outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Little did we know all the right wing survivalists had the right idea for the wrong reason. It's not Obama they should fear, but ebola.

I read an article about the stress of being an ebola nurse. Encased in completely enveloping PPE in a hot climate for 12 + hour shifts. Dealing with infectious, dying patients that constantly fall out of beds, spray blood and diarrhea all over the place. The people that deal with these patients ... I just have no idea where they get their courage from.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-armed-men-attack-liberia-ebola-clinic-freeing-patients/

holy shit

Yeah,

Plague Inc is my favorite game

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/08/19/341412011/shadow-and-d-12-sing-an-infectious-song-about-ebola?

dr. brantly speaking now, was just discharged from emory

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/tests-under-way-for-ebola-following-donegal-death-1.1904073

Shit got real. school with this guys sister

Pharmeceutical industry person tries to defend the industry re charges they have not done enough re ebola because it is in poor countries

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2014/08/18/washington-post-off-base-in-critiquing-pharma-efforts-in-ebola/

the incentives for the pharmaceutical industry are what they are, unfortunately

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/ebolanomics

Irish guy didn't have Ebola. Was a false alarm.

South Africa and Senegal trying to bar some folks from countries at issue from entry

First US case in Dallas. Take that NYC & LA! We're number one!

Yikes!

I wonder how many crisis of this kind will happen before countries take the WHO seriously and decide to invest in a proper international health structure to prevent this kind of outbreak. Freaking hate to see institutions like the FMI giving up to 130 millions $ but then pressure politicians in the region to go for austerity, it's a waste of money for everyone.

ebola USED to be at the top of my list of irrational fears. presbyterian hospital is about 5 miles north of where i'm sitting right now.

welp

#patientzero

The Frontline piece on this a week or so ago was eye-opening. Hospitals that are barely more than cordoned off fields, mass graves, disinfecting the back of trucks (where patients ride, near death) by tossing in buckets of bleach, doctors and other aid workers more or less forced to visit villages free of any special suits for fear of scaring the shit out of everyone, children orphaned and alone overnight. Just heartbreaking. It's both a matter of doctors struggling to keep up with a rapidly and easily spreading illness and a population almost impossible to isolate. Bodies being dumped and left by the side of the road, families taking members out of quarantine, superstitious treatments co-mingling with modern medicine ...

Here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ebola-outbreak/

The saddest bit may be at the end, where grave diggers, one by one, list all their families members who have succumbed.

I'm just a few miles further away, art. Drive by it almost every day as I head up to Richardson.

Your risk of dying from ebola (total confirmed 2014 ebola deaths: a few thousand worldwide) is still lower than your risk of dying due to complications related to seasonal influenza (on average, 5800-7500 a year in the US). Get a flu shot. Don't get too preoccupied by ebola.

wanna c&p that on every damn facebook post I see for the next week

be my guest

i have total confidence in the medical system to properly handle any other arising cases. that said, i am still illogically terrified

Sick Burn I saw on FB:

Don't worry about Ebola spreading in Dallas. The Cowboys have shown us that people in Dallas can't catch anything.

Ebola spreads by physical contact with bodily secretions and fluids. That makes it easier to contain in a place like the USA or Europe, where there are lots of medical facilities and a patient's recent contacts can be quickly discovered and tracked down.

Even so, if ebola strongly establishes itself in Africa, with a reservoir of infected people who keep the virus continuously viable and circulating, then not only will massive numbers of africans die, but ebola will keep leaping to other parts of the world, including the USA and Europe. It can be compared to sparks thrown out from a wildfire, which land on tinder and start other fires away from the main fire. You can put out many of these small satellite fires, but it is hard to extinguish all of them, and the more new places that start burning the harder the firestorm is to keep contained.

That's a good analogy. I really wish international focus between the Ebola outbreak and ISIL was better divided.

run for the hills imo

*not the hills of West Africa, tho*

http://i.imgur.com/LHm72Rq.png

ugh goddamned parody accounts :(

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/africa/ebola-spreading-in-west-africa.html

this is a very difficult article to read

apparently the problem is not money but organization and time

Oh jeez:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/texas-ebola_n_5919522.html

at what point is it ok for me to start panicking?

supposed to go to the state fair this weekend and have resolved not to touch any surfaces and to bathe myself in hand sanitizer after it is all over.

the panic is hilarious. Especially from folks who drive on the streets of Dallas. You should be much more afraid of north Texas drivers than ebola.

until there is an effective vaccine I consider ebola as a threat, but in the USA it is a long term threat, which gives the researchers plenty of time to develop that vaccine.

truly despicable imo for rand paul, a physician, to be saying things like this to score political points

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-rand-paul-sounds-ebola-alarm/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/africa/ebola-spreading-in-west-africa.html

this is a very difficult article to read

apparently the problem is not money but organization and time

― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, October 1, 2014 7:27 PM (Yesterday

disorganization and lack of preparedness (not to mention distrust of medical authorities, belief in traditional healing, etc) are consequences of poverty, though. this was from a few weeks ago but i think it's a good primer

