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General News 1.7 million Ebola cases by January?

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by HuskyPup, Sep 23, 2014.

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  1. HuskyPup

    HuskyPup
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    I was listening to NPR on the way to work, and noted that the CDC estimated we could have as many as 1.7 million cases in Africa by January...which is a scary thought. What do other people think? Will things be brought under control, or do you think it's likely to keep spreading?

    What scares me is that it can be spread by any bodily fuid, even a sweaty handshake, and it can survive, dried, on the surface of things, and then infect you.So it's not at an 'airborne' stage, but seeing all those haz-mat suits isn't exactly comforting. I'm not an overly alarmist sort, though this worries me more than terrorism, and all that...it seems like it won't be possible to simply contain it to a few countries; and though it's spread in places like the US would be much more difficult, I could see it managing to get a foothold poor, dense, inner-city areas: after all, we have places in the US that do very much resemble the third world.

    It would change things a good deal if the virus mutated, and became 'airborne'...one imagines a planet with half as many people, but maybe this is just a natural 'correction'?

    Curious as to what people are thinking about this all.


    Story from The Washing Post here.
     
    #1 HuskyPup, Sep 23, 2014
  2. RainDreamer

    RainDreamer
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    If you ever play a little flash game called Plague.inc, it will show you how hard it is to kill a massive amount of human with such an openly dangerous virus. In the worst case, they will just quarantine off the whole continent and every country in there fend for themselves. Not to mention that ebola effectively limit its own transmission due to it being so deadly, which leaves the victim little time to spread the virus before succumbing into it and being too sick to travel.

    Africa lack 2 things: Education and infrastructure. Both are important factors that allow effective combat against the virus. People do not fully understand how the virus spread, and combining it with the lack of medical equipment like needles - which leads to reuse and thus transmitting the virus - it can be a serious problem.

    In any place with advance medical facility, infected people will be isolated and treat in a way that minimize any risk of spread.


    And quote from the WHO website:
    So sweaty handshake won't infect you unless you have a cut. But you might want to wash hands more often.
     
    #2 RainDreamer, Sep 23, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2014
  3. HuskyPup

    HuskyPup
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    How about a sweaty handshake, followed by rubbing your eyes? Or eating something with your hands? I'm curious just how contagious it is. I mean, did all the Drs/medical personnel who have caught it so far have breaks in their skin? It seems kinda easy to transmit, compared to something like AIDS.

    I guess time will tell if it can be contained to Africa.

    It also seems weird, how slow the response to this has been, but than again, the lives of the poor have never been a huge concern of America, nor much of the world.
     
    #3 HuskyPup, Sep 23, 2014
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