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The bottom line is that Ebola doesn't infect millions of people, and the infection tends to rear its head in impoverished, isolated areas. A cure for Ebola would not reap millions in profits. And while medical research talks about curing AIDS, the BILLIONS that have gone to AIDS research seem to have gone to managing AIDS. Pharmaceutical companies are ALL about profits, and it's much more profitable to manage diseases than to cure them, as long as the disease infects enough people.
But not this time. And that has world organizations worried a tad bit more than normal.
Several organizations are bringing their volunteers home including the Peace Corps.
But not this time. And that has world organizations worried a tad bit more than normal.
Several organizations are bringing their volunteers home including the Peace Corps.
What do you mean not this time?
Ive never seen so many people who have time to sit around and worry about things as on this site.
The woman who flew in Charlotte from Africa and got sick was diagnosed with Malaria.
The WH said Obama's meeting with the leaders of 40 African nations in the WH next week will not be cancelled.
The CDC has issued warnings to airlines to watch for symptoms.
This time is different because the outbreaks are not in remote areas.
I've been saying for months now on illegal-immigration threads that the threat of disease coming into the U.S. is NOT from poor illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico but rather from middle-class visitors (or returning U.S. citizens) flying into the U.S. legally. AIDS for example did not enter this country via an illegal immigrant. It came here via a flight attendent.
There's very good reasons the CDC puts its' focus on such people. First off folks flying into the U.S. legally outnumber illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. something like a 100 to 1. Secondly, the short travel time in involved in air travel means that it's way more likely that someone will enter the country without being visibly sick or having any idea that they are sick - which means they would just walk through customs.
Modern air travel is a wonderful thing because it makes the world so easily accessable - but there's a significant downside as well: it makes the spread of disease easy too.
But not this time. And that has world organizations worried a tad bit more than normal.
Several organizations are bringing their volunteers home including the Peace Corps.
This outbreak has cropped up in more urban areas, but still very impoverished ones, and this outbreak has infected more health professionals, who were always at a higher risk for contracting Ebola. It was, I think, inevitable that Ebola would strike an urban area. Humans are transients. And with an incubation period that goes on for as long as three weeks, at some point we knew that someone would carry the disease from a remote village to an actual city.
The fact remains, that a cure for Ebola would not be very profitable, and profits rather than humanitarianism drives medical research in our world today.
This outbreak has cropped up in more urban areas, but still very impoverished ones, and this outbreak has infected more health professionals, who were always at a higher risk for contracting Ebola. It was, I think, inevitable that Ebola would strike an urban area. Humans are transients. And with an incubation period that goes on for as long as three weeks, at some point we knew that someone would carry the disease from a remote village to an actual city.
The fact remains, that a cure for Ebola would not be very profitable, and profits rather than humanitarianism drives medical research in our world today.
Who cares about profit motive and vaccines? I don't know why this discussion even cropped up really. The problem is there is an outbreak, and it's starting to threaten more people than just poor villagers who handle the dead. It's cropped up in cities and crossed three different borders.
I have a feeling that the Centers for Disease Control have been looking for some type of vaccine for this disease for a long time now. It is at the top of the list of worst-case scenarios for global pandemics.
Who cares about profit motive and vaccines? I don't know why this discussion even cropped up really. The problem is there is an outbreak, and it's starting to threaten more people than just poor villagers who handle the dead. It's cropped up in cities and crossed three different borders.
I have a feeling that the Centers for Disease Control have been looking for some type of vaccine for this disease for a long time now. It is at the top of the list of worst-case scenarios for global pandemics.
I posted very early on that ebola is but one plane ride away from the US.
Doctors, nurses, businessmen, tourists. We're not talking about backward villages anymore that don't know any better.
I've been saying for months now on illegal-immigration threads that the threat of disease coming into the U.S. is NOT from poor illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico but rather from middle-class visitors (or returning U.S. citizens) flying into the U.S. legally. AIDS for example did not enter this country via an illegal immigrant. It came here via a flight attendent.
Ken
Despite the book and movie, the Canadian flight attendant being patient 0 theory has been disproven. HIV in North America predated him.
Ebola is just not the stuff pandemics are made of:
#1 Ebola is contagious only when patients are symptomatic
#2 Ebola is not an airborne virus
#3 Ebola is very aggressive and has a very high mortality rate - The more aggressive a virus is, the less likely it will spread because it will quickly stop and kill its hosts, not giving them a chance to spread it and therefore burning itself out. This is why infectious agents with low mortality rates spread and mutate much more efficiently.
All of this means that people that become infected with Ebola quickly become debilitated, which means their mobility is quickly reduced. And they generally can't infect others very easily since they can't do it until they are showing symptoms, which makes them easily identifiable. As a result:
a) Development of super spreaders (a host who infects disproportionally more secondary contacts) is unlikely and;
b) The virus can be easily contained in countries with solid infection control procedures.
There are much more dangerous viruses that pose a much larger pandemic threat such as coronaviruses, influenza viruses and possibly other agents we have never even identified because they haven't made the jump from animals to humans. These viruses are airborne, can be transmitted before the hosts becomes symptomatic and have mortality rates under 20%. All of which gives them much greater chances of mutating and spreading
This is a horrible disease and a very big problem for some West African countries, but Ebola is not THE pandemic that many people fear will one day hit humankind.
Ebola is just not the stuff pandemics are made of:
#1 Ebola is contagious only when patients are symptomatic
#2 Ebola is not an airborne virus
#3 Ebola is very aggressive and has a very high mortality rate - The more aggressive a virus is, the less likely it will spread because it will quickly stop and kill its hosts, not giving them a chance to spread it and therefore burning itself out. This is why infectious agents with low mortality rates spread and mutate much more efficiently.
All of this means that people that become infected with Ebola quickly become debilitated, which means their mobility is quickly reduced. And they generally can't infect others very easily since they can't do it until they are showing symptoms, which makes them easily identifiable. As a result:
a) Development of super spreaders (a host who infects disproportionally more secondary contacts) is unlikely and;
b) The virus can be easily contained in countries with solid infection control procedures.
There are much more dangerous viruses that pose a much larger pandemic threat such as coronaviruses, influenza viruses and possibly other agents we have never even identified because they haven't made the jump from animals to humans. These viruses are airborne, can be transmitted before the hosts becomes symptomatic and have mortality rates under 20%. All of which gives them much greater chances of mutating and spreading
This is a horrible disease and a very big problem for some West African countries, but Ebola is not THE pandemic that many people fear will one day hit humankind.
I agree. Ebola is very scary but it's fortunate for us that it strikes so hard and fast. HIV is much more widespread because of the fact that it has a long incubation period and has few obvious symptoms at first - meaning that folks can have it and spread it for years without realizing it. Fortunately HIV is not that easily spread either. With its' long incubation period and scarcity of early symptoms, if HIV was airborne it would have infected nearly everyone.
Ken
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