention to learning all you can to help us keep our patients, staff, and providers safe.
Everything I know about quarantine and containment I learned from E.T. the Extraterrestrial:
1. Locate sick illegal alien.
2. Shrink wrap the house.
3. Take away kids' bikes.
4. Don't leave the keys in the van.
How hard is that?
http://s4.postimg.org/qivgi1159/untitled.png
http://s30.postimg.org/rvj76zxr5/Vincent_Laforet_Featured_620x348.jpg
The CDC claimed just the other day that all our hospitals were ready. That appears now not to be the case. Be careful out there.
That is my concern. My "hobby" is as Chief of the County's hazmat response team. We are well equipped and trained to deal with everything from a leaking oil tanker to WMD's in all forms.
I cannot speak for hospitals. I can say that DHS monies were used on our end to provide the first due FD's for each hospital with all full array of decontamination equipment to assist the hospitals during an hazmat emergency. The difference here being this is a public health driven emergency - not your typical emergency response. We've been duly informed that the public health agencies are flying the ship on this one.
And I agree with the above - the issue is being meticulous with the donning and doffing of the protection equipment. Clearly Ebola is not forgiving.
Napoleon
10-15-14, 09:42 AM
The guy in Texas wasn't queried about his travel history the first time he was in the ER and that isn't even slightly surprising.
My understanding is that actually he was and he answered honestly, and somehow the hospital then didn't take it into account.
Napoleon
10-15-14, 10:50 AM
This is interesting on it. So they think it comes from bats.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=span-ab-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news#containment
Who the heck is running this circus?
First nurse was confirmed infected on Sunday. One of her co-workers, who has also tested positive, was flying on a commercial flight Monday evening. :saywhat:
Napoleon
10-15-14, 01:17 PM
^^^
Sorry, I don't have a link, but it sounds like Dallas was all but not taking it seriously at first and the nurses and doctors were not wearing complete protective gear.
Tifosi24
10-15-14, 02:11 PM
Who the heck is running this circus?
First nurse was confirmed infected on Sunday. One of her co-workers, who has also tested positive, was flying on a commercial flight Monday evening. :saywhat:
The first nurse is a case study in what to do. She came in contact and was given instructions, so it looks like she went home and chilled with her dog. When she noticed her temperature change, she went right in and apparently she is starting to get better already. The second nurse ignored everything and gets ill just hours after being on a commercial flight. I pray the second nurse makes it through alright, but if she recovers she needs to be terminated and, if applicable laws exist, she needs to be prosecuted. Folks would argue that this will make people keep things secret, but if the proper procedures are followed with this infection, it can be dealt with, especially in the developed world.
Insomniac
10-15-14, 03:40 PM
The first nurse is a case study in what to do. She came in contact and was given instructions, so it looks like she went home and chilled with her dog. When she noticed her temperature change, she went right in and apparently she is starting to get better already. The second nurse ignored everything and gets ill just hours after being on a commercial flight. I pray the second nurse makes it through alright, but if she recovers she needs to be terminated and, if applicable laws exist, she needs to be prosecuted. Folks would argue that this will make people keep things secret, but if the proper procedures are followed with this infection, it can be dealt with, especially in the developed world.
Symptom of society? Me, me, me. Nurse travels with total disregard for others and the NBC news correspondent going out despite being asked to stay quarantined.
Napoleon
10-15-14, 04:37 PM
. . . and the NBC news correspondent going out despite being asked to stay quarantined.
It is worth noting that the correspondent in question is DOCTOR Nancy Snyderman, and the emergency that drove her to break quarantine was she had to go pick up some take out dinner.
As to the nurse, some of the stories read as if she was running a fever when she was on the plane.
Edit - PS, I guess Kent State has 3 employees who spent time with her while the nurse was in Akron and they have been asked to not show up on KSU's campus.
Andrew Longman
10-15-14, 04:43 PM
...and the NBC news correspondent going out despite being asked to stay quarantined.This is where she went. http://thepeasantgrill.com/ It's pretty good. Maybe she was really jonesing for the Ginger Sweet Potato soup.:gomer:
Napoleon
10-16-14, 06:16 AM
Nurse travels with total disregard for others
Well it turns out she called the CDC before getting on the plane and was cleared by them.
