The Hot Zone

[Jason Rayes]

You know, the world should really be throwing more resources at this,if this epidemic becomes a pandemic the repercussions are horrific:

[link]http://www.news.com.au/world/another-american-doctor-contracts-ebola-working-in-hospital-in-libera-as-doctors-without-borders-warns-world-losing-battle-against-epidemic/story-fndir2ev-1227045730501[/link]

Are we scared enough yet?

[link]http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/09/02/ebola-outbreak-out-control-says-cdc-director/[/link]

We should be.

 

[small]

people dismiss it as not being a concern to them but its already demonstrated the ability to mutate and become airborne, although that particular strain is lethal to monkey but harmless to humans, the real issue comes from issues like ebola infecting animals like pigs, mutating and then reinfecting humans.

they need to clamp down on this outbreak no matter the cost

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've been scared of ebola since I was little. My dad read The Hot Zone and retold it to me in frightening detail.

 

[CogDiss]

Since this this has been the most widespread outbreak in history, I've long suspected its a new strain or mutation.

 

[Jason Rayes]

I've been scared of ebola since I was little. My dad read The Hot Zone and retold it to me in frightening detail.

I read that book myself and have been more scared of Ebola than I would be of any zombie outbreak. After all, it's real and it can happen. IS happening.

Edit: I cant believe he read you The Hot Zone. I was an adult and it scared me

 

[DefunctTheory]

If this is an out of control species ending epidemic, then what in the hell was small pox?

EDIT: The Hot Zone is an excellent book, particularly since I've actually been to the building in Reston. For 2 weeks, I was certain I had ebola.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've been scared of ebola since I was little. My dad read The Hot Zone and retold it to me in frightening detail.

I read that book myself and have been more scared of Ebola than I would be of any zombie outbreak. After all, it's real and it can happen. IS happening.

Edit: I cant believe he read you The Hot Zone. I was an adult and it scared me

Well, not "read" but he was super enthuasiastic about the book for some reason, and as per usual I probably nagged him into telling me what it was about. Which he did, effectively traumatizing me. I completely forgot about it until some months ago when ebola became "a thing" again, now in social media.

 

[Jason Rayes]

I've been scared of ebola since I was little. My dad read The Hot Zone and retold it to me in frightening detail.

I read that book myself and have been more scared of Ebola than I would be of any zombie outbreak. After all, it's real and it can happen. IS happening.

Edit: I cant believe he read you The Hot Zone. I was an adult and it scared me

Well, not "read" but he was super enthuasiastic about the book for some reason, and as per usual I probably nagged him into telling me what it was about. Which he did, effectively traumatizing me. I completely forgot about it until some months ago when ebola became "a thing" again, now in social media.

Ok, now I understand. I guess I was the same way when I read the book, telling people in detail about how awful Ebola was

 

[Jason Rayes]

If this is an out of control species ending epidemic, then what in the hell was small pox?

EDIT: The Hot Zone is an excellent book, particularly since I've actually been to the building in Reston. For 2 weeks, I was certain I had ebola.

Spanish flu was a pandemic with a mortality rate of 2.5%
Small Pox was an awful pandemic with a mortality rate of 30%
Ebola is still only in epidemic stage.....with a mortality rate of 61%

Edit: Small pox was 50% mortality rate amongst populations that had never encountered it (E.G Native American's

 

[Vault101]

[I/]riiiiiight in to the HOT zone![/I] doesn't quite have the same ring...


I'm not gonna dismiss the seriousness of the outbreak buuuut those are mainstream news outlets who may be prone to....click baiting...shall we say

I read that book myself and have been more scared of Ebola than I would be of any zombie outbreak. After all, it's real and it can happen. IS happening.

Edit: I cant believe he read you The Hot Zone. I was an adult and it scared me

was the movie "outbreak" based on it? I think it was...it had a monkey and liquefied organs....blegh

 

[Jason Rayes]

[I/]riiiiiight in to the HOT zone![/I] doesn't quite have the same ring...