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1409494

First, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are resource-poor countries already coping with major health challenges, such as malaria and other endemic diseases, some of which may be confused with EVD. Next, their borders are porous, and movement between countries is constant. Health care infrastructure is inadequate, and health workers and essential supplies including personal protective equipment are scarce. Traditional practices, such as bathing of corpses before burial, have facilitated transmission. The epidemic has spread to cities, which complicates tracing of contacts. Finally, decades of conflict have left the populations distrustful of governing officials and authority figures such as health professionals. Add to these problems a rapidly spreading virus with a high mortality rate, and the scope of the challenge becomes clear

rand paul, a physician

He's an ophthalmologist without board certification so this is something of a stretch, but yeah obv his statements are fear mongering nonsense.

does anyone know what's the hard libertarian faithful take on institutions like the cdc?

viruses are information that wants to be free?

It seems to be under control in Nigeria! Good news!

Slate: Spread of Ebola Appears to Have Been Stopped in Nigeria

Meanwhile, local health workers paid 18,500 face-to-face visits to repeatedly take the temperatures of nearly 900 people who had contact with them. The last confirmed case was detected on Aug. 31, and virtually all contacts have passed the 21-day incubation period without falling ill.

wow, don't think i knew about paul's board certification controversy before this, that's pretty messed up. at any rate tho he's still a physician and should know better

context:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202402

how about this madness

http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/09/04/illegal-immigrant-related-pandemic-diseases-are-appearing-in-the-us/

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/the_invasion_of_enterovirus_evd68.html

meanwhile in dallas officials seem to be handling things well

from cnn.com

Cleanup delayed
As concerns grow over how many people he may have exposed to the deadly virus, a plan to sanitize the apartment was delayed late Thursday.
Brad Smith of the Cleaning Guys, the company hired to sanitize the apartment, said they do not have the proper permits to transport hazardous waste on Texas highways.
Smith said authorities sent them away late Thursday before they entered the apartment and told them to come back with proper permits. It's unclear how long that will take.
"The permit is being processed through DOT (Department of Transportation) because it is a special permit," Smith said.
"This is a unique situation. Once awarded our hazmat teams will be allowed back inside to do their jobs."

CNN: Dr. Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia University's school of public health, called the handling of the quarantine "hair raising."

<3 cnn.com

EBOLA IN DC & MARYLAND

UNNECESSARY IRONIC ALL-CAPS HAVE INFECTED ILX

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Herd_immunity_threshold_vs_r0.svg/1920px-Herd_immunity_threshold_vs_r0.svg.png

measles is fucked up

Iirc all 50 states have proof of vax requirements.

yeah I think it's just not enforced in many states at this point. fwiw it is extremely enforced in NYS. our kid had to stay home for a day while they figured out a clerical error that caused his record to say he wasn't vaccinated.

There's a "hippy" county north of us that is known for being vaccine-skeptical which has had multiple measles outbreaks over the past decade, I seem to recall one such outbreak contributed to the death of a child in leukemia-remission due to his immuno-compromised state (could be remembering this wrong though).

i was shocked to discover a friend of mine i've known for over a decade is completely anti-vax (kids aren't covid vaxxed for example), which somehow jibes with his entire family always being sick with something or other. i shouldn't assume everyone in California of all (hippie new age crystal healing) places is toeing the scientific facts line as much as i am, but it was still surprising.

In the UK we had an email round from school about increased measles. Not necessarily in our area but wtf people

My partner works in a quite tony London private school, apparently it is riddled with California-adjacent antivax types

CDC officially drops five-day covid isolation guidelines

Americans who test positive for the coronavirus no longer need to routinely stay home from work and school for five days under new guidance released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Not like many of the sick were anyway.

I'm getting a second shot of the latest one in a couple weeks. No reason other than that I did the same last March and the year before.

they're already suggesting that for elder folk so I'm probably gonna do it too since I live w/ my mother still. she can't get another shot right away since she just beat the 'VID

(somehow I never got it)

How long should one wait to get re-upped if they already got the latest vax?

I got mine in September the first week they became available, so it's been six months.

My general understanding from what I've gleaned over the 4 years (!!) of confronting this virus is you've got a much better chance of beating it when you have lots of antibodies already active from a recent vax. If your immune system has to fire up and manufacture antibodies 'from scratch' the virus generally multiples too fast for your system to prevent an infection and you get sick. ofc, your system can have active antibodies from a recent infection, too, but that's not as good as a vax, because even though you'll 'recover' from the infection the virus tends to hide itself in your tissues and linger, so any new infection has an automatic head start and your new infection may be worse than your previous one, not better.

So, vaxxing may not be perfect, but it's still provides the very best protection from the disease that's possible.

I will say that per Katelyn Jetelina's last update, the durability on this most recent vaccine according to preliminary data is better than previous vaccines/boosters, with less waning, so the 'every six month' thing might not be as necessary, even though they are definitely suggesting it for people who are elderly or immunocompromised.

though since so few are taking the vaccines (tragically)...if you want it, go get it, and you will be able to get it easily.

