The African summit next week...is this a good idea?

[B2G]

Affected countries are bringing very large entourages along with their leaders. Nigeria alone is bringing more than 70 people.

[el_bryanto]

1. I'm not sure I see a problem with that

Is it that it's too expensive?

Bryant

[B2G]

2. Ebola

Or maybe you haven't heard?

[femmocrat]

3. I think the likelihood of that is pretty low.

From wikipedia:

Human-to-human transmission occurs via direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from an infected person (including embalming of an infected dead person) or by contact with contaminated medical equipment, particularly needles and syringes. Medical workers who do not wear protective clothing, such as gloves and surgical masks, may also contract the disease.[9] In the past, explosive nosocomial transmission has occurred in under-equipped African hospitals due to the reuse of needles and lack of implementation of universal precautions.[citation needed] Aerosol transmission has not been observed during natural EVD outbreaks.[citation needed] The potential for widespread EVD epidemics is considered low due to the high case-fatality rate, the rapidity of demise of patients, and the often remote areas where infections occur.[citation needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease

[clarice]

4. So is it an airborne virus? Or only direct contact.?nt

[femmocrat]

5. I defer to any medical professionals on DU.

I think it is airborne by bats.

[clarice]

6. Thanks. nt

[MineralMan]

8. Direct contact with body fluids. Not airborne.

[clarice]

9. Thank goodness. nt

[B2G]

11. Does someone sneezing or coughing in your face

count as airborne? Because it can be transmitted that way.

[MineralMan]

13. Well, that would be direct contact with body fluids,

wouldn't it? I'm just reporting what the CDC said. It's not easily contagious without direct contact.

Go read this:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/vhf-interim-guidance.pdf

[B2G]

14. I realize that

My point is that some people hear it's not transmitted in an airborne fashion and they get all complacent.

If someone coughs or sneezes within 3 feet of you, there is a transmission risk. It only takes a miniscule amount of virus to become infected.

And if I was flying from West Africa, I'd stay out of the plane's bathrooms.

[MineralMan]

16. Personally, I would not be flying to or from West Africa

right now.

Ebola is not nearly as contagious as the flu. In fact, most transmission is caused by handling severely ill patients by medical workers and family members. It's not contagious, either, until symptoms appear, and is most contagious later in the infection, when an ill person is likely to be severely incapacitated. Symptoms of the disease do not include coughing and sneezing. It is not a respiratory illness. Here's a list of symptoms:

Symptoms of Ebola HF typically include:
Fever.
Headache.
Joint and muscle aches.
Weakness.
Diarrhea.
Vomiting.
Stomach pain.
Lack of appetite.
Bleeding.

There's plenty of information about ebola virus, which can be found by using any search engine. As with all such things, I recommend that people do some research before posting stuff that may well be incorrect. The danger with Ebola is not from sneezing and coughing. It is with contact with other body fluids.

[B2G]

17. You miss my point

My concern is people getting on planes and flying around the world who are not symptomatic yet.

I know how it's transmitted. And I also know that an unprotected cough or sneeze in a crowded area like a plane or a subway can infect.

Ebola is particularly fond of attacking the eyes.

[MineralMan]

18. If they are not symptomatic, they are not contagious.

Read the information at the links in this thread in various posts.

I'm not missing your point in any way. I'm providing factual information, rather than incorrect information. Ebola is not a respiratory disease, so sneezing and coughing are not symptoms. Apparently you do not know how it is transmitted, despite my attempts to inform you.

[B2G]

19. And you aren't reading what I'm writing

Let me try to be clearer.

I know asymptomatic people aren't infectious. But once they arrive at their destinations, they will become so. Which puts their families and anyone they come into close contact with at risk.

I aslo know Ebola isn't a "respitory disease" but it attacks the respitory system and large quantities of the virus are present in saliva and mucus expulsions. And people with Ebola cough.

[CreekDog]

21. smooth, maybe you can keep a whole continent of people from visiting the USA

[RetroLounge]

22. Only certain continents, don't ya know...

RL

[CreekDog]

29. must be something about people on that continent

something about them that she doesn't feel good about.

[RetroLounge]

32. Whatever could it be?

RL

[heaven05]

35. BS

transparent distraction from real motives. People out here can deduce, you know. You're not aware, are you? Just r....., I think.

