[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by gomoho

The recent move to funnel all folks travelling from the 3 countries in question into only 5 American airports is in my opinion the first step towards blocking all travel. Wonder why it took them so long to figure out what most of us said weeks ago! This wouldn't be pandering to the electorate or would it?

It truly is amazing to watch isn't it? Inching their way towards the obvious. There is some kind of debilitating strain of PC that has infected the thinking of a large portion of the government leadership (not to mention about 30-35% of the electorate). This is hard to prove but I may post more on this "PCbola" after I ponder it some more.

Anyway, glad to see them progressing even if painful and slow. As far as I know, essentially all of the West African countries have instituted bans, including Senegal which is next door to the hot zone.

[janmcn]

Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola, has been upgraded to good condition, the National Institute for Health is reporting.

Ashoka Mukpo, the freelance NBC cameraman who was treated in Nebraska, has been declared cured of Ebola.

This is good news for all concerned.

[cologal]

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

Now that is a peculiar comment which reveals a mindset behind it … “…no matter what Fox says,” and coming from someone who I doubt ever turns that channel on anyway. Plus, by making this charge, you are being neither fair nor balanced IMHO. It is also a streeeeetch to say that George Will ( a has-been, semi-conservative commentator) is somehow responsible for the “spread” of the airborne possibility discussion. This question is being pondered by a lot of people, including Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, hardly a Fox news flunky wouldn’t you agree, who said "I'm worried about it because we know so little about it," he said. "You'll hear different people describe whether it could become airborne." He said that scientists did not agree. "I don't know who's right. I don't want to take that chance. So I'm taking it very seriously."

Let’s look at the facts as best we can determine…

-This strain of the virus, so far, seems to be relatively hard to transmit and it’s been 5 days or so since the last infection. Let’s hope it stays that way. (on a non-related topic, that’s the main reason the stock market has gone up for the last few sessions)

-There is no evidence to date the virus can go airborne. Let’s hope and pray it does not.

-But, that does not mean it cannot go airborne, does it? To deny that possibility, or to equate talking about it in a responsible way with spreading fear, is simply another rationalization for the ostrich to justify leaving its head buried lest any bad news disturb it.

-As I said, this question is being debated, has been for years, and in lots of fora, various elements of the media and of course on TOTV. Here is just a brief sample of what a search turns up.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/...ay-go-airborne

Why Won't The Fear Of Airborne Ebola Go Away? : Shots - Health News : NPR

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-1...-different-bug

Can Ebola Go Airborne? - Forbes


So the point is, we don’t know if it can go airborne, and until someone definitely proves it one way or the other, it remains a legitimate topic for discussion.

Fair and Balanced....LOL But I do tune in every once in a while. I did watch the clip of Mr Will making this claim now refuted by the original source.

There have been 5,000 deaths in West Africa in this outbreak,1 death and 2 sick any evidence you can site to confirm the virus is airborne?

[cologal]

Originally Posted by billethkid

There is nothing wrong with a healthy fear of the unkown. I am always suspect to the bravado that puts down others NATURAL reactions to a life threatening situation.

Whether it is airborn NOW or not IS NOT the issue. Prudent planning and understanding just naturally includes what else COULD HAPPEN given the life threatening potential.

I agree with other posters that credibility is watered down when it is tainted with blatant bias!!

To me this is a medical not a political issue and I have spent my entire adult life in the medical community.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

The thread went like this ...

I said (to another poster, not you): "Just out of curiosity and given your earlier comments about how you think a "political operative" is an ideal candidate to be Ebola Czar ...if the Ebola crisis had occurred in the prior administration would you have been as equally gushing had say Karl Rove been appointed?"

You replied: "Actually, Karl Rove or Andy Card would have been great choices. Both are insiders who know how to get things done. One does not have to be an expert in the field in order to coordinate operations and to get all the people talking on the same page."

After my jaw dropped with disbelief, I then replied to you with: "Actually, by saying what you just did, it's clear you have no idea how DC really works."

Your first reply to this was:

“You are probably right. We never had to know that much about Washington DC and the inner workings of federal agencies in my life before retirement. I should just leave it up to experts like you. Thank you for correcting me.”

But, then you changed your post to what’s shown above in which you say you do understand the workings of DC.

Now, we will never know whether you were telling the truth the first time, or simply being tongue in cheek, but we do know you changed your post.

Copy of my iPhone screen shot attached which shows your first post.

I think the part you missed was that sandtrap's statement bolded above was sarcasm.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by cologal

To me this is a medical not a political issue and I have spent my entire adult life in the medical community.

Most of us agree 100% it is a medical issue.......that is being managed and manipulated politically!!!!!

[Jebstuart]

Originally Posted by janmcn

Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola, has been upgraded to good condition, the National Institute for Health is reporting.

Ashoka Mukpo, the freelance NBC cameraman who was treated in Nebraska, has been declared cured of Ebola.

This is good news for all concerned.

It is some good news, and we have learned a lot from the few cases here. But the news remains grim for west Africa. The poverty and government distrust has helped this awful disease roar on.


WHO | Ebola in West Africa: heading for catastrophe?

Instead of relying on news reports (even the BBC seems less newsworthy and more opinionatedto me) I find very helpful and factual info from the CDC and World Health Organization.

[Jebstuart]

An interesting article from doctors without borders of what it is really like. The international response has been pathetic. This disease can be stopped or at least greatly reduced if those on the front lines had the resources.

Ebola: Impossible Choices in Liberia | MSF USA

[graciegirl]

Ebola in West Africa: heading for catastrophe?

