DescentBB

First US Ebola Patient Dies

Thomas A. Duncan, who became ill with Ebola after arriving from West Africa in Dallas two weeks ago, succumbed to the virus today (Sunday), reports Reuters. Duncan was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital on today after his condition worsened to critical, according to the director of the US Centers for Disease Control.

The Dallas hospital that admitted him did not recognize the deadly disease at first and sent him home, only for him to return two days later by ambulance.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/ ... DGvb_ldW0G

What's interesting is that NO other US media has reported this as of yet.

One wonders why...

Because it's the weekend.

I guarantee the NewsHour will have a report on Monday, they have been following this story from the beginning.

His death was unfortunate- but the real concern is if people he had contact with start developing symptoms.

His immediate family certainly had enough contact to possibly transmit the virus and if any of them were unlucky enough to catch it, they will start showing signs within a days (if not already) since the incubation period is 7 days on average with a max time period of 21 days.

The ambulance crew had no idea he had ebola though they were warned to use protective gear by a woman that lived with Duncan (the original patient.)

ThunderBunny wrote:What's interesting is that NO other US media has reported this as of yet.

One wonders why...

Not true. it was in the papers today.

I feel sorry for him and his family. How long did he have it before he began treatment? I thought we had the ability to stop it from becoming a death sentance if it was detected early enough and it wasn't possible to get a flight or be released from a hospital if you had the disease.

The official word on our ability to save those infected is losing credibility.

There's at least the chance to have someone pull through if they receive modern medical care, but even with that experimental serum used on the first aid worker brought back over here, it's entirely a crap-shoot. There's no guaranteed treatment for ebola, much less a vaccine, so about the only thing you can do is aggressively treat the symptoms and hope the patient is strong enough to fight it off. There are a couple of experimental vaccine projects out there, and our best hope to fight off the disease in the parts of the world where it's so widespread is to have one or more of those pan out.

Really, the bottom line is that there's little to no chance for a disease like ebola to turn into a widespread epidemic in a first-world country. The virus isn't airborne like influenza, and can only be transmitted via personal contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, which would limit transmission here to close family members and any medical staff taking insufficient precautions. It's only because of the unsanitary living conditions for most people in western Africa that this outbreak has hit them so hard.

ThunderBunny wrote:

First US Ebola Patient Dies

Thomas A. Duncan, who became ill with Ebola after arriving from West Africa in Dallas two weeks ago, succumbed to the virus today (Sunday), reports Reuters. Duncan was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital on today after his condition worsened to critical, according to the director of the US Centers for Disease Control.

The Dallas hospital that admitted him did not recognize the deadly disease at first and sent him home, only for him to return two days later by ambulance.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/ ... DGvb_ldW0G

What's interesting is that NO other US media has reported this as of yet.

One wonders why...

Because it hasn't happened yet? They credit Reuters, but the reuters.com front page reports that he is still "struggling to survive."

Top Gun wrote:Really, the bottom line is that there's little to no chance for a disease like ebola to turn into a widespread epidemic in a first-world country. The virus isn't airborne like influenza, and can only be transmitted via personal contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, which would limit transmission here to close family members and any medical staff taking insufficient precautions. It's only because of the unsanitary living conditions for most people in western Africa that this outbreak has hit them so hard.

Riiiight…that’s why they were originally tracking down up to 100 people he had contact with. (but have since narrowed it down to 50)

Jeff250 wrote:

ThunderBunny wrote:

First US Ebola Patient Dies

...
What's interesting is that NO other US media has reported this as of yet.

Because it hasn't happened yet? They credit Reuters, but the reuters.com front page reports that he is still "struggling to survive."

...and as of an hour ago, he's still alive, according to multiple sources.

Yeah, nowhere can I find that Duncan has actually died. All the news this morning has said that he's critical, on a ventilator and kidney dialysis. But if he's got kidney failure, his organs are failing.

What I find distressing is all the constant news outlets going all scaremongery over this like it's the end of the world, an yet more people die from traffic deaths and the flu, or even lack of medical insurance and care, than Ebola. And none of these media outlets even mentions the airborne but currently non-lethal to humans Ebola Reston may have spread all over the U.S. by now.

What's also shameful is that when HIV started killing people in the 1980's, neither President Reagan nor the news outlets, even rated this bug as a serious national health threat because it only killed those evil gays and drug users. HIV has killed over 36 million people in world since it started. Ebola, less than 5000, and that is mostly in Africa. Nothing like this current fear-mongering over Ebola.

people wont get in a panic about automobile deaths because there is some self control over the risk and there is a benefit to automobiles...
Not a good comparison.

