CDC: Ebola could be 'the world's next AIDS'

[cali]

Ebola poses a threat equivalent to AIDS and will become just as deadly without further action, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden said Thursday.

The remark is part of a marked increase in the intensity of warnings about Ebola from Frieden, the Obama administration's point man in communicating to the public about the virus.

"The only thing like this has been AIDS. And we have to work now so that this is not the world's next AIDS," Frieden said.

The AIDS pandemic started in Africa in the 1980s and has killed 36 million people. It took more than a decade to develop effective treatments to cut the death rate and even longer to erase the stigma associated with AIDS.

<snip>

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/220269-cdc-ebola-poses-threat-like-aids

[B2G]

1. No comparison between the two

If ebola gets out of control outside of Africa, it's game over. AIDS isn't spread nearly as efficiently.

[Electric Monk]

2. Actually, Ebola has a slightly lower R0 than AIDS does

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

In epidemiology, the basic reproduction number (sometimes called basic reproductive rate, basic reproductive ratio and denoted R0, r nought) of an infection can be thought of as the number of cases one case generates on average over the course of its infectious period, in an otherwise uninfected population.

[B2G]

7. To get AIDS, you need to have

sexual contact or a blood transfusion.

To get ebola, all you have to do is care for a sick family member who you think is ill with the flu (among other very real risk factors).

It's not too hard to figure out the risk profile here for the average person compared to AIDS.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. It was ignorance that allowed AIDS to spread the way it did.

It could have been contained early, if we had the right people in the right places.

[LostOne4Ever]

4. Actually, its less contagious than HIV.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

11. Basic sanitation in developed countries

pretty much stops the spread of ebola in it's tracks.

Also, AIDS was (and still is) a huge epidemic in Africa. Ebola is catching up to that. In that sense, they are similar.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Great.

Mr Duncan didn't die in vain.

[snooper2]

6. This is kind of a stupid comparision, something that shows up and kills you in a month versus YEARS

[B2G]

8. Yes, there is NO comparison between the two viruses

In terms of transmission methods, incubation period, time to onset of symptoms or the speed at which you die.

The CDC is insane to make the comparison.

[HereSince1628]

9. Statements like this are usually meant to develop leverage that moves policy

Who is being leveraged, for what?

Getting ready to push the US Congress for contributions to UN health efforts in Africa?

[magical thyme]

10. the UN said earlier today there needs to be 20X the international aid to get it under control.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/african-leaders-imf-world-bank-discuss-ebola-26062971

I also read the doubling time is expected to be down to a week in Sierra Leone by the end of the month.

[UglyGreed]

12. I hope

we don't end up with a Reagan type of response.