A U.S.-contracted medical charter flight left Cartersville, Georgia, to evacuate two Ebola-infected

[applegrove]

Last edited Thu Jul 31, 2014, 08:41 PM - Edit history (1)

CNN Breaking News Email:

"A U.S.-contracted medical charter flight left Cartersville, Georgia, to evacuate two Ebola-infected American medical workers from Monrovia, Liberia, a source familiar with the travel plans told CNN."


** later at CNN: they've given one of the victims on the way to the USA experimental medicine.

[NightWatcher]

1. I hear they are flying them back to Emory Hospital's special containment unit

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/health/2014/07/31/emory-university-hospital-ebola-patient/13429519/

[DURHAM D]

4. This is beyond inappropriate

and there is absolutely nothing funny about this crisis.

Edit Update: Thank you for removing that awful video.

[NightWatcher]

6. I was commenting that it doesn't seem like such a great idea

In The Stand the end of humanity comes from a breakout of a vicious sickness. So Atlanta has now offered to host a violent spreadable sickness.



Sorry if the video offended. And no, there is nothing funny about this situation, nor is it funny to introduce a killer disease to a state that doesn't have it yet.

[NutmegYankee]

9. I'm unsure how you thought Stephen King's novel The Stand was humor; it's a fictional horror novel.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. That actually seems like the wrong thing to do.

They should be treated where they are.

[applegrove]

3. As someone said last night "we are only 50 dead white people away from

humanity finding a cure to Ebola". But chances are it will give the CDC a better chance to study the virus.

[Sienna86]

5. The Onion article said that...

But it's probably close to the truth. Hope US medical experts can help.

[tymorial]

7. We already have several vaccines...

That have been effective in protecting non human primates. The problem here is the huge roadblocks and challenges in moving this to stage 1 human trials. For some reason fast tracking this process is impossible though I would theorize that if an industrialized nation were effected this would happen immediately.

[KamaAina]

14. Might we try a mass vaccination program for the primate reservoir?

At least they wouldn't object to it on some cockamamie tinfoil-hat grounds that it's some kind of plot they way humans in that region often do.

[KamaAina]

12. That would be me.

And it was a vaccine, not a cure.

[applegrove]

13. Thank you. That was food for thought. Though I think through

much hard work the scientists have started to try and fight diseases that were once ignored. Hopefully more money will be available for research on Ebola and to come up with a vaccine.

[pnwmom]

22. The CDC is sending people to study it there. Unfortunately, they are bringing these people over

when they are in their most high contagious state -- in the final stages of their illness. If they were going to do this, they should have brought them here ASAP.

[msanthrope]

8. No--the problem is that they are a danger to the people trying to treat them. nt

[RiffRandell]

11. Exactly....and people that travel abroad for work.

Not good; I'm scared.

[broiles]

10. What could possibly go wrong?

[Lurks Often]

15. Very bad idea

Last edited Fri Aug 1, 2014, 08:29 AM - Edit history (1)

I am sorry for the two American medical workers and I admire and respect their courage and dedication, but bringing them back here is a horrible idea. You don't bring carriers of such a deadly disease to ANY continent that has never had a case arise.

If containment is broken or someone makes a mistake, we could lose 100,000+ lives due to modern transportation and the number of people who travel in the US on a regular basis.

[goldent]

16. I've read that this disease is spread through bodily fluids

and not airborne - and that is why the epidemic is not much bigger. I've been told that the containment methods used in the US are extreme (perhaps not so much Africa?). Combine that with the fact that it doesn't easily spread, and I think this is extremely low risk. It is much less risky than sending US workers to Africa.

[Lurks Often]

17. And if someone fucks up, a lot of people are going to die

Think it through, medical professionals, who know full well the dangers of Ebola and how it is transmitted, are getting sick themselves despite all the precautions they took.

So what the hell does everybody think is going to happen if it escapes containment here in the US and spreads to the people of Atlanta, one of the bigger cities that is also a major airline hub. By the time people figure out they have Ebola and not the flu how many people do you think they will have infected?

And I actually think my estimate of 100,000+ is LOW. We could potentially lose millions of lives because we are a modern, industrialized nation. Ebola usually burns itself out in Africa because it occurs in very rural areas and killing it's victims faster then they can spread the disease.

[XemaSab]

18. These are "precautions" there

[Lurks Often]

19. So how many lives here are you willing to risk?

and what right to do you have to risk those lives?

As I have already stated, I am sorry for the two American medical workers and I admire and respect their courage and dedication, but bringing them back here is a horrible idea. You don't bring carriers of such a deadly disease to ANY continent that has never had a case arise.

Nothing will convince me that it is anything but insane and very risky to bring KNOWN Ebola carriers back to the United States.

If that makes me cold or heartless or ruthless or any other word you might like to describe me with, so be it.

[jen63]

21. Thank you for the pic,

I think people must think that these doctors are working in optimal conditions, with the proper equipment and they just aren't. They have to try to disinfect and reuse instead of burning it and using new. The conditions are terrible.

[goldent]

20. What I've heard on NPR is that it burns itself out in Africa because it is not very contagious.

Also, it appears you don't become contagious until you show symptoms.

Regarding health workers, I would like to see how they handle containment in Africa. For example, do they wear full containment suits with air supply? Because it is not viewed as highly contagious, it makes we wonder if they are not as strict as they could be.

[Lurks Often]

23. Wikipedia says otherwise

"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." The bold is my emphasis, because Atlanta and for that matter much of the inhabited United States is not considered a remote area.

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

Initial symptoms resemble the flu, something most people don't rush to the ER for. As for how contagious it is, I will point out that medical workers who knew that the patients they were treating had Ebola, knew the dangers of the virus and took precautions, still came down with it.

If you have children or work in a large office, how fast does a cold or flu spread among the children or co-workers? My experience is that it spreads fairly quickly in an office. Now imagine that it isn't the flu like your co-worker thought, but Ebola?

As I said to another poster, how many lives are you willing to risk and what gives you the right to risk those lives if you happen to be wrong?