As for aids a lot of people thought it wasn't going to get them because they aren't involved with the infected group in a way that it could get to them.

So the media needs a scarier demon to profit from than one most people think they understand, have some control over and wont get them.

Well, the HIV variant over in Africa is mostly transmitted by heterosexuals. That's not a specialized group. And the illusion of self-control is just that, an illusion. But you're right, the media needs a scare story to boost it's stupid ratings and Ebola fits the bill. I'm going to just turn off the TV now.

Spidey wrote:

Top Gun wrote:Really, the bottom line is that there's little to no chance for a disease like ebola to turn into a widespread epidemic in a first-world country. The virus isn't airborne like influenza, and can only be transmitted via personal contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, which would limit transmission here to close family members and any medical staff taking insufficient precautions. It's only because of the unsanitary living conditions for most people in western Africa that this outbreak has hit them so hard.

Riiiight…that’s why they were originally tracking down up to 100 people he had contact with. (but have since narrowed it down to 50)

They were tracking those people down to make sure they hadn't come into contact with his bodily fluids. So long as they didn't, they wouldn't be in any danger.

the level of media-generated, uniformed panic over the Ebola outbreak is disheartening. One would have hoped that more people would avail themselves of the information around period of contagion, nature of contact required, viability of virus under common conditions in the Western world, etc, etc. The same panicked souls won't even notice the annual flu outbreak, which will kill several THOUSAND more people in the US this year than Ebola over the next ten years.

What I wonder is why are a small minority of these doctors and assistants, all covered in protective gear, still catching this bug? It must be one tough little booger to survive outside the body on some surface or another for a short while. And now someone OUTSIDE of Africa, in Spain, has caught this thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/health/eb ... index.html

wow, one person. One person who was directly in contact with a few patients. One has no clue what precautions the nurse did or did not take within what window. Still it is ONE FREAKING PERSON. Perspective, please.

I know! But where did the contact happen even after taking precautions? It'd be nice to know what the failure was.

then,we have THIS possibility. Geez, you can't make this stuff up!!
http://christwire.org/2014/08/obama-is- ... -darkness/


well, actually, you CAN.......this is a satirical website.

I'm serious. If these people had on all sorts of bio-hazard protection, what failed in what part of the sanitation process allowed these workers to contract ebola? That's something that needs to be figured out so it won't happen again. Sloppy procedures.

tunnelcat wrote:I'm serious. If these people had on all sorts of bio-hazard protection, what failed in what part of the sanitation process allowed these workers to contract ebola? That's something that needs to be figured out so it won't happen again. Sloppy procedures.

sloppy procedures are to blame.

No…it’s the nature of the beast.

Unless you assume that the patient has Ebola, which can’t be the case, because the symptoms are pretty common (at first) someone is bound to touch them.

If a patient fails to disclose they were in an infected area before getting sick, there is no way to assume they have Ebola.

In the infected areas, everyone is presumed to have Ebola first…but here in the states, that is not the case.

So unless every single medical care giver starts wearing protective garb, and assuming everyone with a fever may have Ebola…..

Of course we could always start tattooing the foreheads of all people coming from overseas.

Spidey wrote:No…it’s the nature of the beast.


If a patient fails to disclose they were in an infected area before getting sick, there is no way to assume they have Ebola.

There's no if in this case, because the guy in question told the nurse where he came from.

patient apparently has passed, this morning. So, we can just view TB as prescient......or not.

doesn't matter, now they have an apparent second case that had contact with the man that died.

guess there is "NO CHANCE" this will spread

yea, a guy in San Francisco. So how many others besides these two are out there right now 'not likely to be infecting' others I wonder?

you may wish to spend FAR more time worrying about the current strain of Enterovirus. At least, if you have kids under the age of 10, or have respiritory issues.

CUDA wrote:doesn't matter, now they have an apparent second case that had contact with the man that died.

guess there is "NO CHANCE" this will spread

given the fact that the virus spreads via contact with bodily fluids... if they didn't touch the patient while they were sweating, then I'd start questioning their hygiene... and their oddities.

the second victim was a cop that got sent in without protective gear into the first victims home, complete with soiled bedding, etc, with loads of potential for fluid contact.

Dog bites.Dog bites.

or this, vision:
http://www.delawareonline.com/longform/ ... /15276353/

Yea, I guess gun deaths and Ebola have some weird fear factor involved…because it sure is true, that they are the only ones people get all upset about.

40,000 people kill themselves…

Umpteen people die on the road…

A mother drowns 3 kids…

Many people stabbed to death…

Someone sets someone on fire…

Yawn…

Someone is shot OMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spidey wrote:... Of course we could always start tattooing the foreheads of all people coming from overseas.

