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2014-09-15 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Ebola Toll Hits 2,400 as Cuba Pledges Medics

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Posted by trailing wife 2014-09-15 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 ...I know some folks who are quietly concerned that this might get loose in the Hajj. Whatever one might think of Islam, that would be a horror of epic proportions.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2014-09-15 07:13|| 2014-09-15 07:13|| Front Page Top

#2 Not sure how many days following, but to die during the pilgrimage or while in attendance, is covered under the plan.

~ Sahih Bukhari 1208, Sahih Muslim 1206

Posted by Besoeker 2014-09-15 07:25|| 2014-09-15 07:25|| Front Page Top

#3 Why is it that the US has already sent >100 doctors, but the African Union has only pledged to do so? *Sigh* I guess we're just too racist.

Posted by BA 2014-09-15 08:31|| 2014-09-15 08:31|| Front Page Top

#4 Yep. The Hajj is in 3 weeks. IMO, the only horror would be the huge risk of hajis bringing it back to their permanent residences in Europe and North America.

Posted by RandomJD 2014-09-15 08:54|| 2014-09-15 08:54|| Front Page Top

#5 As I said earlier, the big question is, can this spread outside tropical Africa?

I don't know and I have a degree in genetics.

Posted by phil_b 2014-09-15 10:56|| 2014-09-15 10:56|| Front Page Top

#6 Patrick Sawyer, a U.S. citizen, is the reason ebola is spreading in Nigeria. He had been in Liberia on business, then erupted with symptoms on the flight to Nigeria, en route to the U.S. He collapsed in the airport in Lagos and died short time later in the hospital. All subsequent ebola infections in Nigeria trace back to him, mostly medical staff who treated him, and their families.

If he'd left Liberia one day earlier, he would've made it to the U.S.

So it can spread anywhere humans can travel. Or ship it, in the form of infected bush meat, smuggled to the large West African community in New York, for example.

Posted by RandomJD 2014-09-15 12:21|| 2014-09-15 12:21|| Front Page Top

#7 phil_b, you'll love this.

The concern is that the virus is getting so many chances to mutate, an airborne strain may emerge. That is, more airborne than it already is, through aerosols, which occur with every sneeze, cough, vomit. If ebola were ever to spread through air as readily as smallpox - which behaves like smoke - that would be pretty much game over.

Posted by RandomJD 2014-09-15 12:38|| 2014-09-15 12:38|| Front Page Top

#8 "Why has the US sent over 100 doctors, but the African Union has only pledged to do so?" Because there's a hellacious shortage of doctors anywhere in Africa. And not all African doctors have decent training. Many schools in Africa are not equipped to teach basic science--the majority of schools aren't equipped to teach much of anything beyond elementary school.

Posted by mom 2014-09-15 13:02|| 2014-09-15 13:02|| Front Page Top

#9 The $4.27 billion WHO is incapable of standardised regular updates of new infections. They stopped on August 20.

My projections from previous figures say that in the two weeks to end September there should be roughly 2025 new cases.

Next month we should have another couple of countries with first infections

Posted by anon1 2014-09-15 13:41|| 2014-09-15 13:41|| Front Page Top

#10 There will be no ebola at the Hajj as Saudi is way stricter than the US or Britain.

They will just deny visas. Plus Muslims are fastidiously clean. The women for one are wearing gloves and masks. Two most important things to prevent transmission from an infected surface.

Posted by anon1 2014-09-15 13:42|| 2014-09-15 13:42|| Front Page Top

#11 Plus Muslims are fastidiously clean.

For a certain value of clean, anon1. The pious wipe their bottoms only with the left hand, and eat only with the right. But I cannot imagine that cooking also is only done with the right hand...

By their own lights they are fastidious about cleanliness. But a closer examination suggests that the understanding of cleanliness in 8th century Arabia is not the same as that of the modern First World, with our soaps and private bathrooms and antibacterial hygiene.

Posted by trailing wife 2014-09-15 15:09|| 2014-09-15 15:09|| Front Page Top

#12 Every single person at the Hajj could wear gloves and masks, and it wouldn't matter. Ebola can enter through the eyeballs and microscopic breaks in the skin.

Denying visas may or may not help, as it only takes one person to start a chain of transmission. It is also impossible to identify persons infected with ebola during the incubation period - a week or more - while they are asymptomatic. Even symptomatic cases are difficult to distinguish early on, as the initial symptoms resemble malaria and flu.

Posted by RandomJD 2014-09-15 15:19|| 2014-09-15 15:19|| Front Page Top

#13 Whatever one might think of Islam, that would be a horror of epic proportions.

Insha'Allah.

Posted by Sonny Glarong6820 2014-09-15 15:34|| 2014-09-15 15:34|| Front Page Top

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