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Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

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Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#51

Post by pensatoio »

fliglr wrote: post #32
inference-god wrote: post #24

I get the feeling the reason this is out of control is the political climate, at one point in time, a good US president or EU council would've sent aid, doctors, equipment, etc to help tackle this, now everyone is so broke (allegedly) and angry that it's just political suicide to say you're sending money to help "foreigners" in Africa. The face of rich people and philanthropy has changed too. The billionaires (and ne…

How many decades have we been helping Africa for, and for what?

It went, primarily, to their politicians and warlords. The West needs to face the fact that we aren’t the world’s savior, and fixing other countries problems is not our job.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#52

Post by colingauvin »

fakedang wrote: post #49
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Additionally Ebola (Zaire) has previously been shown to be potentially spread via aerosols. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00811 Ah, I was not aware of this, so thanks for pointing that out. That does indeed look quite concerning, so let's hope that that won't apply to humans (although I'm struggling to think of a plausible biological reason for why it wouldn't). > I am quite worried about the potential for th…

Doesn't Ebola kill faster than transmission can be maximized? I believe Nipah in Asia also faces the same "issue".

In general the more severe a virus the less likely it is to spread into a pandemic. This is for a couple reasons: 1) really sick people are less likely to go spread it, 2) really sick people are easier to identify and isolate and 3) the time between virus shedding and death is very small.

There are, of course, some exceptions (long incubation periods where you can shed virus but are totally asymptomatic) but those are rare and usually self limiting in some other factor. Smallpox was really the worst possible case and we have thankfully eliminated it.

Big deadly pandemics (black plague level) are usually bacteria.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#53

Post by thrance »

fliglr wrote: post #32
inference-god wrote: post #24

I get the feeling the reason this is out of control is the political climate, at one point in time, a good US president or EU council would've sent aid, doctors, equipment, etc to help tackle this, now everyone is so broke (allegedly) and angry that it's just political suicide to say you're sending money to help "foreigners" in Africa. The face of rich people and philanthropy has changed too. The billionaires (and ne…

How many decades have we been helping Africa for, and for what?

Such a bad take. Africa was still mostly colonies until the mid 20th century. And today, it's ruled by corrupt dictators that the North ensures stay in place so they can bribe their ways to getting concessions, to extract resources and cheap labor.

Looking at import/export and capital flows, any "helping" we did was nothing but the barest of compensation for the ongoing massive theft of Africa's wealth.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#54

Post by aworks »

alex43578 wrote: post #21
justin66 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people smuggle it in their luggage Really?

Yeah. There's a reason why customs is so strict about the sloppy importation of food: it's host to diseases and pests, capable of causing ridiculous damage because someone has to have that "taste of home".

Which reminds me of being at the SFO baggage claim. A security dog went straight for a person's bag. The security officer opened it up and found an old, stale sandwich. The person said they had forgotten their mother had stashed it there.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#55

Post by xienze »

phyalow wrote: post #30
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #12

(Originally posted as a reply to a dead comment) While there was some controversy regarding how COVID spreads in the early days (droplets vs aerosol, how many virions you needed to be exposed to to become infected, whether asymptomatic transmission was possible, etc.), most of the details were fairly well understood within a year after the pandemic started. Plus, we were already aware that coronaviruses are capable o…

The caveats to your comment are in my opinion as follows: Bundibugyo the current strain has not previously been responsible for material outbreaks, as such it has therefore received significantly less scientific attention. Additionally Ebola (Zaire) has previously been shown to be potentially spread via aerosols. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00811 , the CDC and associated institutions resolutely claim this is…

> It is very possible some sorts of lockdowns are implemented.

What drives me nuts, and the same thing happened with Covid, is all the things you mentioned are true and yet western countries don't even entertain the possibility of preemptively denying travel from these countries until things get under control. I think the US, Europe, etc. will manage to survive without travel from the DRC et al for an extended period of time. But will governments actually do it? Nah...

