Ebola patient to be transferred to Atlanta's Emory hospital

[deminks]

Source: Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - Emory University Hospital officials say there are plans for an American aid worker who has been diagnosed with Ebola to be transferred there for treatment.

Officials said in a statement Thursday the hospital has a special isolation unit that was built in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that's used to treat people with certain serious infectious diseases.

The unit is physically separate from other areas and hospital officials say staff are trained and fully prepared to care for the patient. The patient's identity hasn't been released because of privacy laws.

Hospital officials say they're unsure of when the patient will arrive.

Read more: http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/26167239/ebola-patient-to-be-transferred-to-atlantas-emory-hospital

---

[Ed Suspicious]

1. Sorry but that's a bit frightening.

[Tess49]

2. More than just a bit. This is a lot frightening. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

3. What's that sound? The sound of people stampeding away from the hospital.

And aides, housekeepers and orderlies thinking, "How much do I want to put up with for $10 an hour?" Oh well, good luck. Glad I'm not in health care anymore.

[bigwillq]

4. WTF?

This is not good at all.

Keep the worker in Africa until death or recovery.

[LovingA2andMI]

5. Say Hello to Stories about how Ebola has infected someone in America....

In about TWO WEEKS.....Watch! This one will not be pretty at all.

[bigwillq]

6. It will be bad.

[defacto7]

37. I'm not worried about issolation protocols being followed

and extra precautions because of the type of disease. The CDC is perfectly capable. It's the out of the ordinary that I am more concerned about like a plane crash or just some mechanical failure on route, on the runway. Maybe the ambulance gets in an accident on the way... who knows. What we know, I'm not worried about. It's what we don't that gets my attention.

[mike_c]

7. isolation during transport is likely the riskiest part of transferring....

It seems an extreme risk unless there is something more that can be done at Emory than in Lagos.

on edit: I live in California, right on the left coast. There's a lot of room to kill it with fire between here and Atlanta....

[Divernan]

40. Yes. There are so many possible single points of failure.

Protocols really matter with Ebola. Even the smallest error in protocols can be fatal.

[wheniwasincongress]

8. Can't they build

isolation units over there?

[McCamy Taylor]

9. The isolation should not be that difficult.

Not in a US hospital. It is a miracle that more health care workers do not get infected when working in the field in Africa. Even the food and water there could get contaminated if the wrong person or container is used to prepare it.

[A Little Weird]

32. Isolation

I remember visiting my grandma in the hospital years ago. As I was walking down the hall to her room, I passed a room that was plastered with all kinds of warnings - stuff about isolation, quarantine, mask requirement, etc. The door was standing wide open and a nurse walked out with no mask or any obvious protective gear. I peeked in as I passed and the patient was still in there. Even as a teen I knew that wasn't right. Now I'm sure he wasn't suffering from ebola, but it scares me anyway. All the rules they care to make won't matter if just one careless employee screws up and gets the virus out of that room.

[TwilightGardener]

34. I worked with patients in isolation--special air systems and everything.

It's only as good as the staff's diligence (including that of non-professional personnel such as housekeeping, aides, techs, etc.) AND family/visitor cooperation. While I realize the CDC will run the ship more stringently than an ICU, anything that relies on humans being perfect has a chance to fail.

[Ed Suspicious]

10. If you want a little bedtime reading while thinking about the implications.

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Zone-Richard-Preston-ebook/dp/B007DCU4IQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406848828&sr=8-1&keywords=hot+zone

[Mnemosyne]

31. One of the scariest non-fiction books ever, next to ' THE COMING PLAGUE: Newly Emerging Diseases in

a World Out of Balance' by Laurie Garret 1994pub.

[Marrah_G]

71. I have both on audiobook

actually I think i have every audiobook available on viruses ... yes I am weird

The more I've learned the less I worry about things like Ebola and the more I worry about emerging strains of avian/swine flues from southeast Asia.

[Mnemosyne]

74. Scary books, aren't they? I'm trying to read 'Lab 257' right now.

Plum Island possible source of lyme disease, etc.

I do worry a bit about Ebola becoming airborne, but the resistant bacteria emerging scare the bejeezus out of me, way more than Ebola.

Any readings you've found especially intriguing? I'm always looking for interesting input from others.

