Nancy Writebol was disinfecting, and not in contact with the Ebola patients. Now I'm fretting

[Stratter5]

And Dr Brantly was experienced and wearing protective gear. I'm scared now, it seems easier to catch than I thought. Just what are the chances of a newly infected person getting on a plane out of there, not realising they're sick, and are they infectious at the 'cold/flu' stage, what if they sneezed in someone's face on the plane?

I have a Fret Plan in place, I've had one for years I also have boxes of face masks, gloves, and antibacterial gel.

I think my problem is, I'm seeing people infected, who have become infected despite knowing how to avoid, and being fully suited up.

SKY reporting CDC is considering aeromed transfer of Brantly and Whitebol to Atlanta.

Chester what's the evidence for your second sentence?
Op I'm not particularly worried about Ebola but there does seem to be a fair amount of people assuming they know more about it than they do. So does Ebola respond to antibiotics as suggested by people on here? My understanding is that it doesn't.

In that case I can only offer a big hug a manly handshake.

I worry about pandemics more than I ought and this ebola is scaring the crap out of me. Mind you, so did bird flu, Asian flu, flu flu, and any other thing that is going to get me.

I'm writing this from a lead-lined cellar

That offer was to op only btw. I don't go round giving manly handshakes to all and sundry.

That's how diseases spread.

lead???
And lol at manly handshakes

You might want to worry more about the lead lined cellar.

AFAIK Ebola is a virus and, therefore, doesn't respond to antibiotics. That said, most of my knowledge of Ebola comes from it regularly coming up as a possibility in House.

it was a joke Stealth.

Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, and Ebola is a virus.

this AIBU has been running for a few days now, and has contributions from (apparently) expert posters and good links It might interest people who want to know more about this disease.

What good will antibacterial handgel and antibiotics do when faced with a virus?

That was to Chesters first post, paragraph 2.

Yes sorry I did get that (lead I assume you mean ) I'm just doing good serious posts :o

That's exactly what I mean quint. I am not scaremongering and think an Ebola outbreak here is unlikely. But I also don't like seeing myths and assumptions all over without any evidence. And I know people hate calls for evidence but it does serve a purpose, sifting the facts from the myths

alcohol gells do kill some viruses, it kills rs virus but not norovirus, I read somewhere that alcohol gells do kill ebola.

Is that smilie foaming at the mouth? Just a little?

Good to know thanks ikea. Good thing I'm unlikely to need mine as it spends most of its time leaking all over my bag

I had Swine Flu, actual proper diagnosed with blood test Swine Flu. the NHS was great, they quarantined me and made sure I didn't spread it about.
I survived too, considering I have a low immune system and I'm a fucking terrible patient, that's quite remarkable.

Don't lick anyone, don't swap blood, saliva or other bodily fluids with strangers. You'll be fine.

Chester what's the evidence for your second sentence?

Admittedly only what I have read in national newspapers - that Ebola is not contagious before the symptoms start showing and that it is not an air-bourne disease (like flu) but rather is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.

National Geographic interviewed W. Ian Lipkin, an expert in viral diseases and the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Lipkin said the virus is not highly transmissable, but the number of people who can be infected by one person is high.

"You have to come into very close contact with blood, organs, or bodily fluids of infected animals, including people," he said.

Professor Peter Piot, who discovered Ebola, said to The Telegraph that a sense of panic and lack of trust in the West African authorities contributed to the outbreak. Piot said he would not be concerned about being in close proximity of an infected individual.

"I wouldn't be worried to sit next to someone with Ebola virus on the Tube as long as they don't vomit on you or something," Piot said. "This is an infection that requires very close contact." - www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/ebola_important_facts_on_how_the_viral_disease_can_spread.html

It also seems to be widely agreed by the British media that if an infected person, or even a small number of infected people, were to arrive in the UK the NHS should be able to contain the disease and stop it spreading. Nationally we have a better understanding of good hygiene practice (soap and warm water kills the bacteria) and people have access to better healthcare here than they do in West Africa. In West Africa childbirth and diarrhoea are big killers but in most circumstances you would expect to survive those here because our healthcare system, whilst by no means perfect, is far far superior.

If the epidemic were in a country with comparable healthcare systems to the UK then I would be worried about it's spread here, but as it stands now the epidemic is in an area where, unfortunately, the healthcare people can expect to receive, and the cultural acceptance of Western medicine, is vastly different to here in the UK.

It's a virus. Of course the virus doesn't respond to antibiotics. The use of antibiotics in treatment is to prevent secondary (bacterial) infections.

Ebola symptoms are severe and sudden onset. As others have noted, the best understanding is that the disease is not transmissible until the patient is showing symptoms. This combination is good news - people who are symptomatic are unlikely to be out and about, and therefore are unlikely to spread the disease widely.

The NHS is pretty good at epidemics, really. And with barrier nursing, good hygiene and fluid dispoal and other measures at our disposal, in the vanishingly small chance the disease got to the UK, it's still deeply unlikley to pose a pandemic-level threat.

Thanks. The impression I got though is that if you are infected there are no effective healthcare options other than staying hydrated and hoping you're one of the 10 to 30% who survive. There is no cure.

Some viruses do respond to antibiotics. In general they don't but it's not right that no virus can be cured by antibiotics.

Sorry, cross-post. I see you were referring to paragraph two and not sentence two, although my sources are the same and largely from reading newspaper articles and small bits of research online.

I don't think that ebola does respond to antibiotics although antibiotics might be used to treat secondary infections which can result. Medication can also be administered to reduce haemorrhaging, blood transfusions may be given and people may need to be put on oxygen and an IV drip etc. All of these are more readily available in the UK than in much of West Africa and increase the likelihood of survival. Survival rates vary between 50 and 90 percent, so whilst not great it could be that in the UK, with better medicine, we would be able to maintain a better survival rate than 70%.

My understanding is that a lot of the reason the spread of the disease is so high in West Africa is that infected people not being taken to hospital at all and are being nursed by their families and buried in their local communities, or they are only being taken to hospital when the symptoms become very serious and they have already spread the virus. Bodily fluids are not cleaned or disposed of adequately and similarly the deceased, who remain infectious, are often washed and buried by their families.

I don't think we would face the same problems in the UK so, even if it were to hit our shores, the general consensus seems to be that it would not be such a huge epidemic. There are other places in the world with poor healthcare or sanitation in which I would be concerned about the spread, but to be honest for me the UK is not one of them. I don't think a serious Ebola outbreak here is impossible but, judging from what I have read, it does seem highly unlikely.

No I did mean sentence two, the lovely one about sneezing in someone's face or something like that

Enjoy your dinner :o