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What happens if the ebola outbreak from West Africa spreads in the West?

What happens if the Ebola virus spreads in the West?


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DR. Lisa A. Beltz in the book Emerging Infectious Diseases. states, “On several subsequent occasions during 1989, 1990 and 1996, Ebola Reston killed monkeys in colonies in the United States.”

“Some of the people at the colony in Texas and several of the workers at the facility in the Philippines also produced antibodies to the virus but did not become ill.”

The 1989 incident validates concerns that a new, airborne strain of Ebola could infect humans, and if such a mutated strain already exists, it would easily explain why Ebola is currently spreading so rapidly in Africa.

"For one thing, because Ebola doesn’t replicate itself perfectly every time it infects a victim, each new infection represents a potential mutation of the disease."

There is no consensus on Ebola.

That's no different than any other disease and yes, each new infection presents that opportunity to any microbe. That's why increases in numbers are of concern.
 
I didn't compare the two at all. Just stated that our government lacked the will to isolate and quarantine, and used TB as an example.



Now, look up "pedantic".



Wow. You couldn't be more wrong. It's been a "disease of the west" since WWII.



Yeah, among those living under a rock maybe. Ebola has very high name recognition and that's not a recent thing.



It seems YOU are just now cluing in to ebola and so you believe everyone else must be just as uninformed. It's not so. And again, I didn't compare AIDS to ebola, I used it as an example of treatment and government plans.

Yes I do know what pedantic means. I also know what epidemic and pandemic mean.

Malaria does not ravage western nations and cause death on the scale it does in endemic zones. Do wake up. If anopheles mosquitoes were spreading it merrily around New York City or London, then you'd see some serious research money pumped into it.

I first heard of Ebola along with the other viral haemorrhagic fevers as a medical student back in the 1980s, so no, I am not "just now clung in" as you claim. I wonder what background your information and ideas come from?

You do indeed make comparisons, which I pedantically dispute.

We'll agree to differ as a circular argument won't interest anybody else.

Are you single?
 
There's too much alarmist nonsense. Rates of transmission and mortality are so bad in these West African countries primarily for two reasons. First because, frankly, they have very poor hygiene. These are places where something as simple as soap is a luxury for most people. Second because they have practically no medical infrastructure either in terms of facilities or professionals (doctors and nurses) and very little medical expertise to identify and handle highly infectious/contagious disease among the real doctors and nurses they do have. The mortality and transmission rates we are seeing are not indicative of the virus itself but of the environment in which it is propagating.

We in the West should have no more fear of Ebola than of the common flu and in fact probably less so. We have the infrastructure, expertise, and hygienic practices to prevent such an epidemic from occurring as well as provide for a far lower mortality rate (so far the score is 0 fatalities for 3 patients). We see about 36,000 deaths in the United States per year for the flu. The CDC estimates that, at most, 20% of the U.S. population becomes infected with the flu virus every year (about 63.6 million people). That comes out to a mortality rate of .05%. If 63 million cases of influenza every year with a mortality rate of 0.05% doesn't scare people into thinking of grounding flights and quarantining people then I don't see why 3 cases of Ebola with a mortality rate of 0% should.
 
That's no different than any other disease and yes, each new infection presents that opportunity to any microbe. That's why increases in numbers are of concern.

I don't think most people are aware of that. This is why we post things...to inform and enlighten.
 
And?

I find it hard to seriously discuss science with someone who denies evolution....

This is one of the reason I put you on ignore before.

I don't deny evolution only that God created it as with all things.
 
I watched this: [video]http://www.c-span.org/video/?321656-1/georgetown-university-ebola-conference[/video]

What happens if the Ebola virus spreads in the West? Like through Greece, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. This outbreak is already the worst on record. President Obama, the U.N. General Secretary, the U.N. Security Council, the C.D.C., and the World Health Organization have all sounded the alarm about the Ebola virus.

