to think that testing for EBOLA should be done before entering this country!?

[SuggestmeaUsername]

I think that rather than/as well as testing for EBOLA when passengers arrive in the UK, we should be testing before they even get on the plane in the country of origin for those travelling from Sierra Leonne etc. In fact I would prefer we didnt actually let anyone from the main EBOLA hit countries come to this country. any British people there coming back should go into Quarantine for a period of time. What does everyone else think?

I've spent half the evening trying to explain in baby words to a weirdly panicked XH, exactly why ebola will not mutate to become airborne. He's usually very sensible, and scoffs at my HA, but this has actually scared him. I can understand why, there is a hell of a lot of incredibly irresponsible news articles around, he's obviously read them, even though I know he won't have been near a DM, something has freaked him.

Why are people being so unsympathetic to others who are concerned about this? It's not like anyone wants to believe it will spread and I'm sure the worriers are more than happy to be told why they're over worrying.

IT is EXACTLY that they want to believe it will spread. They are being drama queens, catastrophising and revelling in the drama of it all. IT's sick.

There is an Ebola topic and I think it's a good idea for people with health anxieties to go there.

I promise not to go there.

But if they post on other boards then they have to take it as they find, because I sometimes find their anxieties very offensive indeed.

Your concerns are not reasonable OP, they are in the wrong topic, and if you didn't expect blunt comments you are most certainly on the wrong site.

You think its reasonable to ban everyone from West Africa from coming to Britain? You don'y get the whiff of racism, for one thing?

IT is EXACTLY that they want to believe it will spread. They are being drama queens, catastrophising and revelling in the drama of it all. IT's sick.

I have HA, pretty badly. I deal with it by making sure that I am very well informed. For that reason, ebola doesn't frighten me, but flu definitely does. But I am 100% not revelling in it when there's a bad flu epidemic, far from it. It might seem that way, but many deal with it by talking about it, and personally I think that's what we are seeing on these threads. It's unkind to label someone who is genuinely frightened, however irrational that may be, as a drama queen, or having a sick fascination for it.

YANBU OP. And we (internationally) should have isolated it earlier. I know someone who's still going back and forth to the area (he is white FWIW; I know skin colour seems to matter a lot to some posters).

Give over, grocklebox.

Really Grockle??

Suggest - I've asked mn to move your thread into the correct topic, so that more people can give you advice. In the mean time, you will find emotional support in this thread. I don't think you will find much sympathy for your idea of closing the borders though - unless the economies of those countries in west Africa are supported, they have absolutely no way of recovering from this. We can't just sacrifice them. There is also the camp of thought that by clamping down the borders you actually increase the risk of spread to other countries in Africa - because people will do what they can to survive.

With anxiety it can help to break down exactly what it is that you are scared of - perhaps that would help?

Have a wee look at the EBOLA topic.

Not another one of these threads!

OP, do please look at the Ebola topic - lots of rational information and debate there rather than calls for knee-jerk reactions borne out of ill-informed fear.

Should we be worried? Of course.
That's why there needs to be rational, evidence-based information.

Ok I take back the drama queen bit, though I think there is an element of truth in it for some. If there wasn't we woudn't see the "its the end of the world" threads.

I don't see how "lets keep all the Africans out of our country because they might give us a disease" can't have a whiff of racism about it. OP isn't asking for anyone from the US to stay out, is she?

Can I add a link to OYBBK's wonderful thread about helping to map affected areas: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ebola/2205238-A-small-way-to-help

No money required, just time at your keyboard.

:) thanks Pausing.

I agree that donating to the agencies directly involved is a good idea. We already support Medecins Sans Frontieres, and there's the WHO etc. These people have tremendous expertise 'in the field'.
We're in regular contact with my husband's family in Cote d'Ivoire, and while we're glad the disease hasn't yet entered his country, we're praying fervently for all the victims wherever they may be. Any human being is 'our family' in a sense.
I do know quite a bit about malaria, and the early symptoms are very similar to Ebola ( hot, vomiting, collapse etc). I bet many on flights from W Africa could have raise temps from malaria. Also there are no end of nasty illnesses resulting in high temp which can be caught over there. (You need literally about ten injections to immunise yourself before departure.) So screening for raised temp could swamp the testing centre, and where do you put the people who are 'ill' in some way?
Banning flights from affected countries would prob cause people to cross borders into 'accepted' countries to fly from there. That's just going to make things worse IMO.
The only solution is to pour aid into the affected areas and using correct procedures (and health education/information) get the spread under control. That would save lives both there and here.
If you could see how people live out there, and understand their traditions and beliefs, you'd appreciate the enormity of this task.

Gricklebox I find your comment about racism offensive. Others on here have come up with sensible and informative answers to my reasonable/unreasonable concerns. Your suggestion of racism is ridiculous. I just want a practical solution to containing this disease. The obvious one for me is to minimise the movement of people in/from/to areas of risk whoever they are

"You think its reasonable to ban everyone from West Africa from coming to Britain? You don'y get the whiff of racism, for one thing?"

I think a ban would be wrong for many reasons, but I do not think it is racist, because I do not assume that all travellers between particular destinations must be of only one race.

Evening all. Just moving this this across to our Ebola section.

Exactly AuntieStella. there is no issue of racism here. and I do now agree from reading the sensible posts on here that practically it does not seem possible to completely disallow people from entering the UK from these areas

I think it is wrong to test people. Any medical treatment or testing should be only if the person involved wants it, no-one should ever be forced to undergo tests or treatment. We should offer testing or treatment but it must be the patient's decision. Forcing testing or treatment on people is too like Nazi Germany for me.

Of course people should only be tested if they want it. no one should be forced. However, if people refuse testing, I think it would be reasonable to refuse them entry into the UK. The disease needs to be kept under control.

no-one should ever be forced to undergo tests or treatment

Ordinarily yes, but in this instance I think I'd prefer it if it were mandatory for anyone who has possibly been exposed, and is showing symptoms.

then that is forced testing.

You may find my accusation offensive. I find your suggestions offensive. I guess we're even. Except all I commented on was your words, you actually want to contain people, forcibly test people, and keep possibly diseased Africans (but again, I guess, not americans?) out of your country. SO not that even after all.

IMVHO the testing is a political smokescreen - it is too little, too late to identify and isolate people once they are symptomatic at an airport. Many, many travellers from all parts of the world may travel with a fever or a headache, many more people originating from West Africa are likely to have malaria or any number of other infectious diseases (including the common cold!) that may present with a fever as a first symptoms. How on earth are airports going to cope with isolating and testing lots of people, a small number of which may have Ebola who have already sat in an aircraft with hundreds of other people and milled around the airport? Any possible spread will already have happened. IF it happened via social contact and not as currently believed by droplet contamination of bodily fluids.

This is an appeasement exercise IMO, so that the governments of the Western World can be seen to be 'doing something' - lots of poor decisions are made because 'something needs to be done'.

If I thought that compulsory screening (nobody is proposing testing of all passengers having originated from certain countries - screening is what's planed) made one jot of a difference, it may be worth it.

no its not. people have a choice.

am not here to get even with anyone. am here to discuss something of concern to me and many others.

Am not talking about containing people. am talking about keeping people out of the country if they pose a potential risk of spreading this disease. am not talking about forcibly testing people. and nowhere on this thread have I differentiated who should stay out. I said anyone travelling from these areas.

Do you not think that we need to contain this disease and stop it from entering this country? I travel frequently on underground and overground trains in and around London which are packed with commuters and its a great way for germs to spread around. once you have a handful of infected people travelling on public transport, it will soon spread.

but if you think we should let everyone in because you dont to hurt their feelings, thats fine