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#56

Post by MisterTea »

alex43578 wrote: post #21
justin66 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people smuggle it in their luggage Really?

Yeah. There's a reason why customs is so strict about the sloppy importation of food: it's host to diseases and pests, capable of causing ridiculous damage because someone has to have that "taste of home".

Usually that "taste of home" is part of a cultural ritual or folk medicine which is why you have these high risk smuggling issues. For them, it's a need, not a want.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#57

Post by timr »

phyalow wrote: post #30
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #12

(Originally posted as a reply to a dead comment) While there was some controversy regarding how COVID spreads in the early days (droplets vs aerosol, how many virions you needed to be exposed to to become infected, whether asymptomatic transmission was possible, etc.), most of the details were fairly well understood within a year after the pandemic started. Plus, we were already aware that coronaviruses are capable o…

The caveats to your comment are in my opinion as follows: Bundibugyo the current strain has not previously been responsible for material outbreaks, as such it has therefore received significantly less scientific attention. Additionally Ebola (Zaire) has previously been shown to be potentially spread via aerosols. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00811 , the CDC and associated institutions resolutely claim this is…

> Additionally Ebola (Zaire) has previously been shown to be potentially spread via aerosols.

…between inoculated pigs and monkeys, in a lab. Pigs infected with this strain, quite notably, do not become hemorrhagic, and as the article notes, manifest as a respiratory illness. So it isn’t fair to point at it and draw conclusions about humans.

Moreover, from the article:

”We have also never observed transmission of EBOV from infected to naive macaques, including in an experiment employing the same cage setting as in the current study, where three NHPs intramuscularly inoculated with EBOV did not transmit the virus to one naive NHP for 28 days, the duration of the protocol.”

They’re literally telling you that the thing you’re fear-mongering about was tested for, and not found to exist.

> the CDC and associated institutions resolutely claim this is not possible, yet also insist on full respirator PPE.

…for people working with late stage infections, in close quarters. Usually with many such cases. This is a case where “better safe than sorry” applies.

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#58

Post by [deleted] »

quietsegfault wrote: post #46
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #12

(Originally posted as a reply to a dead comment) While there was some controversy regarding how COVID spreads in the early days (droplets vs aerosol, how many virions you needed to be exposed to to become infected, whether asymptomatic transmission was possible, etc.), most of the details were fairly well understood within a year after the pandemic started. Plus, we were already aware that coronaviruses are capable o…

One big risk with Ebola is how the dead are handled in some parts of Africa. I understand the dead are cared for at home by family members which increases the risk of exposure. In western countries, death care is far more formalized with exposure protections, so Ebola is much less likely to spread as it does in other countries without that formalized care.

[deleted]

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#59

Post by AtlasBarfed »

gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #12

(Originally posted as a reply to a dead comment) While there was some controversy regarding how COVID spreads in the early days (droplets vs aerosol, how many virions you needed to be exposed to to become infected, whether asymptomatic transmission was possible, etc.), most of the details were fairly well understood within a year after the pandemic started. Plus, we were already aware that coronaviruses are capable o…

Viral transmission.... Can change........

Re: Over 5,200 Ebola cases recorded in Congo

#60

Post by rurp »

fliglr wrote: post #32
inference-god wrote: post #24

I get the feeling the reason this is out of control is the political climate, at one point in time, a good US president or EU council would've sent aid, doctors, equipment, etc to help tackle this, now everyone is so broke (allegedly) and angry that it's just political suicide to say you're sending money to help "foreigners" in Africa. The face of rich people and philanthropy has changed too. The billionaires (and ne…

How many decades have we been helping Africa for, and for what?

To prevent countless thousands of easily preventable deaths. Human problems don't just stop at some point, especially in poor areas that are also getting hit the hardest by climate change. Are you also upset that western countries have been giving their poorest citizens food for decades?
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