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1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died[W:33]

Ockham

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News from The Associated Press

AP said:
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
DALLAS (AP) -- The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States died Wednesday morning in a Dallas hospital, according to a hospital spokesman.
Thomas Eric Duncan was pronounced dead at 7:51 a.m. at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where he was admitted Sept. 28 and had been kept in isolation, according to spokesman Wendell Watson.
"Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease," Watson said in a statement.
Duncan carried the deadly virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas Sept. 20 and fell ill several days later. His condition was downgraded during the weekend from serious to critical.
Others in Dallas still are being monitored as health officials try to contain the virus that has ravaged West Africa, with more than 3,400 people reported dead. They also are trying to tamp down anxiety among residents frightened of contracting Ebola, though the disease can be spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an already sick person.
Health officials have identified 10 people, including seven health workers, who had direct contact with Duncan while he was contagious. Another 38 people also may have come into contact with him. The four people living in the northeast Dallas apartment where Duncan stayed have been isolated in a private residence.

Not a good sign. So far though at least no others are showing signs of sickness.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

News from The Associated Press



Not a good sign. So far though at least no others are showing signs of sickness.

Not all unexpected. I heard yesterday he was downgraded to critical. What I'm more interested in at this point is just how many people will actually come down with Ebola from the 52 people that had some form of contact with him. That will ultimately decide just how big an issue Ebola will become.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

Not all unexpected. I heard yesterday he was downgraded to critical. What I'm more interested in at this point is just how many people will actually come down with Ebola from the 52 people that had some form of contact with him. That will ultimately decide just how big an issue Ebola will become.

The one bright spot is that since these other people are being so closely monitored - as soon as they start feeling ill they will get treatment, which will increase their chances of survival.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

The one bright spot is that since these other people are being so closely monitored - as soon as they start feeling ill they will get treatment, which will increase their chances of survival.

Second thing to watch to be sure. A lot of how deadly Ebola is, has more to deal with conditions in which the disease comes up (not just talking about poor living conditions, but also a superstitious society) than the disease itself.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

Watch out.

There are already cries of " racism " being bandied around by the usual suspects saying this guy wasn't treated immediately because of the color if his skin.

I didn't think he had much of a chance. For one they ran out of the experimental anti-viral medication that was used on the Dr and the Aid worker that were brought back from Africa.

He was given an alternative experimental medication.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

The one bright spot is that since these other people are being so closely monitored - as soon as they start feeling ill they will get treatment, which will increase their chances of survival.

The danger appears, from what I've read, is that they think this new outbreak may be more virulent than previous ones, hence the difficulty in containing it this time with previously similar and successfully used methods. It's not impossible that in close quarters this current strain isn't somewhat airborne from coughed up sputum particles or that it's more highly contagious upon surface contact.

There's probably going to be more incidents in the coming months of people contracting the disease and traveling here with it. Hopefully, they catch them and quarantine anyone they contact while sick. That's the other thing they're questioning is how many obvious symptoms does someone have to display before they're actually becoming contagious?

Also, three Ugandans are being monitored in medical isolation for possibly contracting the Ebola-like Marburg virus, after a hospital worker died. This seems to be the year of the virus.


Three Ugandans in isolation after Ebola-like Marburg virus death
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

Second thing to watch to be sure. A lot of how deadly Ebola is, has more to deal with conditions in which the disease comes up (not just talking about poor living conditions, but also a superstitious society) than the disease itself.

If I read correctly, a single large outbreak of Ebola some years ago was in Uganda was caused after the Funeral of two tribal chiefs because of the way they all touch the bodies.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

If I read correctly, a single large outbreak of Ebola some years ago was in Uganda was caused after the Funeral of two tribal chiefs because of the way they all touch the bodies.

Yes the Ebola virus can survive outside the Body for an extended period of time.

Its why the CDC wears Space Suits every time they come into close contact with someone who they think might be infected.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

What still is ****ing amazing to me, is that the US is taking the temperature of people from these Ebola outbreak countries traveling to the US and we think taking their temperature provides some protection when, in the case of this guy, he would have passed straight through as he only started feeling sick days after traveling here.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

What still is ****ing amazing to me, is that the US is taking the temperature of people from these Ebola outbreak countries traveling to the US and we think taking their temperature provides some protection when, in the case of this guy, he would have passed straight through as he only started feeling sick days after traveling here.


