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Ebola: Doctors told to prep for global outbreak after victim allowed on two planes
- Thread starter Last Hearth
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Damn... What they need is not only education, but some way that the people trying to help can get them to trust the people trying to help. I think the biggest problem here is gaining the people's trust cause if you don't have that, you can't teach them when they don't trust you aren't lieing to them.
It seems this shows a lot of problem is distrust. Unfortunately with the supplies they have, I am guessing it's not easy to contain people in a way that doesn't seem horrible and help build distrust
.I mean, look at it from the POV of the mob. They've probably had a lot of reason to distrust the government, they probably associate the clinics with the government, they don't know much about this stuff, and they do know these people are being held and not allowed free like prisoners. And they end up dieing there. I could easily see when you don't have much information and only your peers and distrust how you might believe that you are right in mistrusting them.
way to fucking go....
Incidents like that is why Liberia simply can't handle the outbreak. It's a tragedy on a massive scale. In the week between August 6th and August 13th the disease slowed to a crawl in Guinea with only 24 new cases. Sierra Leone did worse with 93 cases, an increase from 717 to 810. Looking back on the numbers for the last month, Guinea has done best by far with an increase of only about 25% in total cases. Sierra Leone has more than doubled their total cases, but at least they report the lowest mortality rate at 42%.
None of that comes close to the situation in Liberia - 232 new cases, an increase from 554 to 786 cases in the last week. By this time today Liberia is all but guaranteed have overtaken Sierra Leone as the country with the most cases. In the last month there have been an increase by four and a half times of total cases in Liberia. Worse, only a quarter have been confirmed by a laboratory with most left as clinically probable cases, a stark contrast to the other two countries where the situation is reversed with most cases being confirmed and all but four probable cases appearing to have been DOA. Even worse than that, if you can imagine it, is that the mortality rate in Liberia for confirmed cases is above 80%.
All this paints a picture of a woefully inefficient response in Liberia, even compared to its neighbours which aren't exactly rich nations either. Ebola in Guinea and Sierra Leone is a massive challenge for those two countries, but Ebola in Liberia is turning into an unmitigated disaster.
Edit: the risk of it spreading outside West Africa remains limited, however. The WHO has reiterated that the risk of it spreading through air travel remains very low and it continues to advice against travel bans to affected countries.. There have also been no new cases in Nigeria for the last week so chances are that the country has successfully limited its outbreak to a first generation most of whom, if not all, had been healthcare workers treating the index case.
None of that comes close to the situation in Liberia - 232 new cases, an increase from 554 to 786 cases in the last week. By this time today Liberia is all but guaranteed have overtaken Sierra Leone as the country with the most cases. In the last month there have been an increase by four and a half times of total cases in Liberia. Worse, only a quarter have been confirmed by a laboratory with most left as clinically probable cases, a stark contrast to the other two countries where the situation is reversed with most cases being confirmed and all but four probable cases appearing to have been DOA. Even worse than that, if you can imagine it, is that the mortality rate in Liberia for confirmed cases is above 80%.
All this paints a picture of a woefully inefficient response in Liberia, even compared to its neighbours which aren't exactly rich nations either. Ebola in Guinea and Sierra Leone is a massive challenge for those two countries, but Ebola in Liberia is turning into an unmitigated disaster.
Edit: the risk of it spreading outside West Africa remains limited, however. The WHO has reiterated that the risk of it spreading through air travel remains very low and it continues to advice against travel bans to affected countries.. There have also been no new cases in Nigeria for the last week so chances are that the country has successfully limited its outbreak to a first generation most of whom, if not all, had been healthcare workers treating the index case.
Well this is tragic and frightening. A huge swath of those people are doomed to die horrible deaths now.
OuterLimits
Member
You bring up a good point. However, the 1918 flu pandemic was the opposite. The healthiest people were much more likely to die. The virus caused an overreaction of the bodies immune system which led to the many deaths. So those with a weaker immune system had a better chance of survival. Almost all deaths were under the age of 65, and people in their 20s and 30s were hit the hardest.
1914 to 1920 was a tough time for young people. A world war and then an unusual flu virus that was targeting them.
