I think some of the 'not to worry' posters are confusing showing minor concern over one of the world's most deadly diseases coming here, with taping plastic sheeting over our windows, and buying clockwork radios
:D I do think some people like to exaggerate people's concern. Not everyone knows the ins and outs, nor perhaps understands the volume of information out there. That's why threads like this can be invaluable as a source of reassurance, so long as people can cut out coming across as being impatient, patronising, or know it alls;-)
I presume she was feeling physically ill, prior to going to the hospital
Unless she was coincidently passing a hospital and felt ill that split-second, there would be a 'window of opportunity' for the disease to be passed on
Also, IIRC she was hospitalised early in the morning, in which case the symptoms could have started whilst she slept, meaning she could have been 'further on' with the disease, than say someone who started to feel a bit rough during the middle of the day
As I say, unlikely something will come of it, but I wouldn't be as dismissive as some on here have been
I'm sure had she vomitted or anything, she would have told others. As a nurse who has worked with the precautions required in Africa, she'll know the drill.
I think some of the 'not to worry' posters are confusing showing minor concern over one of the world's most deadly diseases coming here, with taping plastic sheeting over our windows, and buying clockwork radios
What is the point in worrying unnecessarily until all the facts are known? The female patient is in isolation, every possible precaution is being taken to contain the Ebola I should imagine and is being treated in a specialised unit by, again I imagine, by highly qualified personnel. When they tell me there's something to worry about then I will start to worry.
Is there no blood test that can determine the presence of the virus?
I saw a program where they used such in order to ascertain when a patient became clear of ebola, so I think there must be.
I don't think it's 'beyond reason', to be very careful coming back, perhaps seated in a particular area, and tested on landing.
The 'screening' people seem to be talking about on the thread is obviously a crude tool and not much use for these circumstances.
The screening is fine - really.
People contract Ebola through contact with infected bodily fluids. In the early stages of the disease up until people start to be feverish, the virus is not present in sufficient concentrations in bodily fluids to be contagious AND patients are not passing out bodily fluids anyway.
Even when patients have been feverish and in contact with others they have not passed on the infection:
- The Spanish nurse and Dallas nurse were both out and about with a fever (Dallas nurse travelled on a plane)
- Thomas Duncan was actually vomiting when he was finally admitted to hospital in Dallas and he had presented and been examined before - the only people who picked up the disease were the nurses who nursed him in the end stages of his illness when he would have been highly contagious.
Yes there are tests, but the test won't pick up someone within the first couple of days anyway, because the virus will not be in sufficient numbers to be detectable.
People become feverish early on, that is why it is used as a screen together with the other risk factors of where you have been and who you have been in contact with.
Having read most of this thread, I don't think I've noticed anyone panicking or overreacting. Concerned perhaps, but then if it was no big deal, then why would it be breaking news in the first place?
Because the general public are by-and-large quite ignorant so to many, ebola = the end of civilisation, and although the news should report noteworthy information, especially about recent events, they should minimise the sensationalism of it, but then if they did that, they'd never sell and papers/advertising.
I presume she was feeling physically ill, prior to going to the hospital
Unless she was coincidently passing a hospital and felt ill that split-second, there would be a 'window of opportunity' for the disease to be passed on
Also, IIRC she was hospitalised early in the morning, in which case the symptoms could have started whilst she slept, meaning she could have been 'further on' with the disease, than say someone who started to feel a bit rough during the middle of the day
As I say, unlikely something will come of it, but I wouldn't be as dismissive as some on here have been
Presumption probably isn't that helpful.
All health workers have a strict protocol which they follow on return from working in West Africa. They monitor their temperature regularly and as soon as it goes above a set trigger point they have to alert authorities so that they can be examined and tested. It is not a question of them wandering around randomly and waiting to feel rough before they pop into the nearest medical facility.
And no - unless she was doing something which deposited her infected bodily fluids onto the mucus membrane of other people she would not have had the opportunity to pass on the infection.
You may be right, but can we be sure it's that an exact science of predicting?
Would you be happy with a returning health worker from an Ebola zone, with a slight fever, picking up and kissing a child you knew?
Because I wouldn't
I'm sorry - but what has that got to do with anything?
Did this woman run around kissing people after becoming feverish? Did she run around kissing anyone?
Are people suggesting that this is what healthcare workers would do - deliberately kiss people even when they were feverish?
This just sounds like unnecessary scaremongering and demonisation of people who are a good deal braver than I am and who really don't deserve some of the negativity being thrown at them.
There is an extremely low risk of an ebola outbreak in the UK. It would be very silly to have hundreds of fully-staffed isolation beds standing idly by waiting for a possible influx of patients - an influx that may never happen. All staff working with infectious diseases and in infection disease control will receive training in dealing with high-level infection care but will go about their present duties until and if their services are required. Hospitals will have already identified areas that can be turned into specialist isolation units at very short notice. It is called planning for a potential problem. It would be an utter waste of resources to do otherwise
I was talking about the ones who caught it from treating people who had brought it back from W.Africa.
