The Ebola virus will never satisfy its lust for organ failure and hemorrhage

Dave

Staff member
I hear Obama is doing this so that he can declare Marshall law and stay in office longer than his two terms.

I talk to a lot of morons.
 
...So we'll all be forced to wear Thundering Herd jerseys, and mourn over a plane crash from nearly 50 years ago?

(Martial Law, not Marshall.)
 
Well, now that one hospital clearly botched things up and sent an ebola positive patient home, you can bet every other hospital will avoid that gaffe by going too far in the other direction.

I expect we will start seeing more ebola cases in the US, though, so it isn't a bad thing to be particularly careful.

Still, I don't think we're going to see an outbreak here. Isolated cases, with perhaps a small spread among family and healthcare workers.

What I'm really interested to find out is whether we will be able to save a significant number of those who fall ill in the US. Ebola seems scary because of the high rate of mortality, but that's because it occurs most often in regions with inadequate healthcare and sanitation practices. If, in the US, ebola has a significantly reduced mortality, even down to one in ten (which is still huge by our standards), then the public would breath a sigh of relief, and worry significantly less about it.

Further, the experimental vaccine may pave the way for resolving the issue entirely. It won't be needed in the US, only those areas of the world where natural ebola reservoirs exist (bats in south america are thought to be the main reservoir).

Hey, if you want to start a conspiracy theory, though, here's a beginning: GlaxoSmithKline started developing their ebola vaccine in 2013. But there's not a lot of money in a vaccine that's not needed, and of course they had ebola cultures for their internal use. Further, drug trials are annoying, particularly human drug trials, expecially when you have a drug/vaccine that no one actually needs.

So find a family in the region where ebola is often found who have poor sanitation practices, infect them, and suddenly the WHO appears on your doorstep asking how they can hep you fast track your ebola vaccine.

And because everyone hates big pharma, this conspiracy theory would take off like a rocket.
 

Dave

Staff member
...So we'll all be forced to wear Thundering Herd jerseys, and mourn over a plane crash from nearly 50 years ago?

(Martial Law, not Marshall.)
The funny part is, I spelled it incorrectly but had the right word. When I clicked the spellcheck I hit the wrong one to correct it. So it wasn't exactly autocorrect, but it was kinda.
 
This is the latest in HI ebola news -

UPDATE: Hawaii Department of Health has ruled out Ebola in a Honolulu patient who was reported yesterday as a possible case. “After investigation by the health department, it was determined that the individual did not meet the clinical or travel exposure criteria for an Ebola infection,” said Health Director Dr. Linda Rosen
Yep. Norovirus or severe food poisoning I would bet.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Here's a good way to calm this silly ebola hysteria down... the soothing words of Texas Governor Rick Perry, backed by appropriate soothing string music.

 
The microbiologist in me does wonder about the seemingly lack of adequate quarantine. I've seen harsher quarantines for TB when I was an undergrad. There certainly is no need for panic in the US/Canada.

The News just loves this stuff though.
 
Looks like a nurse got it in Spain while treating 2 spanish PRIESTS who were flown back from Africa infected by the virus in a hospital that wasn't prepared to contain the virus. They both died of Ebola and the nurse wasn't quarantined as per protocol... in fact... the day AFTER they died she was given time off and was let loose for 7 days before coming back with symptoms of Ebola.

WHAT THE FUCK SPAIN

1. Stop flying people out of Africa to places not fucken prepared for it.
2. Quarantine procedures for everyone.
3. Nurses/Doctors staying quarantined for 30 days after taking care of Ebola patients. Ebola has a max duration of 21 days. Even longer in some men.
4. Religion doesn't stop Ebola, stop sending priests there and more importantly getting them back.

Right now, a ticking timebomb may be in progress in Spain.[DOUBLEPOST=1412638549,1412638510][/DOUBLEPOST]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29514920[DOUBLEPOST=1412639033][/DOUBLEPOST]
 
What the fuck indeed.

Worse even, she got a fever and several days ago (the 30th of september) she asked to be checked for ebola. They didn't test her until the 5th because her fever wasn't high enough, so the protocol said not to test her. Great jorb everyone!


PS.: The priest was a missionary that had been doing hospital work or somesuch for years over there. The repatriation was much discussed, the government was actually pressured into bringing him back. Still, not bringing him back would have avoided the problem, but that's not the point: if you bring him back then do a fucking correct job of keeping Ebola contained.
 

Dave

Staff member
The reason this guy died in the US was because by the time he got any treatment he was pretty far along. Probably because he showed up with symptoms and the nurse sent him home. He didn't come back for four days, which is a long time after symptoms present.
 

Dave

Staff member
Right now the care may include zmapp - which is the experimental drug that destroys infected cells. All it does is work to slow down the spread of the virus through the body, giving your immune system time to catch up and do the rest of the work.

But in the absence of that drug (which he wouldn't have received until late in his treatment anyway - there wasn't any available until he got it late in his stay) the only care is maintaining their fluids and electrolyte balance, oxygen and blood pressure, and treating any complicating infections along the way.
This is not accurate. Trust me, I'm getting a crash course in ebola care thanks to our local media stirring the pot like fucking morons. (Omaha has a patient in their care.)

There's a new drug called Brincidofovir that is being used and another called Sacra that is taken intravenously. In addition, he is being given an infusion using plasma from a survivor, which has been shown to be effective if not expensive.

So there are treatments available even in the absence of zmapp.
 
he is being given an infusion using plasma from a survivor, which has been shown to be effective if not expensive.
I think it most societies they call this "a vaccine."
Actually, I think it just means he is getting donated antibodies, but as long as it's effective then more power to 'em.

--Patrick
 
As an employee of big pharma, I must warn you all that you're delving too deep into the rabbit hole. Trust no one.


[DOUBLEPOST=1412792945,1412792867][/DOUBLEPOST]Seriously though. Sometimes it's all I can do but hold in my laughter when I hear crazy pharma/FDA/WHO/CDC conspiracies from acquaintances.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Now I'm thinking about Dave Chappelle's skit where a white girl sings the thoughts he's too afraid to say.

"♪ ♫ ♩ Crack was invented and distributed intentionally to destroy the black community. ♪ ♫ ♩"

"♪ ♫ ♩ AIDS was too. ♪ ♫ ♩"
 
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