Now, in some quarters, there is a full blown anti-scientific freak out of a response. One suburban school district in the area closed 2 schools because some employee was on the same plane, but a different flight at a different time. They might as well have closed the school because they fear the boogyman.
Well it turns out she called the CDC before getting on the plane and was cleared by them.
Idiots at the CDC. :shakehead:
The response so far does not inspire much confidence of our ability to handle a real breakout. :irked:
Insomniac
10-16-14, 09:36 AM
Idiots at the CDC. :shakehead:
The response so far does not inspire much confidence of our ability to handle a real breakout. :irked:
Everything having to do with Ebola should be flowing through the same group at the CDC and they all need to be on the same page for protocols.
This isn't hindsight. She reported an elevated temperature. And if I'm her and I have an elevated temperature, was in contact with the Ebola patient, I assume I have Ebola first. It's a good time to be wrong.
Idiots at the CDC. :shakehead:
The response so far does not inspire much confidence of our ability to handle a real breakout. :irked:
I would score Round 1 a win for Ebola: one infected person became two.
To win Round 2 Ebola will have to infect four new people. Anything less is a win for the CDC. :\
I'm still not clear why the second nurse travelled to Ohio. I heard something about a bridesmaids event but no specifics.
I wonder if she is still invited to the wedding?
TKGAngel
10-16-14, 12:51 PM
I would score Round 1 a win for Ebola: one infected person became two.
To win Round 2 Ebola will have to infect four new people. Anything less is a win for the CDC. :\
I'm still not clear why the second nurse travelled to Ohio. I heard something about a bridesmaids event but no specifics.
I wonder if she is still invited to the wedding?
I thought I heard that planning for HER wedding was what caused the woman to travel to OH?
The first infected nurse is being transferred out of the Dallas hospital and to an NIH facility in Maryland this afternoon.
Napoleon
10-16-14, 01:06 PM
I'm still not clear why the second nurse travelled to Ohio. I heard something about a bridesmaids event but no specifics.
I wonder if she is still invited to the wedding?
The nurse was planning her own wedding with her mother, fiancée, etc. Hopefully she gets to see it.
As to the CDC it is clear they (and the Dallas hospital) really screwed this up but luckily no one state side needs to stumble around blindly trying to figure out how to handle it since Doctor's Without Borders has been handling ebola in Africa for years and has treated thousands and thousands of cases with a relatively low infection rate for workers. They have an elaborate checklist and system with people that are part of decontamination that do nothing but watch to make sure no mistakes are made (I read in the last few days that something like that is used in the US in operations where a nurse will be in the operating room for no other purpose then to make sure sanitation protocol is not breached, ie, a Dr. does not do something like instinctively wipe his brow, or something like that).
So then the CDC is simply incompetent? Swell. :yuck:
So then the CDC is simply incompetent? Swell. :yuck:
Maybe - also under-funded and ill-equipped to handle these on a national level. Sort of like the folks who think FEMA has a stash of fire and rescue trucks ready to respond to a tornado. The sharp end of these incidents has always been a local level problem.
This in my email today from DHS.
Updated Preparedness and Response Framework for Influenza Pandemics (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6306a1.htm)
This also references the following:
National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza (http://www.flu.gov/planning-preparedness/federal/pandemic-influenza-implementation.pdf)
And FWIW - this is NOT a D versus R problem :saywhat:. It is a systemic problem and something where we collectively need to decide how much protection we really want the gov't to provide (or not provide).
My expectations would be quite different if this was a national problem. This was one guy and they couldn't get it right. :saywhat:
Ebola 'SWAT teams' to respond to infections
President Obama has directed the Centers for Disease Control to dispatch rapid response "SWAT teams" of Ebola experts to any local hospital with an infected patient within 24 hours.
Obama's announcement followed a Cabinet-level meeting at the White House Wednesday to deal with the government's response to the Ebola outbreak.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/15/obama-ebola-campaign-trip-postponed/17304339/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atks5rRqQkg
My expectations would be quite different if this was a national problem. This was one guy and they couldn't get it right. :saywhat:
Its about being trained to use the proper protective equipment and being thorough when putting it on and taking off. These are general medical folks who rarely have to dress out to this level. Therein is the problem.