The virus is outpacing the global response, the mortality rate is over 70%, and is spread through bodily fluids.

So what happens if Ebola spreads into the West?

1) Less than 100 dead, minimal government intervention
2) More than 100 dead, moderate government intervention
3) More than 1,000 dead, large government intervention
4) More than 1,000,000 dead, extreme government intervention



It depends on how many nurses know where Liberia and other West African countries are located. That nurse in Texas probably thought Liberia was in Ohio!
 
Way to play, Juanita. That's right; nurses are ignorant, especially ones in Texas. :roll:
 
There's too much alarmist nonsense. Rates of transmission and mortality are so bad in these West African countries primarily for two reasons. First because, frankly, they have very poor hygiene. These are places where something as simple as soap is a luxury for most people. Second because they have practically no medical infrastructure either in terms of facilities or professionals (doctors and nurses) and very little medical expertise to identify and handle highly infectious/contagious disease among the real doctors and nurses they do have. The mortality and transmission rates we are seeing are not indicative of the virus itself but of the environment in which it is propagating.

We in the West should have no more fear of Ebola than of the common flu and in fact probably less so. We have the infrastructure, expertise, and hygienic practices to prevent such an epidemic from occurring as well as provide for a far lower mortality rate (so far the score is 0 fatalities for 3 patients). We see about 36,000 deaths in the United States per year for the flu. The CDC estimates that, at most, 20% of the U.S. population becomes infected with the flu virus every year (about 63.6 million people). That comes out to a mortality rate of .05%. If 63 million cases of influenza every year with a mortality rate of 0.05% doesn't scare people into thinking of grounding flights and quarantining people then I don't see why 3 cases of Ebola with a mortality rate of 0% should.



I agree, as long as we don't get stupid! The nurse at the Texas Hospital was stupid; it was stupid to leave the infected linens at the apartment; the janitor was stupid for hosing the vomit off the sidewalk with no protective garb. What else stupid has or has not been done?
 
Poll: What happens if the Ebola virus spreads in the West?

Where is the choice for "We Are All Gonna DIE!!!!" That being said . . . I've already hung the plastic & duct tape . . . created a decontamination station, and substituted vegetables for my hydroponic pot . . . DAMMMITTT!!! Oh yeah . . . and lots of guns. No bullets, but I could always throw guns.
 
What needs to happen today is all international travel from Africa either needs to be halted or at a minimum routed through a single airport, preferably a military air base equipped to properly test everyone coming here from infected areas.
 
What needs to happen today is all international travel from Africa either needs to be halted or at a minimum routed through a single airport, preferably a military air base equipped to properly test everyone coming here from infected areas.

Uh, no. This is an eminently containable disease, and it doesnt need drastic measures to be dealt with.

I realize its scary being uneducated and uninformed on these issues of infectious disease, and then having the media whip people up in a froth and hearing right wing radio hosts blame Obama for the impending doom laden epidemic washing up on our shores, but in the real world, its a not-too contagious infectious disease that is easily contained by basic health measures.
 
What needs to happen today is all international travel from Africa either needs to be halted or at a minimum routed through a single airport, preferably a military air base equipped to properly test everyone coming here from infected areas.

I'm pretty sure Congress isn't around to deal with this. Aren't they on vacation? Can't be that serious then. I mean, them guys got it figured out. No work, big bucks, future connections and millionaire status . . . plus all the newest CDC medical bulletins.

I tell you what . . . you see Congress running back to D.C. in the next couple 4-6-days . . . then you may have something to worry about. They still have them underground bases like Site "R" and such. When Congress returns and starts being filmed in basements . . . then you really have something to worry about. The second they are wearing chem-suits and gas masks . . . well . . . by then, duct tape and plastic isn't gonna work, and Stephen King's "The Stand" is gonna take on a whole new meaning.

Do Ebola people eat brains?

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!
 
