I can’t help but be happy…
…at this news.
Welcome back from the valley of death. We still don’t know if the experimental drug worked, though.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
…at this news.
Welcome back from the valley of death. We still don’t know if the experimental drug worked, though.
Ascension Island needs to be opened up for ebola treatment.
For it is still true: the First World can’t let this nightmare loose upon the transport nodes of the world.
I would immediately shut down all air links to the contagion zone. We just can’t tolerate a break out. No-one should be permitted to travel there.
Unlike West Africa, any First World victim is sure to pass on ebola to a staggering chain of human vectors.
The way we are handling this threat, a pandemic is just around the corner.
The West thought that they had pestilence well in hand circa 1346. By 1348 it was obvious that not only did the Black Death kill — it killed doctors, priests and nurses preferentially.
Ebola + 0-care = pandemic and social reset.
Things are really that serious.
BTW, the drugs they required are costly and not yet remotely produced in the volume required for the need.
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Early on during the Black Death, health workers positively sought out to treat the ill. The result was that the contagion was hyper-accelerated back to their home communities.
BTW, the hospital practices of the Black Africans are a farce. They are using total isolation suits as if they are mere ‘hoodies.’ Because of the heat and humidity, the Africans stay UNZIPPED.
Consequently, any isolation suits sent to them are totally wasted.
Flies are an endemic problem in West Africa. They are VERY likely the secondary vector for ebola — just as fleas brought the Black Death from rats to man.
Containment is obviously lost in West Africa. I fully expect the contagion to spread across all of Black Africa — because of the weather and the flies.
Trillions of flies assure us that ebola will jolt through Africa.
I will be amazed if ebola does not kill more than 100,000,000 souls in the next 20 months. Indeed, I may prove to be an optimist.
blert,
I am of the same opinion. This is a panademic in the making. In many ways our response or lack thereof to the ebola menace is much like our response to islam, we willfully refuse to acknowledge the extent of the threat and instead respond in a half assed manner.
The thing that has me worried the most is the certainty with which I hear the doctors who are interviewed speak.
When I hear a unanimous concurrence about anything like this, I’m usually skeptical. Nothing is certain, but from listening to the TV doctors on all media outlets, it sounds like “trust us, we know what we’re doing”.
I’ve had a couple of botched surgeries which resulted in severe internal bleeding, but was of course assured the procedures were low risk and fairly routine. Afterward, there was nothing but ass-covering amongst colleagues and lots of excuses. So my trust for the medical community’s reassurances is not what it once was — they’re fallible like everyone else. Accidents happen, but nobody seems to be considering that possibility.
Blert does bring up a good point – direct contact with bodily fluids isn’t the only way the disease might spread – there are critters that can assist. I never heard it mentioned or considered anywhere, which is also something to consider.
Their overconfidence what bothers me. I’d feel a lot better if one or two doctors would say we need to be very, very carefull about what we’re doing, who’s doing it, and so on, but I’ve heard things like “most major hospitals in the US can safely treat people with this”.
I have a close relative who works in a hospital in the medical profession, and from what I have heard over the years, there are all kinds of opportunities for mistakes and lapses of judgment, and they occur frequently.
“I will be amazed if ebola does not kill more than 100,000,000 souls in the next 20 months. Indeed, I may prove to be an optimist.”
April 21, 2016 – come back on that day and give us an update. I’ll be waiting. I expect you’ll man up and admit you were wrong if that’s the case just as equally as you will crow if you are right. Right?
I used to live in Liberia. I don’t remember a lot of flies and I spent lots of time sitting outdoors. I doubt some big fly army is rampaging through Liberia. Mosquitos, on the other hand…
My bet is the toll won’t go above 10,000. But time will tell. In any event, the plague analogy is pretty weak since there was no understanding of the concept of infectious disease back then. I expect a disease like the Spanish flu, freely transmissible by air, will be much more devastating than Ebola if it ever gets loose again.