Hazmat folks train extensively in the proper use of the PPE. A poison gas will kill you far quicker than Ebola.
The simple questions are:
#1 are they provided the proper PPE
#2 are they trained in how to put it on
#3 most important - trained how to take it off
It is that easy. Or not. :saywhat:
Want faster medical treatment? Fake that you have Ebola symptoms.... :saywhat: :irked:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/people-are-now-apparently-faking-ebola-to-get-faster-medical-treatment/ar-BB9CJKb
Want faster medical treatment? Fake that you have Ebola symptoms.... :saywhat: :irked:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/people-are-now-apparently-faking-ebola-to-get-faster-medical-treatment/ar-BB9CJKb
Chest pains always get you to the head of the line.
I brought a friend with a broken toe the an emergency room once; let me tell you, broken toes get no respect!
cameraman
10-18-14, 03:37 PM
Here is a public health blog written by folks who know their stuff. You can go through years of that blog if you want to learn about all the different ways we get thing right and wrong when dealing with infectious disease in the US. This post is a review of the week and what our problems are.
It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting at my dining room table trying to reflect on and process the events of the last week. Without a doubt, this week will go down in the annals of infection prevention as a pivotal time point. Hospitals across the country furiously raced to prepare for Ebola, propelled by the unfortunate news of transmission of the virus to two nurses at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. I'll share with you the lessons of this incredibly interesting week:
1. Texas Presbyterian Hospital isn't the exception, it's the rule. It's easy to be the Monday morning quarterback and criticize the emergency medicine providers for initially missing the diagnosis of Ebola, but in the process of diagnosis physicians are trained to use probability in reasoning. And Ebola simply wasn't on their radar screens. It's also important to keep in mind that even today given everything we know, fever in a returning traveler from Liberia is most likely not caused by Ebola virus disease. Malaria remains a much more common diagnosis. For this reason, our Ebola plan reminds physicians to consider infectious diseases consultation in the setting of a person under investigation for Ebola, so as to avoid having a patient die of falciparum malaria while Ebola is being ruled out. In addition, there may have been, and likely were, systems issues at play. There are many distractions in the hectic environment of an emergency department that may have had impact as the physician worked through Thomas Duncan's case. Nosocomial transmission to healthcare workers would also likely have happened at almost any hospital in the United States with the exception of the four hospitals that have a biocontainment unit. While American hospitals have made great strides in reducing healthcare associated infections over the last decade, the challenges posed by Ebola virus in terms of the prevention of transmission are unparalleled.
2. The efficacy and effectiveness of personal protective equipment (PPE) are different. By efficacy we mean how well PPE works in the ideal setting to protect the healthcare worker. Effectiveness is how well it works in the real world. For most pathogens, this difference is likely quite small. Not so for Ebola. Removing PPE in the Ebola setting without contaminating yourself is a Herculean effort, and we are dealing with what Dick Wenzel calls "an unforgiving virus." Before Ebola, the implications of minor errors in doffing were trivial. Now they're life-threatening. An article in today's New York Times sums it up beautifully:
Debra Sharpe, a Birmingham, Ala., biosafety expert, has overseen safety at a nonprofit laboratory that researches emerging diseases and bioweapons, and has run a company that trained workers to handle biological agents... “It’s totally shocking...It would take me anywhere from four to six weeks to train an employee to work in a high containment lab in a safe manner. It’s ludicrous to expect doctors and nurses to figure that out with a day’s worth of training.
To her comments I would add that the challenging setting of an ICU with an Ebola patient having 10 liters of vomiting and diarrhea per day is nothing like the controlled environment of a specialized laboratory dealing with contained aliquots of the virus. How well PPE works in the lab is a measure of efficacy. How well it works in the ICU is a measure of effectiveness.
