outbreak! (ebola, sars, etc)

every time this stuff gets in the news i have an anxiety attack just reading about it

do you think we're all going to die of a plague, soon?

I watched Contagion 2x in a row on a recent intercontinental flight and within 24 hours of landing I was sicker than I can ever remember being.

-Peter

that was a scary one because you know that's exactly how it's going to go down, too

my dad is of the opinion that we're all gonna drop dead from mad cow disease eventually from a lifetime of pink slime exposure

Ebola in Uganda, new flu killing East Coast seals...

Who the HECK would choose Contagion for in-flight programming???

-Peter

There is still this other side of me that wishes I'd embarked on one of my many fig tree dream careers of epidemiologist. I really get a kick form this kind of thing. Someday we will all be dead.

So how worried should we be now, anyway.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/25/us-heath-ebola-nigeria-idUSKBN0FU1LE20140725

Fanning flames, paranoia: http://www.sfgate.com/news/medical/article/New-fears-about-Ebola-spread-after-plane-scare-5651721.php

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — No one knows for sure just how many people Patrick Sawyer came into contact with the day he boarded a flight in Liberia, had a stopover in Ghana, changed planes in Togo, and then arrived in Nigeria, where authorities say he died days later from Ebola, one of the deadliest diseases known to man.

Now health workers are scrambling to trace those who may have been exposed to Sawyer across West Africa, including flight attendants and fellow passengers.

Health experts say it is unlikely he could have infected others with the virus that can cause victims to bleed from the eyes, mouth and ears. Still, unsettling questions remain: How could a man whose sister recently died from Ebola manage to board a plane leaving the country? And worse: Could Ebola become the latest disease to be spread by international air travel?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ebola-virus-top-sierra-leone-doctor-shek-umar-dies-of-disease-9636406.html

Sierra Leone's top virologist has died in the current outbreak.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/health/patient-at-mount-sinai-has-ebola-like-symptoms-hospital-says.html

This is terrible, reports of hospitals shutting their doors, infected rotting corpses in the streets and ebola nurses downing tools after not getting paid measly $30 a week risk money pledged by the Sierra Leone gvt. Conditions described as "medieval" in parts where the health system has totally collapsed.

i heard a woman talking on the radio about it the other day and she was not holding back about how grim it was -- she was a reporter but i don't remember her name
she used the same analogy, like it was medieval in terms of what people believe about medicine as well as the degree to which people receive/shun medical care when they need it

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

i should probably get a flu shot tho :/

same chronic illness as crut but i am not on that drug, however I no longer have a spleen so I'm kinda worried for that reason

AIUI asplenic means an immune deficit vs bacteria but not vs viruses, so my big achilles heel would be a secondary infection. Have been given pneumovac recently.

I am not at risk of dying from it AFAIK, so catching it and getting quarantined could be fun actually

Being sick always sounds fun until the exact moment you realize you’re sick, ime

I just want to be able to credibly wear my ASK ME ABOUT MY CORONAVIRUS shirt

What if the real coronavirus was the friends we made along the way?

xp where can I buy these?

my DEFINITELY NOT INFECTED WITH THE CORONAVIRUS t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by etc

Get a custom printed tee.

Relevant:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/27/21155937/coronavirus-merch-shirts-amazon-etsy

hmm im prob an at-risk meself after the 2015 black lung

still if i go, i go

sorry guys, turns out coronavirus is just a hoax to make trump look bad and generally nbd, how silly we were to get so carried away.

Mick Mulvaney: Coronavirus is an anti-Trump hoax. Get over it. #TrumpVirus #TrumpCrash pic.twitter.com/DczCiGL9vB

— Nancy Levine 🌊Vote.org (@nancylevine) February 28, 2020

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to “stand down” and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus.

Garamendi told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci canceled the appearances after Vice President Pence took over the administration’s response to the disease.

“I can repeat what he said, he said, ‘I was not muzzled. However, I was to go on the Sunday talk shows, five of them. The vice president’s office then took over the control of this situation, and told me to stand down, not to do those shows,'” Garamendi said, quoting Fauci.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/485147-rep-garamendi-nih-director-fauci-cancelled-on-five-sunday-talk-shows-after

what's particularly sad/dangerous about that is that Fauci is one of the few people related to this in the administration that actually knows what they're talking about

I wasn't sure exactly what dick-trippery would be involved, but I had a very strong feeling Trump would be directly involved in ensuring his one-term status. It's just deeply unfortunate that it has to be at the expense of public health and quite possibly a number of lives.

this is the shit that pretty much makes it impossible to laugh at this administration, cos nothing about this is funny at all.

completely normal behavior for a democratic Republic. nothing to see here.