[Marrah_G]

76. Spillover is fantastic

Beating back the Devil
The Viral Storm
Scourge
The Fatal Strain
Yellow Fever Black Goddess
Virus Ground Zero
Demon Under the Microscope
Deadly Feasts
No Time to Lose
Deadly Outbreaks
The Coming Plague
Demon in the Freezer
Panic in Level 4

[lunasun]

99. +1. Spillover loved how it was broken down -what a great book of science reporting,history & travel

[politicat]

81. If you don't mind another rec:

The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox, by Jennifer Lee Carroll. She looks at the parallel vaccination efforts in Boston, Turkey and England in the 18th century, specifically Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (who is fascinating in her own right) and Doctor Zabdiel Boylston, in Boston. Without them, the cowpox vaccination effort later on would have been impossible.

She does take the liberty of re-creating likely conversations, but after the first chapter, I didn't find it annoying. Especially in the audio format, it works.

[Marrah_G]

88. OOO I shall check that out too :)

The history of smallpox is fascinating

[Mojorabbit]

89. I really like Laurie Garret. Been following her for years. nt

[WinkyDink]

55. Indeed. Gives the horrific reality to the rather normal-sounding "vomiting and diarrhea" reports.

Yeah, the "diarrhea" comprises one's intestines.

[ChazII]

100. Hot Zone is quite good

for anytime of day. It would be a book that I would recommend for this topic.

[YarnAddict]

11. What can they do for the patients here

that they can't do in Africa? Seems like the doctors most familiar with treating Ebola are already there. They have the hazmat suits, and the isolation equipment, and all the treatments available here are also there, so I can't believe there are any medical reasons to bring them here.

[Divernan]

15. If everything was being done right, over 100 medical workers would not be infected with Ebola.

[defacto7]

35. Yes and no...

If everything we know to do was being done right, we would know that everything we know to do was being done. It does not mean that the medical workers would not be infected. It's what we don't know that may be more important.

The possibility is being studied right now that the disease has vectors we either didn't know about or is mutating into... like airborne transmission. There are situations where all protocols were being adhered to and still there was transmission.

There is a lot we don't know about this disease because no one wanted to get close enough to study it years ago. It was inevitable it would start to get our attention sooner or later.

[Divernan]

36. You're correct. Mutation could result in new vectors.

[CoffeeCat]

84. It's possible that everything is being done right!

You're assuming human error here, but that may not be the case. This Ebola strain may be incredibly lethal, and it could just be more efficient at infecting and killing hosts.

After all, the three American aid workers who contracted Ebola were all following CDC guidelines, and they became infected. They were in full masks and protective garb from head to toe.

[XemaSab]

29. Guilt

Spending $$$$$$$$$ every day on the white lady seems a little tacky when right outside there's a plastic tent full of black Africans being treated for ¢¢¢.

[Divernan]

12. CDC has about two dozen staffers in West Africa to try to control outbreak;plans to send more.

That is the last sentence of the op's link, and significant in that if/when any of those workers are infected, they will surely be brought home as well.

The CDC is based in Atlanta, as is the Emory University Hospital. Odds are that any further American health care workers coming down w/ Ebola will be brought back there as well. I'd expect a condition for them volunteering for this dangerous assignment was that they would be brought home for treatment if necessary.

The disease needs to be stopped, and the CDC staffers are taking their lives in their hands to go to West Africa. I think they should be brought back to the USA for the best possible medical treatment. On the other hand I wouldn't set foot in Emory Hospital for any treatment. There's been a trend in US hospitals to assign nurses to double shifts. A friend's daughter/new R.N. was just hired and will be working 3 12 hour shifts a week. That results in tired people making errors, forgetting safeguards, etc. Never a good idea, but disastrous when in a high risk situation like caring for Ebola patients.

A hospital can have all the safety protocols in the world but underpaid, undertrained and/or overworked staff fail to follow them - that's why we have MRSA. It came to mind, because I just heard this afternoon that an 63 year old, former workmate of mine, who beat cancer several years ago, just died of a MRSA infection.

[Marthe48]

13. What are they thinking?

Are they thinking? I just read that 3 countries are affected by this terrible disease and a Liberian official says it is above the the control of the national government. How can people risk spreading this to even more countries?