3. The most advanced ICU in the best US hospital is not a biocontainment unit. It's absurd to think that the standards of a biocontainment unit can be met outside of that special setting. These units have special physical layouts with lab facilities, specimen dip tanks, employee showers, and autoclaves. They were created and supported with federal funding, and their providers have had ongoing training over years. So we need to realistically attempt to match the facility with the expected function: all hospitals should be proficient at rapidly identifying a potential Ebola patient, quickly isolating them and providing initial care, but once the diagnosis is confirmed, these patients should be transferred to a specialized biocontainment unit if a bed is available.
4. We need to think about exposures differently. In infection prevention, we tend to classify exposures to infectious agents on the basis of whether the exposure was protected: Did the nurse have on an N95 mask when she treated the patient with tuberculosis? Did the young man wear a condom when he had sex last night with an HIV-infected man? Typically, unprotected exposures pose greater risk of infection than protected exposures. In Dallas, the same paradigm was applied: the unprotected healthcare workers in the ER who evaluated Mr. Duncan before he was suspected to have Ebola were thought to be at higher risk than those who cared for him in the ICU will full PPE. This turned out to be wrong. Early in the course of Ebola the infectivity is low, as demonstrated by the fact that none of Mr. Duncan's unprotected household contacts became infected. Late in disease, infectivity is very high and two nurses in gowns, gloves and face protection became infected.
5. Equipment and supplies for state-of-the-art care are inadequate. Several of us this week tried to find a stethoscope without ear tubes so that auscultation could be performed without bringing a device close to your face. We had no success. Much has been made of the fact that the Dallas nurses used PPE that didn't cover their necks. This was even noted in an editorial in the New York Times yesterday. However, almost all (if not all) products that provide neck coverage, including bunny suits, are difficult to doff, making self contamination likely. Fortunately, our hospital has an in-house seamstress who rose to the occasion and rapidly began designing an item to cover the neck that is easy to remove. In addition, the supply chain for PPE is tenuous. Already many items are on allocation and the national supply for some is not robust. Just-in-time manufacturing processes are not advantageous in the current situation.
6. Investment in infection prevention infrastructure and research is necessary. The healthcare system in the US has talked a good game regarding the importance of infection prevention, but if budgets are value statements, infection prevention has been a stepchild. Ebola should be our wake up call. Funding is needed to answer basic questions of infection control and to train hospital epidemiologists. Mandates for all hospitals to have infectious disease trained hospital epidemiologists should be considered. New models for compensation of infectious diseases physicians must be developed to encourage trainees to pursue training in our field.
It was a truly challenging week. But from an infection prevention standpoint, it was challenging in a really good way. It allowed us to collaborate with experts across the health system and think creatively with them, while providing us an opportunity to demonstrate the value we add. I am very lucky to work with an amazing group of epidemiologists and strong leadership at the University of Iowa. And the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) staff did an outstanding job of promoting what we do in the mainstream media.
Lastly, we must keep all of this in perspective. Every issue I have talked about in this post is a first world problem. The tragedy of what is happening in West Africa remains incomprehensible.
http://haicontroversies.blogspot.com
Insomniac
10-18-14, 06:18 PM
Chest pains always get you to the head of the line.
I brought a friend with a broken toe the an emergency room once; let me tell you, broken toes get no respect!
I recommend a spinal cord injury. They'll even cut your pants off and give you a catheter!
cameraman
10-18-14, 07:26 PM
And stupidity is now reaching epidemic proportions:saywhat:
Maine school board puts teacher on leave after she traveled to Dallas
A teacher at Strong Elementary School was placed on a 21-day paid leave of absence after parents told the school board they were concerned that she might have been exposed to Ebola during a trip to Dallas for an educational conference. The teacher, who was not named, attended a seminar held by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium that is still meeting in Dallas. “At this time, we have no information to suggest that this staff member has been in contact with anyone who has been exposed to Ebola,” the district wrote in a statement published on its website. “However, the district and the staff member understand the parents’ concerns. Therefore, after several discussions with the staff member, out of an abundance of caution, this staff member has been placed on a paid leave of absence for up to 21 days.”
A Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for the Washington Post, who photographed Ebola victims in Liberia in September, was disinvited from a photojournalism workshop at Syracuse University even though he showed no signs of the disease for 21 days after his return to the United States.
