ebola

[yadayada]

Interesting that this stock exploded, despite almost no earnings:

 

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:LAKE&ei=UW05VPj-HKOWiQKFwIGIDQ

 

Apparantly the NSA director also made a bet in it. It was a nice net net last year.

 

Any thoughts on how much deaths this thing could cause?

[Zorrofan]

the BBC has some really good coverage.....

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28754546

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28755033

 

hope this helps...

 

Zorro

[ERICOPOLY]

Second ebola patient flew on night before symptoms were detected.

 

Holy crap.

 

What the hell is going on?  Why are people who are on the known exposure list allowed to fly so close to the end of the incubation period?  Time to have a leper colony approach to people who are known exposed.  It's only a few weeks.

[fareastwarriors]

Reminds me a movie I saw recently. rise of the planet of the apes. there was one scene where the pilot was sick with a nosebleed but he flew anyways and it spread everywhere.

[yadayada]

so one guy sneezes, it goes into the airconditioning and then easily several people could catch it.

[tengen]

You guys do realize that Ebola can only by transmitted by physical contact?

[matts]

so one guy sneezes, it goes into the airconditioning and then easily several people could catch it.

 

This is the kind of comment that panics people. Ebola is not airborne and is extremely difficult to transmit through the air.

 

[Grenville]

I hope the CDC puts on their game face and starts taking this whole thing more seriously…a bit disappointing.

 

The second healthcare worker who has contracted Ebola should not have traveled and violated CDC guidelines, said Dr. Frieden. From now on, no one being monitored will board a commercial flight.

[oddballstocks]

so one guy sneezes, it goes into the airconditioning and then easily several people could catch it.

 

This is the kind of comment that panics people. Ebola is not airborne and is extremely difficult to transmit through the air.

 

I have no medical background, but I do read Wikipedia.. I have seen a number of articles recently that said no one is sure if it's transmitted by air or not.  It can potentially be transmitted on droplets of fluid such as from a sneeze.  The problem is the disease hasn't really been studied enough for anyone to know anything with certainty.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the US with this.  One thing I saw said that 15-30% of Africans might have an immunity to this due to the fruit they eat, or through secondary contact with animals there.  That is their body has had a very small exposure that they developed antibodies against. 

 

All of this reminds me of what our diseases did to the Indians when we came over here.  Simple things like measles decimated the population because they'd never been exposed to it.  I hope this isn't something like that where it's bad in Africa but they have antibodies, yet in the US we're doomed.

[yadayada]

so one guy sneezes, it goes into the airconditioning and then easily several people could catch it.

 

This is the kind of comment that panics people. Ebola is not airborne and is extremely difficult to transmit through the air.

but if you sneeze the virus could be in your saliva right? And your basicly catapulting the saliva potentially in someone elses mouth? Or are the drops too small to carry the virus.

[ERICOPOLY]

Perhaps I should head to Costco now before the lines start.

[merkhet]

People need to stop freaking out. Ebola is highly infectious but not highly transmitable.

 

This means that a little bit of a live virus in your system is going to get you sick. However, it doesn't survive very well outside of your body.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html?mobile=nocontent

 

Just try your best not to roll around in other people's blood or play with other people's fecal matter, and you'll be fine.

[ERICOPOLY]

I hope this isn't something like that where it's bad in Africa but they have antibodies, yet in the US we're doomed.

 

Perhaps if you have HIV (and taking your meds) you'll be okay though:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/27/health/ebola-hiv-drug/

 

[valueorama]

but if you sneeze the virus could be in your saliva right? And your basicly catapulting the saliva potentially in someone elses mouth? Or are the drops too small to carry the virus.

 

I believe the virus cant live for too long once outside a host. But, in an Airplane, every body is close to each other and air conditioning. Who knows.

 

BTW, the way we are discussing is how panic starts.

[hardincap]

but if you sneeze the virus could be in your saliva right? And your basicly catapulting the saliva potentially in someone elses mouth? Or are the drops too small to carry the virus.

 

I believe the virus cant live for too long once outside a host. But, in an Airplane, every body is close to each other and air conditioning. Who knows.

 

BTW, the way we are discussing is how panic starts.

 

no one really knows, which is why we need a margin of safety. be overcautious, and overprepared.

[dcollon]

I'm still betting that the flu will kill more people this year than Ebola.  Maybe next year will be different.

[rkbabang]

Interesting that this stock exploded, despite almost no earnings:

 

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:LAKE&ei=UW05VPj-HKOWiQKFwIGIDQ

 

Apparantly the NSA director also made a bet in it. It was a nice net net last year.

 

Any thoughts on how much deaths this thing could cause?

 

What thing?  The NSA director?  Probably quite a few.

 

[Dustin T]

People need to stop freaking out. Ebola is highly infectious but not highly transmitable.

 

This means that a little bit of a live virus in your system is going to get you sick. However, it doesn't survive very well outside of your body.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html?mobile=nocontent

 

Just try your best not to roll around in other people's blood or play with other people's fecal matter, and you'll be fine.

 

I'm no expert and no little about how this spreads. The fact that several doctors and nurses who knew what they were dealing with have been infected concerns me. Now I am assuming that they did not roll around in infected blood and may have even have worn gloves while playing with the fecal matter. I suspect this virus is very very sneaky.