Strong control measures needed to stop steep climb in cases

Ebola at 6 months

When used to describe outbreaks of infectious diseases, the word “exponential” strikes fear into the hearts of policymakers. But epidemiologists tracking the spread of Ebola virus disease are increasingly convinced that the current epidemic in West Africa has been growing exponentially for at least 16 weeks, since May 2014 (epidemiological week 21 of 2014, see figure). The number of new cases has been doubling every 20-30 days.
Late last week, epidemiologists at WHO headquarters in Geneva undertook a major re-assessment of all reported data coming from all sources at all outbreak sites. Though confidence in data being reported by Guinea is good, other significant problems were identified.
In Liberia, for example, data were being reported from 4 different and uncoordinated streams, resulting in several overlaps and duplicated numbers. In other cases, a backlog of unreported cases was detected, thus creating a distorted picture of how the outbreak has been evolving. Many cases and deaths were not being properly registered on standard reporting forms.
These problems have now been corrected. The results of this data clean-up and re-analysis were published online last night in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• Read the article

Strong control measures to stop steep climb in cases

Nearly 1000 new cases were reported in the week ending 14 September alone – certainly an underestimate of the true burden of disease. If the present rate of increase continues – if nothing is done to intervene – somewhere between 2500 (black line) and 5000 cases (blue line) will occur, each week, just four weeks from now. Affected countries could be seeing more than 10 000 cases weekly by mid-November.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Jebstuart

It is some good news, and we have learned a lot from the few cases here. But the news remains grim for west Africa. The poverty and government distrust has helped this awful disease roar on.


WHO | Ebola in West Africa: heading for catastrophe?

Instead of relying on news reports (even the BBC seems less newsworthy and more opinionatedto me) I find very helpful and factual info from the CDC and World Health Organization.

The last paragraph in this article gives understanding about how poverty and misuse of the land in other countries affects us all:

"Scientists and epidemiologists know enough now to issue a clear warning. The risk of future Ebola outbreaks will persist as long as pervasive poverty forces large numbers of people, who depend on bushmeat for their very physical and economic survival, to hunt ever deeper in the region’s degraded and rapidly diminishing forests."

I believe first-world countries cannot afford to be isolationists, at least where world health is concerned.

[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I think the part you missed was that sandtrap's statement bolded above was sarcasm.

Actually, I think you missed where I noted it was one of two possibilities but no matter at this point ...

The key issue remains which is ... this was not a serious appointment by any measure or amount of rationalization to the contrary. Mr Klain was named to this job to make the issue go away politically. Do you really deny that?

[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by cologal

To me this is a medical not a political issue and I have spent my entire adult life in the medical community.

I totally agree ... this should be treated as a medical issue, and not a political problem. I also think most people agree would agree with this assertion.

[graciegirl]

OCTOBER 16,2014
Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa — The First 9 Months of the Epidemic and Forward Projections

WHO Ebola Response Team
N Engl J Med 2014; 371:1481-1495October 16, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1411100
Comments open through October 22, 2014
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AbstractArticleReferencesCiting Articles (2) Comments (14)
Background

On March 23, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Guinea. On August 8, the WHO declared the epidemic to be a “public health emergency of international concern.”
Full Text of Background...


Methods

By September 14, 2014, a total of 4507 probable and confirmed cases, including 2296 deaths from EVD (Zaire species) had been reported from five countries in West Africa — Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. We analyzed a detailed subset of data on 3343 confirmed and 667 probable Ebola cases collected in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone as of September 14.
Full Text of Methods...


Results

The majority of patients are 15 to 44 years of age (49.9% male), and we estimate that the case fatality rate is 70.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 69 to 73) among persons with known clinical outcome of infection. The course of infection, including signs and symptoms, incubation period (11.4 days), and serial interval (15.3 days), is similar to that reported in previous outbreaks of EVD. On the basis of the initial periods of exponential growth, the estimated basic reproduction numbers (R0 ) are 1.71 (95% CI, 1.44 to 2.01) for Guinea, 1.83 (95% CI, 1.72 to 1.94) for Liberia, and 2.02 (95% CI, 1.79 to 2.26) for Sierra Leone. The estimated current reproduction numbers (R) are 1.81 (95% CI, 1.60 to 2.03) for Guinea, 1.51 (95% CI, 1.41 to 1.60) for Liberia, and 1.38 (95% CI, 1.27 to 1.51) for Sierra Leone; the corresponding doubling times are 15.7 days (95% CI, 12.9 to 20.3) for Guinea, 23.6 days (95% CI, 20.2 to 28.2) for Liberia, and 30.2 days (95% CI, 23.6 to 42.3) for Sierra Leone. Assuming no change in the control measures for this epidemic, by November 2, 2014, the cumulative reported numbers of confirmed and probable cases are predicted to be 5740 in Guinea, 9890 in Liberia, and 5000 in Sierra Leone, exceeding 20,000 in total.
Full Text of Results...


Conclusions

These data indicate that without drastic improvements in control measures, the numbers of cases of and deaths from EVD are expected to continue increasing from hundreds to thousands per week in the coming months.
Full Text of Discussion...


Read the Full Article...

[kittygilchrist]

Thank u for persistence, GG.
Wish u were Czar.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

Actually, I think you missed where I noted it was one of two possibilities but no matter at this point ...

The key issue remains which is ... this was not a serious appointment by any measure or amount o You f rationalization to the contrary. Mr Klain was named to this job to make the issue go away politically. Do you really deny that?

Yes. Why would the gvt. do one more thing that looks suspicious when they are so on the hot seat right now. Why would the current administration? I am looking for the proof of your statement. I get the feeling from your posts that you are very suspicious of any kind of government control. You accuse others of not knowing what they're talking about, when in fact they do.