Ebola in the US, round two(?): Texas health care worker tests positive in preliminary test - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;46213904]And how many Americans catch the flu each year v.s. eblola? That's a very misleading statistic you are pushing out because you're not taking into account how many people are exposed to the flu and survive. If Ebola had the same level of exposure (the same amount of people caught ebola), what would the death toll look like then?[/QUOTE] The comparison comes because Flu is far easier to expose people to and spread. Think of the orders of magnitude harder that Ebola is to catch. I'm not saying it's impossible to spread or it's impossible to get, but compared to influenza it's staggeringly less contagious. When you look at it (an incredibly lethal disease) in scale of something as insanely prevalent and fast-spreading as the flu, it's staggeringly less threatening and makes it clear how out of proportion the coverage of Ebola is. It [B]is[/B] a threat, but it's not the end of the world and it's not like the disease is just going to devour you alive out of the blue because someone down the street spluttered a little or took a rather stinky dump. [editline]12th October 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;46214097] I don't think it's necessarily "fearmongering", I just think that until the public sees that we can handle this and contain it, that there will be skepticism.[/QUOTE] It [B]IS[/B] fearmongering because instead of illustrating the facets of the disease and how/why it got a foothold (which I've [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1429664&p=46185103&viewfull=1#post46185103]explained[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1429664&p=46198853&viewfull=1#post46198853]before[/url]), the news and people scared by it focus entirely on the most horrible facets of it. Just say 'organ hemmorhaging blood-shitting terror' and suddenly people go into a frenzy. Instead of thinking critically, people look at it, take in the basics, then panic. It's like a microwave meal, really. Instead of thinking about the salt content, people just shovel it down and let it.. wait.. no, that's a shit metaphor, nevermind.

[QUOTE=Drsalvador;46214055]AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Who are you, that do not know your history? Have you heard of the fucking Spanish Influenza, mate? The Spanish Influenza [B]contributed to the end of World War I, and killed [U]three to five percent of the world's entire population.[/U][/B] They buried bodies standing up, packed in groups just to deal with the sheer amount of those who had succumbed to it. The Spanish Influenza was the worst pandemic since the plague. Even now, the Flu kills 30,000 people every year. Ebola has killed 4,000. Ebola [B]will[/B] kill people, yes, but it isn't going to kill the entire fucking world like you think. [B]Stop[/B] this fearmongering end-of-the-world bullshit because it's not like nothing's being done. Every fucking thread we have these holier-than-thou people who are so resolute in their clairvoyancy that bagazillions will die and nothing can be done. Gee fucking whilikers, I mean, it's not like we've been practicing and refining medicine and the containment of pandemics for longer than any living human has been alive, is it? This is ignoring the fact that people during the Plague thought that bad smells caused illness (to the point that plague doctors wore scented flowers and other natural substances in the 'beaks' of their masks) and were incapable of doing any kind of procedures. The Black Death [B]cannot[/B] happen again. Medicine is simply too advanced and the human populace is far more intelligent and informed by average now. It is simply impossible for the world to devolve into that kind of chaos. Christ, you people act like we're still living in hovels praying the local Lord won't defile your wife before beheading you while your son's out being gobbled whole by rogue packs of wolves while your neighbour's armpits devolve into turgid muck. The reason that so much terrible news about Ebola is spreading (lol) right now is because it makes a cunning and biting news narrative. The news loves nothing more than to peddle and parade stories of slow, sliding car-crash chaos to you. Why? because it enraptures you. It makes you read the paper they're peddling. It makes you click their headlines and it makes you glued to the screen. There's no NWO bollocks behind this, they just want to make money and keep perpetuating their existence regardless of whether or not they have to incite artificial panic in the process. It was the same case with Swine Flu. Swine Flu was a genuinely dangerous disease, yeah, but it wasn't the end of the world like the news made it out to be. Look at SARS. SARS was another fucking horrible and lethal disease. Did it kill the world, though? No. You're still sat here. Look at Avian Flu. Did that kill everyone? Well.. hold on, let me get my pulse watch. Suffice to say the only reason you're scared of Ebola right now is because that's exactly what sells newspapers. You being worried makes you want to stick to the same people who got you scared, the news, as you want to be alert and aware of what's going on with the big scary thing around the corner. Apply some critical thinking and don't take every headline and statistic of mortality as 100% truth. Apply history and think pragmatically instead of flailing around in terror like an immature duckling who's just seen a fox over the hill.[/QUOTE] Thank you. All of this Ebola deal has annoyed me since the start, and it doesn't help that people buy into this kind of fearmongering. We have to remember that we are talking about an illness that is not native to the rest of the world beside Africa, doesn't spread easily and if handled with care just vanishes. Hell, if this guys dies and there aren't any more infected, if they get rid of the body, you just got rid of Ebola in the US. For god's sake, tuberculosis has developed a natural resistance to antibiotics and if the misuse of them doesn't stop it will only get worse. It's easier to get and if it cannot be dealt with antibiotics, you're gonna have a real bad time. I'd be more scared of that than Ebola.

Just remember as of today in the US you are 2-3x more likely to die from a vending machine than from Ebola so be careful out there

It's sad to think that I have friends who read about those people who allegedly came back to life after dieing from Ebola, and they're excited because "FINALLY, the zombie apocalypse!". Then again they also really liked both Purge movies and wish the Purge was a real thing that happened. ...I need new friends.

[QUOTE=Drsalvador;46214055]words [/QUOTE] Jesus, you've hit the nail on this argument.