I think I have washed my hands about ten times already today. I am really enjoying the fingertips and thumb washing parts from the video I watched.

hand washing is hot, not gonna lie

Stephen Miller’s new wife, Katie Miller, is in charge of approving all coronavirus communications.https://t.co/Ojg3WWK9bh

— Travis Akers🩸🦷 (@travisakers) February 28, 2020

shocking right? who would marry such an unlikeable freak

Food-service for (terrifying) thought thread, via j0hnd

I am not an expert in immunology - I follow doctors for that.

But I did spend 9 years as a manager at a pizza place that paid better than average wages for food service.

And I am terrified of #COVID19.

Not because the virus is going to kill people, but because poverty might. / pic.twitter.com/SNke4cD3dW

— Do not Thump the Book of G'Nome (@NomeDaBarbarian) February 27, 2020

Judging by China, a wider epidemic would be boom-times for food delivery. Just hope the drivers sterilize their tips in Everclear.

Food-service for (terrifying) thought thread, via j0hnd

🐦[I am not an expert in immunology - I follow doctors for that.

But I did spend 9 years as a manager at a pizza place that paid better than average wages for food service.

And I am terrified of #COVID19🕸.

Not because the virus is going to kill people, but because poverty might. / pic.twitter.com/SNke4cD3dW🕸
— Do not Thump the Book of G’Nome (@NomeDaBarbarian) February 27, 2020🕸]🐦

NomeDaBarbarian is right that any disruption of working people's wages will drive many of them straight from hand-to-mouth mode to deeply impoverished and at risk of hunger. The big cut in the number of people who can qualify for food stamps that started on Jan. 1 this year won't help, either. Which reminds me, it's about time to write another check to the local food bank network.

But NomeDaBarbarian is wrong to imply that the COVID-19 virus won't kill people. It will.

He didn't say it won't; he said that's not why he's terrified.

amazon is sold out of hand sanitizer

(i know this because so is my local target)

(and my local target is also sold out of canned tuna)

steal some from work

does anyone have news about Joey Corona

I was in a meeting yesterday and through the window of the meeting room I saw cleaning staff casually wipe down the outside handle of the door as they went past

New ting

@washingtonpost

Trump officials discuss tax cuts and other emergency measures in hopes of tackling the coronavirus fallout.

incredible

Joey Corona is doin' ok.

The US govt charged this man $2200 to be mandatory evacuated from Wuhan to Pennsylvania, meanwhile his wife could not come with him and their daughter due to VISA issues and has likely contracted the virus (pneumonia symptoms):

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wuhan-corona-virus

(comments are saying he's a MAGA grifter so YMMV)

rumors this morning at my santa clara HQ that someone in the building had it, email from management saying they'd heard nothing official, then 5 hours later: "second case in california found in santa clara county".

Yikes. What’s the reaction been, since then?

this inspires a lot of confidence

Prior to today’s press conference on Maryland’s preparedness measures, I spoke to @VP Pence, who is leading the federal response to coronavirus. As a former governor, he understands the importance of a coordinated response & we agreed to keep in close contact in the weeks ahead. pic.twitter.com/fmYzurPCR0

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 27, 2020

i'm remote and mostly WFH (A+ move generally) so i dunno!

i want to stay "take care and good luck" without it seeming overly doomy. but hopefully you know what i mean

want to stay

new case of unknown origin confirmed in oregon GREAT

it was bound to happen. it's a thing we'll have to get used to.

just spent the day in a packed convention center, now we play the waiting game

amazon is sold out of hand sanitizer

(i know this because so is my local target)

It’s almost as if concentrating all of America’s retail into a tiny handful of firms was a bad idea

Also sold out here unless you're willing to dish out 70 quid for 6 x 60ml bottles of Purell.

Not as convenient as buying new plastic bottles but the active ingredient is rubbing alcohol. Dunno why people don't just use that. Counterintuitively, 90% is less effective at killing germs than 70% fwiw

Rubbing alcohol corrodes your skin if you use it too often, no?

“Don’t make your own” say these bleeding-heart liberals.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/28/hand-sanitiser-or-hand-washing-which-more-effective-against-coronavirus-covid-19

5 litre bottle of Carex for £15 on Amazon (only 13 left though!)

Thx, stet that is informative. Handwashing and drying properly is a rarity and always key.

I guess that's a fair point, pomenitul. Lotion?
xxpost

Peeps be overreactin’

Tonight I need your sweet Carex
Hold me in the darkness