Ebola.Should we be worried?

Sambostar

Thing is, if it runs rife, we will lose many people, so will Africa.  Is that a bad thing?  Well depends on your point of view.  In Africa, the nutters, lone militia crazies out in remote areas and Voodoo doctors will probably survive as the decent people all get wiped out.  In the UK, we'll be left with severe agoraphobics, MP's and people on too fat or lazy to get off the sofa.  Not exactly the pick of the gene pool for starting the rebuilding of the human race is it?

Evilmags

A very palpable sense of outrage in Madrid. Of course Spain does not actually have category four facilities. The medical services were deeply cut instead of getting rid of politicians and patronage jobs. There is no way on earth that somebody with Ebola should have been flown here. The nurses were not contagious disease specialists and the people running Spain make UK public servants look like a cross between Stephen Hawking and Issac Newton. Countries like the UK and US have severe problems handling such dangers. Trusting Spain is insanity squared. This view is shared by many Spaniards.

Sambostar

In the turn of the 20th century eugenics, were not the Spanish race considered to be 56th least developed, with the Irish being 57th or least developed out of the world's races?

Evilmags

Not an expert on Eugenics, but Spain was an absolute mess at the turn of the century. Andalucía under Franco had the same level of development as Morocco's at that time. Spain was under a Catholic form of National Socialism known as the confessional state until 1976. Under the facade of a modern country there is still a lot of under development culturally combined with a desperate need to seem modern.

One legacy of Franco is fucking awful public services. Despite having more public servants for 47 million than the Us does for 250 million, public services are terrible. The management is shockingly bad and many institutions are not fit for purpose. Hence why the EU should have said "no fucking way" to having Ebola here.

RocknRollDave

I thought ebola was some kind of online cricket game.

Reverend

As bad as ebola is, how many people have died from flu in the same period?

Evilmags

Flu has a very high infection rate and has been known to kill one in a thousand if bad. Some ebola strains have a 90 percent kill rate

maw4neu

We're all fucked ! ! !  . . . . It could literally take just one of the Calais Campers to sneak into the country and life as we know it could change for the worse . . . That said, house prices in the South may drop a little :-)

suspiciousminds

Personally, i think there's more to this than meets the eye.
So much panic over something thats apparently passed via bodily fluids.
Sure i heard on the news that theyde put down the dog of the one in madrid - so is it passed by other animals

ICBM

Sambostar said:

In the turn of the 20th century eugenics, were not the Spanish race considered to be 56th least developed, with the Irish being 57th or least developed out of the world's races?

They obviously hadn't been to Lanarkshire or West Lothian then...

capo4th

It's coming and we are all fucked. We can't stop people coming in as it is how will anyone know if they are infected?

beed84

Call me selfish but I'll be worried when and if I end up in a hospital bed and the doctor says, "Sorry dude, you've caught ebola like Ash catches Pokemon."  Under the circumstances a doctor calling me 'dude' and using playful similes would cheer me up a bit.

Sambostar

ICBM said:

Sambostar said:

In the turn of the 20th century eugenics, were not the Spanish race considered to be 56th least developed, with the Irish being 57th or least developed out of the world's races?

They obviously hadn't been to Lanarkshire or West Lothian then...

I think West Lothian's were classed in the same bracket as the Celtic Irish, drawn on paper much so as they resembled monkeys.

axisus

suspiciousminds said:

Personally, i think there's more to this than meets the eye.
So much panic over something thats apparently passed via bodily fluids.
Sure i heard on the news that theyde put down the dog of the one in madrid - so is it passed by other animals

The thing to remember is always use a condom with your dog

Grunfeld

Ebola.  Yes, we should be worried.  IMO.

a)  cos it's a bit lethal.  A sniffle is not something to be worried about.  A deadly disease ought to be treated with total respect.  Like, say, a bloke with a gun at your head.  I'd be worried about that.
b)  cos germs don't give a sh*t about borders or politics.  Not at all.  History shows that to be the case.
c)  cos we, here, live somewhat densely.  The potential for... stuff to be worried about... seems sound.  Infection would spread rapidly.
d)  Human nature.  I remember working with a wonderful doctor who gave the total skinny on how to beat the noro virus.  It basically came down to wash your hands and use your loaf.  Could people be arsed?

So that's why I'm worried.

Bucket

sinbaadi said:

I am concerned that it will spread.  It just seems too difficult to contain it within the breakout areas of Africa.

But they have terrible, sometimes almost non-existent healthcare services. If it did spread here (which hopefully it won't, although it seems entirely possible) our health service would be far, far better equipped to deal with it.

hungrymark

ICBM;373459" said:

underdog said:

We could start looking to contain it by not bring people back to Europe for treatment when they are infected. Seems very stupid of the UK and Spain to have done this.





I think the reason the British chap who got it was flown back here - at great government expense in an RAF aircraft - was probably to give our top virologists access to a current live specimen, as well as to save his life. Porton Down (originally the MoD Microbiological Research Establishment, ie germ warfare) is working on it.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-29083955



I'm quite sure they'll get their funding if it looks like Ebola is a serious risk here.

Ebola already gets funding, live samples of the virus are already kept and studied at Porton down, and this isn't the first case of the disease in the UK. There have been lab accidents at Porton down in the past. Your analysis is a bit tinfoil hat.

hungrymark

There shouldn't be a panic about this disease in this country. It's fairly easy to contain because it's not airborne. In fact, standard hospital procedures are enough to prevent the spread of ebola, provided they are followed to the letter. The biohazard suits are a (justified, given the mortality) precaution rather than a strict necessity. We have an effective health care system and expertise in the management of virus outbreaks.

Getting technical, but epidemiologists give diseases an 'R0' value, which is the number of people an infected person is likely to themselves infect. HIV, for example, has an R0 value of about 3 (iirc), and is considered quite a difficult disease to contract (compare to measles, which is about 20 or something). Ebola has an R0 of 1.5.

It's spread in Africa because there is historic antipathy towards western influence (such as medical advice), primitive healthcare systems, and a population that tends to try and his symptoms rather than report them. Nigeria, the most advanced nation affected, and by far the most populous, has knocked out on the head pretty much. Provided you do things right, ebola is containable.

Reverend

The host animal is likely be a bat but monkeys have been found to get it?

luckily you'll not find bats or monkeys on sale in any shops in London.



Oh

ICBM

hungrymark said:

Ebola already gets funding, live samples of the virus are already kept and studied at Porton down, and this isn't the first case of the disease in the UK. There have been lab accidents at Porton down in the past. Your analysis is a bit tinfoil hat.

In what way? I don't think there's anything sinister about it. Win-win - the chap gets his life saved, the virologists get to look at him… maybe only to confirm what they already know, but still - I'd bet normal health insurance doesn't pay for you getting flown back to the UK by the RAF in a C17.