Paris (AFP) - Chinese people fleeing Ebola, angry Africans, understaffed flight crew, rumours and fears: the Air France flight from Freetown to Paris seemed to encapsulate the global panic in the face of the Ebola outbreak.

Anecdotes swirl around the cabin: apparently the same flight a few days ago carried three ill children, one with fever, two with diarrhoea. Could be Ebola, could be harmless childhood sickness, who knows? In any case, as the story goes, passengers asked to move seats.

And it's not just the passengers who are fearful. The crew is short-staffed because employees are not exactly beating down the door of the Airbus A330 to fly to or from Ebola-hit West Africa.

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Here's my take on the issue:

--There's a large chunk of people here that seem to dismiss ebola as a "don't screw monkeys or eat bats" kind of disease.  That downplays the danger and communicability of the virus, in my opinion.

--We are being told that "It's not airborne."  Well, that's true.  Much in the same way that norovirus isn't "airborne."  So how well does norovirus move through a cruise ship?  Like wildfire, despite sanitation stations at every meal point.  "Airborne" is an interesting characterization with viruses.  They don't actually float around through the air like pollen, so that's true.  But if someone sneezes or coughs, microdroplets will end up in the air.  Ever sneeze in your hand?  What does it look like?  Try coughing in front of a mirror; what do you see?  Humans are filthy animals, so who knows what the dude in front of you on the escalator just wiped on the handrail.  Is it instantly dead once it touches another surface?  Or can it last a few minutes or hours on that handrail?  Touch the rail and scratch your eye, or wipe your nose.  Did that transfer a virus into your bloodstream?  It doesn't take an open wound, when mucous membranes work just fine for viral transmission.

--"You're not contagious until you're showing symptoms."  We've all heard that one.  Well, what is "showing symptoms"?  Is it running a fever?  Coughing?  Feeling like you've got the flu?  Or is it only bleeding out of your eyes and ass?  Take a look at Patrick Sawyer, the Nigerian diplomat.  He was "showing symptoms" and decided he wanted to go home.  How many people did he infect?  12 at least, with 5 dead now.  Do you think the people on the street will go to a hospital if they feel down, have a fever, and perhaps have the flu?  Or will they tough it out, go to work, get groceries, and go home.

--"American medicine is different and we can contain any outbreak."  Certainly the first few can be quarantined.  Even the first 10 or 50.  How many hospital beds are there in each city with negative pressure for suspected ebola patients?  What happens when there's more than can be contained?

--The tipping point - American hospitals can quarantine and trace X number of suspected cases.  After that, what happens?  When a nurse gets sick, are her coworkers going to keep showing up each day?  

--Panic is the real enemy - Right now, the media is avoiding the issue on the whole.  They'll update the official body count from Africa and say who has tested negative for the virus in America.  Did you hear about the white guy in Ireland that just died after returning from West Africa and is a suspected ebola case? Or was all the news coverage about the doctor and nurse being released from Emory after being cured?  When the issue really hits, and the soccer moms start talking about it, there's going to be another tipping point.  Much like the bread and milk disappears from store shelves before a hurricane, there's going to be a major run on food and supplies.  These things happen suddenly, and the fear snowballs out of control.  One day you can get soup, rice, and beer.  The next, it's empty shelves because of just-in-time inventory practices.

--Those that dismiss this as a third world disease that won't hit our shores are doing their families a disservice.  Hell, we've got people here that won't mow the lawn without a concealed handgun.  Yet, the idea that a virus could scare people into clearing store shelves empty for weeks is "fearmongering."  If you don't have a couple of weeks of beans, rice, and water in your house, start thinking about it.  It can't hurt, and it just might help your family.

With 142 new cases recorded, the total number is now 2,615 with 1,427 deaths, the World Health Organization said Friday. The group added that the magnitude of the Ebola outbreak has been "underestimated."

Monrovia (AFP) - A Liberian doctor treated with experimental American anti-Ebola serum ZMapp has died, a minister in the west African nation said on Monday.

Abraham Borbor had been improving but died on Sunday night, Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown told AFP.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed the lives of at least 1,427 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

Now, what appears to be a different strain of the hemorrhagic fever has been discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — in Central Africa — and 13 victims have already died. Two people have tested positive for the virus in the northwestern Equateur province, which borders the Republic of the Congo, and a quarantine area has since been set up, health minister Felix Kabange Numbi told the BBC.

While the DRC is the first country outside West Africa to confirm Ebola in this particular outbreak, it is where the virus was first discovered in 1976 when it was known as Zaire (alongside a simultaneous infection in Sudan). The region has since experienced multiple outbreaks.

"It's not unheard of to have two separate outbreaks, usually independent," Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, told VICE News. Morse also noted that the DRC outbreak, which is taking place in a rural area, is much more typical. "West Africa's really an odd situation," he added.

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And a new strain emerges, 13 dead.

Link for the thought police.

Quoted:
Here's my take on the issue:

--There's a large chunk of people here that seem to dismiss ebola as a "don't screw monkeys or eat bats" kind of disease.  That downplays the danger and communicability of the virus, in my opinion.

--We are being told that "It's not airborne."  Well, that's true.  Much in the same way that norovirus isn't "airborne."  So how well does norovirus move through a cruise ship?  Like wildfire, despite sanitation stations at every meal point.  "Airborne" is an interesting characterization with viruses.  They don't actually float around through the air like pollen, so that's true.  But if someone sneezes or coughs, microdroplets will end up in the air.  Ever sneeze in your hand?  What does it look like?  Try coughing in front of a mirror; what do you see?  Humans are filthy animals, so who knows what the dude in front of you on the escalator just wiped on the handrail.  Is it instantly dead once it touches another surface?  Or can it last a few minutes or hours on that handrail?  Touch the rail and scratch your eye, or wipe your nose.  Did that transfer a virus into your bloodstream?  It doesn't take an open wound, when mucous membranes work just fine for viral transmission.

