outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

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

Let me know when DC ebola fatalities exceeds http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/traffic-fatalities

RIP Thomas Eric Duncan

My office sent out an Ebola advisory note to everyone today advising that we don't travel to countries with outbreaks. Thanks for the tip guys! I guess I should reconsider that vacation to Liberia.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O4ADBA8

mmhmm

I mean, ebola is transmitted through fluid contact, so it might, or it might just make you a prepper

How long can ebola just hang out on surfaces and remain contagious?

Also, have any of the usual right wing subjects started calling him Barack Ebola?

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/obola-explained

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/By-n99jIMAESe_o.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/us/texas-health-worker-tests-positive-for-ebola.html

yup

Are ebola patients always protected by dancing police officers?

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/10/13/us/13ebola1-web/13ebola1-web-articleLarge.jpg

that's like a mile from where i used to live. ebola pls

Plane grounded at lax for over two hours now bc a passenger is displaying flu-like symptoms and has had contact w someone from Africa. A twitter user @gingerhazing is one of those stuck on the plane and is livetweeting it

twitter user and up and comic comics artist! Not to diminish her ebola paranoia liveblogging contributions

Yes after posting that I swiped left on her profile and found that out. lol at how out of touch with my own field I am.

All clear I guess-- moral: do not barf in public if you or people around you have anywhere you need to be anytime soon

boy, do some people really mistrust the federal government

and/or racist

stop me if you've heard this one

"they're doing it on purpose to seize power during a crisis"

or this one

"obama's endangering american lives because he identifies with africans more than americans"

oy.

i wonder if someone at the hospital didn't follow protocol, or if the protocols were lacking. either way: scary. feel terrible for the nurse.

the hospital claims she was, but they've been pretty disgustingly dishonest about a few things already so it's hard to take their word for it. i think i read something earlier today that said the CDC was disputing that this was the case. (and not to get too realpolitik, but i found it pretty shocking that the CDC would call out the hospital like that so quickly.)

that said it should be understood that caring for patients with ebola is not risk-free and that adherence to guidelines minimizes the risks of transmission but does not eliminate them. viruses are small and can thwart event the best-laid plans. even removing protective gear can be hazardous -- in fact it's thought that this is where a large part of the danger lies, in exposing oneself while taking off contaminated PPE

@gingerhazing says it turns out it was just a scare, passenger does not have ebola symptoms other than vomiting, did not actually have contact with anyone from west africa just someone from south africa (miscommunication).

I was actually pondering how these workers can safely remove the suits, because whenever I use cleaning gloves I puzzle over how to take them off without just getting the same bleach on me that I was trying to avoid all along. Do they take some kind of shower in the gear first?

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