I saw an interview a while back with a doctor working in West Africa trying to stop the spread of the disease. He said the single most important thing making it difficult was the lack of clean water. That is true with any infectious disease.
And, yes, terrorism? That is just clickbait. Just like saying epidemic, or plague.
http://www.purewaterfortheworld.org/
These guys started out doing cheap easy concrete filters. They have moved up to infrastructure - piping and reservoirs. Rotary international has done some really good work on this front as well. I've been peripherally involved in a couple of projects in Honduras. It's amazing how much difference clean water makes (tangent - this is one of those things that our tax dollars supports that government does really well).
I saw an interview a while back with a doctor working in West Africa trying to stop the spread of the disease. He said the single most important thing making it difficult was the lack of clean water. That is true with any infectious disease.
And, yes, terrorism? That is just clickbait. Just like saying epidemic, or plague.
yep and basic sanitation
here's two videos that touch on this
the first is about simple soap/handwashing from a developing country perspective
the second touches on the water issue (among other things)
That's a practical article that basically says that, without resources, it's much harder to stop illness. Terrorism? That's just clickbait.
I saw an interview a while back with a doctor working in West Africa trying to stop the spread of the disease. He said the single most important thing making it difficult was the lack of clean water. That is true with any infectious disease.
And, yes, terrorism? That is just clickbait. Just like saying epidemic, or plague.
Location: Half inch above the K/T boundary Gender:
Posted:
Oct 15, 2014 - 4:56pm
n4ku wrote:
I'm afraid that if it continues to spread in Africa, and more people try to flee the continent, that some pretty inhumane things are going to happen to try and stop the exodus. I'm not sure there is anything that can be done to stop the inhumanity, short of mass production of an effective treatment for the disease. And the free distribution of said medicine.
I travel twice a year to W. Africa, (at least), usually to Ghana. The most vulnerable population will be least able to leave their town, much less Africa.
Sincerely, this is a good time to read "World War Z" or listen to the audiobook (award-winning, and performed by a bunch of name actors like Alan Alda). THIS IS NOT THE MOVIE, which is nothing like the book. Avoid that trash.
It's an interesting collection of perspectives about how different cultures (Chinese, Israeli, 'Merican, etc) address the outbreak of "African rabies." Brooks does a far-reaching, although superficial, job of imagining an outbreak and how it's dealt with all over the world.
Examples: the Chinese are secretive which allows it to spread. Americans resort to military firepower, which is ineffective.
It's a helpful backdrop against which to watch this (not really) Apocalyptic infection play out.
I'm afraid that if it continues to spread in Africa, and more people try to flee the continent, that some pretty inhumane things are going to happen to try and stop the exodus. I'm not sure there is anything that can be done to stop the inhumanity, short of mass production of an effective treatment for the disease. And the free distribution of said medicine.
This isn't about just Africa anymore, but I would like to pose a rhetorical question as the cases and potential exposures begin to increase; If the incubation period is roughly 21 days, why aren't those who have even remotely had contact with victims been quarantined for a month? I really would like to know how it is that the government thinks it's a good idea to try to continue the charade. Talk about an acquired immune deficiency situation...
I was just going to add this to my earlier post, but this provides the same opportunity.
The new patient, Ms Vinson, while she did directly have contact with patient Zero, Mr Duncan, she was not part of the original group of 70 HC workers put under scrutiny in Dallas.
There is too much slipping through the cracks.
This is a charade indeed and at this point in time, too transparent.
And I do have insight into medicine in Dallas as my sister lives there (Garland) and it is where my BIL had misleading treatment and advice in dealing with his oral cancer, which he passed from a year ago this past October 11th. Which ironically was the 6th anniversary of my diagnosis. And she will be up here in November for her 40th HS reunion. The poor girl will not have an escape from the Ebola stuff happening in Dallas while she is here. No doubt we will be comparing responses in the two places.
I sure hope that there is nothing that happens here in the Cleveland Metro area, but if it does, we'll see how good this town is. I have great confidence in the medical skills in this town.
Ebola is now more than just something for me to talk about on the inner tubes, sadly.
This isn't about just Africa anymore, but I would like to pose a rhetorical question as the cases and potential exposures begin to increase; If the incubation period is roughly 21 days, why aren't those who have even remotely had contact with victims been quarantined for a month? I really would like to know how it is that the government thinks it's a good idea to try to continue the charade. Talk about an acquired immune deficiency situation...
Been listening to the mayor of Cleveland's presser about activating the Public Health Emergency Center regarding this incidence of Ebola passing through town. Its been reassuring and transparent to the point of even knowing which plane was involved, how it has been cleaned, twice, and even to the point of stating that it is back in service and departing to Denver in about an hour. I seriously doubt that I would board that flight right now, but it is out in the open for an informed decision on whether or not to board.
The City of Akron will be holding a presser in a couple of minutes regarding Ms. Vinson as it is where she stayed while in town over the weekend. It has been made quite clear that Ms. Vinson did not show any symptoms until after returning to Dallas. So we should see in very short order (21 days) if the info about incubation and at what point incubation and the state of being contagious is accurate.
If I can find a link for the audio of the presser, I will put it up. While boring, I think it would be informational for those interested.
(...) The CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases—meaning those that can be transmitted between species—also suffered severe cuts. The center lost $13 million last year, according to Beth Bell, its director, who pleaded with Congress to increase funding sharply.
Sequestration took a similar toll on U.S. spending for international aid—a budget category that American voters tend to assume is roughly 20 times more than the measly 1 percent or so that it actually represents. The tea party mentality that wildly exaggerates how much we spend abroad is just as ignorant about the importance and usefulness of that spending.
