Given how many people have shared panic about the Ebola virus on the DR pages, please take a minute to read the below. Laura is a highly regarded professional in the field of disease prevention and also an awesome boffer fighter. ----------------------------------------------------- The words of the Science Paladin with bonus points given to her Smiting Ignorance specialization - Laura Wallace. In her words... 1. No, Ebola is not transmissible by air. That would take some major mutations that would also probably shift other aspects of the virus. 2. It is VERY HARD to transmit Ebola via surfaces. There was a study done in an Ebola ward, and the only surfaces they could pull virus from were a doctors bloody glove and a needle used to inject the patient. Not the bed, not the utensils, not the spit bowl, etc. 3. If you are not a medical professional or someone who is caring for or living with someone with active, acute disease, your chances of catching it are so low as to approach zero, particularly here where we have neat things like good sanitation. 4. Is ebola a concern for West Africa, which has a very bad health system and lots of things getting in the way of effective quarantine? Yes. Is it spreading to other parts of the world, especially other parts of Africa and Southeast Asia a worrisome possibility? Also, yes. Is this epidemiologist keeping an eye on this? Also yes. But... 5. Is the case in the US (in someone who had been in Africa) worth panicking about? No. Really. 6. Your odds of catching and dying from flu are much, much, much (think many, many 0s) higher than your odds of coming in contact with Ebola, much less catching and dying from it, unless you go to Africa. Flu and the enterovirus (D-68) that is causing nasty respiratory complications in kids are the two things in the US that Im keeping a very close eye on. Ebola is scary, but at this point, its not worth panicking about if youre not in west Africa. 7. If youre worried? Wash your hands. Do it often. Do it right (soap, water, vigorous rubbing, at least 20 seconds, dry thoroughly). That has the pleasant side-effect of also protecting you from flu, colds, noroviruses (think cruise ship diarrhea outbreaks) and other nasty stuff you ARE likely to come into contact with. 8. Dont panic. Dont spread misinformation. That just fosters distrust of the public health system and makes it harder for those folks to do their (very difficult) job. TL:DR? Dont panic. For further info, this is a good article from NYTimes.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:25:29 +0000
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