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To think the hysteria about Ebola is totally unjustified

66 replies

kaffkooks · 08/10/2014 20:50

This article makes me so angry: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29535905
How can such narrow minded, hysterical people prevent a little boy from going to school? He is not unwell, therefore does not have Ebola and is not infectious.
Even if someone with Ebola did come to the UK we would be able to deal with it as we have a decent health system. The reason it is spreading so quickly in West Africa is because they do not have a properly equiped health service and there are a lot of cultural practices that are preventing patients and their relatives from seeking help.

OP posts:
WyrdByrd · 09/10/2014 15:12

One could equally argue that if this child was the offspring a family of newly arrived illegal immigrants rather than a child with dual nationality and an aid worker as a mother, the sympathy would probably be with the concerned parents.

Incidentally, it is only the head of the school concerned who has referred to those parents as hysterical - there is no evidence to suggest that this is anything other than her personal interpretation since they haven't attempted to jump on the press bandwagon to give their side as far as I'm aware.

Point taken re childhood illnesses though, I can see that's not quite the same, in although tbf they generally don't have a 70% mortality rate.

worldgonecrazy · 09/10/2014 15:41

Stratter - you actually strengthened my argument.

Bowlersarm · 09/10/2014 15:49

No she hasn't, world. Any disease affecting any tiny number of people will not be too much of a concern in the wider world wherever it is. Of course if it's spreading rapidly it'll be a concern to more and more governments and their countries.

worldgonecrazy · 09/10/2014 16:03

bowlersarm yes she did. She said "Hardly of concern to anyone." Note the full stop at the end of that sentence. What she meant was "Hardly of concern to anyone that matters." MSF have been asking for help for quite a few years, yet as soon as a westerner is infected and cured we can start using blood serums as treatments (excuse me for not knowing the full technical terms). We have had survivors before but it is only now that things have been sped up because the outside world perceives a risk.

"Hardly of concern to anyone." - the disease was a concern to the people of Sierra Leone and the Congo who had to watch family and friends die. Or are they not "anyone"?

Bowlersarm · 09/10/2014 16:06

You could probably say the same of swine flu. That was hardly of concern to anyone initially. That didn't start out in Africa.

AuntieStella · 09/10/2014 16:17

The vaccine has reached the stage of human trials. This follows years of development and successful animal trials.

It wasn't in the news, but that doesn't mean it wasn't being worked on. Including by big pharma (GSK, I think).

AgentZigzag · 10/10/2014 00:14

Even though I think the pharmaceutical industry maybe has a bit to much power in some areas worldgonecrazy, even I can see that the end product has to be economically viable.

Or are you saying that the decision to not produce and distribute a cure to ebola has been purely because 'we' are being racist in the West? (even though there's a human trial going on at the minute in the UK)

That we don't care about anyone else but ourselves.

That is bollocks and you know it.

I think we can already see what will catch us out (whether it's with ebola or another disease), because it's just human nature to make mistakes.

If the poor Spanish nurse did touch her face with an infected glove (which I find incredible given that she only went in twice and must have be hyper aware of what she was touching with what) it just shows that you can set all the procedures and isolation units you want up, but we're never going to behave as robots.

People forget common sense and get confused when they're in a dangerous situation, it's not always the case that it sharpens your mind. We're just too unpredictable.

The media reaction to ebola seems different to swine/bird flu, I came across a BBC article from April and they were jittery about it then, when there was just over a hundred people infected, it's almost as though they knew it was going to kick off big time. I'm not saying that in a conspiracy theory way, but does anyone else find that odd?

worldgonecrazy · 10/10/2014 08:25

agentzigzag you have hit the nail on the head: "economically viable".

Unfortunately it will always be more economically viable to save a few hundred Western lives versus a few hundred third-world/African lives. It's a harsh truth, but your life and my life has more economic value and is therefore, in our capitalist society, considered to be of more overall value than someone who has less economic value.

AuntieStella · 22/10/2014 09:04

Now a school in Co Durham has barred an exchange visit from a teacher from Ghana.

There have been no cases in Ghana.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 22/10/2014 12:40

It's small minded hysterical reactions like that that make me rather Angry

TheGirlFromIpanema · 22/10/2014 13:01

I'd be furious at the school if it was my dc's.

You'd think that educationalists would be, ya know, educated.

The governors are clearly asshats.

I hope the Ghanaian teacher refuses the 'postponement' and tells them to stick it up their ebola-free backsides Grin

Achooblessyou · 22/10/2014 18:15

I'm not as bothered about the silly hysteria as I am about the pain and suffering of African families Sad. Also the bravery of those that are treating them.

ShadowKat · 22/10/2014 19:16

The school refusing to have the Ghanaian teacher was definitely an overreaction.

Not only have there been no cases in Ghana, when they were talking about this on the news, they said that none of the countries bordering Ghana have had any cases either.

I can't help but wonder if they'd have reacted like this if the teacher had been coming from Texas...

TheGirlFromIpanema · 22/10/2014 19:37

I read a thing on facebook earlier....

More Americans have been married to Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola

Not sure if it's true or not but it did make me smile. I wonder if tehy would have refused a US teacher too shadow, or Spanish?

minniemaghoul · 22/10/2014 19:57

The distance from Accra (Ghana) to Monrovia (Liberia) is about 1500K. the distance from Durham to Madrid, 1300k so most of the objecting families have been as close to an Ebola victim as this teacher. Bonkers!

DecaffTastesWeird · 23/10/2014 16:31

I'm not as bothered about the silly hysteria as I am about the pain and suffering of African families. Also the bravery of those that are treating them.

Couldn't agree more.

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