to be a little bit nervous about the Ebola patient coming to UK?

[Frontier]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28919831

Obviously he needs to come home and I'm sure all the right isolation procedures are being followed. I really hope he makes a full and speedy recovery and I am in awe of the people who will be caring for him but.....

No, I agree, you couldn't look after an Ebola infected person safely at home.
Full barrier nursing would be required - I think they even have negative air pressure where this person is going.

Norovirus is a real fecker and antibacterial hand gels don't kill it - peeps, WASH YOUR HANDS.
Sorry for shouting. Favourite bugbear of mine.

I felt uneasy at the fact that a patient with Ebola is now in this country. It was late when I saw it on the news. I felt scared.

But thinking about it logically, health organizations knew that individual was ill, and he was returned to the UK using all necessary precautions (as far as I could gather). It is upsetting to think that so many people in W. Africa have not had access to that type of care; this has been a factor in it spreading, as well as other factors. I'm going off topic a little, but you know what I mean.

What I'm finding very frightening is that the city where we live relatively close to has universities which are expecting an intake of students from the affected region ready for the new academic year. This is info from a local newspaper.

The universities are being instructed on how to identify symptoms and how to deal with an outbreak.

But how would someone know they had Ebola at first? It passes via close contact/bodily fluids - within a university setting; the insitiution itself, halla of residence - its not difficult to imagine how it might pass around. Then people go out into the city; cough, sneeze, vomit, etc ... totally unknowingly.

Authorities at first thought it could be contained within Guinea in March (that's where it started, isn't it?) It then spread and killed 600-odd by July. I think the number is now over 1000.

There are a lot of 'could's'and 'might's'. I feel annoyed at myself for spending time thinking about it. But, I am worried.

This is new and therefore scary.

OP, I know I'm late as you posted this yesterday, but Ebola was discovered well before HIV.

I'm not all all worried by an identified patient being medivaced back to the UK with proper barrier nursing. I'm more worried that clinics in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea can't get their hands on enough gloves. I worry about pregnant women who can't get medical care because of Ebola fears, and die. I worry that the huge imbalances in access to health care means that in Liberia, barrier nursing is essentially a fantasy.

No one in Britain is a joy less safe as a result of this patient being in Britain. We are less safe because the authorities in the affected countries still don't have the resources or the necessary social factors to end the epidemic. The longer it goes on, the greater the chance the virus will mutate.

But like Stratters, I'm more scared of a flu pandemic. Ebola is a bastard of a disease but flu is much more effective at spreading itself around.

First sign of illness? If they waited til he was very ill he'd be dead.
I think all of the healthcare workers who are sticking around helping are heroes. Not only are they risking their own lives but they are seeing colleagues die around them, it must be beyond terrifying and far beyond any courage most of us have. Without their bravery the suffering that already exists would grow exponentially.

Completely agree with OYBBK.

And even from a selfish standpoint, the best way for this disease to continue to spread (with attendant risks of mutation) is to make it even less attractive for experienced healthcare professionals to work on the outbreak. The cost of an RAF airlift and NHS care is a very small price to pay in my book, if it means there are more medical staff willing to be on the ground helping - and stemming the spread of the virus.

And as with most people working in those situations, he's likely to have had excellent insurance which will potentially reimburse some of the costs anyway.

Out of interest, brokenhearted, do you think that people who injure themselves skiing or rock climbing should be denied NHS treatment? The costs to the NHS are almost certainly cumulatively greater, and of course they put themselves at risk...

Completely agree with OYBBK.

And even from a selfish standpoint, the best way for this disease to continue to spread (with attendant risks of mutation) is to make it even less attractive for experienced healthcare professionals to work on the outbreak. The cost of an RAF airlift and NHS care is a very small price to pay in my book, if it means there are more medical staff willing to be on the ground helping - and stemming the spread of the virus.

And as with most people working in those situations, he's likely to have had excellent insurance which will potentially reimburse some of the costs anyway.

Out of interest, brokenhearted, do you think that people who injure themselves skiing or rock climbing should be denied NHS treatment? The costs to the NHS are almost certainly cumulatively greater, and of course they put themselves at risk...

I totally agree about keeping a sense of proportion - after all, swine flu was supposed to wipe us all out according to some sensationalist reports, and somehow we're still here

That said, wasn't it reported that the hospital which is treating this aid worker is the only place in the UK to have the necessary facilities? If that's true, I'd imagine it's even more important to keep a really tight grip on this

Completely agree with OYBBK.

And even from a selfish standpoint, the best way for this disease to continue to spread (with attendant risks of mutation) is to make it even less attractive for experienced healthcare professionals to work on the outbreak. The cost of an RAF airlift and NHS care is a very small price to pay in my book, if it means there are more medical staff willing to be on the ground helping - and stemming the spread of the virus.

And as with most people working in those situations, he's likely to have had excellent insurance which will potentially reimburse some of the costs anyway.

Out of interest, brokenhearted, do you think that people who injure themselves skiing or rock climbing should be denied NHS treatment? The costs to the NHS are almost certainly cumulatively greater, and of course they put themselves at risk...

He's a British citizen entitled to the best care we can give him, so there's that aspect of it.

Otherwise, well, it's, frankly, a fantastic chance to study the disease. A known case in a specialist unit - it's an opportunity we should be thanking God for, being clinical about it. What the staff and specialists at London Free will learn from nursing that man will go to inform best practice for the whole country. Medicine's a hands-on specialty and this is a perfect soak-test to see if the procedures work!

It's also a chance to have a live patient right next to top research facilities. There's no guarantee that will matter, but it just might.

aintnothin you're right, you very likely couldn't look after a patient directly and not become infected. That's exactly what is happening in Africa. But if we hit a point in this country where you'd be expected to try, it'll be so far into an epidemic that it'll all have gone to hell anyway! I'd be more worried about your food/power/clean water status at that point!

I said this on the last thread about Ebola: if you are worried about a pandemic here, the best thing you can do is donate to the medical charities trying to stop the outbreak in West Africa, and in particular MSF.