Ebola

[Tartar Horde]

[Mortblanc]

I love their reference to "suspected cases"!

If you are squirting blood out your ears and your eyes just decomposed inside their sockets it must be comforting to know it is not Ebola but something else that just killed you.

[Barneyboy]

oh great ,that sounds like it really sucks

[Tartar Horde]

Out of all possible scenarios this type is of the most concern to me. Every so often Mother nature unleashes terrible weapons that push species to the brink. Ebola has the potential to kill nearly 90% of all humans (this new strain) and has already mutated from Ebola Zaire to the new one. Normally Ebola is quite hard to catch, as you have to be in close contact with a carrier, and be contaminated with blood or other fluids. The contamination rates for this new strain are higher with more people being affected than with previous strains of the Virus. Some "health workers" (Doctors?)have died, which I find worrying as they are all shown wearing full protection with masks etc. If the outbreak is being contained and controlled, then why is the Government of Guinea stopping reports of deaths and further infection. Their line is that they are doing this to stop people panicking, or is it that the infection rate is much more than they admit and people are shitting themselves for a reason?

[Mortblanc]

Health worker always pay a high price during Ebola and Marburg outbreaks due to the lack of general standards in their areas of operation and the fact that the diagnosis does not occur until after they are exposed.

This particular outbreak has drawn more concern than in the past due to it occurring in an urban setting, so the agent is in a host rich environment and the efficiency of the virus will not insure its extermination when all hosts die off, as it would in a small village.

A person in any of the capital cities of the nations involved could be on an airplane and landing in England, France, Spain, Germany or Belgim after exposure and before symptoms appeared.

How many business travelers come into Heathrow from west Africa daily?

[Tartar Horde]

I agree Mort, in a village setting, which has been the norm for Ebola, the virus is limited in growth and spread by the number of hosts it can infect. In a modern city it has unlimited potential as it has the entire civilised world to spread to. It is worrying that a newly infected person who will not display the full blown symptoms for a while could get on a plane and land anywhere. The only plus side to our position in UK is that we are an island, and a strict lock down in a global pandemic would be on the cards. Although knowing Mother nature it would only be a matter of time till it landed on our shores.
We should keep an eye on developments in West Africa.

[Tarrel]

a strict lock down in a global pandemic would be on the cards

We wouldn't do this until it was too late IMO. We value our trade and economic growth too much.

[Mortblanc]

Lockdown???

What if GB is the location from which the "global pandemic" goes international?

If it begins when a diamond courier from Sarai Loraine steps on a plane to Heathrow, 6 hours latter lands and walks through the terminal packed with individuals traveling to every known part of the world, what happens then?

GB becomes the source of the pandemic, not the destination of the pandemic.

[John]

In the beginning, the LORD said, 'My name shall be known to all the peoples of the world'. In one hour HE spoke HIS name to ten people.
In the hour that followed each of those people met ten others and said the LORD'S name.
In the third hour each of those one hundred and ten met ten more people and spoke the name of the LORD.
At the fourth hour each of those one thousand two hundred and ten disciples whispered the LORD'S name to ten more people.
And so it continued: How many hours will pass before the name of the LORD has spread to all the peoples of the world?

THE GOOD CHILD'S BOOK OF PASTIMES (1850)*
* In 1850 the population of the world was one thousand million. The answer to the problem was 'between seven and eight hours'. Today the answer would be 'between eight and nine hours'.

This was in 1974, today, 2014 it would be even less.

This is the opening to Terry Nation's 'Survivors' 1974.

[Tibbs735]