So that is one person. No one else, not even people living with a victim for several days has caught it let alone someone who spent an hour in the same plane
Because the general public are by-and-large quite ignorant so to many, ebola = the end of civilisation, and although the news should report noteworthy information, especially about recent events, they should minimise the sensationalism of it, but then if they did that, they'd never sell and papers/advertising.
Hmm, yes you definitely make a good point about that aspect of it.
Having read most of this thread, I don't think I've noticed anyone panicking or overreacting. Concerned perhaps, but then if it was no big deal, then why would it be breaking news in the first place?
However, that said, my thanks to those here on the thread with more informative details about it and educating us on the whole Ebola process and how it spreads.
Yeah this thread has amazed me how many folk read 'concern' as 'panic and hysteria'.
People contract Ebola through contact with infected bodily fluids. In the early stages of the disease up until people start to be feverish, the virus is not present in sufficient concentrations in bodily fluids to be contagious AND patients are not passing out bodily fluids anyway.
Even when patients have been feverish and in contact with others they have not passed on the infection:
- The Spanish nurse and Dallas nurse were both out and about with a fever (Dallas nurse travelled on a plane)
- Thomas Duncan was actually vomiting when he was finally admitted to hospital in Dallas and he had presented and been examined before - the only people who picked up the disease were the nurses who nursed him in the end stages of his illness when he would have been highly contagious.
Yes there are tests, but the test won't pick up someone within the first couple of days anyway, because the virus will not be in sufficient numbers to be detectable.
People become feverish early on, that is why it is used as a screen together with the other risk factors of where you have been and who you have been in contact with.
No it isn't, I've just this moment listened to a doctor on Radio 2's news who returned to the country with the sick nurse state how poor the screening process was.
I think what some of us find frustrating about the over - reaction by some on this thread is that we live in a world where it hasnever been easier to get the facts about something like Ebola It is no longer the preserve of those with specialist knowledge. There are numerous websites where the key facts can be found very quickly but there seems to be very little effort by some to learn from them.
When you see the protective gear that the nursing staff have to wear, I am amazed that she managed to catch it in the first place, unless she was careless in some way.
I think what some of us find frustrating about the over - reaction by some on this thread is that we live in a world where it had never been easier to get the facts about something like Ebola It is no longer the preserve of those with specialist knowledge. There are numerous websites where the key facts can be found very quickly but there seems to be very little effort by some to learn from them.
Sadly with Twitter and Facebook being the 'go to' places for many people to get their facts rather than reputable, accurate sources, you can see why widespread hysteria and panic can happen so easily.
I'm sorry - but what has that got to do with anything?
Did this woman run around kissing people after becoming feverish? Did she run around kissing anyone?
Are people suggesting that this is what healthcare workers would do - deliberately kiss people even when they were feverish?
This just sounds like unnecessary scaremongering and demonisation of people who are a good deal braver than I am and who really don't deserve some of the negativity being thrown at them.
I'm making a point, that some on here, including you, are being particularly dismissive of the potential seriousness of the situiation
By asking if you'd be happy with such a person kissing a child you knew, I'm asking you to confirm that you'd be 100% certain that there was absolutely no risk
Btw - as an aside - someone has already posted that she was hugging people
Sadly with Twitter and Facebook being the 'go to' places for many people to get their facts rather than reputable, accurate sources, you can see why widespread hysteria and panic can happen so easily.
To paraphrase the old saying, a lie can travel half way round the world before the truth has time to even remember what its password is.
" Dr Deahl, 58, told the Shropshire Star: “I was sitting next to her on the plane when we flew back on Sunday night and she seemed fine.
“I will be amazed if one of my colleagues has caught Ebola as we were all so cautious and careful out there.
“You can only catch Ebola if you come into contact with bodily fluids such as blood, spit or urine, which we were extra careful about not doing.
“But I am absolutely fine. I am just so shocked and heartbroken to hear that anyone from our team has had this happen after such a difficult Christmas out there.”
He added: “Everybody on the flight seemed so well and in good spirits. I was detained at Heathrow for half an hour and checked as a precaution and released.”
people keep insisting you cannot catch it through the air, but there are claims to the contrary. Though it cannot travel far, but droplets can hang in the air and can be absorbed by another person. In fact the BBC reported this back in 2012 after an experiment done on monkeys.
......And that it can spread through the air in cold weather.
Again, no idea how accurate are these claims, but we cannot just keep saying that ebola is only transferred from person to person through direct contact of fluids and be so blase about it. If a Flu Virus can carry through air why can ebola not? Even if it cannot travel as far through the air, it's still enough if you are in close proximity of the infected person and not wearing any protective suits.
