Ebola! Are You Kidding?

I'm not scared.
What I am, is pissed that there wasn't some sort of quarantine on flights out of countries where it was epidemic.

Now that Ebola is the number one story I. The news, the White House is hoping everyone forgets about ISIS, Syria etc. just saying.

Wash your hands more and read the news less.

All your problems solved!

"Is anyone else as scared as me?" Probably...and more so.

But not me.

"What is this world coming to?"

I am not sure what you are getting at there. We have international flights that travel to and from areas of the world with diseases that we do not currently have. It was bound to happen eventually.

From what I understand, it is not a death sentence if detected early.

I am sorry but I just don't buy into all the media hype. We are constantly barraged with the latest grim reaper's tool. I have not died yet of the swine flu, bird flu, killer bees, H1N1 or West Nile Virus.

I may be naive, but I believe there are a bunch of waaaay more qualified people out there risking their lives to keep these diseases at bay. There is research going on right now on how to combat these diseases. I am so grateful for their sacrifice.

Find ways to relax and find peace in your everyday life.

If you turn off the news, the world doesn't seem so crazy. There is so much good going on in the world but the news is continuous streaming of all the negative and gives you a skewed perspective. We have always had wars, dictators, disease, poverty etc.

Geez people. Don't panic! Of course it was bound to get here eventually. We are very much a part of the globe. We can't cordon ourselves off from the rest of the planet anymore and pretend "they" don't exist. We need to apply this knowledge to all aspects of our society.

And given some of the excellent posts below, don't panic! (It deserved a repeat.) The spread and treatment of the disease here will be much more controlled than in the African states where the healthcare system is understaffed/building/funded/etc. of dealing with it. Even with a woefully underfunded CDC.

Keep calm, carry on, and remember to wash your hands.

Just an FYI
No ebola CANNOT be spread by some one sneezing and touching something and you get it - thats the cold or a flu. In those cases the virus can live below body temperature for several hours (some cold viruses can live for days). Ebola virus CANNOT survive outside of body temp. It does not survive on surfaces so you have to have direct bodily fluid contact for it to spread.

Basic hygiene, thats all. The conditions here are not good for it to spread - too clean too cold.....

OMG! Obama's plan to start an Ebola Zombie Apocalypse has begun.

Grab your kids, grab your guns and head for the hills. I knew this was going to happen when we elected that Islamic, African!

Or do we need to dig a little deeper? Excellent post Diane, seems that when we financially gut the agencies charged with protecting the health of Americans we weaken our ability to fight infectious outbreaks both at home and abroad. Makes sense to me.

ETA: There is no vaccination against ebola or the virus that is spreading...(http://investmentwatchblog.com/mystery-more-than-1000-chi...) yeah...we can blame the 0bama administration for this - as the administration is the one busing the kids around the US instead of back to their "home country"...

Ebola can be transferred as easily as the infected person sneezing, wiping their nose, and then putting their hand on something...the next person who touches the surface then wipes their nose, rubs their eyes or licks their fingers before washing their hands? BOOM! Infected!

Original.

S.,

It's not the first case. The government brought in two cases. What did you expect?

No. I am not scared. I am MAD...This is what happens when you have "open borders" and a government busing in illegal immigrants to places all over the country (did you not notice the new virus going around - suspiciously after the kids arrived)....

What is this world coming to?? Well, since you asked....here's my opinion....
it's become a society of "no holds barred" - it doesn't matter if it's wrong - if it feels good - do it!!
It's NOT your fault (just like nothing is 0bama's fault).
It's OKAY to lie, cheat and steal - look at our government - and the liberal left cheers them on!!
You want your 15 minutes of fame?? Do something stupid - make sure someone is recording it and post it on youtube!! It's all good!! No problem!!
The lack of morals, common sense and integrity is horrible. Gone are the days when the teacher could admonish Johny for doing a bad job...now everyone gets a trophy for participating and no one loses for fear of hurting Johny's feelings...

Thanks for letting me voice my opinion!!

Don't be scared. Be mad. Start being proactive. Don't live in fear. You can't control this - however you CAN control how it affects your home and loved ones...

Good luck!

ETA: New news in Dallas is that at least 5 children were exposed and they have named the schools where they have been attending.
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I am in the Dallas area and I know from experience that the hospital where the guy is located is a very good hospital.

I'm not scared and fearful of ebola because I assumed it would get here in a matter of time.

What bothers me is that it sounds like the CDC is not telling us the truth. Did you notice that when questioned, they would not confirm or deny if the patient is a US citizen... only said consistently that he was visiting family.

It also makes me angry that they are continuing to fly out of that country to other countries with this monster going around.

There is no way to know how many people could be exposed because of the flight, the hospital, the people he was in contact with before he went to the hospital and the now have the ambulance he was in quarantined... wonder how many people rode in that ambulance before they knew about this. The ambulance crew is also quarantined right now according to our news.

As usual, I am sure many details will be kept under wraps and we the people will be fed a bunch of lies about it. One speaker was so adamant saying this is under control, blah blah but no one can say that with 100% accuracy.

According to our news, and I don't know if this is shown nationally... but the people in the Liberian community here are very scared.

I just hope this can be contained and not spread throughout the US.