There have been flu strains that have killed more people in the non-risk group. Older people tend to have more antibodies for different flu strains, unlike young people. The second Russian flu for instance was more deadly amongst young people, the older generation had lived through the first russian flu. You could also point out ebola only kills people living at one point in Middle Africa, your average GAF poster won't even ever visit it. We have no idea what ebola would do in the first world. The flu is a huge problem there too, bigger than it is in Europe and the US.
We've been studying the disease for decades so we have a pretty good idea what it will do. It has a slow mutation rate and can easily be controlled with proper sanitation measures.
I'm more thinking about the possibility of it being less lethal due generally healthier humans.
Probably slightly less lethal on a population level but not dramatically so. The much greater gulf in the quality of medical care would render the difference undetectable.
mercenar1e
Member
figadapaura
Member
Wtf?
The fuck..
GeekyDad
Member
Try living in the conditions these people live in 365 days a year from the day they're born. It's easy to simply call a population stupid from your comfy couch. Live it first, buddy.
That's way too charitable to know-nothing attitudes from people who should know better. I've already posted a few links about the senator who was pushing this conspiracy theory. I really don't think doctors take random people off the streets at the behest of the government the other 364 days of the year, either.
They've lived with nothing but corrupt governments, now have that same institution coming out and telling them that their cultural traditions are causing the spread of Ebola, that message is falling on deaf ears.
I'm sure that will help with the rumours that they're killing all victims.
European privilege much?
What's that supposed to mean?
Welp more going to die this way. Unbelievable of the denial over there.
NobleGundam
Banned
Well then.. this is gonna be a nightmare for them.
It's Africa, dude. These people had education robbed from them.
Miggytronz
Member
wow.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
In the very large picture what's happening with people disbelieving ebola and helping spread it is a great stupidity. But the people involved are responding to the reality they've been presented with. They are not people sitting on the internet in other countries. Watching the Daily Show and laughing at first-world "anti-vaxxers" who believe vaccines are giving their children autism, in spite of having been provided with a contemporary education and all the facts.
InfiniteBento
Member
I can't believe that they would do such a thing. Its really unfortunate that lack of education will lead these people into severe sickness and death. This is really tragic.
tfur
Member
We are supposed to apologize for ignorance and/or stupidity I guess. These people for various reasons, are living where most conspiracy afflicted people live: ignorance and stupidity. It's okay to say the truth, otherwise it will perpetuate.
There's many more people who live there who didn't participate in the act. Even the worst nations can include wise and stupid people.
friskykillface
Banned
Welp
RIP x infinity gauntlet , awful news to hear but the same thing would happen here , let's not kid ourselves
Stupid people are all over the world
RIP x infinity gauntlet , awful news to hear but the same thing would happen here , let's not kid ourselves
Stupid people are all over the world
GeekyDad
Member
It's half of the truth perhaps, but truth is a subjective thing. And no one needs to apologize. But your lack of empathy and understanding for their day-to-day living conditions is comparable ignorance.
Like I said, be born there, live there in their conditions, then offer your opinion about their perspective.
tfur
Member
I don't lack empathy or understanding.
I guess you did not see the quote from the local police officer, saying it was one of the stupidest things he has ever seen. Guy must be comfy couching it.
What do you know about their living conditions and how it affects their behaviour? It's quite arrogant to insinuate that these people are just a bunch of uneducated people who don't know it any better. That couldn't be farther from the truth. The majority of the people over there wouldn't do stupid shit like that. They have the same problem as any other country. Some of their fellow countrymen are fucking stupid.
Miggytronz
Member
You don't think a containment center wouldn't have armed military guards here?
I think so. Plus I don't think people here think Ebola is a hoax.
Solideliquid
Member
Son...
No, that would never happen here.
Police and security forces in western african countries are a billion times more corrupt and incompetent than they are here.
Vaccines cause autism. Don't underestimate stupidity.
Baraka in the White House
2-Terms of Kombat
Won't that angry mob feel silly once they start bleeding from their nipples...
That's even stupider since people here have ready access to all the information that refutes that dumb claim. No excuse
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