[Aerows]

7. It's very worrisome

Maybe they will test everyone that is coming for the virus? I don't know if that will offend those that are coming, but I sincerely hope they are doing something to make sure that Ebola doesn't spread to more areas.

[clarice]

10. +1. nt

[B2G]

12. They don't have the ability to test

There aren't many labs in the world that can. The best they can do is screen for active symptoms. If the person isn't symptomatic yet, there's not a thing they can do.

[likesmountains 52]

15. Good info here...read all the way down

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0728-ebola.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Entourages are extremely unlikely to have had contact with the infected people

The outbreaks are in 3 countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. There has been 1 death in Nigeria - the man who had just come from Liberia. But the kind of people who come to summits do not spend a lot of time caring for patients, or preparing people for burial.

Diagnosis is not easy at the beginning of the illness, because its symptoms are the same as those that are seen in many other infections, including fever, headache, aching muscles, tiredness, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. So if someone is infected and then travels to the UK before the illness develops (which usually happens five to 12 days after exposure), Ebola could be mistaken for more common conditions like malaria or food poisoning. Later the patient may develop a rash, and start to bleed from the nose, ears, eyes, gums and in the stomach. Some go blind, and have uncontrollable hiccups. These symptoms point to a lethal outcome.

The only good news is that Ebola is quite hard to catch. Close contact with the body fluids of an infected person is needed. The virus does not spread on the wind. Burial practices involving the washing of corpses has led to the spread of infection and carers of those infected in a domestic setting (without the use of isolation units and protective suits) have a 10-20% chance of catching the virus.

Is the UK at risk? The likelihood of an infected person travelling to the UK is very low and we have good diagnostic and isolation facilities, if needed. The most important control measure is for healthcare workers, who are the first port of call for someone who might have the disease, to ask possible cases where they have been in the last three weeks.

(Hugh Pennington is an emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen. He chaired inquiries into E coli outbreaks in Scotland and South Wales)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/30/ebola-outbreak-uk-no-treatment-hard-to-catch

[RetroLounge]

23. Your concern is noted.

RL

[CreekDog]

24. I think your post is astounding and can I wonder if it's out and out racist?

you're asking for a whole continent of heads of state to not come to the USA because there is an Ebola outbreak in one nation --and no, the the leaders of that nation aren't infected.

have you lost your marbles?

you were seriously expecting the entire leaders of the African Union, representing some 37 countries to be denied entrance into the USA because of Ebola?

what's next? prohibiting all Africans from entering the USA because of Ebola?

or is that what this was really all about?

what is your ISSUE with AFRICANS?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Africa_Leaders_Summit#Participants

[B2G]

25. My stalker resurfaces!

Howdy partner!

[CreekDog]

26. nice dodge. any other continents you'd like to exclude from the USA or just Africa?

[B2G]

27. Any that have an uncontrolled ebola outbreak

Don't give a crap what color they are.

[CreekDog]

28. If you don't care what color they are, why are you excluding a whole continent of people?

who just happen to be mostly black, when you could simply restrict in the immediate area of the outbreak?

what do you have against parts of Africa that are far from the epidemic?

[B2G]

30. Please show me where I referenced a whole continent.

My OP specifically referred to affected countries within that continent.

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.

Other countries in Africa have locked down borders and cutoff flights in and out.

Are they racist?

[CreekDog]

31. You did reference the whole continent, you asked is the African Summit a good idea

you didn't say, we should stop travel from the most effected areas in parts of the African countries where there is a problem.

you didn't say anything about travel by civilians in general from the areas with Ebola outbreaks.

you just questioned whether a meeting of leaders, mostly from areas not affected by Ebola is a good idea.

based on what you complained about, it seems like your main issue isn't Ebola, it's that African leaders were going to meet at the White House.

if your concern was Ebola, you would have addressed travel from the specific areas, the ongoing travel, not just one high profile event.

your issue, from what everyone can see from your OP is the meeting of African leaders at the White House.

Ebola is a decoy, of some sort. or perhaps you just want to remind everyone that Obama is meeting with Africans.

who knows exactly, but we know what this OP wasn't truly about.

[heaven05]

34. BS

you're transparent, can see right through you and wow, it's ...........

[heaven05]

33. It's not a good idea

that you're here with your obvious issues about POC. That's what I think. I see you were allowed to stay by A jury. You just got lucky to get the 'right' people. Happens, it's just numbers and not reflective of the percentages here. Otherwise.........