201–210 of 302 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think people find ebola more frightening. Even if it's caused a tiny amount of deaths compared to other, less frightening diseases.
This is true, but Its a Biosafety level 4 pathogen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level So its "literally more dangerous".
I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that the mass hysteria and paranoia coming from this will cause far greater damage than any actual cases
Oh god the mayhem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your expensive health care system may cause people to delay seeing a doctor, which means they might be symptomatic and spreading disease for a few days before being quarantined. A patient zero on a new york subway could infect a few people and they would be hard to trace. Although it's not probible it is scarier than "can't happen"
This is a great point. A free (or heavily socialised) health care system is probably better equipped to handle an outbreak than a fully privatised one, even if it has fewer total resources.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The likelihood of any kind of pandemic is extremely low, sure. However, your dismissal of this epidemic and its impact is arrogant and disgusting. It’s still a disaster in the affected countries, with many knock-on effects. Also, it would have been better to spend more money earlier to prevent unnecessary deaths. This Ebola epidemic is actually something people hardly care about. Hardly anyone is donating, for exampl…
I am having a hard time understanding why people keep saying that donations are the way to go to solve this issue. From what I have seen, many rural communities are rejecting and acting against foreign assistance. I am not sure of the circumstances in urban settings, but I read that they are just as superstitious. How can we help those that do not want our help, especially when it is deadly to help either because of…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Hardly anyone is donating, for example. It might be beneficial to provide a link to where people could/should donate.
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders is the first organization that jumps to mind -- they've been helping to lead the response in Africa, more or less on a shoestring. Their US donation page is here: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm Folks in other countries can find their local donation pages here: http://www.msf.org/donate EDIT - To give you a sense of how involved MSF has been in the…
Am I correct in assuming that cultural differences concerning death and the dead along with our healthcare system mean Ebola in America would be relatively containable?
Your expensive health care system may cause people to delay seeing a doctor, which means they might be symptomatic and spreading disease for a few days before being quarantined. A patient zero on a new york subway could infect a few people and they would be hard to trace. Although it's not probible it is scarier than "can't happen"
I'm sure it's not the case for everyone, but when most people develop flu-like symptoms, they usually end up quarantining themselves for a few days while it resolves. If they can't do that, social etiquette dictates that they avoid physical contact and close proximity, wash their hands regularly, not share food, etc.
Am I one of the minorities who believe that this hype about Ebola is more sensationalism and news than an actual pandemic we should be fearful for? Let's take a lot at what we can agree on: * The number of cases of infected patients is fairly small. * The vector of transmission is fluid exchange, so that reduces its ability to spread. * The virus doesn't appear to lie dormant, and is only contagious when the patient…
That's why this news is significant.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All hospitals can contain Ebola. This is not an airborne disease and therefore negative pressure isolation is not needed (unless performing aerosol generating procedures). All you need is a private room and proper PPE use and infection control procedures.
It may not be airborne but it's still highly infectious and you need proper facilities for that, a private room alone is not enough for that. A lot of hospitals, at least smaller ones, are unable to handle such diseases. In any case containing a patient you know has ebola, is the least of the problems. Ebola symptoms are not exactly distinctive and if you don't have reason to suspect ebola, it may very well be able t…