 

 

 

 

[merkhet]

People need to stop freaking out. Ebola is highly infectious but not highly transmitable.

 

This means that a little bit of a live virus in your system is going to get you sick. However, it doesn't survive very well outside of your body.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html?mobile=nocontent

 

Just try your best not to roll around in other people's blood or play with other people's fecal matter, and you'll be fine.

 

I'm no expert and no little about how this spreads. The fact that several doctors and nurses who knew what they were dealing with have been infected concerns me. Now I am assuming that they did not roll around in infected blood and may have even have worn gloves while playing with the fecal matter. I suspect this virus is very very sneaky.

 

A virus cannot be sneaky in the same way that a stock cannot be moody.

 

They are, in fact, rolling around in infected blood and bodily fluids by virtue of having to be in near constant contact with the patients that they are treating. The fact that they're wearing protective gear is helpful, but, as I said before, it's a highly infectious disease when it is contained within a bodily fluid of some kind.

 

I swear, the Dow drops 400 points and all of a sudden everyone is worried about everything.

[NeverLoseMoney]

I hope the CDC puts on their game face and starts taking this whole thing more seriously…a bit disappointing.

 

The second healthcare worker who has contracted Ebola should not have traveled and violated CDC guidelines, said Dr. Frieden. From now on, no one being monitored will board a commercial flight.

+1

 

Very disappointing so far. I mean two medical workers have become infected. Germany has been treating patients and none of their medical personnel has been infected as far as I know. They even released one patient that was treated from late August until October 3: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/world/europe/ebola-patient-dies-in-german-hospital.html

It is possible to treat patients and not make matters worse by becoming infected. That said, I do have huge respect for people who treat these patients, especially those working in poor conditions in West Africa. That must be heartbreaking and terrifying.

 

I liked this interview with Peter Piot who discovered Ebola in 1976. It describes some of the factors that have created this perfect storm for Ebola in Africa: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

Perhaps some good will come of this and the world will come up with better measures to combat future outbreaks. Liberia had 51 doctors in 2010 and many of them have died from Ebola in this outbreak. I think developed countries need to be on standby to supply a lot more medical support and a lot faster than they have done here.

[cobafdek]

What the hell is going on?  Why are people who are on the known exposure list allowed to fly so close to the end of the incubation period?  Time to have a leper colony approach to people who are known exposed.  It's only a few weeks.

 

From a purely public health/epidemiologic standpoint, this is correct.  The two major spokesmen on the news (Fauci at NIH, Frieden at CDC) are top-notch, and I would bet if they were wearing only their medical scientists hat, they would have quarantined travelers at the source.

 

Unfortunately, they also wear government hats, so the leper colony idea is politically incorrect.  Higher-ups (Obama?) made the judgment call to allow travel overseas with "screening" at selected major airports.  So a "politically incorrect" factor may turn out to have political implications in the upcoming elections.  It fits into the narrative of Obama overruling the experts (witness Iraq).

[Dustin T]

People need to stop freaking out. Ebola is highly infectious but not highly transmitable.

 

This means that a little bit of a live virus in your system is going to get you sick. However, it doesn't survive very well outside of your body.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html?mobile=nocontent

 

Just try your best not to roll around in other people's blood or play with other people's fecal matter, and you'll be fine.

 

I'm no expert and no little about how this spreads. The fact that several doctors and nurses who knew what they were dealing with have been infected concerns me. Now I am assuming that they did not roll around in infected blood and may have even have worn gloves while playing with the fecal matter. I suspect this virus is very very sneaky.

 

A virus cannot be sneaky in the same way that a stock cannot be moody.

 

They are, in fact, rolling around in infected blood and bodily fluids by virtue of having to be in near constant contact with the patients that they are treating. The fact that they're wearing protective gear is helpful, but, as I said before, it's a highly infectious disease when it is contained within a bodily fluid of some kind.

 

I swear, the Dow drops 400 points and all of a sudden everyone is worried about everything.

 

I believe it is something we should be concerned with as the infected population is doubling every month at least by most accounts. Every time it doubles it becomes harder to eradicate. I don't believe it will pose much danger to the modern world but fear it will continue to spread and cause damage in the third world.

 

Of course viruses are not literally sneaky. I think this one deserves serious attention and an effort to eradicate it. I'm not pushing any doomsday scenario just advocating that the proper response lies well between indifference and panic.

 

[nodnub]

I'm still betting that the flu will kill more people this year than Ebola.  Maybe next year will be different.

 

True, but most flu viruses tend to kill the very young, the very old, or people with other health issues.  So it's more of a known and expected outcome. 

A new virus scares most people precisely because they dont know what to expect, how fast and far it will spread etc. 

 

I would be very concerned if there was signs of a flu spreading with characteristics like 1918 pandemic.

 

[merkhet]

I agree with you and hope you don't feel singled out by my comments. I just meant that people here are starting to sound panicky about the spread of Ebola -- especially since it is not an airborne disease.

[ERICOPOLY]

The doctor on ABC news right now (Dr. Richard Besser) is claiming that the virus can live for several hours on the skin (he was saying that if a drop of blood was on Nina Pham's skin, it could have survived for several hours on the surface of the skin).

 

So if it can survive on her skin, and then you shake her hand, it's now on your skin.  And alive for several hours -- sometime during which you pick up a sandwich, bite your fingernail, pick your nose, wipe your eye... etc....