Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Scary article on Ebola virus Date:   10/17/2014 1:24:44 PM

The article is scary, but it contains a lot of "maybes".  I think the scariest thing is possible mutations of the virus that might not present in the same way every time.  So far, with the exception of Duncan, they have been successful in treating it with experimental drugs, but if it mutates, it could become impossible to treat successfully.  And other mutations could possibly be spread differently than the current mutation, i.e. airborne. 

I am in favor of closing our borders and certainly not issuing visas to West Africans.   I heard a Senator make a cogent argument for doing this, this morning.   It's a good idea, common sense really, and I have no idea why the adminstration is refusing to consider it. 

But, I do not consider Ebola a crisis, at least not yet.  A handful of cases in a population of millions is hardly a crisis.  But, there is no reason not to take precautions to prevent it from becoming a crisis. And I agree, to some extent that it could become a crisis if a few jhadists decided to bring it to our public transporation system.  Borrowing from another thread, they could also decide to bring chemical weapons and do the same thing. 

As far as Obama's Czar for Ebola - well, it just more or less amounts to someone whose full time attention is dedicated to a particular issue.  It's not like the Czar is going to come up with the cure.  I think it is possible to understand the problem without being a Dr., just as we all go to Drs and get diagnosed - we're not Drs. ourselves but we are capapble of understanding the problem.  I'm not sure exactly why we need a Czar, since we have (don't we?) a Surgeon General and a Director of the CDC.  One thing though to think about, everyone is in favor of cutting the funding to govenrment agencies until there is a crisis and we expect them to solve it.  I'm sure the CDC has been cut and they are probably understaffed.  So the next time, someone says that it's a "great idea" to cut funding to government agencies, think about this.  And honestly, with the way the FDA has been cut, it's only a miracle that we haven't had a severe outbreak of some sort of foodborne illness, because they are critically understaffed to keep our food supply safe. 

One final thought regarding the 2nd nurse that got sick.  If you were involved in the treatment of an Ebola patient, and you developed even a low-grade fever, would you think you should get on a plane?  Even if you were told by someone that it was okay?  Common sense would tell a reasonable adult that, no, you should stay home and not expose a lot of other people - even if you didn't think you had it, but some sort of flu..... This woman is  a NURSE too - a health care professional.  That ought to make you think twice about who is treating you.  This is how people in the hospital for one thing end up dying becasue they get MRSA or some other superbug.   Because people responsible for your healthcare and safety, don't have common sense to take precautions.