(Oct 10, 2014 03:47 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: I think it's overdone, at least until we get an outbreak over here.
I agree.
My impression is that Ebola doesn't spread all that easily, so it can probably be contained even if some scattered cases appear, as they already have in the US and Spain. One reason why it spreads more easily in Africa is because modern medical care is in short supply there and sick people have traditionally been cared for by their families. So healthy people come into close contact with those displaying symptoms without any protective measures being taken. (My guess is that infection rates might be a lot higher in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone than currently reported, precisely because a lot of cases in rural villages probably aren't being included in the health statistics.)
Quote:Afterall, the enterovirus is here in America already and has no cure.
Yes. That one actually worries me more than Ebola at this point, in this country. It seems to spread much more easily and a certain unknown percentage of people become so ill that they require emergency hospital care. It just looks to me like this one has a significantly higher probability of becoming a serious epidemic in this country.
There's also a new paralytic disease that presents similarly to polio that's recently appeared, that may or may not be related to this virulent strain of enterovirus. That worries me too.
Quote:I just got my flu shot today, but who knows if it will cover all mutations that are out there.
Flu is old news and people aren't that interested in hearing about it. But it remains a killer on a scale that Ebola will almost certainly never approach here in the US. Thousands die from the flu every year in the US and people just shrug.