I read somewhere about a black market for ebola survivor blood. At first I misread the title and thought it meant a black market for ebola-infected blood (or ebola-infected cadavers). Now that is a truly scary possibility - terrorists intentionally infecting themselves with ebola, then going into airports and other high density areas, infecting surfaces and as many people as they can before succumbing (or maybe even blowing themselves up with a suicide bomb - who knows). I think that's one possibility that's been overlooked and underscores why we really need to be funding greater vaccine/cure research (in addition to the obvious reason of potentially saving millions of lives in Africa).
Ebola: The tolling bell
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Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#12While the situation is serious - it will be contained eventually in my view. As cynical as it sounds I think there are many positive effects being overlooked here. People need a good wake-up every now and again. We suddenly realized that there is zero global coordination. There is just no global immediate response mechanism in place to deal with this type of stuff. In the Hollywood movies you see the American tanks r…
I have been thinking the same. It seems that America desperately needs an enemy sometimes. If there isn't one available, it kind of makes them up to keep busy. This is a golden opportunity for the USA to bring the world together and fight a real enemy worth defeating and perhaps regain some of it's lost luster. Well I'm hoping anyway.
>USA to bring the world together
oh you already did, together AGAINST USA
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#13"The current Ebola epidemic may well become the worst human disaster in this century. And we are not doing enough about it." Ok, I think anyone here generally understands how dangerous Ebola is and could become if it continues to spread. That being said, already this century: Smoking has killed roughly 60 million people HIV / AIDS has killed 20 to 25 million Malaria has killed eight million Diarrhoea has killed perha…
But the other problems have been with us for a while. Stacking Ebola on top of them is really bad news.
We've already underestimated Ebola in a number of ways. The assumption was that it's not easily transmissible, but it's spreading, so perhaps that assumption is not as true as we thought. The fact that doctors are getting infected is certainly a bad sign. Perhaps this strain is more easily transmissible, or will be soon due to a larger infected population within which it can evolve.
Also, none of those other problems require drastic measures like a 3-week quarantine, which is costly, disruptive, and doesn't scale well.
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#14“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” - John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624)
It's important that we realize that theses people being affected by viral spread of Ebola are people just like you, me, our families and friends.
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#15Stopping Ebola now could be one of the single most important decisions the world makes this century. Just imagine what would happen if Ebola emerged in lets say India. It doesn't sound so far fetched now that we have seen a case in America.
Exponential growth tends to catch people off-guard. Just like Moore's Law lead to a rapid emergence of the home computer, a deadly disease could reshape the world overnight.
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
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Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#17“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” - John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotio…
Demonstrably untrue. The people affected are persistently, spectacularly unsuccessful. It's unclear why more investment into helping with Ebola would work where previous intervention in other crises has failed.
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#18I think the author is overestimating how prepared the US healthcare system is to handle a real threat if one arises: - The U.S. has been advertising that we're the ones with the cure for ebola, so where is anyone with money going to go as soon as they get exposed? And while most of the victims are among the urban poor, there will be more wealthy people who become infected as the epidemic increases in scale. - Even if…
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Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#19“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” - John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotio…
Demonstrably untrue. The people affected are persistently, spectacularly unsuccessful. It's unclear why more investment into helping with Ebola would work where previous intervention in other crises has failed.
The sickness you are suffering from is much worse than Ebola and much more difficult to treat.
Re: Ebola: The tolling bell
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Demonstrably untrue. The people affected are persistently, spectacularly unsuccessful. It's unclear why more investment into helping with Ebola would work where previous intervention in other crises has failed.
The sickness you are suffering from is much worse than Ebola and much more difficult to treat.
Your sense of holiness will surely be a comfort while you are watching your family vomit blood, courtesy of repatriating volunteers.