Isn't Ebola really hard to get? Like through the direct transfer of bodily fluids (ie: blood, feces, etc.)? I would worry about Ebola (if there were an outbreak here in the West) about as much as I worry about AIDS. In other words, I wouldn't.
 
Way to play, Juanita. That's right; nurses are ignorant, especially ones in Texas. :roll:

Don't judge an entire profession by the actions of the few.

As I doctor who's worked in two different countries, I can testify that most nurses are not ignorant.

As for Texans, I have no defence.
 
I watched this: [video]http://www.c-span.org/video/?321656-1/georgetown-university-ebola-conference[/video]

What happens if the Ebola virus spreads in the West? Like through Greece, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. This outbreak is already the worst on record. President Obama, the U.N. General Secretary, the U.N. Security Council, the C.D.C., and the World Health Organization have all sounded the alarm about the Ebola virus.

The virus is outpacing the global response, the mortality rate is over 70%, and is spread through bodily fluids.

So what happens if Ebola spreads into the West?

1) Less than 100 dead, minimal government intervention
2) More than 100 dead, moderate government intervention
3) More than 1,000 dead, large government intervention
4) More than 1,000,000 dead, extreme government intervention

Let's see, we have great infrastructure which means clean air and water and food etc.

Tell me, when was the last time someone:

#1 took a **** on you

#2 took a piss on you

#3 deliberately spit all over you

#4 bled all over you

If the answer to all four questions are no then ebola will never spread to affect you or anyone else most likely (and by most likely I mean 99.9999%)

Source for those four questions: my physics teacher (weird I know, a physics scientist is somehow pretty knowledgable in the medical sciences)
 
Yes I do know what pedantic means. I also know what epidemic and pandemic mean.

Malaria does not ravage western nations and cause death on the scale it does in endemic zones. Do wake up. If anopheles mosquitoes were spreading it merrily around New York City or London, then you'd see some serious research money pumped into it.

I first heard of Ebola along with the other viral haemorrhagic fevers as a medical student back in the 1980s, so no, I am not "just now clung in" as you claim. I wonder what background your information and ideas come from?

You do indeed make comparisons, which I pedantically dispute.

We'll agree to differ as a circular argument won't interest anybody else.

Are you single?

No, malaria no longer ravages the US states. We put huge effort into treatment and abatement towards the end of WWII and throughout the Korean conflict. We used literally tons of DDT before that fraud wrote Silent Spring and sunk our worldwide efforts. There has been decades of research done and preventative measures and treatments developed. No need to reinvent the wheel here. It is preventable as are the conditions. Social nonsense and frauds and liars have gotten in the way of that in developing countries.

By the time you were a medical student I had already been a practicing nurse for years. Not to mention, several family members, including my father, were quite familiar with malaria in the field. I first read about ebola in the late 70s in JAMA.

And no, I did not make comparisons. Yes I am a single grandparent and no, I'm not interested in internet dating.
 
Isn't Ebola really hard to get? Like through the direct transfer of bodily fluids (ie: blood, feces, etc.)? I would worry about Ebola (if there were an outbreak here in the West) about as much as I worry about AIDS. In other words, I wouldn't.

Interestingly enough those infected can pass on that infection through semen.
 
We put huge effort into treatment and abatement towards the end of WWII and throughout the Korean conflict..

And would do so now if:
1) we were still affected on a large scale as opposed to "others", and/or
2) the pharmaceutical industry sniffed mega-bucks as opposed to peanuts.
By the time you were a medical student I had already been a practicing nurse for years. Not to mention, several family members, including my father, were quite familiar with malaria in the field. I first read about ebola in the late 70s in JAMA. .

Your own credentials are fine, however your family members don't really count do they? My father was an engineer, but I'm not.

And no, I did not make comparisons.
.

We'll pedantically agree to differ.
Yes I am a single grandparent and no, I'm not interested in internet dating.

Shame, I like old wrinklies like myself.
 
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