--"You're not contagious until you're showing symptoms."  We've all heard that one.  Well, what is "showing symptoms"?  Is it running a fever?  Coughing?  Feeling like you've got the flu?  Or is it only bleeding out of your eyes and ass?  Take a look at Patrick Sawyer, the Nigerian diplomat.  He was "showing symptoms" and decided he wanted to go home.  How many people did he infect?  12 at least, with 5 dead now.  Do you think the people on the street will go to a hospital if they feel down, have a fever, and perhaps have the flu?  Or will they tough it out, go to work, get groceries, and go home.

--"American medicine is different and we can contain any outbreak."  Certainly the first few can be quarantined.  Even the first 10 or 50.  How many hospital beds are there in each city with negative pressure for suspected ebola patients?  What happens when there's more than can be contained?

--The tipping point - American hospitals can quarantine and trace X number of suspected cases.  After that, what happens?  When a nurse gets sick, are her coworkers going to keep showing up each day?  

--Panic is the real enemy - Right now, the media is avoiding the issue on the whole.  They'll update the official body count from Africa and say who has tested negative for the virus in America.  Did you hear about the white guy in Ireland that just died after returning from West Africa and is a suspected ebola case? Or was all the news coverage about the doctor and nurse being released from Emory after being cured?  When the issue really hits, and the soccer moms start talking about it, there's going to be another tipping point.  Much like the bread and milk disappears from store shelves before a hurricane, there's going to be a major run on food and supplies.  These things happen suddenly, and the fear snowballs out of control.  One day you can get soup, rice, and beer.  The next, it's empty shelves because of just-in-time inventory practices.

--Those that dismiss this as a third world disease that won't hit our shores are doing their families a disservice.  Hell, we've got people here that won't mow the lawn without a concealed handgun.  Yet, the idea that a virus could scare people into clearing store shelves empty for weeks is "fearmongering."  If you don't have a couple of weeks of beans, rice, and water in your house, start thinking about it.  It can't hurt, and it just might help your family.

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It will save this country.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

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So, when are we all gonna die? I've got some shit I'd like to get done and this global pandemic shit is really fucking that up.

If somebody could give me some solid info, that'd be great. Mmmmmmkay, thanks!

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

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Whoops!

"Ebola scare: 116 people arrive from worst-affected Liberia in Delhi and Mumbai"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Ebola-scare-116-people-arrive-from-worst-affected-Liberia-in-Delhi-and-Mumbai/articleshow/40960259.cms?

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WHO was giving infected and body count totals every 2 days

there hasn't been an update now in a whole week. The last update was issued on the 22nd which were the totals as of the 20th.



http://www.who.int/csr/outbreaknetwork/en/

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Not wishing ill will on anyone, even those doing their absolute damndest to destroy America ...

But this could drastically alter America's political landscape if it get's into and loose in big cities where Democrats are all bunched-up.

Essential protective equipment for health workers fighting Ebola is "sitting on the tarmac" after two major airlines decided to suspend commercial flights to West Africa, an Australian doctor working in Monrovia has told the ABC.

Doctor Ian Norton is the former director of disaster preparedness at the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin.

He is on secondment to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to manage the logistics of its humanitarian response in Liberia.

He told 1057 ABC Darwin "vast supplies" of basic equipment to be delivered to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were stalled at major hubs.

The total number of probable and confirmed cases in the current outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the four affected countries as reported by the respective Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone is 3069, with 1552 deaths.

Between 28 July and 18 August 2014, a total of 24 suspected cases of haemorrhagic fever, including 13 deaths, have been identified.

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Ebola cases could eventually top 20,000





GENEVA -- The Ebola outbreak in West Africa eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than six times as many as are now known, the World Health Organization said Thursday.





A new plan by the U.N. health agency to stop Ebola also assumes that the actual number of cases in many hard-hit areas may be two to four times higher than currently reported. If that's accurate, it suggests there could be up to 12,000 cases already.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-cases-could-top-20000/

With food stocks running low in Ebola-stricken Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, international organizations are preparing for a looming food crisis amid concerns that imports are being affected and farmers in areas quarantined will not be able to harvest and deliver their crops.

In quarantined areas, food shortages, not Ebola, are the main concern, said Jean-Alexandre Scaglia, representative of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Liberia. “People are saying: ‘We’re not afraid of dying from Ebola, we’re starving.’ ”

A food crisis develops quickly, Scaglia said. “You don’t realize until one morning you wake up, you go to the shop, and no one has anything to sell you.”

In the Ebola-hit district of Kailahun in Sierra Leone, 78 percent of the population mainly buys its food from the local markets, but with the epidemic, these markets have shut down.

Controlling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa will require an infusion of cash from international donors — up to US$490 million over the next six to nine months, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on 28 August.

That figure, described in a new report, is significantly higher than the WHO's 5 August request of $71 million to fight Ebola. It is based on the agency's estimate that 20,000 people may be infected with the disease before the current epidemic is contained. The $490 million would pay only for the immediate response to Ebola, not the long-term rebuilding of ravaged healthcare systems in West Africa that experts say will be necessary once the disease is contained.

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Thought for the day.

If you can smell shit, then you are breathing shit particles into your lungs.

Ebola is in feces.

Quoted:
Thought for the day.

If you can smell shit, then you are breathing shit particles into your lungs.

Ebola is in feces.