Ya mind posting her update? Thanks.

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/acip-cliff-notes-feb-28

thanks!

re: antibodies, I'm wondering what information there is on environmental exposure over time. I go out to public events frequently, maybe 10-15 club shows a month, plus various other things. I got the most recent booster on the first day it was available and haven't tested positive in nearly 2 years. Does occasional/regular environmental exposure that doesn't lead to a full infection have an effect on antibody levels? Or, is there evidence that exposure without infection has detrimental long-term health effects?

Does occasional/regular environmental exposure that doesn't lead to a full infection have an effect on antibody levels?

Well, it does prove, I think, that the vax is working.

I got the latest booster in September, got COVID in December, should I boost again?

(consults his lawyer in a rapidly whispered exchange)

On advice of counsel, I recommend you should ask your physician.

I got the latest booster in September, got COVID in December, should I boost again?

It me.

I think I'm going to wait a bit, since I assume I have some protection from the infection.

legend

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/german-man-got-217-covid-shots-over-29-months-heres-how-it-went/

Last, multiple types of testing indicated that the man has never been infected with SARS-CoV-2. But the researchers were cautious to note that this may be due to other precautions the man took beyond getting 217 vaccines.

Lmao

just recovered from a truly brutal few days after the PCV20 pneumonia vaccine (which most people don't need, but I needed for reasons), thinking about side effects.

if you struggled with Pfizer or Moderna side effects (or if you have any kind of autoimmune thing, or you have relatives who believe MRNA vaccines put super soldiers from the IRS in your veins), consider the novavax shot. CVS won't take reservations for it, but it is carried at all their locations and they take walk ins. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-novavax-latecomer-covid-vaccine-worth.html, https://www.science.org/content/article/should-you-pick-novavax-s-covid-19-shot-over-mrna-options.

My most recent shot was the Novavax, and the process you describe was pretty accurate: make an appointment, then when you get to CVS specify you want the Novamax. But the experience is not universal. Some months back when my mom went to get her latest shot she looked online and saw that CVS had the Novavax, but when she got there they said they didn't, supposedly because demand was so and/or their allotted doses had expired. So I guess caveat emptor/call first.

The current situation is they don't let you pick Novavax when making an appointment, and I don't think they actually want you to make a Pfizer/Moderna placeholder appointment. There is a big banner that says

"Trying to schedule a Novavax vaccine?
Novavax vaccine is carried at all locations.
Appointments are not required. Visit the location of your choice and talk with the Pharmacist in person.
Continue scheduling your appointment online for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine."

"carried" sounds a bit aspirational, but I think the idea is "walk in and there's a decent chance we'll have it".

I'm trying to remember from when I made my own appointment, but I'm pretty sure they make you pick a vaccine type when you are making a vaccine appointment online. I ended up calling them afterwards and asking, and the guy at the pharmacy told me just to put down one of the other vaccines but to tell them when I checked in that I wanted the novavax. Maybe they have changed procedure? Anyway, just relating my mom's experience, since apparently just because CVS claims to carry the vaccine isn't a guarantee that they actually have it, and to call first.

Good to know. I'm getting a jab this week, probably Novavax, maybe Tanqueray.

You do have to choose a vaccine to make an appointment with cvs. You can’t choose novavax at the time you make the appointment though. They want you to just call in.

Reading this Medium blog about the Foo Fighters' early '00s advocacy for a group that denied the link between HIV and AIDS. Somehow I have never heard about this?

https://medium.com/the-monthly/the-foo-fighters-aids-denialism-should-be-on-the-record-6e33666fdc3c

Alive and Well was not your usual celebrity charity then, but it was nonetheless amplified by one of the biggest bands in the world. In early 2000, President Clinton’s director of AIDS policy admonished them: “For the Foo Fighters to be promoting this is extraordinarily irresponsible behaviour. There is no doubt about the link between HIV and AIDS in the respected scientific community and it’s quite unfortunate that a band reads one book and then adopts this theory. To say [that HIV does not cause AIDS] is akin to saying the world is flat.”

That “one book” was What If Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong? — self-published pseudo-science written by Alive and Well’s founder, Christine Maggiore, a woman diagnosed with HIV in the early ’90s — and it fell into the idle hands of the Foo Fighters’ bassist, Nate Mendel. After devouring it, Mendel conscripted his bandmates in his advocacy for Maggiore’s group.

too much time on the bus

I remember there was a writer for SPIN magazine in the early 90s, Celia Farber, who penned many articles questioning the HIV-AIDS link. Always thought it was a weird thing to read in a music mag.

Celia Farber is more awful than you think (a galaxy brain thirty years ago can only get exponentially worse)

https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/a-family-that-lost-their-daughter

and on and on

She was Bob Jr’s girlfriend when I was interning at Spin.

fuck

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/01/first-human-avian-flu-case-texas-00149949