Yep, 21 day incubation period.

But hey, we'll fly them in by the plane load.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

If I read correctly, a single large outbreak of Ebola some years ago was in Uganda was caused after the Funeral of two tribal chiefs because of the way they all touch the bodies.

It's not just tribal chiefs. There was a story I put up a few days back from the AP, detailing an account where police had to use tear gas to break up a mob of people trying to raid the morgue for the dead bodies of their relatives.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

What still is ****ing amazing to me, is that the US is taking the temperature of people from these Ebola outbreak countries traveling to the US and we think taking their temperature provides some protection when, in the case of this guy, he would have passed straight through as he only started feeling sick days after traveling here.

Yep, 21 day incubation period.

But hey, we'll fly them in by the plane load.

The thing with Ebola is that, it's not contagious when you don't have symptoms. So you can fly, kiss, have sex with a person who has it, and as long as their not symptomatic, you're fine. Best thing about Ebola is that when you are sick, you are VERY SICK. That means, you aren't leaving your house to get on an airplane and fly across the globe.

Also, you could kiss someone with Ebola and still not catch it. Remember, it's bodily secretions... not merely bodily fluids.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

It's not just tribal chiefs. There was a story I put up a few days back from the AP, detailing an account where police had to use tear gas to break up a mob of people trying to raid the morgue for the dead bodies of their relatives.

Which is another reason not to worry.

Nobody in the western world is going to do stuff like that.

Another issue is that the hospitals in Sierra Leone and Liberia are so overwhelmed that they are sending people away and they are infecting others.

With the fact that we will not do that and the CDC's tracing ability, there's simply no chance that this thing can do here, what it did there.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

News from The Associated Press



Not a good sign. So far though at least no others are showing signs of sickness.

Going by 2011 statistics, seven people died of gun wounds in Texas on the day Duncan died from ebola.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

How did Duncan get a visa and around eight grand to come here so quickly? By all accounts, he was poor.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

What still is ****ing amazing to me, is that the US is taking the temperature of people from these Ebola outbreak countries traveling to the US and we think taking their temperature provides some protection when, in the case of this guy, he would have passed straight through as he only started feeling sick days after traveling here.

Some health experts and doctors are starting to admit on the cable News networks that this particular outbreak may be spreading easier and with less symptoms than previous strains. I think the CDC is in massive spin control, didn't take the initial outbreak seriously, and now are letting flights here from affected countries as a big mistake.

News shows last night were reporting how much more deadly, the overall typical flu is because of the amount of people that contract and die from it each year. But most of them are all older and already in poor health, it doesn't have a 50-90% kill ratio and this Ebola pandemic hasn't run its course yet.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

On this day in 2012, 91 people died in traffic accidents.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

On this day in 2012, 91 people died in traffic accidents.

And that is related to Ebola how, exactly?
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

Statistically, 64 Americans died of the flu on the day Duncan died from ebola.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

1634 people died of heart disease the day Duncan died from ebola.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

And that is related to Ebola how, exactly?

Hell, 30k+ died in car accidents last year but it didn't create a "War on Car Terrorism". Besides, there's a limit to gun and vehicle deaths, not so little potential with infectious diseases.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

News from The Associated Press

Not a good sign. So far though at least no others are showing signs of sickness.


The one saving grace in this case is that the patient was well aware of his condition and was more persistent with the Hospital than others might be. Someone who has never been to Western Africa that contracts it from a strange will likely write it off as the flu until long after it has become virulent. The stoics who chug Dayquil and hop the train to work are the real danger.
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

Hell, 30k+ died in car accidents last year but it didn't create a "War on Car Terrorism". Besides, there's a limit to gun and vehicle deaths, not so little potential with infectious diseases.

See the number of deaths from flu per year, which is far worse than ebola due to actually being airborne. 53,826 people died from influenza and pneumonia in 2010. (cdc)
 
Re: 1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

The thing with Ebola is that, it's not contagious when you don't have symptoms. So you can fly, kiss, have sex with a person who has it, and as long as their not symptomatic, you're fine. Best thing about Ebola is that when you are sick, you are VERY SICK. That means, you aren't leaving your house to get on an airplane and fly across the globe.

Also, you could kiss someone with Ebola and still not catch it. Remember, it's bodily secretions... not merely bodily fluids.



You first !

Because all I see are CDC officials walking around wearing space suits while I'm being told to wash my hands.
 
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