To wonder why we aren’t worried about Ebola

[BirdieFriendReturns]

There’s a new outbreak in the Congo. Average death rate is 50%. It’s also highly virulent.

Do you live in a high radon area? Its fairly easy to mitigate against..

I first heard of Ebola in the early 1990s. Whilst it is a devastating disease, you can't have it unknowingly like CV19. It is considered a rather "unsuccessful" virus because it kills its host before they have time to spread it.

Oh sweet Jesus, I can't wait for Covid to be over so everyone stops bangin on like they are a seasoned epidemiologist.

Ebola has a vaccine, Ebola has had and continues to have localised outbreaks in areas.

People who have Ebola are unlikely to be able to board a flight as they would be very unwell.

There is no need to worry about Ebola anywhere outside of the localised outbreaks.

May I suggest a tin-foil hat, OP.

actually birdiefriend said the end was coming soon. Whatever COVID19 was it wasnt the end of anything at all. So they were not right at all.

That is the thing with predictions it is incredibly easy to retrospectively apply to make them true

and the end can be a positive thing. Maybe the current protests will have some effect

I’ve only recently discovered radon too!

I think you’ll find that Friedrich Dorn got there before you

Oh hats off to you - this response is perfect. Funniest I have seen for ages

@Mittens030869
Regarding Covid in Africa, I think the consensus this morning was that it's too early too tell. There's a lot of hope that the Test and Trace experience will be good, and is already being put to good use; and the demographics (age) should have a really positive impact. They're also all working together on procurement etc via the AU.

But:

• the information isn't good enough yet, the AUCDC said that the Covid testing rates are really low, outside South Africa, so we are not seeing what's really going on. OTOH, they're also not seeing the expected big increase in the excess death rate, which you'd expect if it was circulating widely undetected in vulnerable populations.
• the Covid pandemic was delayed reaching Africa, so they are behind us in the journey, all the infection slopes are curving upwards, sometimes steeply. OTOH that advance warning gave them time to shut down and prepare...
• Impact of certain regional vulnerabilities like malnutrition, ethnicity (if there is a genetic issue in play here, not just structural inequality), widespread HIV infection, and then areas like the refugee camps and slums where Covid will spread like wildfire.

So once Covid19 is gone, what do I need to worry about next!

Do black lives only matter if it's fashionable?

Quite. If it comes to that, millions die of malaria every year in sub Sahara Africa as well, the majority children under 5. But because it's only a danger in Africa where mosquitoes spread it, and doesn't impact on us here, there is very little concern about it.
What a load of shite. Many charities have highlighted the threat of malaria and raised funds specifically to combat it through research, prevention and treatment (Comic Relief and Gates Foundation are 2 that immediately spring to mind). Stop using malaria etc. as a stick to beat BLM with.

Actually 1977, And indeed, why would we ever worry about it? It really only kills poor Africans, and we didn't even bother about developing a vaccine until some Westerners got infected by it. "We" only worried about it when there was a prospect of a highly infectious killer disease actually getting to Europe and the USA. Now that we know that we'll be ok if it ever gets out, it doesn't matter a bit that the poor Africans can't afford the bloody vaccine, does it?

I remember saying this during one of these outbreaks.
Big pharma make a lot of money out of successful vaccines. Why would they bother developing one for countries where the GDP is so low that nobody would be able to pay a dime for it?
Makes you sick (pun intended)

I love dickhead scaremongering posts, it's exactly what we need more of right now.

@BirdieFriendReturns

Everything or nothing it is entirely up to you

This is joke / wind up, right?

People who have Ebola are unlikely to be able to board a flight as they would be very unwell

Symptoms usually appear 1-2 weeks after infection - plenty of time to board a flight/ move out of an affected area. It's poverty that prevents this, not lack of opportunity.

it kills its hosts before they have a chance to spread it

Mortality depends on the strain, and can be anything between 25% and 75% . Likewise average time til death is anywhere be 6 and 16 days so entry of time to spread it too.

I dont actively worry about Ebola affecting me day to day but it's foolish to think that outbreaks cant get large and, if they do, can't threaten other areas of the world. It is in all our interests that, where possible, they are dampened down and the stopped asap. 2016 was bad enough but it was in a hair's breadth of being far, far worse.

Ebola breaks out every so often, they’ve treated patients in the uk for it before.

@BirdieFriendReturns

So once Covid19 is gone, what do I need to worry about next!

Nothing. Live your life.

@BirdieFriendReturns

So once Covid19 is gone, what do I need to worry about next!

Well, if you want something to worry about, then the following are likely to be big problems at some time in the near-ish future:

1. antibiotic resistance
2. Future viral pandemics similar to covid
3. Climate change (and consequences such as rising sea levels and global temperature changes)
4. Large scale infrastructure damage from natural disasters (eg. That a high scale earth quake on west coast US is well overdue).
5. Declining bee populations and the huge affect this can have on world agriculture etc.

I would only be worried about Ebola if there were scientists who could make ebola more like Covid 19.

A disease which for some is asymptomatic, and for many mild, but for some deadly is the worst sort of disease.

At the start of this, many said we didn't need to worry because for most it is like flu.

I have always maintained that we DO need to worry, BECAUSE for most people this is just like flu.

It's a paedophile with the looks and charm of George Clooney.

I’ve only recently discovered radon too!

I think you’ll find that Friedrich Dorn got there before you.

🤣 too funny!

Was this thread meant to be a windup? I’m guessing so. In which case what’s the point?

“Scientists had researched Ebola vaccines for decades, but the lack of a commercial market removed the imperative to develop, licence and deploy such a vaccine.”

From www.gavi.org

That is one of the most depressing sentences I’ve ever read.

Op, if you’re scared of Ebola, try reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It’s quite gruesome in its description of the illness, but it does show how hard it is for Ebola to spread on the same scale as COVID. (Unless it mutates and becomes airborne then we’re all fucked.)

And honestly. Living in suburban Britain and worrying about Ebola is a bit of a fucking luxury, isn’t it.

A race war ?
World war 3 ?
Solar flares?
Fill your boots

Did you know there was an outbreak of bubonic plague (otherwise known as Black Death) in China last November?

@BirdieFriendReturns

So once Covid19 is gone, what do I need to worry about next!

Yellowstone Supervolcano

Ebola makes sufferers very sick, there are no asymptomatic spreaders. Ebola is a shorter illness, people die quickly before it can spread far, and it's spread is more easily tracked and traced because of it's comparative brevity. Ebola is easier to avoid, needing close contact with contaminated bodily fluids. Ebola is transmissible after symptoms present, not during incubation.

There is no comparison between Ebola and Coronavirus. Coronavirus is a ninja, inserting itself into communities silently. It's a ghostly presence of a virus.

Ebola has a fanfare, it alerts you to it's presence. It's a bull-in-a-china-shop of a virus.