AIBU to think my son should not see his friend for three weeks.. EBOLA?

[fluffyduffydoo]

My son came back from the doctors and said there is a big notice on the door stating if you feel unwell and have been to Africa or in contact with any one who has travelled to Africa recently please do not enter the surgery but ring the bell and report


Hs best friend has spent the summer in Africa and neither of us thought anything until this message on the GP site


Is the GP scaremongerging or is it a genuine risk and he should wait a few weeks before meeting up with his friend?

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Africa's quite big. Where abouts in Africa?

[VerityWaves]

Why would the GP scaremonger? I would wait more than 3 weeks personally but I am a wuss.

[GalaxyInMyPants]

Africa is a huge place. Unless the friend has been in the middle of one of the areas where there's an outbreak, and has been nursing the sick or moving bodies then I think there's no need to worry.

[RainbowB7]

Really silly message from the surgery IMO. "Africa" Most African countries have had no issue with this whatsoever. Where was his friend?

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

So is this sign on the gps door, or the website?
In any case I imagine it's one of those standard posters that go up when there is a rare but dreadful outbreak of something.

[EmpressOfBedlam]

if you feel unwell would be the bit I would be wary of. Otherwise, not really.

[fluffyduffydoo]

No it's on their door

It says west Africa

[EarthWindFire]

Where in Africa was his friend?

[AgentZigzag]

Assuming you're talking about a doctors in the UK, it sounds as though they're scaremongering a bit.

Unless 'they' know something that hasn't been released to the public, there hasn't been a case of it here so why act as though it's rampant and everyone's a risk?

[fluffyduffydoo]

His friend was in Nigeria an Labia

[fluffyduffydoo]

Libya

[EllaFitzgerald]

Liberia? Is his friend feeling poorly?

[fluffyduffydoo]

No his friend is fine , it's just the doctors notice that threw him slightly

[Tikimon]

Labia huh? Oh dear, you probably should keep him away, and not for the reasons you think.

He's probably fine, but just to be safe maybe introduce them to some fun online games they can play together. :)

[nooka]

This sounds like a fairly sensible precaution assuming that you live in an area where there are lots of people who have close connections to West Africa. People should only be visiting the doctor if they are feeling unwell, and someone who is unwell and has recently visited or been in contact with someone who has visited Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia might possibly potentially have Ebola, in which case the doctor will be instigating infection control procedures. It is a fairly remote possibility however.

So where has the friend visited, and is he/she unwell? It's worth remembering that Ebola although very scary is not in general highly infectious requiring direct contact with infected materials or fluids. I doubt very much that schools for example will be requiring anyone who has been to West Africa in the holidays to stay home.

www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

[GaryShitpeas]

No idea but this Ebola thing seriously shits me up big time

[MrsBoldon]

Ebola should genuinely be the last thing to worry about for anyone in the UK.

Really. I hate that people are getting so worried about this.

[OhYouBadBadKrillitane]

I'm pretty sure that if such a notice were required it would be recommended by the HPA. To my knowledge they've issued no such recommendation.

There really is no need to stigmatise your ds's friend. He won't have ebola. There are only 14 reported cases in Nigeria. None in Libya.

[scaevola]

I think there's a difference between what a GP might have been told to be alert for: sudden onset severe illness? Check if patent has visited certain W African countries (a bit like: off season flu like symptoms? Check if patient has visited malarial areas).

And at surgery door - preventing someone in the narrow window of still upright but contagious from entering - has a logic.

But not one that necessarily transfers to any other scenario.

Though of course everyon worries about heir DC. When exactly was your DS's friend in Nigeria, and where? Before or after Libya? Actually, given latest news from Libya, that was probably the more dangerous part of his summer.

[GaryShitpeas]

I know mrsboldon

But I reckon it's only a matter of time before someone ends up with it in England

And it's just so awful all these poor people who have lost their lives and people who have lost loved ones

[MrsBoldon]

It is an extremely inefficient virus. It's been around for forty years and there's an outbreak every so often in West Africa which kills a few hundred people. It is not the stuff of pandemics.

Many, many more people are killed by lightening every year.

It's the media making everyone panic again. Same as they did with bird flu and SARS.

[MrsCampbellBlack]

We've already had email from medical officer at school warning us about ebola and asking that anyone who has been to certain parts of Africa contacts the school prior to returning.

[Frontier]

Surely the key is if your are unwell and have been in or in contact with someone who's been in W. Africa.

So, if your son's friend isn't unwell there no need to avoid him.

OTOH, it is very scary. I think the nature of the death bothers means it me more than things like the panic over bird flu did.

The bodily fluids thing bothers me too. If it's so difficult to catch, why is it so virulent and why are doctors, presumably well aware of how it's spread and how to protect themselves catching it?

[nooka]

This outbreak is very different though MrsBolden, usually outbreaks are fairly easily quarantined and burn out fairly fast leaving a few devastated villages. This one has got into much more populated areas in three different countries and has killed over a thousand people with little signs of abating.

That doesn't mean that I think people in far away countries should be panicking. With the right infection control practices in place spread should be very limited. I think it's scary because people imagine that everything can be cured now so something with such a high mortality rate feels out of control.

[MrsBoldon]

Catching Ebola in the UK is so, so far down the worry list. Behind electric shocks from toasters, sting rays, bees, ....