Is it time to leave for Mars?

[Griffin NoName]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why have they been repatriating people with Ebola? This nurse in Spain surely shows how stupid such policy is. I am very sorry for non-African nationals with Ebola but they should stay where they are. If incubation can be up to 21 days what use is it screening air travelers? Of some benefit obviously, but hardly going to be fully effective. What I really don't understand is why no one but me, apparently, saw this situation arising at least three months ago? I totally distrust Jeremy hunt (Minister of Health) saying the NHS can cope; he and his predecessor have almost enitirely broken the NHS. It's no longer fit for purpose, like ordinary purpose, like eg. treating cancer, they've got about one infectious disease beds in about 5 hospitals - that means Jeremy has to make sure only 5 people catch Ebola, and they have to be living in different parts of the country. I doubt he is that clever.

What we need is some way of testing for Ebolo before it is symptomatic. This is true for all such virus outbreaks. Why hasn't the science been done?

As for me, I'm off to Mars.

[Swatopluk]

Why hasn't the science been done?

Until now not enough money in that. Same with cures/treatments for diseases that occur almost exclusively in 3rd and 4th world countries. Once there are well-to-do customers in high enough numbers the race is on. Keeping rich old people alive is far more lucrative (not to forget certain 'enhancement' drugs coloured blue).

[Griffin NoName]

I've always wondered why it is coloured blue. There are relatively few blue drugs. Perhaps it is to stop people taking it by mistaking it for a different drug.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The whole ebola thing has been very incompetently managed, mostly under the guise of a 'not my problem, move along' policy. Once it becomes endemic in central Africa more and more cases will be arriving to western Europe and north America.

My cynic self thinks that some higher ups want to see if this can take off a significant portion of African population and perhaps with some luck, some of the poor in the 1st world, hence the very slow response, but chances are that incompetence and the crazy idea that ISIS and Russia are more dangerous have more to do with it. 

As for Mars, chances of dieing on the way are astronomically higher than chances of any of us catching ebola due to this outbreak.

[Griffin NoName]

I go with the not my problem theory. But it was perfectly obvious it would become our problem. I still think stupidity rather than incompetence, but then they are policticians.

The UK is lauding its plan to send the army in, but they say it will take several weeks to teach them how to suit up for protection. (We get scenes of the teaching on TV). This is yet another puzzle to me as many of the medics can't have known much about suiting up in the way needed but they don't seem to get weeks of training. If they are hoping the outbreak will be over before they actually send the army in, they are in for a disappointment. Anyway, the key thing seems to be don't touch your face with the gloved hand used when treating the patient. Simple.

[Aggie]

Jeez, you think after going into an Iraq full of WMDs a few years back, they'd be well informed about the necessities of battling biological agents.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The other explanation, at least here in the States is that -as everything these days- it's a no win situation, if the Obama administration had been proactive and sent the cavalry 6-8 months ago to nip it in the bud, we would've been inundated with pundits criticizing the expenditure in the president's buddies (remember that he's supposed to be Kenyan ). Besides, who would've recognized [him of all people] a success when that means that nothing happens?

As for the English, the French, the Germans... I suspect they felt that any institutional help to MSF was enough on their part.

[Griffin NoName]

Besides, who would've recognized [him of all people] a success when that means that nothing happens?

That could be avoided by sending adequate help to say, Sierra Leone, and none to Liberia. Admittedly the suggested number of cases is rather different each, but some clever stats could take care of that.

Not to be practiced at home. Entirely unethical.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Actually that doesn't make sense, if you intervene early there is no 2nd country affected, and if a 2nd (or 3rd in this case) country with cases is ignored, that can very easily defeat all the effort you do in the one you're in. The point of intervention is to contain the outbreak to prevent it from leaving the affected area, subsequent containment (ie, Nigeria, Senegal) only proves that this could've been contained much, much earlier and doesn't guarantee that the outbreak will reappear in those countries (or anywhere else for what matters).

[Griffin NoName]

There would need to be a total exclusion of travel between the two countries in the trial.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Reminds me of the reason why a controlled trial of the ebola vaccine has been deemed unethical by the WHO: "you get it, you don't, you get it... "

[Griffin NoName]

It's consequentialism. The whole point of ethics is to be as complicated as possible.

[Griffin NoName]

Here we go again. Health Ministers saying there will be a few cases in the UK but as we know what to do that's Ok. Since one is infectious once symptoms appear and goodness where that will happen - and it will take time before one is put in isolation it seems to me to be terribly stupid and smug to claim any such thing. What is the Govt. going to do? Isolate everyone with a fever plus all their contacts. We're about to start the flu season, affecting thousands,  are there really enough beds to isolate all of them while ebola tests are carried out?

Why are people being so unbelievably stupid?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

More people [way more] will die from the flu than from ebola in the 1st world, which is why health administrators both sides of the Atlantic is claiming that it is OK, and while it may be scary to admit that people will die from a scary disease, the truth is that it is a fluke, a tiny bit of noise against many more urgent things to manage.

Again, the main issue is not if a few 'westerners' get ebola, but that the thousands of Africans getting it may become hundreds of thousands giving the virus a chance to mutate into something more contagious.

[Griffin NoName]

I agree with you on the mutation angle and that many more will die in Africa than elsewhere.

What I am objecting to is the downplaying of numbers of cases, the endless re-assurance we are given, not based on evidence, but wishful thinking. There may well be more deaths from flu this winter, I don't disagree with that, but I think they should be preparing for more than " a few cases"* of ebola. Of course, they may be planning such, but not actually telling us. I just hate and despise our govt. and I particulalry rage against the language they use (eg disabled = scum).

* a few to me is somewhere between 10 and 20, otherwise they should say hundreds, or several thousand, etc