What are your thoughts on us chartering a plane to pick up two Americans who contracted Ebola? http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/health/ebola-outbreak/ BOONE, N.C. — Emory University Hospital announced Thursday it was informed there are plans to transfer one of the people with Ebola virus infection to its special facility containment unit within the next several days. The hospital said it did not know when the patient will arrive. It has not been announced if the patient is the Samaritan Purse doctor or the Charlotte missionary who contracted the disease in the last week. ABC World News reported a medical charter flight left Cartersville, Georgia on Thursday to evacuate the Americans with the Ebola virus. One of the Americans would be treated at the Emory hospital. Nancy Writebol of Charlotte and Dr. Kent Brantly of Fort Worth, Texas, recently contracted the deadly disease while working in Liberia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning Thursday to avoid nonessential travel to West African nations. “This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history. Far too many lives have been lost already,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. “It will take many months, and it won’t be easy, but Ebola can be stopped. We know what needs to be done. CDC is surging our response, sending 50 additional disease control experts to the region in the next 30 days.” Read more on symptoms and treatments for Ebola. An experimental serum for treating Ebola arrived in Liberia, and Brantly requested it be given to Writebol when he learned there was only enough for one, according to a news release from Samaritan’s Purse. “Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “However, Dr. Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who has survived Ebola because of Dr. Brantly’s care. The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor that saved his life.” Brantly and Writebol are in grave condition after contracting the serious disease in Liberia. "She's tired and she's wearied and a bit sad as well. I know it's been hard because she never imagined that this would be something that she would have to deal with,” son Jeremy Whitebol said. Samaritan's Purse said Brantly took a slight turn for the worse overnight. The condition of Writebol worsened Thursday, according to SIM, the missionary organization she worked for. "We continue to pray for Nancy’s full and complete recovery,” said Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA. “Even though her condition has worsened, we know she is receiving the best possible medical care, and we are thankful that she has access to this experimental drug. We believe in the power of prayer and ask people around the world not only to pray for Nancy and Kent, but also for everyone affected by this terrible virus.” Samaritan’s Purse is working to evacuate all but the most essential personnel to their home countries. The evacuation should be completed by this weekend, according to the organization. None of the evacuating staff is ill and the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that people are not contagious unless they begin showing symptoms. Samaritan’s Purse said it’s taking precautions that exceed the standards recommended by the CDC. No other SIM personnel have tested positive for Ebola. Emory University Hospital said it has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases.
The first reported case in my country and i am off to London with my family. I wont wait for inept health officials to try and contain the situation. Ah the advantanges of dual citizenship
Imo nothing is a bigger cause of concern or more frightening than the spread of Ebola. I would take it as seriously as nuclear proliferation. There should be plenty of funds appropriated to studying the virus as well as funds shared with other countries that are willing to upgrade their facilities to a reasonable standard and implement the necessary changes needed (if any) to prevent a potential outbreak. The thought that one day it could be potentially used as a weapon of mass homicide is all the reason to keep targeting terrorist as a top priority as well.
Yes bring them in, hopefully at least one of them survives so they can go on Oprah and spread awareness. A dangerous virus isn't a problem until white people start getting infected.
I remember a story by Tom Clancy. I cannot remember which one because it was the one where Jack Ryan is the newly appointed POTUS. A terrorist got the blood of an AIDS infected nun in Africa and synthesized it into a biological weapon and sent it to the USA. But, Mr. Clark(John Kelly) and Domingo Chavez catch up to the guy and they locked a laser-guided missile to the terrorist's home while Ryan addressed the public on television and showed the house of the terrorist being destroyed(the terrorist was watching Ryan and was unaware until it was too late). That could also be a problem if a terrorist used the biological approach. When visiting Africa, always get those shots. And don't stay in country for too long.
Ugh ... You guys have been watching to many TV shows and movies. Ebola isn't spread easily in places with good sanitation like the U.S.. It can only be spread by contact with blood, vomit, urine, etc .... It is not airborne nor is it spread like the flu or a common cold. This the CDC we're talking about here. Not some backwoods jungle clinic. The two people who're coming home for treatmeant are on serious lock down. And, even if they weren't, unless they were vomiting, bleeding, spitting or pissing on people (hey, some people are into that sort of thing) there is almost zero chance of them spreading the disease. I'd be more worried about antibiotic resistant germs that we have in the good ole' U.S. of A. Google that one if you want something to really freak out about.
In country is a term that means long term exploration and reconnaissance. You here it from explorers and military folks a lot. And I know that Africa is a continent.
You sure about that? There are no documented cases of Ebola being transmitted by air from one human to another, but there is no certainty that it can't or has not happened. "Ebola-Reston appeared in a primate research facility in Virginia, where it may have been transmitted from monkey to monkey through the air. While all Ebola virus species have displayed the ability to be spread through airborne particles (aerosols) under research conditions, this type of spread has not been documented among humans in a real-world setting, such as a hospital or household." (CDC fact sheet) There are different strains of Ebola and it does not seem far fetched for a mutation to occur that would make the virus more likely to be transmittable by air if it has not happened already. Ebola is the worlds most deadly virus, it cant hurt to error on the side of caution. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/fact-sheet.pdf http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/scariest-virus-ebola-back-worse-ever-87348/
Check this out!..... jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/what-are-us-biowar-researchers-doing-in-the-ebola-zone
I think it is a smart move bringing the Americans back to the US. They are using an experimental drug cocktail on them which if it proves itself to work could lead to controlling the death toll in Africa.
I think it's alright, especially considering that the affected countries do not have the health care infrastructure to handle the epidemic properly.
I'm not googling that, but I agree wholeheartedly with this post. Ebola is an awful virus, but one that can be easily contained. Worry more about influenza and other viruses that are becoming resistant to our antibiotics.
You all should read this if you haven't already: It explains all about the ebola-type viruses known to us. I'm sure more stuff is known now, but it's a good place to start. It's a great, great book.
I totally agree about the dangers posed by super-bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics because of our species overuse of them, including on viruses and things that antibiotics have no effect on. We should be focusing on airborne contagions also.