I say we quarantine Texas. Just physically saw it off from the US like Bugs Bunny did to Florida.

[QUOTE=Trogdon;46215217]Just remember as of today in the US you are 2-3x more likely to die from a vending machine than from Ebola so be careful out there[/QUOTE] This vending machine epidemic has gotten out of hand.

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;46215853]It's sad to think that I have friends who read about those people who allegedly came back to life after dieing from Ebola, and they're excited because "FINALLY, the zombie apocalypse!". Then again they also really liked both Purge movies and wish the Purge was a real thing that happened. ...I need new friends.[/QUOTE] The news outlets reporting that news title in one form or another are equally retarded. It's so clear they weren't dead to begin with.

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;46213426]Anyone with half a brain and the slightest amount of knowlege on the subject can, and will tell you that "oh shit we're fucked" is the furthest statement from the truth one could make on the subject.[/QUOTE] unless 'we' is africa, because they are very much fucked

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;46216483]They were fucked from the get go. Barely any medical infrastructure, piss poor public education on the issue, and pathetic responses from various governments have damned them to endure this.[/QUOTE] One thing that makes me mad about this though is the casual racism. Yes, it's an issue that Africa lacks infrastructure, but it isn't the direct fault of the general public there. It's not like they chose to be born there, or chose to be uneducated.

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;46216483]They were fucked from the get go. Barely any medical infrastructure, piss poor public education on the issue, and pathetic responses from various governments have damned them to endure this.[/QUOTE] This is all a direct result of the last 400 years of European/US foreign policy.

Honestly, I read "The Hot Zone" a few years ago and it's probably all you need to read to be well informed on this "epidemic" I'm pretty comforted by it, since it described the only instance of Ebola in the US as of the publication, which was in a monkey research facility near a kindergarten in northern Virginia (only a few miles from the capital of the country). One of the monkeys got Ebola, died, and spread it to a few other monkeys. This was likely a strain of the disease that managed to become airborne. And you know what the good folk at the CDC did? They euthanized the monkeys, evacuated the entire building, surrounded it with a big-ass tent a la E.T. and fumigated the entire building for a straight week with a gas that kills literally any living things. I think I can trust the CDC.

It was Ebola Reston, not Ebola Zaire and although it was airborne it doesn't infect humans. [editline]12th October 2014[/editline] Well actually it did infect some humans working at that facility, it's just that Ebola Reston wasn't pathogenic or lethal in humans.

[QUOTE=Mr._N;46217535]It was Ebola Reston, not Ebola Zaire and although it was airborne it doesn't infect humans. [editline]12th October 2014[/editline] Well actually it did infect some humans working at that facility, it's just that Ebola Reston wasn't pathogenic or lethal in humans.[/QUOTE] I kind of remember that... humans are just carriers, right? Like mosquitoes with malaria? So I guess that's even more reassuring, seeing as the CDC took such strong precautions toward a strain that wasn't even an immediate threat. Also, I didn't know the current outbreak was Ebola Zaire. I just kind of assumed it was a new strain.

I don't like this fear mongering. The article of that 'ebola zombie' which really was just someone who came out of unconsciousness is spreading beliefs that this is a zombie apocalypse.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/qEy6IT6.jpg[/t] apparently a picture of the area in front of the nurses house. Honestly, can you imagine how terrifying it is to have Ebola? Its an incredibly painful disease with a high mortality rate, and while she is more likely to survive since it was identified so early (mostly so they can keep her pumped full of fluids and maybe try experimental treatment) it still has to be positively [I]terrifying[/I]

[QUOTE=paindoc;46219471] Honestly, can you imagine how terrifying it is to have Ebola? Its an incredibly painful disease with a high mortality rate, and while she is more likely to survive since it was identified so early (mostly so they can keep her pumped full of fluids and maybe try experimental treatment) it still has to be positively [I]terrifying[/I][/QUOTE] Your entire body, entire brain, entire [i]life[/i] is becoming consumed by and converted into an army of sub-microscopic creatures. It's one of the most horrifying thoughts I could put in my head.

[QUOTE=angelangel;46215938]The news outlets reporting that news title in one form or another are equally retarded. It's so clear they weren't dead to begin with.[/QUOTE] "B-b-but mah fantasy of being able to shoot people I really really don't like! :c"

[QUOTE=RichyZ;46219897]this is all actually a big ruse to get you guys to want us to secede from the rest of the us gotcha suckers[/QUOTE] THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN

[QUOTE=TheTalon;46213637]Do you work for the CDC because you're underplaying what could be the deadliest pandemic since the plague. If you breathe in what someone who is symptomatic sneezes, if you grab a doorknob someone coughed on (For up to a few hours) or somehow come in contact with their blood (For up to a few DAYS) You catch it. It spreads the same way as the common cold, it just doesn't survive outside the body as long, and can survive as long if not longer than Flu viruses The only thing we have to fight against Ebola with is containment and A pair of rubber gloves and hoping everyone with it manages to cover their mouths 100% isn't containment. You can't fuck around with this shit.[/QUOTE] I have never met a human being who has less of an understanding of Ebola then you. Congratulations.

[QUOTE=Trogdon;46215217]Just remember as of today in the US you are 2-3x more likely to die from a vending machine than from Ebola so be careful out there[/QUOTE] this is why i stopped going outside and padded my bedroom walls

[QUOTE=.Lain;46226218]this is why i stopped going outside and padded my bedroom walls[/QUOTE] Not even going to tell you how many people die from padding a year