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I'm sure had she vomitted or anything, she would have told others. As a nurse who has worked with the precautions required in Africa, she'll know the drill.
What is the point in worrying unnecessarily until all the facts are known? The female patient is in isolation, every possible precaution is being taken to contain the Ebola I should imagine and is being treated in a specialised unit by, again I imagine, by highly qualified personnel. When they tell me there's something to worry about then I will start to worry.
Because the one and only isolation unit in the entire country, is in London.
The screening is fine - really.
People contract Ebola through contact with infected bodily fluids. In the early stages of the disease up until people start to be feverish, the virus is not present in sufficient concentrations in bodily fluids to be contagious AND patients are not passing out bodily fluids anyway.
Even when patients have been feverish and in contact with others they have not passed on the infection:
- The Spanish nurse and Dallas nurse were both out and about with a fever (Dallas nurse travelled on a plane)
- Thomas Duncan was actually vomiting when he was finally admitted to hospital in Dallas and he had presented and been examined before - the only people who picked up the disease were the nurses who nursed him in the end stages of his illness when he would have been highly contagious.
Yes there are tests, but the test won't pick up someone within the first couple of days anyway, because the virus will not be in sufficient numbers to be detectable.
People become feverish early on, that is why it is used as a screen together with the other risk factors of where you have been and who you have been in contact with.
But when she recovers from this bout, she'll then be immune from it. A perfect candidate for going back to help, I'd have thought?
Because the general public are by-and-large quite ignorant so to many, ebola = the end of civilisation, and although the news should report noteworthy information, especially about recent events, they should minimise the sensationalism of it, but then if they did that, they'd never sell and papers/advertising.
?
Presumption probably isn't that helpful.
All health workers have a strict protocol which they follow on return from working in West Africa. They monitor their temperature regularly and as soon as it goes above a set trigger point they have to alert authorities so that they can be examined and tested. It is not a question of them wandering around randomly and waiting to feel rough before they pop into the nearest medical facility.
And no - unless she was doing something which deposited her infected bodily fluids onto the mucus membrane of other people she would not have had the opportunity to pass on the infection.
I'm sorry - but what has that got to do with anything?
Did this woman run around kissing people after becoming feverish? Did she run around kissing anyone?
Are people suggesting that this is what healthcare workers would do - deliberately kiss people even when they were feverish?
This just sounds like unnecessary scaremongering and demonisation of people who are a good deal braver than I am and who really don't deserve some of the negativity being thrown at them.
Oh, dear!
There is an extremely low risk of an ebola outbreak in the UK. It would be very silly to have hundreds of fully-staffed isolation beds standing idly by waiting for a possible influx of patients - an influx that may never happen. All staff working with infectious diseases and in infection disease control will receive training in dealing with high-level infection care but will go about their present duties until and if their services are required. Hospitals will have already identified areas that can be turned into specialist isolation units at very short notice. It is called planning for a potential problem. It would be an utter waste of resources to do otherwise
So that is one person. No one else, not even people living with a victim for several days has caught it let alone someone who spent an hour in the same plane
Hmm, yes you definitely make a good point about that aspect of it.
Let's hope the one in Cornwall is negative or that's a full house!
Yeah this thread has amazed me how many folk read 'concern' as 'panic and hysteria'.
No it isn't, I've just this moment listened to a doctor on Radio 2's news who returned to the country with the sick nurse state how poor the screening process was.
Whether you consider that helpful or not, isn't really of any consequence
Thats right Bob! :eek:
Sadly with Twitter and Facebook being the 'go to' places for many people to get their facts rather than reputable, accurate sources, you can see why widespread hysteria and panic can happen so easily.
By asking if you'd be happy with such a person kissing a child you knew, I'm asking you to confirm that you'd be 100% certain that there was absolutely no risk
Btw - as an aside - someone has already posted that she was hugging people
LoL at 'scaremongering and demonisation'
To paraphrase the old saying, a lie can travel half way round the world before the truth has time to even remember what its password is.
people keep insisting you cannot catch it through the air, but there are claims to the contrary. Though it cannot travel far, but droplets can hang in the air and can be absorbed by another person. In fact the BBC reported this back in 2012 after an experiment done on monkeys.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20341423
http://scgnews.com/ebola-what-youre-not-being-told
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQVUf775VE
https://www.intellihub.com/scientists-ebola-can-spread-air-cold-weather/
......And that it can spread through the air in cold weather.
Again, no idea how accurate are these claims, but we cannot just keep saying that ebola is only transferred from person to person through direct contact of fluids and be so blase about it. If a Flu Virus can carry through air why can ebola not? Even if it cannot travel as far through the air, it's still enough if you are in close proximity of the infected person and not wearing any protective suits.
Food for thought anyways.