To be getting concerned about Ebola?

[Meh84]

Do you think it would reach the UK?

Everyday I'm reading more and more stories, and some of the front papers today suggest it might happen.

I'm actually feeling really worried about this right now....anyone else?

[ExcuseTypos]

I just went on the DM ot have a look, so you don't have to

It's the top story with 3 other Articles about it.
It's so fucking irresponsible, scaremongering at its worst.

[Anewmeanewname]

Yes, I've just had a look at the Mail Online and - low and behold - lots of stories about Ebola yet Gaza/Israel is nowhere to be seem. Interesting.

[Mostlyjustaluker]

Lucid lady that man was planning on travelling to the USA but he did not board a plan which was bound to the USA. There is no way he can spread the diseases by think about getting on plane.

[Numanoid]

In reality, there is simply no risk to the UK population.

Just because it doesn't affect us, doesn't mean it shouldn't be a concern. It affects other human beings, I would hope the government and humanitarian charities would be contributing to getting medical aid out to the affected places.

[innogen75]

Yanbu I am getting very concerned.

I realise they say it is hard to catch but in the same breath they say it is highly contagious. Why have so many of the doctors treating the infected succumbed despite the protective suits?

I think its just a matter of time before it gets here to be honest and I for one will be home educating if that happens. I dont trust young kids with hygiene. Its not worth the risk.

[MTWTFSS]

YANBU. I just pray the people in charge know what they are doing!!!

[Nancy66]

Anewmean - don't know where you were looking there are currently 5 stories on Mailonline main page about Gaza

[externalwallinsulation]

innogen - Please try not to worry. In answer to your question about why doctors are catching it, I think you underestimate how very messy medicine is at times! Those doctors are in environments where there are bodily fluids all over the place. Even with suits and lots of handwashing, they are at very much higher risk than the general population.

'Contagiousness' is a bit of a meaningless concept, one of those journalist shorthands that actually creates confusion and panic rather than clearing it up. It's not a word used much by epidemiologists: they prefer to define disease in more precise terms, like prevalence (the number of people infected at a time, which is very low for Ebola), transmissibility (how easy it is to catch, in Ebola's case, not that easy - it means exchange of bodily fluids) and virulence (the ability of the virus to replicate in tissue in a particular case, which is quite high for Ebola). Basically, this is a very rare disease that is quite hard to catch in normal circumstances, but nasty if do you get it. As I posted on another thread, please bear in mind that since records began there have only been 2,500 deaths from Ebola, whereas there are 500,000 a YEAR from your 'bogstandard' flu.

[Thurlow]

I have to read all the newspapers every morning for work and the different takes on the ebola story were fascinating. DM scaremongering it to high hell, broadsheets being much more practical.

It is a worry as it seems to be a very large outbreak - but unless it mutates to become airborne, which is very unlikely, then countries with good healthcare systems are well set up to contain the virus. The Telegraph had a good article about it today. It's only highly contagious through bodily fluids, and the UK healthcare authorities are on alert for it, so they can easily quarantine people if they are worried.

[Mammuzza]

DM scaremongering it to high hell

^^That.

So nice of the to lead with a map where they have coloured Italy pink... and then failed to mention the country again in the article.

[Stratter5]

The DM's coverage is appallingly irresponsible. Also, full of factual errors, and contradicting themselves; in one article, one of the infected US doctors is 'gravely ill', yet in another article he is sitting up in bed, working on his laptop.

The articles on the suspected UK cases are misleading, the titles read as if they actually have Ebola, the write up then confirms that they do not have the virus. And don't get me started on the bloody HK headlines. Follow the links at end of the articles, and the DM is running at least 8 separate stories, FFS.

[tigermoll]

Numanoid, you're absolutely right - just because it's not in the UK doesn't mean it's not important. I just meant that a UK based person doesn't have to be scared of catching it.

[Suzannewithaplan]

Afaik in order for the disease to become endemic there needs to be an animal host to act as a reservoir.

In Africa fruit bats are the reservoir, same goes for plague, it persists in some countries because it is carried by certain rodents and occasionally jumps into humans.

'successful' diseases don't kill their hosts, they adapt to live in symbiosis with them.

[FrankelandFilly]

Article about US Ebola victim

Quote: "Sawyer said she and her husband were born in Liberia and that both immigrated to the United States and became citizens. Patrick Sawyer returned to Liberia in 2008 to work in the economic development sector, she said, and came home to visit every few months. But she hadn’t seen him for more than a year."