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2014-10-16 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Medical Research Org CIDRAP: Ebola Transmittable by Air

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Posted by Besoeker 2014-10-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11135 views ] Top

#1 The executive summary, from the source article:

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.1

The minimum level of protection in high-risk settings should be a respirator with an assigned protection factor greater than 10. A powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) with a hood or helmet offers many advantages over an N95 filtering facepiece or similar respirator, being more protective, comfortable, and cost-effective in the long run.

We strongly urge the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to seek funds for the purchase and transport of PAPRs to all healthcare workers currently fighting the battle against Ebola throughout Africa—and beyond.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-10-16 00:19|| 2014-10-16 00:19|| Front Page Top

#2 We still don't know what makes this ebola outbreak more infectious than previous outbreaks.

Posted by phil_b 2014-10-16 00:30|| 2014-10-16 00:30|| Front Page Top

#3 Scary thought for the day.

We don't know what level of natural immunity exists in West African populations.

Ebola isn't a new disease and may be a old disease, with many epidemics in the past. In which case, there will be natural immunity in some people, perhaps a lot of people.

Let's further assume ebola never made it out of Africa before, which means there is no natural immunity in non-African populations.

What this means, if true, is it will spread much more easily outside of Africa.

What led me to this, is the ease with which foreign healthcare workers get infected despite precautions, indicates the transmission rate should be higher than it is in Africa.

Posted by phil_b 2014-10-16 00:48|| 2014-10-16 00:48|| Front Page Top

#4 Interesting and scary point, phil. And a nice explanation of why so many medical personnel are getting sick.

Historically, the virus would burn thru an isolated village leaving a bunch of dead and survivors with varying degrees of immunity. It would be back again, thanks to local vectors, but now people would have some resistance.

Nowadays, thanks to our modern social/transportation networks, the virus has a brand new playground of never-exposed people.

Posted by SteveS 2014-10-16 02:03|| 2014-10-16 02:03|| Front Page Top

#5 Thanks Phil. Certainly makes perfect sense to me. I hope the same theory applies to voter trends and presidential politics.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-10-16 07:12|| 2014-10-16 07:12|| Front Page Top

#6 With the election coming - folks everywhere in the US might be better off skipping the electronic ballot and doing paper with their own markers... like a touch screen just doesn't make sense in a contagious way.

Posted by 3dc 2014-10-16 08:55|| 2014-10-16 08:55|| Front Page Top

#7 Watching this hearing with Fauci'd Up excuses and no answers:

Hasn't this very scenario been gamed on account of Bird Flu? Also, the last major Ebola outbreak had doctors raising semaphore that this is nasty stuff which if it found to way to be more transmissive we will have problems.

Posted by swksvolFF 2014-10-16 13:40|| 2014-10-16 13:40|| Front Page Top

#8 I grabbed this tidbit from somewhere this morning. Hat tip to someone.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID) published a book titled “USAMRID’s Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook,” is now in its seventh edition.

The most recent edition was published in 2011, with more than 100,000 copies distributed to military and civilian health-care providers around the world.

On page 117 of the handbook, in a chapter discussing “Viral Hemorrhagic Fever” (VHF), a category of viruses that includes Ebola, USAMRID says: “In several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These instances have prompted concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol transmission of infection.”

Page 117 continues to specify: “Therefore, when VHF is suspected, additional infection control measures are indicated.”

Which got me digging and I found this 2012 study: From Pigs to Monkeys, Ebola Goes Airborne

The BBC parsed the study like this, "In experiments, they demonstrated that the virus was transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact between them."

Posted by mossomo 2014-10-16 16:52|| 2014-10-16 16:52|| Front Page Top

#9 And found this digging yesterday. It's frustrating as it's posted on the WHO website, so the "experts" should know better.

Recent studies conducted in West Africa have demonstrated that 95% of confirmed cases have an incubation period in the range of 1 to 21 days; 98% have an incubation period that falls within the 1 to 42 day interval.

Posted by mossomo 2014-10-16 17:00|| 2014-10-16 17:00|| Front Page Top

#10 Opps - Linky Here

Posted by mossomo 2014-10-16 17:01|| 2014-10-16 17:01|| Front Page Top

#11

Posted by Besoeker 2014-10-16 17:56|| 2014-10-16 17:56|| Front Page Top

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