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Ebola Outbreak


Rayvin
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I'm not sure this has been discussed on here yet, but I was just curious to see what people made of this so far. It seems to be getting worse through a combination of misinformation and superstitious belief... obviously it's not a truly terrifying prospect yet since it has to have physical contact to transmit, but these things can mutate. Of course, if it became airborne, that would represent a world wide problem.

 

It also has a long incubation period with 21 days possible with no signs being shown, which is probably the biggest worry from my point of view - not that I'm well informed on this sort of thing.

 

Obviously, it's not as big a killer as something like Malaria. It's not as contagious as influenza. But it is our current health scare issue. I think following SARS, Avian Flu and Swine Flu, the Western world has perhaps become a little dismissive of these sorts of things (they invariably end up under control), but even so, I do feel that we have to remain vigilant.

 

Here's a link to the most recent information: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/01/ebola-outbreak-world-health-organisation-chief

 

What do we think?

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How? It's only a plane ride away

 

That's basically my thought, given the incubation period. I'm not saying it's a huge risk, but we're apparently taking it fairly seriously given that we convened Cobra over it.

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The way this thing does for you sounds particularly nasty but it's a third world disease unlikely to make it to Europe

Africa is more susceptible because of the third world healthcare over there, and the fact that cultural beliefs mean the disease can be transmitted more easily. It's not an airborne disease. You can prevent transmission by isolating an infected person.

 

This article explains more

 

http://online.wsj.com/articles/ian-lipkin-ebola-how-worried-should-we-be-1407098183

 

An infected individual could board a flight in West Africa, become symptomatic in the air or after landing and then expose others to the virus. At worst, this might result in a few other people becoming infected and possibly dying. But sustained outbreaks would not occur in the U.S. because cultural factors in the developing world that spread Ebola—such as intimate contact while family and friends are caring for the sick and during the preparation of bodies for burial—aren't common in the developed world. Health authorities would also rapidly identify and isolate infected individuals.

Even if an infected person boarded a plane to Europe, an outbreak here is unlikely.

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