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AverageJoe90

(10,745 posts)
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 01:06 PM Oct 2014

WHO-What we know about transmission of the Ebola virus among humans.

Thought I'd share this. This should shed some much-needed light on what we really know about Ebola(which is quite a bit!).

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/06-october-2014/en/

Oh, and here's the best part:


Moreover, scientists are unaware of any virus that has dramatically changed its mode of transmission. For example, the H5N1 avian influenza virus, which has caused sporadic human cases since 1997, is now endemic in chickens and ducks in large parts of Asia.

That virus has probably circulated through many billions of birds for at least two decades. Its mode of transmission remains basically unchanged.


So, there we go. This should help, hopefully, to put some of the more pessimistic speculation to rest.
7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
3. So? Don't you think our healthcare personnel deserve for us to accept the most conservative
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 01:55 PM
Oct 2014

recommendations for their safety?

 

MohRokTah

(15,429 posts)
4. This is the best part
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 02:00 PM
Oct 2014
Speculation that Ebola virus disease might mutate into a form that could easily spread among humans through the air is just that: speculation, unsubstantiated by any evidence.

This kind of speculation is unfounded but understandable as health officials race to catch up with this fast-moving and rapidly evolving outbreak.

To stop this outbreak, more needs to be done to implement – on a much larger scale – well-known protective and preventive measures. Abundant evidence has documented their effectiveness.


Chicken Littles on DU should take a lesson from the real experts who have studied the disease for decades.

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
5. Real infectious disease experts don't agree with you. They say respirators should be required
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 02:18 PM
Oct 2014

because it is possible for Ebola to be transmitted through the air. They say that the paradigm on aerosolized viruses dates back to the 1940's and has been shown to be wrong.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025632558

 

MohRokTah

(15,429 posts)
6. Oh, so the WHO is not "real infectious disease experts"
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 02:22 PM
Oct 2014


THE SKY IS FALLING WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
7. With the safety of medical personnel at risk,
Tue Oct 7, 2014, 02:32 PM
Oct 2014

they should error on the conservative side and recommend the use of respirators.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/scientists-warn-ebola-transmission-may-be-airborne-urge-full-respirators-for-frontline-health-workers/5403925

With so many questions still remaining as to how folks like Dr. Rick Sacra, who never even treated Ebola patients, somehow managed to contract the supposedly non-airborne disease, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) has issued new guidelines recommending that all front-line health workers be outfitted with full respirators, a recommendation which suggests that Ebola could very well have gone airborne.

In a recent commentary, Drs. Lisa M. Brosseau, Sc.D., and Rachael Jones, Ph.D., make the case for respirators, not just face masks, as necessary equipment in the fight against Ebola. Recommending the precautionary approach in such a serious matter, the duo says that, just because it hasn’t been confirmed that Ebola can transfer through the air doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be treated as such, especially when people’s lives are on the line.

The fact of the matter is that Ebola has never been proven not to transmit through the air, which is reason enough to assume that it does for the safety of workers on the ground. The two doctors explain that, scientifically speaking, Ebola currently has “unclear modes of transmission,” meaning nobody truly knows all the ways that infections can emerge.

“We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks,” they wrote, citing an earlier paper Dr. Brosseau published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

SNIP

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