There’s already been a frantic false alarm in London. A 70-ish-year old woman became ill while flying from the infected region, and died upon arrival. Testing showed she wasn’t sick with Ebola, but something else.
So, I’ll post this again: yep, you could get sick flying with a person who is sick - most likely if you’re the flight attendant, sitting right by them, or if you follow after them into the bathroom and they weren’t tidy. Even so, very few people would even have that risk - it comes from forced exposure in a closed space.
And here’s Wonkbook, with some more info on why we won’t see an outbreak here.
According to the CDC it’s “blood or secretions” (that’s sweat or tears), and as I already posted, the CDC has seen indirect transmission in very close quarter, recycled air conditions in monkeys. The virus is also contained in semen - that’s where it was recorded three months (61 days) after first becoming active in one man.
He’s right that it isn’t a “cough” or “sneeze” situation, not enough cells are generally shed that way to cause infection. Also the virus, while out in the open, is easily killed. Soap and water or rubbing alcohol will do the trick. So, carrying hand wipes would probably take care of major sources of spread. Like I said, the people with the most risk, would be those who for some reason touch things the infected person touched.
Normally, I’m opposed to sanitizing your hands - it’s not good for your own defenses, but if you’re in a high risk environment for some reason, that’s a different issue. Health workers at hospitals either wash their hands or use hand sanitizer all day long. Flight attendants working any flights that travel through Africa should be taking that basic precaution.
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest. Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.
You’ve been reading? Good! That’s an excellent start on an education! Keep it up!!
But I worry that you’ve been misinfomrming yourself, and others. Your expert, while vaguely admitting you’re totally not an expert, attitude is more contagious than Ebola, and more dangerous, and way way less intelligent than i am accustomed to you behaving. All my opinion.
I recommend reading up at the CDC, and avoid any source that makes money the longer your eyeballs are on their page.
But if they’re advocating a respone to a fantastically unreal version of the situation, how much good will be done? Closing the borders would also be effective if the perception is that the zombie hordes are coming to infect the children
Are you so sure the mob will come to a more reasonable conclusion? have you met the mob?
Intent is irrelevant. People who spread misinformation are lying, and pretense is pretentious.
Hi Acer. I’m thinking you probably think I’m a fear monger - you couldn’t be farther from the truth. From me in another thread on this same subject:
No, but you should probably be more concerned about wearing your seatbelt and cooking meat thoroughly - for now. Those are more immediate risks, and that’s really the type of risk you should focus on.
I’m not telling anyone to be scared of Ebola, and it’s actually the CDC who says that it’s “blood or secretions” that are infectious. They’re the ones who did record virus in a man’s semen 61 days after infection was first was noted. I’ve pretty much only been giving @peregrinus_bis medical info from the CDC or WHO. (I don’t trust “news” sources for medical-based info.) I provided the Wonkblog link because the question was about how we’d handle it if an outbreak occurred, and the article covered that topic.
It’s ridiculous that you’re hopping on here now, and asking me to repeat myself rather than just bothering to go back and read what I already posted (21 hours ago).
Direct contact with blood or fluids from another person who is ill is the most likely way for a person to get sick with Ebola. A flight attendant may handle used cutlery, or a sick bag. Because it’s “hemorrhagic fever” even sputum will contain blood. A person sitting in front of or next to a person who is actively ill may become sick because they are in a closed space with recirculated air. The person in the next seat could also touch a hand rest and then touch their face. The CDC has warned flight attendants of their risk. That’s why I said:
Even so, the CDC already recorded air transmission of the virus in a very closed environment through monkeys. That was in a lab, and I’ve already posted that link TWICE on two other different threads. Not to scare anyone, because this virus is not generally that kind of threat, but there is a valid reason for concern in air travel. When a man flew from Sierra Leone to Lagos, and was ill at his destination, they hunted down every passenger on that flight to ensure no one had been infected.
Acer, I recommend reading what other people actually wrote.
Fair dos. I’m an armchair disease follower. I don’t have a PhD; I do have secondary education in biology, and come from a medical family - people like us tend to conflate various sources.
Unfortunately, my comment time and drinking time often converge…and especially when riled; I can get incoherent. And while I come from the land of ‘know two facts and start shouting’ it seems I mirrored the very behavior I despise.
Now, somewhat chagrined (and marginally less intoxicated) I will say my information such as it was came from the Economist…and while it did quote the 90% fatality metric, the numbers given were over 1,200 confirmed cases and ‘at least’ 670 deaths.
And I quote “fruit bats, often eaten by people living in the region, are thought to host the virus…”
One magazine article is hardly enough to gain in-depth understanding of such a admittedly scary, tragic and fluid epidemic: but their sources given were the WHO and IUCN…One of the main reasons I read and subscribe to that paper is world news that the usual US media completely ignores; including Africa that deserves more than the sensationalistic short shrift it usually gets.
In closing I want to state for the record that I like bats, I never met a man who liked bats that I didn’t like, and would never want to see any bats killed unnecessarily: even the ugly leaf nosed ones and New World hematophagic types.
