So what is the purpose of the mask or respirator? It's not airborne so ... what? The CDC are such fear mongerers. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/ppe-poster.pdf
That sounds like a good way to get a lawsuit for unlawful imprisonment. Not that I disagree with isolating them but locking them in might be a bit much
Mask and respirator have been normal equipment against Ebola since the 70's. This is done because Ebola patients frequently cough up microscopic particles of blood and saliva that carry the virus onto whatever surface they contact. End-stage Ebola patients are like blood fountains. Every cough can expel a bloody mist. The virus doesn't live long in the microscopic particles but if it has already entered another host it is fine. As Cappy has pointed out early in the symptomatic stage there may not be enough virus to infect others by this type of exposure but later on there definitely is. If Ebola victims in end-stage were as mobile as other viral patients the disease would be easily transmitted to others. Instead they are immobile, dying most of the time, and they can only transmit to the people taking care of them in close proximity. Using a mask and respirator is the only reliable way to prevent transmission at that point. I knew somebody who used to interview TB patients on a regular basis. TB is very transmissible by coughing and sneezing. It doesn't live long in the air though and this person just turned their head and held their breath for 30 seconds when the person sitting 5 feet opposite them was likely to be expelling TB-laced droplets. He'd terminate the interview if the person was coughing, sneezing or shouting more than a couple of times. He was really careful not to touch surfaces in those rooms other than the materials he was working with and washed his hands after every interview with an antibiotic wash. As far as I know he never contracted TB and he was tested fairly regularly due to his job. I declined to sit in for him even with the precautions he recommended. That's because you have to really believe things like that are going to work and I didn't.
Most states have public health laws that allow for temporary involuntary confinement of anybody considered to be a likely source of danger to the public from a health-related condition. As an example if a person walks into a mental health facility and the staff determines that the person represents a significant threat to themselves or others they can temporarily confine them while they summon the authorities who will make the final judgement on that. They have to make a timely referral in that case and by timely we're talking immediately.
I may be wrong but I thought most of those were exclusively relating to mental health conditions. What happens when someone walks in with the regular flu and they lock him in a room for 12 hours because some nurse has been watching too much TV?
Active TB patients are quarantined immediately, involuntarily if necessary, because of the public health risk they pose. Got more info on the Ebola that is in play at the moment. It is manifesting as an intestinal and abdominal virus at this point. It's apparently not one of the variants that causes heavy respiratory bleeding and the resulting fine sprays of blood particles when the patient coughs or sneezes. The primary dangers here are exposure to sweat, saliva, sputum, fecal matter and vomit.
Cappy, thank you very much for good info. To be honest, I was starting to get a little nervous about the whole thing. If you don't mind, 2 questions. 1. You mentioned a couple of pages ago that it's very difficult to pass Ebola before getting symptomatic (discussing how many patients the nurse could've been in contact with). Could you elaborate? Preferably provide reference? (Journal article are ok, I know how to read scientific papers). 2. Since Ebola cap survive in a "pool" of liquid, what is/are preferred desinfecting method. Bleach enough? Peroxide? Thanks.
Bleach kills it, yes. As for method of transmission, let me see what I can find for primary sources, but it's based on the viral load during the course of infection and survivability of the virus. If a 2 microliter droplet contains X amount of virus, and the half life of the virus in particles that size is Y amount of time, then you can figure out the probability that the virus will be at the infectious dose at a given time... and it's usually quite small, so it would require many chances. This is another reason why health workers are at higher risk -- they are more likely to be subjected to prolonged and/or repeated exposures. I'll see what sources I can find.
http://m.jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/179/Supplement_1/S87.full http://m.brn.sagepub.com/content/4/4/268.full.pdf
I'm going to go with this it's not passed through the air for the very reason that if this Duncan guy had it when he traveled to the US in theory a 767 full of people including flight attendants who likely touched cups and food trays he was breathing on and eating from would be infected on the way from Liberia to Brussels, then you'd have all the airport personal who touched his boarding passes and the baggage handlers who handled his suitcases and then the customs officials who touched his passport and then a whole new set of those same groups of people from Brussels to Dulles on another 767 and again a 3rd set of people from Dulles to Dallas. That's likely thousands of people who had contact with him or his belongings as well as the same air he was breathing and coughing in and the only person who has been confirmed is the nurse who possibly did not follow correct protocol when she treated him. Think about it, the flight attendants who were touching his cups, maybe eating utensils and food trays , napkins all had direct contact with him and potentially his saliva yet we have not heard of any Brussels Airlines fight attendants showing Ebola symptoms. I think you guys should listen to Cappy, he seems to have an idea what he is talking about.
Nah, I'm just an arrogant prick who has figured out a way to put both his pant legs on at the same time. And just so everybody is super-clear on this, I'm most definitely NOT saying that there is NOTHING to worry about and that you should let someone with Ebola cough all around you and you'll be totally fine. I'm just saying - at the population level - that it's not spread like the common cold, chicken pox, or the flu. If someone with Ebola coughs near 1000 people, a few might get sick. Or if this is a more dangerous strain than previously, maybe 5 or 6 or even 10 people get sick. With the flu, half the people would be sick. That's why flu epidemics spread so quickly... it's exponential growth. Stopping outbreaks is about decreasing those opportunities to pass it along. And here is another link to primary sources. This one has compiled a bunch of references regarding infectivity and viral loads: http://virologydownunder.blogspot.com/2014/08/ebola-blood-sweat-and-tears.html No idea about this particular blog, but the primary sources linked are legit.
E-Boola. Previously, a pair of African Americans Robert Allen Cole and Billy Johnson were responsible for La Hoola Boola which quickly caught on back during the turn of the previously century. It was quite the infectious number, adapted strains of which still survive to this day particularly in New Haven, Connecticut and Norman, Oklahoma. ; )
Of course...But the usual suspects in this country buy up the shit the useless media is selling them.
Clearly, we need to start profiling and weeding out librarians. All the news I've been hearing about this suggests those ladies are the ones passing this shit around.