[The Traveler]

14. This is a very bad idea

The risks are really probably small ... but the consequences of getting unlucky are catastrophic. The sane reaction to the idea of a contagion like ebola making it to Atlanta (major city, huge transportation hub) is something along the lines of "No! Oh god no!"

My kid has to take treatments at Emory ... and I don't want my kid within a 1000 miles of this thing. But even if I could pretend to be sanguine about that, deliberately bringing this stuff into a major transportation center like Atlanta seems insane. The risk/reward structure seems unjustifiable.

Trav

[Divernan]

17. Hope you can find another medical center for your child's treatment.

[The Traveler]

38. Can't. But thanks

His condition is rather serious, and uncommon.

Trav

[deurbano]

61. I'm sorry to hear that. Best wishes for him.

Last edited Wed Aug 6, 2014, 01:56 PM - Edit history (1)

[Ed Suspicious]

19. Every flight goes through Atlanta it seems.

[WinkyDink]

56. There is no need for this tempting of Fate.

[passiveporcupine]

16. I would not be too quick to panic

From Wiki:

EVD is believed to occur after an ebola virus is transmitted to a human index case via contact with an infected animal's bodily fluids. 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.

All epidemics of Ebola have occurred in sub-optimal hospital conditions, where practices of basic hygiene and sanitation are often either luxuries or unknown to caretakers and where disposable needles and autoclaves are unavailable or too expensive.

Because bodies of the deceased are still infectious, some doctors had to take measures to properly dispose of dead bodies in a safe manner despite local traditional burial rituals.

I read that the reason it has spread in Africa, is because of the social tradition of how the deceased bodies are dealt with, and some areas have no training in how to deal with it. It will be controlled. If someone gets it here, it won't become a wide-spread plague. We know how to contain it and handle the equipment and bodies.

[LisaL]

18. Both of the Americans used protective equipment and still somehow got the disease.

So I wouldn't be jumping up and down claiming it's not infectious, considering the even the people using protective equipment got it.

[passiveporcupine]

22. Where did I claim it's not infectious?

I'm not saying it can't be passed on here, or anywhere. Just that in the right conditions it's not as infectious as where it's spreading now.

I should have known better that to step into this sky is falling thread. It just sounds a lot like the fear of HIV to me...and with education we lost some of that fear.

[TwilightGardener]

26. Even the most educated people about this virus are catching it.

This is not HIV. I really have to question the head of the CDC, even President Obama, for doing this.

[cstanleytech]

27. "I should have known better that to step into this sky is falling thread." Yup way to much stupid

here over this.

[LisaL]

33. HIV killed a lot of people.

And it's certainly far less lethal than Ebola.

[notadmblnd]

45. Ebola

Ebola: since its emergence in 1976, there have been 2,586 cases of Ebola virus disease in humans and 1,717 deaths. While that's a fatality rate of 66.4 per cent, or roughly two out of every three patients, influenza kills approximately 500,000 people every year. In 38 years, Ebola has killed fewer than 2,000 people. The flu? Nineteen million.

very informative current article here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/ebola-epidemic-plagued-by-fear-9636462.html

[LisaL]

52. Viruses mutate.

This particular strain appears to be more infectious.
Medical professionals who used protective equipment managed to get it.

[notadmblnd]

58. Well I'm sure you know best.

[magical thyme]

62. they were in contact with local people outside the hospital

as were other hospital workers. It is entirely possible that they were infected outside the hospital setting.

[cstanleytech]

46. Yes and the chances of catching HIV without physical contact are about the same or in other words

almost nil.
If you want to worry about something though thats far more likely to happen to you though I would be worried about getting struck by lightning.

[notadmblnd]

64. Or dying from the flu

But why bother reading, learning, and educating yourself about Ebola when it's more fun to post hyperbole and attempt to instill fear and panic?

[DaDeacon]

75. THIS! ^

[Marrah_G]

77. New strains of influenza and new viruses like SARS and MERS are worrisome

Ebola is gruesome and scary but has killed a relatively small amount of people in total, so I agree with you.

When I first read The Hot Zone it scared the heck out of me too, but after reading/listening to lots of other books on the topic it got a lot less scary.