I'm not gonna dismiss the seriousness of the outbreak buuuut those are mainstream news outlets who may be prone to....click baiting...shall we say

But the the guy from the Centre for Disease control shouldn't be ignored, he doesn't care about clicks. He just wants help to contain this thing before it gets so far out of control its uncontrollable. As he says, the window of opportunity is closing, once it's shut it's too late.

My problem is that I can imagine world leaders dithering, concerned with domestic affairs and not particularly worried about what's going on in Africa as it isn't their business. Then we cross the cusp and its too late, then the screaming and the blame giving goes out as the politicians point at each other saying "Why didn't you do something?!"

Or the leaders of the world unite and act decisively to provide sufficient funds and medical aid to contain the virus, tend to the already ill, then clean up afterwards.

Call me a cynic but guess which one I think is more likely.

 

[Vault101]

[snip.

I think youre freaking out just a little, especialy when yourve got your imagination all riled up by a book

no, he should be taken seriously, but again thease news sites are always spinning the consumer friendly more..."exciting" version of any story

and the authorities SHOULD be taking this shit seriously...but as an individual I sometimes like to think "well whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen regardless of weather or not I'm thinking about it" otherwise I'd be ina state of panic 24/7

 

[Jason Rayes]

Look, despite what it may seem like, Im not actually panicking at all. I am worried, yes, but not enough to be losing sleep over it. We haven't reached that stage yet

Id just like to see more positive action.

 

[hickwarrior]

*snip*

Even if it's cold of me to say so, I will start to care when the virus gets into my vicinity. That's the only time I feel like I can take action, other than inform people of how horrible the virus actually is. And to do what the authorities on the matter says you should do, though that should be a given...

 

[stroopwafel]

Ebola could decimate the human race if people who carried the virus ever traveled on intercontinental flights. The only reason things haven't escalated is b/c the area of contamination is fairly contained; a rural area in Africa cordoned off by the military and under auspice of various health organizations. But the virus infects very fast and is very deadly. If you don't carry a hazmat suit around an ebola patient you're pretty much a goner(and you don't die in the most pleasant way). Even after death the body remains extremely infectious.

I guess the scariest scenario would be an ebola carrier who is immune/resistant to the virus and who boards a flight to some densely populated city. Considering the ratio of infection, once that happens there is no way to contain the outbreak. You'll have the same situation as in the African village but city-wide panic will be much tougher for the military to control. Let alone contain.

The virus have proven to be pretty resilient as well. Years go by without outbreaks and then suddenly it rears it's ugly head again.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, if we're fucked we're fucked. I'm not gonna waste my time worring about some global killing virus. At least we'll all die together, ey?

But then I also remember the WHO freaking its shit over the swine flu.

 

[Sea Sponge]

Bird flu didn't kill me, swine flu didn't kill me and mad cow disease didn't kill me.

I'll worry if I catch it, there is nothing I can do about it and going into a panic about something that's more than likely never going to happen is pointless.

 

[Megalodon]

But we should all remember the town of Eyam, England. A town during the outbreak of plague which got an inventory that had fleas which were infected with plague. They roped off the entire town and let the plague burn through their town, killing almost everyone there. When it was over, there was hardly anyone left, but they had managed to not spread the plague any farther.

The rest of your post is good. But you're a tad off base about Eyam. Less than 300 of the 800 or so inhabitants died during the plague's run (a bit over a year iirc).

Ebola could decimate the human race if people who carried the virus ever traveled on intercontinental flights. The only reason things haven't escalated is b/c the area of contamination is fairly contained; a rural area in Africa cordoned off by the military and under auspice of various health organizations. But the virus infects very fast and is very deadly. If you don't carry a hazmat suit around an ebola patient you're pretty much a goner(and you don't die in the most pleasant way). Even after death the body remains extremely infectious.

Not really, as ebola is only spread by direct fluid contact and has a reasonably short incubation period (and asymptomatic patients don't appear to be contagious). Not to say it's pleasant, and the repercussions for infection are undeniably severe, but it's simply not in the same league of infectious as something like the flu. Plus, as you observed, it's a very visible disease, making containment that much easier. Not The Bees has it right, the first world is far better equipped for this than Africa.