No, I'm not scared. I'm more scared of the government's under-reaction and then the inevitable over-reaction when the pendulum swings the other way.

And the CDC being dishonest and/or not forthcoming with us? Why, take the ribbons from my hair!!! How can that be? I thought everything the CDC does is top-notch and as pure as the wind-driven snow. :P

I agree with another mom - stop watching the news. Stay focused on the stuff that you can control.

JMO.

OMG!
there's disease in the world!
WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!
RUN!!!!!!!!!
khairete
S.
ETA, i'm snorking out loud over angela's 'well, take the ribbons from my hair!' :D

They've been saying right along it's not a matter of 'if' so much as 'when'.
People don't take disease as seriously as they use to.
They think medicine will always have an answer.
They think "Oh no! We couldn't possibly ban <international> air traffic! That would be SO disruptive!".
Yeah - right.
It's been almost 100 years since the Spanish Flu of 1918 and no one remembers dealing with overwhelming numbers of bodies, mass graves and dealing with all the resulting orphans (my grandmother was one).
I'm wondering what will happen when something like this ends up in Asia or the Middle East or any densely populated area.
WWI was instrumental in spreading the flu and helped make it the pandemic event it turned out to be.
But - if you survive - things tend to be pretty good once the initial chaos wears off.
After the Black Plague - workers were in short supply and wages went up as did the standard of living - the Renaissance period happened.
After 1918, we had the roaring 20's.

Im more mad than scared. This is being mishandled and has from the start. He was given antibiotics and sent home on sept 26th, he went to the hospital and was sent home. Do you know how much contamination could have happened. I'll tell you the thing that I am more scared about is the virus or whatever is causing polio like paralysis in kids. There are 10 in colorado now. This I find scary because they don't know what it is.

I am not at all surprised that a person in the US has come down with Ebola. It was just a matter of time since people travel the globe and some were bound to show up in the US. I do have several concerns. The gentlemen presented to a hospital ER (a very well respected hospital) and told the nurse that he had been in Liberia. However, that information was not passed on to the ER doctor who prescribed an antibiotic and sent him home. At the point when he started to run the fever, he posed a health problem. The first EBOLA victims were brought in to the US in sterile, specialized suits. He was sent home and now CDC is trying to track down all of the people he came in contact with family, hospital and ER personnel and the general public (including 5 children in 4 schools in the Dallas ISD). Hopefully none of those people will develop Ebola. My second concern is how many other people have been exposed, come to the US and have not hit the healthcare system yet. We don't know yet. If hospitals practice Universal Precaution, the risks can be contained. But hospitals can make mistakes, healthcare workers can be exposed and then the general public. We don't know a lot of things right now - I am not scared, but I have concerns and will try to stay educated about it and not become involved in mass hysteria.

This is why vaccinations are SO important.

Doris Day, the FDA has a vaccine that they are working on and they plan to have it ready in November.

3000 people died of ebola..

1,600,000 died of Aids.

600,000 died of malaria.

which is the biggest risk to us here in the usa.??

I am far more concerned about enterovirus 68 which is effecting kids in the us.. and has killed 4..

I'm all for vaccines too, but just a reminder here for the poster who mentioned vaccines - there isn't one for ebola.

Like Diane B points out, ebola spreads by touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. Excellent post, Diane...

This is very frustrating news (I saw it last night). I thought they had flight restrictions but you never know anymore in the US since our boarder is wide open. That could also be why so many children are coming down with unknown illnesses, the immigrants are already immune to whatever it is and we are not. Just look back in history at how the native Indians died off from chicken pox, small pox, flu, etc.. it was brought in by immigrants.

Don't freak out over things you cant control but be prepared for what you can control. Stay healthy (eat right and take vitamins that will boost your immune system), have extra food, water and medicine (things you need daily) if a quarantine goes into effect. Learn what the symptoms are and seek medical attention as soon as possible (the ones surviving are getting treatments right away).

Personally, I would not rely on FEMA or any of our governments to keep us safe. They seem to be doing a crappy job of it. If they were doing things correctly we wouldn't have this patient zero.

I am not scared. Although, like one of the other posters said, I am slightly uncomfortable. Due to the fact that it is not airborne, I do not think Ebola is going to spread here like it spread in Africa due to the living conditions here, versus there. I think there might be pockets where it could spread, but I do not think it will be widespread. I would be A LOT more worried if it had already mutated to be airborne, but since that is not the case (nor do I think it will do that since the chances are really low of it doing that), I am not fearful. But I do think that if we don't get a handle on it in Africa soon and stop it, then it is more likely to go airborne.

My husband and I were talking about this the other night. We live in Houston. Have lots of friends who work in the oil and gas industry who travel. We felt that it was just a matter of time before it came over here.

We are a global society now. The hospitals MUST be more vigilant in dealing with people. I would like to know the whole story when he went to the hospital the first time. I've heard several conflicting stories.

I do have a question, where did the respiratory infection come from that is killing the kids? I have my thoughts on that but was curious if anyone had heard where it originated from?

I agree with Patty K. I think she's right on!

I am uncomfortable, yet not obsessively scared.

I think you are correct about it was only a matter of time.

I would make extra hand washing effort and such.