[Mojorabbit]

91. It has a much higher case fatality rate than influenza.

There is an teeny outside change it may have or may be mutating. I am glad personally that they will have a case to study in country. They also may come up with something that might aid in treatment.
It is more frightening to people I suspect because of the bleeding factor. There is an almost primal reaction to the thought of bleeding out from all orifices. I was a young nurse when the first aids patients started coming in. There was fear in those days but not at this level IMO. I never thought twice about caring for HIV patients and did so for many years but I would think twice about working with ebola patients. It would only take one slip and that slip could be fatal.
I am loving the discussions.

[Live and Learn]

90. I'm with you. I hate when fear leads to panic.

This is a serious disease and it will eventually reach us no matter what. It is time we step up, accept some of the risks and start doing what we can to find a cure.

And btw, I remember when people were calling for those with HIV to be isolated. In fact, my Aunt was a nurse that advocated for such. I was disgusted by it then and am equally disgusted by the fear and panic shown here.

We are NOT all going to die from Ebola. Some will, but most won't. We WILL all die of something. As far as I am concerned, doing so with a clear conscience will be the best way.

[Ed Suspicious]

20. Swat teams and quarantine?

[Divernan]

21. If US health care was so damn good, we would not have MRSA rates rising

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726180309.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/mrsa-on-the-rise-infections-have-doubled-in-5-years/260495/

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has rapidly become the bacteria of the decade. MRSA infections now respond only to very advanced antibiotics that were never meant to be a first-line defense. Usually, the drugs have to be delivered intravenously -- which often means spending some nights in the hospital. And it doesn't help that the state of antibiotics is falling behind. With new antibiotics being approved at slower and slower rates, the battle against MRSA has many doctors worrying about creating a superbug they can't kill at all. Now, new data suggest that the MRSA problem may be even worse than we thought.

In fact, the Chicago scientists say, the new estimate might even be low-balling the disease's pervasiveness because the database they use -- a collection of insurance bills -- tends to under-report instances of MRSA if patients were hospitalized for some other ailment. When the researchers went back to correct for the statistical inaccuracy, they discovered that the insurance claims had missed between a third to one-half of actual MRSA cases as recorded by the hospitals' own records.

At least some of the increase reported in the Chicago paper may simply be due to the fact that we're now more alert to MRSA than we used to be. Better screening means we'll find more of what we're looking for. Still, that doesn't change the fact that more people in general are becoming carriers for MRSA. Getting infected may not guarantee illness in a specific patient, but it also increases the bacteria's chances of eventually being spread to someone who will fall ill from an infection. And that's why understanding the scope of MRSA's potential -- as opposed to measuring only the immediately-consequential cases of MRSA infection -- is so important.

There is disagreement as to what percentage of MRSA cases are caught in medical settings and which are "community based". The biology professor from whom I took a class on infectious diseases, says that MRSA contracted while in a hospital may not become symptomatic until after discharge, and he criticizes epidemiologists who categorize such cases as community-based.

[passiveporcupine]

24. This person will be kept in a special isolation ward.

MRSA is throughout hospitals. It's not the same thing at all.

[Divernan]

30. CDC guidelines to hospitals on MRSA have not worked

2 possible reasons:
1. the guidelines are inadequate.
2. the guidelines are not enforced/followed.

[cstanleytech]

47. I suspect the main problem combating mrsa is that alot of the health providers are carriers already.

Until they can find a way to eradicate it from them they probably wont be able to get it under control.

[Divernan]

49. Big Pharma is falling down on this one.

As I linked to / quoted in post 21 above, "It doesn't help that the state of antibiotics is falling behind. With new antibiotics being approved at slower and slower rates, the battle against MRSA has many doctors worrying about creating a superbug they can't kill at all."

This was a major concern of the professor from whom I took a class on infectious diseases a couple of years ago.

[wordpix]

105. They want to continue making their billion$ with old drugs

Trust me, I know about this issue

[TwilightGardener]

23. Weren't some viable smallpox vials found, unsecured and rattling around, recently?

The CDC or whoever was in charge of that fucked up, mightily. But now we're supposed to trust them?

[LisaL]

25. Exactly.

They found samples in unauthorized lab.

[The Traveler]

39. I've read that there is speculation in the field

(by field I mean docs on the scene) that this stuff might have gone airborne. It is a different strain (lower mortality rate ... **only** 60%) and has a highly variable incubation period (2-21 days). So ... lot of question marks still around this strain.

