There have been 9 ebola patients treated in the U.S. 7 have recovered

[cali]

Even Dr. Brantley and Nancy Writebol who were both very ill by the time they reached the U.S., recovered fully. Although it's a very small sample of people, it seems to indicate that with proper care, ebola doesn't have a 50% to 70% mortality rate. Patients got various medications and some got blood transfusions, so it's hard to know what, beyond keeping patients well hydrated, clean and rested, what is to be credited for their recoveries.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Who died besides Duncan?

[cali]

2. No one. Sorry I didn't make that clear. Dr. Spencer has just been admitted to hospital

I expect he too will make a full recovery.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Ah, thanks

Yes, I have noticed that given proper medical treatment, Ebola is not as fatal as feared. Also, helps when you get decent medical treatment.

[Ykcutnek]

3. I'm glad I'm not eating crow for my full faith in our ability to contain Ebola.

We had a rocky start, but have done an excellent job.

[VanillaRhapsody]

10. there are some on this very forum who are enjoying

Some nice Crow Pot Pie. The usual hate all govt ..the all govt is incompetent crowd..

[ecstatic]

5. They were treated at the best facilities in the country.

If an outbreak really happened here, would we all get the best care? Doubt it.

[cali]

6. this is, in part, why we're very, very unlikely to see an outbreak here.

[morningfog]

14. I wonder if we will get to the point of understanding that only the patients with the worst symptoms

will need treatment in one of those beds. If we catch it early, at the first sign of fever, it seems that we may be able to prevent progression to the high viral load and extreme illness stage.

I hope that we can reach that point soon.

[TeeYiYi]

7. There have been...

...more black boys murdered by cops in St. Louis in the last couple of months than have died from ebola in the whole of the United States so far.

Be sure to check out this report put out by Amnesty International yesterday: On the Streets of America: Human Rights Abuses in Ferguson

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025707253

TYY

[cali]

8. true, but hardly germane to the topic at hand.

I don't know why people are so fond of non sequiturs.

[TeeYiYi]

11. I confess...

It was a desperate non sequitur, posted out of frustration with DUers who are seemingly ambivalent about the importance of the Amnesty International report that was released yesterday. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025707253

I apologize for hijacking your thread.

TYY

[grahamhgreen]

9. The fact that Duncan's family did not contract it makes me far less worried about the disease.

[bigwillq]

12. That's good news.

[morningfog]

13. Brantley and Writebol got ZMapp doses. The others were successful because of early detection and

treatment. This is something that the West African nations can't do due to lack of resources and already lost control. They can only treat the worst off, which leads to more infections of the workers. They can't get to the early patients.

The mortality rate in W. African has been increasing, consistent with with this problem.

There really are two ebola infections. The Western infection and the West African. The prior is caught early and properly contained. The latter is only treated in the very late stages when the risk is so high containment and safe treatment is impossible.

[eallen]

15. "Keeping patients well hydrated, clean and rested" goes a long way.