“If even modest investments had been made to build up a public health infrastructure in West Africa previously, the current Ebola epidemic could have been detected earlier, and it could have been identified and contained,” testified Bell. But the sequester cut global health programs by $411 million and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees most of our foreign aid, by $289 million.
The World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations that forms the front line of disease defense in Africa, has likewise suffered massive budget reductions, at the very moment when its services may be most needed. In 2010, the United States paid $280 million toward the WHO’s operating costs; by 2013, that contribution was cut by nearly a quarter, to $215 million. But much of that money is earmarked for specific programs, when what the WHO needs in an emergency such as Ebola is unrestricted funding.
Cutting funds to the WHO surely thrilled congressional Republicans, tea party leaders and everyone else in this country who expresses irrational hostility toward the U.N. But that was a very perilous way to gratify our country’s isolationist faction, which evidently cannot understand that this is one planet—and that the fates of its peoples are inseparably joined.
If we want to improve our security, if we want our children to live in safety, it is long past time to rid Washington of the partisan enemies of strong, competent government and international cooperation. We don’t yet know the full cost of their mindless actions, but if we are unlucky, it could be incalculable.
The observation about NIMBY ethno-centricity that was made is accurate (though never pleasant). This topic's (recent) focus alone shows it. As for vectors and impact, we'll have to wait and see...
I don't think it is. It's just a coincidence that a NIMBY-like strategy happened to work.
This is unfair. Ebola is a scary bug but typically burns itself out before exploding in the way it has this time. The last major outbreak, nothing like this one in size or area, was contained by less frequent air travel, and, frankly, less medical intervention: people who caught it were left to die. Now, apparently, more healthy people are coming in contact with carriers than used to be the case. Unfortunate as it may be, the best way to contain this virus might be to take a more hands-off approach. I don't accept the idea that it's less likely to spread in the US... 70-some hospital staff were in and out of the "isolation" area in Dallas. I think the potential vectors in the US might be higher than in Africa...
The observation about NIMBY ethno-centricity that was made is accurate (though never pleasant). This topic's (recent) focus alone shows it. As for vectors and impact, we'll have to wait and see...
This is unfair. Ebola is a scary bug but typically burns itself out before exploding in the way it has this time. The last major outbreak, nothing like this one in size or area, was contained by less frequent air travel, and, frankly, less medical intervention: people who caught it were left to die. Now, apparently, more healthy people are coming in contact with carriers than used to be the case. Unfortunate as it may be, the best way to contain this virus might be to take a more hands-off approach. I don't accept the idea that it's less likely to spread in the US... 70-some hospital staff were in and out of the "isolation" area in Dallas. I think the potential vectors in the US might be higher than in Africa...
This is unfair. Ebola is a scary bug but typically burns itself out before exploding in the way it has this time. The last major outbreak, nothing like this one in size or area, was contained by less frequent air travel, and, frankly, less medical intervention: people who caught it were left to die. Now, apparently, more healthy people are coming in contact with carriers than used to be the case. Unfortunate as it may be, the best way to contain this virus might be to take a more hands-off approach. I don't accept the idea that it's less likely to spread in the US... 70-some hospital staff were in and out of the "isolation" area in Dallas. I think the potential vectors in the US might be higher than in Africa...
impact on other areas of the world besides West and Central Africa (which we basically don’t care about).
This is unfair. Ebola is a scary bug but typically burns itself out before exploding in the way it has this time. The last major outbreak, nothing like this one in size or area, was contained by less frequent air travel, and, frankly, less medical intervention: people who caught it were left to die. Now, apparently, more healthy people are coming in contact with carriers than used to be the case. Unfortunate as it may be, the best way to contain this virus might be to take a more hands-off approach. I don't accept the idea that it's less likely to spread in the US... 70-some hospital staff were in and out of the "isolation" area in Dallas. I think the potential vectors in the US might be higher than in Africa...
In total ethnocentric, self-serving fashion, Americans didn’t worry about Ebola until a man died from it in the United States. Now people are reacting as if Ebola will bring about the end of the world by next Tuesday (or is it Thursday?)
It ought not to have happened this way. We’ve known what it is from earlier outbreaks; we even waited and watched as it spread beyond the usual limited areas, until the numbers should have told us that, this time, it could mushroom into something huge and have a significant impact on other areas of the world besides West and Central Africa (which we basically don’t care about).
Two weeks ago, Bloomberg Businessweek documented the way government agencies (and Republican parsimony) treated the disease’s urgency, refusing to support adequate funding for basic research that could have been completed at a fraction of the expense that the current outbreak will now cost us. And that doesn’t even factor in the enormous human suffering. We believed that we could save money by pushing the problem into some vague time in the future—the same way we deal with our crumbling infrastructure. Well, this will be much more horrific and costly than rebuilding a collapsed bridge.
It’s taken until the last ten days, with the initial cases of Ebola in the United States, for most Americans even to become aware of the problem. Now people are panicked, likely to respond in completely irrational ways. Last week, FOX news commentator Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, why we simply can’t seal our borders and keep Ebola out. That may be one of the most naive questions ever asked on Fox TV, but it typifies the ignorance of most people concerning the disease. Dr. Fauci was so taken aback by Hasselbeck’s question that he hardly knew how to respond.
Ebola’s going to be almost impossible to fix by waving a wand, because most Africans have no access to basic health care. Nor do they have that much knowledge of preventive health: sanitation, washing hands, cleanliness. The reason? The majority of them do not have access to safe water; they live in remote areas, where news still travels slowly; they believe in indigenous solutions for confronting sickness and disease. They want to attend to their dead in a respectful way, which means touching the bodies. But safe water is still the basic health problem. Even in big cities like Lagos, Nigeria (with its millions of people), you can’t drink the tap water. (...)