Look, the odds of this getting out are small. But the potential consequences of it emerging in the metro Atlanta area are incalculable. So I guess it boils down to how lucky you feel ...

Trav

**edited because I is clumsy with smart phone**

[quadrature]

28. Ebola + AirTravel = Death ....nt

[christx30]

41. I play an infection game on my phone

where you are trying to create a plague that wipes out humanity. I'm picturing a red plane that travels from Africa to Atlanta, and an "infected" icon showing up for the US, and the number of infected in the US to go from 0 to 1, then 6, then 72, to 81, then red planes and ships spreading to other parts of the globe.
I hope I'm wrong. But it seems like Ebola currenly has 25 DNA points it can spend on other Vectors or Resistances .

[Baclava]

42. It's always Atlanta...

[stonecutter357]

43. Do you play DayZ?

If you do i have a dayz server.

[KT2000]

44. How can a plane

be turned into an isolation unit? They operate with recirculated air as it is. Could the plane ever be used again? I guess some poor military folks have been volunteered to do this.
This just does not sound good at all.

[magical thyme]

63. Aeromedical Biological Containment System

It's a specially designed, portable isolation unit that looks like it has it's own air filtration system.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has outfitted a Gulfstream jet with an isolation pod designed and built by the U.S. Defense Department, the CDC and a private company. The pod, officially called an Aeromedical Biological Containment System, is a portable, tentlike device that ensures the flight crew and others on the flight remain safe from an infectious disease."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/health/ebola-isolation-treatment/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

[KT2000]

67. Thanks for the info

This may be the test for this unit.

[magical thyme]

68. I don't think so

Apparently we have, in the past, flown in people with Lassa Fever and Marsburg. They are similar, hemorrhagic diseases.

[onehandle]

48. Fine by me. Emory is about the best hospital in the world (I grew up blocks away).

And the odds of Ebola being spread from the patient is almost impossible.

The fun part will be when Georgia GOPNRAteahadists show up to protest against science.

Idiots.






The real danger was my ex-girlfriend who used to work at the CDC, also in Atlanta. She was a little nuts, and had access to things that you simply don't want to know about.



I kid you not.

[onecent]

95. OMG onehandle, this is the kid of stuff that

DOES freak me out. Someone (whether half crazy nuts,) or some terrorist thinking
what a GREAT opportunity this could be.

[B2G]

50. They want them here to study them

It sounds crass, but that's what this is about.

[DhhD]

59. Ebola vaccine trials to start in September.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/31/ebola-vaccine-trial/13404609/

[kiranon]

66. Agree. n/t

[Strelnikov_]

70. Agree n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

86. ^eom

[msanthrope]

93. Alive or dead, yes. nt

[think]

51. I wish all involved well

[WinkyDink]

53. They'd better hope that Sherman remains the worst person to visit.

[Divernan]

92. AH! General Sherman and his march to the sea.

Took me a second to get the reference.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,

[d_r]

54. I know, I know

everything will turn out fine.

But, every once in a while do you ever get the feeling that a news story sounds like an excerpt from the first chapter in a novel? Or the TV playing a blurb of news in the background with no one really paying attention during the first part of a movie?

[WinkyDink]

57. "Everything will turn out fine," said Ebbie the Ebola virus. "I've always wanted to visit America!"

[d_r]

60. OK

that was really funny

[TwilightGardener]

79. You can almost flash forward in your mind and visualize the Congressional hearings

on what went wrong, two or three years from now, LOL.

[glinda]

65. Huh? One woman spread it all over just by transferring. Worried? Ya!

[Marrah_G]

69. I'm not worried by this

The worker will get excellent care in a place that was built specifically for this type of situation.

[Strelnikov_]

72. And if it is as contagious (antigen shift) as some here think

we are already . . I think the technical term is . . fucked.

[Marrah_G]

73. if it was airborne I would worry, but it is not.

Ebola is not a good candidate for a pandemic. The spread in Africa is directly related to poverty and cultural practices. The workers over there do not have the same equipment they have here.

[DeSwiss]

78. It very likely is.

Ebola virus disease

Recent research

In late 2012, Canadian scientists discovered that the deadliest form of the virus could be transmitted by air between species. They managed to prove that the virus was transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact between them, leading to fears that airborne transmission could be contributing to the wider spread of the disease in parts of Africa. Evidence was also found that pigs might be one of the reservoir hosts for the virus; the fruit bat has long been considered as the reservoir. A 2013 study isolated antibodies from fruit bats in Bangladesh, against Ebola Zaire and Reston viruses, thus identifying potential virus hosts and signs of the filoviruses in Asia.