On Thursday, a woman flying on an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago vomited in the airplane, and was subsequently locked in a bathroom by flight staff.
In Hazelhurst, Mississippi, a crowd of parents pulled their middle school students from class Friday after learning that the school’s principal recently had traveled to attend a family funeral in Zambia, which is in southern Africa and about 3,000 miles from the outbreak in West Africa.
And stupidity is now reaching epidemic proportions:saywhat:
Hey now....we have a Czar now. It's all well and good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNOrp_83RU
:gomer: :saywhat:
And stupidity is now reaching epidemic proportions:saywhat:
5 schools in 2 states closed over Ebola fears (http://www.hlntv.com/video/2014/10/16/ebola-school-closures)
Woman Taken Ill at Pentagon Does Not Have Ebola, Health Officials Say (http://patch.com/virginia/arlington-va/arlington-responds-possible-ebola-case#.VEFGMPldUj5)
Health workers in HazMat suits swarmed a Pentagon parking lot Friday to treat a woman suffering from Ebola-like symptoms who said she had recently traveled to western Africa, where the virus has now killed more than 4,400 people.
The lot and surrounding area, in Arlington County and near a heavily traveled main commuter highway in Washington, DC, was shut down to traffic in an abundance of caution, officials said.
cameraman
10-20-14, 10:02 AM
The family and friends of Thomas Eric Duncan have all emerged from quarantine perfectly healthy. That's 43 non-medical staff who were in contact with the only person to die of ebola and none of them got sick. None.
People closing schools need to be fired for gross incompetence.
People closing schools need to be fired for gross incompetence.
How about after the head of the CDC is fired for the same.
How about nobody gets fired, and a bunch of people take a time-out?
(Except the fearmongers in the media. Fire them.)
School heads should be fired for being TOO careful, CDC head for not being careful enough. Is that about right?
How about nobody gets fired, and a bunch of people take a time-out?
(Except the fearmongers in the media. Fire them.)
School heads should be fired for being TOO careful, CDC head for not being careful enough. Is that about right?
I will second this.
Bad information spreads faster than Ebola. This we've proved. The media's job is to make money. Nothing more. With one or two exceptions (reporters I work with almost daily), I don't trust anyone in the media.
The US contracted cases were confined to healthcare workers who had direct contact with the patient. Had proper PPE been supplied and used, no one else would be sick. This isn't to lay blame on the workers, their employers, the CDC, or the President (really? :rolleyes:). It isn't a blame game - it is a "on the front line, we need to take this **** seriously" game.
Panic never helps. And the failure to push good information and the failure to implement good rumor control resulted in a fire storm.
Moving forward, the question will now be whether we've learned any lessons.
cameraman
10-20-14, 03:18 PM
These people need to be beaten with a rolled up map of Africa and I'm serious there is absolutely no excuse for the school administrators buying into this kind of hysterical ********.
Two children who recently moved from Rwanda to the United States are being kept home from school after parents at Howard R. Yocum Elementary School in Maple Shade Township, N.J., voiced concerns about a possible outbreak of Ebola...
...Originally the school had only sent a letter to teachers’ homes notifying staff of the students’ arrival and of precautions to be taken. Those precautions included taking the students’ temperatures three times a day over the next 21 days, the longer side of the deadly virus’s incubation period.
Still, word got out, and soon enough, the district released a public letter on its website, explaining the situation to parents—but now also declaring that the parents of the Rwandan students would keep the children home for the 21-day incubation period instead.
It is unclear whether the parents offered to keep their children out of school on their own or if the school district made the suggestion, the news station notes.
Rwanda is on the other side of the damn continent and it is WHO certified ebola-free. Several previous reports were false alarms.
We had 6 people die in a single fire in PA this weekend - sole survivor has burns over 55% of his body. Most of you probably didn't hear about that incident.
Current Stats on Ebola outbreak:
2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Case Counts (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/case-counts.html)
:saywhat:
What is wrong with people? :rolleyes:
cameraman
10-20-14, 04:56 PM
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have a combined population of 20,800,000 and there have been 8,973 total cases. That works out to 0.04% of the population have caught Ebola and they have been living with it for more than 4 months. That's 1 in every 2300 people and that 1 person isn't contagious until they are visibly ill and not extraordinarily contagious until they are deathly ill. So obviously every single child who has been in the continent of Africa in the past year needs to be quarantined for three weeks with a thermometer taped to their foreheads :flaming: The stupidity on display in this country is just stunning.