BLACK MARKET exotic animals in the United States is second only to drug trafficking. Each year in the United States illegally imported hundreds of millions of wild animals from other countries.
What are you talking...
Add: And the most conservative estimates of statistics, every year more than 500 Americans die from the incurable virus that smugglers brought together with wild animals. Although I think that a lot more victims, just the media is not allowed to publish such information. And, given that the United States is located in the tropical zone, the risk of the spread of viruses from Africa is very high.

Yep. Apparently imported animals can be a source of ebola too. Hmmm. Maybe this issue will finally stop illegal imported animal trade to the U.S.

callmeslick wrote:sloppy procedures are to blame.

Well, how sloppy? I gather one can't get ebola through skin to skin contact, so that means that AFTER they've taken off their protective garb, they're either then touching that garb on the outside and then touching their mouths, nose or eyes, or walking on infected material, then touching their shoes and transferring it to some mucus membrane on themselves? That's being pretty darn stupid with an organism this hot. What happened to washing hands when touching ANYTHING suspect, even your shoes?

Saw something this morning that made me think too. Remember those old tuberculosis laws that outlawed spitting on the ground? It took the fear of getting tuberculosis to get that gross practice to stop years ago. Seems to have gone by the wayside hasn't it? There's many a time I've had to look and to dodge someone's lugie or tobacco spit wad on the ground anymore in some store parking lot. Humans get diseases because they're to casual about where and how they dispose of their bodily fluids in the public environment, like spit or even sneezes.

sigma wrote:Each year in the United States illegally imported hundreds of millions of wild animals from other countries.

Do you mean "hundreds or millions"? Because "hundreds of millions" would mean at least 100,000,000 imported wild animals every year. (There are less than 80 million families in the US, so that would mean something like every family in the US importing at least one wild animal every year, ha!)

sigma wrote:...the United States is located in the tropical zone...

No, it's not.

Spidey wrote:Yea, I guess gun deaths and Ebola have some weird fear factor involved…because it sure is true, that they are the only ones people get all upset about.

40,000 people kill themselves…

Umpteen people die on the road…

A mother drowns 3 kids…

Many people stabbed to death…

Someone sets someone on fire…

Yawn…

Someone is shot OMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is about control, suicide, driving, etc, people are in control when these happen. Ebola and gun violence are generally out of someone's control, thus they get all the attention even though they are considerably less deadly than stuff where people feel like they are in control (even if that control is mostly an illusion).

Foil wrote:

sigma wrote:Each year in the United States illegally imported hundreds of millions of wild animals from other countries.

Do you mean "hundreds or millions"? Because "hundreds of millions" would mean at least 100,000,000 imported wild animals every year. (There are less than 80 million families in the US, so that would mean something like every family in the US importing at least one wild animal every year, ha!)

sigma wrote:...the United States is located in the tropical zone...

No, it's not.

As you think, hundreds or millions? Given that the amount of illegal trade market in exotic animals in the United States in excess of $ 10 billion?
But you must admit, the tropics and subtropics is almost the same.
Is not the point. The idea that American children interact with the animals in the petting zoo.
The idea that America's wild animals can communicate with wild animals brought from Africa. Even two or three cases it is enough for the epidemic.

sigma wrote:...the amount of illegal trade market in exotic animals in the United States in excess of $ 10 billion...

10 billion? Where are you getting that number? ...Ah, I see. You got it from the Wikipedia page or perhaps the Humane Society page.

That number is worldwide, sigma, not just the US. And back to my point, it certainly doesn't translate to 100,000,000 animals per year in the US (which again, would be more than one illegal animal per year for every single US family).

Foil wrote:

sigma wrote:...the amount of illegal trade market in exotic animals in the United States in excess of $ 10 billion...

10 billion? Where are you getting that number?

You are too competent doubt the information provided... You know the exact information about this business? If it is related to your work, please do not hide. I think we all would like to know the information from the first source.

Jeff250 wrote: He already linked to his sources. Now it's time that you provide yours.

CUDA wrote:AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Good one Jeff, Sigma doesn't provide sources.

Spidey wrote:Sources HA!
He don't need no estinkin sources!

Foil, I respect the opinion of your maidservants, but still, I would like to hear your response

sigma wrote:I think we all would like to know the information from the first source.

He already linked to his sources. Now it's time that you provide yours.

Jeff250 wrote:

sigma wrote:I think we all would like to know the information from the first source.

He already linked to his sources. Now it's time that you provide yours.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


Good one Jeff, Sigma doesn't provide sources.