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

- It has now spread to five countries (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria). One person flew (unprotected while sick) on an airplane from Sierra Leone to Lagos, Nigeria. A city of over 21,000,000 people. No one was quarantined after the flight.

See also: Transmission of Ebola virus from pigs to non-human primates - NATURE.com

EBOLA - What you're not being told.

[CoffeeCat]

83. It could possibly be airborne...

Here is a link to an article about 2012 research in which possible airborne transmission of Ebola was observed from pigs to monkeys.

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

Of course, there are many unknowns, but it is possible that this strain is airborne or just incredibly virulent. After all, 670 are dead, the worst Ebola outbreak ever.

It's also very curious that these three American ms who were fighting Ebola--have all suddenly been infected. They were following CDC guidelines, which meant that they were suited up like astronauts. They've been working with Ebola patients for months, but suddenly 1 is dead and two are on the verge of death.

It's possible that the Ebola strain has become more lethal, for many reasons, including maybe being airborne.

[Marrah_G]

87. Anything is possible

I'll keep an eye on the WHO and MSF sites to see if they say its gone airborne.

I am familiar with that experiment, but as far as I know it has never had human to human airborne transmission. Ebola Reston can go airborne but that doesn't effect humans.

[B2G]

94. True about Reston, but

They initially thought it was Zaire because it was so similar.

In the case of this virus, it is so similar to Zaire, but not exactly like it. It shares 97% of it's genetic makeup, according to WHO.

It's that 3% that doesn't match that worries me about transmission.

[CoffeeCat]

80. Three American aid workers became infected..,

One American aid worker died. The other two are no doubt heroes. Last reports of their conditions described them both as gravely ill and worsening.

Why would they try to transport people who are in Very critical condition and so close to death? It's doubtful that they could withstand the air travel. There is no cure! There is nothing here that could save these people.

Possibly--this is another American aid worker, besides the three that we know about?

[LisaL]

82. Two aid workers are infected, not three.

The guy who died was not an aid worker. He got it from his sister.
The ones they plan to transport are the two currently infected.

[CoffeeCat]

85. Thank you for that clarification...

I see that I had it wrong. You are right. The American man who died, Mr Sawyer, worked for the government.

Thanks for the clarification.

[notadmblnd]

96. I'm not an expert as some here apparently are.

However, I do know that about one out of every three patients do survive.

[TorchTheWitch]

97. from what I've read about this strain that the survival rate is much better

Over half. Around 60% last I heard.

[notadmblnd]

98. Well that's good news then.

If more than half are surviving.

[bobthedrummer]

101. A PhD (molecular epidemiologist) friend agrees that this is insane. K&R n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

102. US Ebola victim arrives at Emory University hospital in Atlanta

One of two two US victims of the West African Ebola outbreak arrived in the country on Saturday and was transferred to an Atlanta hospital with one of the most sophisticated isolation units in the country.

Dr Kent Brantly of Texas, who contracted the disease while working for a charity in Liberia, was flown by specially adapted private jet to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. From there, he was driven by ambulance to Emory University hospital, about 15 miles away.

When the ambulance carrying Brantly arrived at the hospital, one person in protective clothing climbed down from the back and a second person in protective clothing appeared to take his gloved hands and guide him toward a building. The ambulance was flanked by a few SUVs and police cars en route to the hospital.

Outside the hospital, about 20 members of the media had gathered to chronicle the arrival. There was no noticeable police presence and all roads were open.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/02/us-ebola-victims-facility-atlanta-emory-university

I didn't expect he'd be well enough to walk.

[KinMd]

103. I remember when people said hospitals should not treat AIDS patients

and how those infected should be quarantined in the desert on on a island

[wordpix]

104. think about it - if you were visiting an African country and contracted Ebola

would you want to be treated there or in the US?

If it's your life at stake, I'll bet you'll answer the US.

Have some compassion. This doctor was helping people with the virus when he contracted it. He deserves the best treatment he can get---apparently that's in the US and not in Africa where the disease is hitting hardest.