I'm not saying that it isn't very bad a public health crisis in those countries but the reaction by a significant number of people in positions of power in this country is indefensible.
And I swear if I see one more story about it mutating to an airborne transmissible strain I will just blow a gasket. It isn't going to happen. The best line I have seen on the subject is that such a change is as likely as wolves evolving wings and flying down from Montana to attack you in your backyard. It is Hollywood movie script-level stupid.
cameraman
10-20-14, 05:28 PM
Also the CDC is about to release completely revised protocols for all things dealing with Ebola patients based on what has been learned in west Africa recently. The previous standards were written based on the experience of people treating ebola patients in Uganda in past outbreaks. This current outbreak turns out to be a more virulent strain which is what caught out the initial responders in Africa and the nurses in Texas. The Uganda procedures just are not up to the current task. The differences come down to they types of PPE used and the protocols for using them and changes in waste handling.
cameraman
10-20-14, 10:10 PM
While on the subject of FUD there is a book out there by Richard Preston called The Hot Zone which is supposed to be about ebola but in reality it is more fiction than fact. It is loaded with mistakes and really can't be trusted. There is another book, Spillover by David Quammen that quite good so if you want to learn more about ebola look for Spillover.
If you want to see The Hot Zone eviscerated read these blogs:
http://mic.com/articles/95640/everything-you-know-about-ebola-is-wrong
http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2014/10/21/the-hot-zone-and-the-mythos-of-ebola/
Napoleon
10-21-14, 08:38 AM
And I swear if I see one more story about it mutating to an airborne transmissible strain I will just blow a gasket.
What is even stupider about that line of reasoning is that we already have airborne transmissible germs that are, I would think, much more likely to mutate into something that could cause a 1918 style pandemic. But no, why worry about that when the public can obsess about something from Africa that is way less dangerous.
Just in time for Christmas. Give your loved ones the gift (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/ebola.html)of Ebola
697
Tifosi24
10-21-14, 09:43 AM
[QUOTE=Napoleon;328733]What is even stupider about that line of reasoning is that we already have airborne transmissible germs that are, I would think, much more likely to mutate into something that could cause a 1918 style pandemic. But no, why worry about that when the public can obsess about something from Africa that is way less dangerous.[/QUOT
I am convinced people lose their lunch about Ebola because it is a potentially hemorrhagic disease and they have been watching too much Walking Dead.
Napoleon
10-21-14, 10:23 AM
Rwanda is on the other side of the damn continent and it is WHO certified ebola-free. Several previous reports were false alarms.
Hilariously, and you have to wonder if it is to intentionally stick a finger in the eyes of the US, Rwanda now is requiring anyone flying into their country from the US to be screened for Ebola.
FYI, my parents were on an around the world cruise (they are insane) from January-May this year. They were supposed to have ports of call in western Africa sometime in March, but the cruise line elected not to dock there due to the Ebola outbreak. That was ~six months ago, and it's taken ~6 months for Ebola hysteria to hit the US. :saywhat:
Meanwhile, oHIo now has $800,000 ear marked for PPE and Ebola cleanup. :shakehead:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/20/Ohio-ebola-money-approved.html
cameraman
10-21-14, 03:30 PM
Meanwhile, oHIo now has $800,000 ear marked for PPE and Ebola cleanup. :shakehead:
Given the costs of PPE and the especially large volume of waste disposal involved that would cover a couple of patients for several weeks :shakehead: It really tells you that they are clueless.
Given the costs of PPE and the especially large volume of waste disposal involved that would cover a couple of patients for several weeks :shakehead: It really tells you that they are clueless.
The PPE $$$ ($300K) are meant for backup PPEs in case hospitals run out. It has been reported that 200+ PPEs are required to treat one patient per day. The rest of the $$$ are for cleanup. Apparently they solicited a number of companies for cleanup, but received little if any response from them.
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