Should We Be Concerned?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710285/Ebola-test-feverish-man-flew-Britain-West-Africa-doctors-red-alert-deadly-virus.html

/// Liberia closed most of its border crossings on Sunday and Nigeria’s airports and borders have been on full alert since Friday. ///

Should we also consider closing our borders, or at least put a halt to the passage of persons from this part of Africa?

We seem more concerned about the spread of rabies in this country, than this disease which kills 90 per cent of victims.

[Kromovaracun]

We should be very concerned for the people of Nigeria - the virus has even claimed a number of health workers, who are quite thin on the ground.

We needn't be concerned for the UK. Neither of the two cases that the Mail is scaremongering over turned out to be infected, and not one case has yet been confirmed in the UK

[Kromovaracun]

*Sierra Leone/Guinea.

[Gromit]

Not concerned, but we probably shouldn't be complacent either.

At the moment it is the latest over-hyped medical scare, but it does have the potential to spread.

We should not be scared, but we should be keeping an eye on the situation.

[jno]

I haven't noticed any concern about rabies, but maybe I haven't been reading the right paper. Anyway, yes, it is cause for concern, which is why this man was tested. So it seems we're on the alert. But I don't see any reason to close borders.

[vakayu]

Yes of course we should be concerned,I think particular attention and any screening should be in force for anyone coming here who has been in those countries!Better safe than sorry.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// I haven't noticed any concern about rabies, but maybe I haven't been reading the right paper. ///

Have you been reading any papers at all?

*** From 1 January 2012, pets will also be able to enter the UK from unlisted countries without quarantine, if:

they are microchipped;
they are vaccinated;
a blood test is carried out to check that there is a satisfactory level of protection against rabies, followed by a three-month waiting
period before entry into the UK;
appropriate pet travel documentation is obtained;;
they are treated against tapeworm; and
they travel with an approved transport country on an authorised
route. ***

[anotheoldgit]

Kromovaracun

/// We should be very concerned for the people of Nigeria - the virus has even claimed a number of health workers, who are quite thin on the
ground. ///

/// We needn't be concerned for the UK. ///

Ah yes, the typical liberal leftism approach, providing others are well cared for why show concern for our own people, .

[chelle7272]

Not seen anything about rabies? There is this however:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28558783

Sufficient concern at this stage imo.

[jim360]

But in this case that's precisely the right approach. This disease is affecting the people of West Africa, so if they are properly cared for and appropriate measures taken, then there is little reason to worry about the disease reaching us. Obviously we should keep an eye on things, but anything more drastic such as closing borders would be premature. The DM's headline is somewhat scaremongering, because as they note later on in the article the test was negative.

So far the outbreak has seen just other 1,200 cases (as of a week ago). The most sever Ebola outbreak it may be, but it's still relatively minor as disease outbreaks go. In the meantime Liberia, one of the centres of the outbreak, has closed or is about to close its borders. All this means that we need not do the same. Monitor the situation, help out if possible. But absolutely not panic or overreact at this stage. Add another zero or two on the end of the number of cases and then there is some cause for concern that the disease may spread around the world. Not at the moment.

[Farriercm]

Yes, very concerned.

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

That's okay then, nothing to worry about at the moment, wait until there is then start to worry when it is too late.

[jim360]

As I think you well know, I'm not saying we should do nothing and wait until it's too late. Monitoring the situation is not doing nothing. Organising tests for the disease isn't doing nothing. These are the steps we should be taking -- and already are. Anything else is a gross overreaction at this point.

[Kromovaracun]

You know full well that isn't what I meant. I explicitly said why I don't think it's a concern for the UK - we haven't yet had a single confirmed case, and I think we have better quarantine procedures.

I don't know why I bother posting on your threads.

[sp1814]

I agree with many of the top responses from the readers. The doctors are doing amazing work. Incredibly brave people.

Total heroes.

Should we be concerned for the people affected? Yes. It's a horrific disease, and I only hope the outbreak can be contained effectively.

Should we be concerned for ourselves? I've looked at some information from the WHO, who state:

"Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids."

"However, the only available evidence available comes from healthy adult males. It would be premature to extrapolate the health effects of the virus to all population groups, such as immuno-compromised persons, persons with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and children. More studies of RESTV are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn about the pathogenicity and virulence of this virus in humans."

Also, the demographics of those who have been infected suggest that international travel might not be at the top of their immediate plans.

[sp1814]

Perhaps we should be more concerned over the many, many, many different things that can give us cancer.

The Daily Mail has been quite thorough telling us over the years...

[dave50]

No. AIDS was supposed to be the end of the world in the 80's but it wasnt.

[237SJ]

I wouldn`t be too concerned at the moment but if the disease gets a hold in Nigeria, then the UK should be very concerned. There is a lot of traffic between Nigeria and the UK (flights always packed) and it`s not much good looking out for symptoms at the airport with an incubation period of up to 21 days.

[Sqad]

Rabies, HIV, bird flu, Bubonic plague.....all non leaguers and small potatoes compared to Ebola.

Ebola....premier league, no effective treatment, no available vaccine, a disease with a death rate of up to 90%............

Should we be concerned?...Too bloody right we should.

Action needed ...meetings of Governments with WHO officials to discuss the problem as air travel makes world wide spread more likely.

Monitor the situation with care AND...concern.

[cassa333]

Now is the time to make sure our ability to deal with an outbreak is in place.

We don't want the usual to happen. Know about it some time in advance and set up a think tank to do something sometime.... And then panic like school girls at a Justin Bieber consert when it does arrive.

Ebola is a 90% death sentance and because we are not in the 'danger zone' we get rather complacent about this sort of thing. However we have links to Nigeria and the Africas so we should definately be on the look out for signs of it.


Funnily enough I'v just started watching Utopia and it does rather remind me of that in some respects.

[Kromovaracun]

Ebola's mortality rate drops to about 50% when treated (which most of the people infected aren't given - would be a very different story here). Furthermore it is not contagious during incubation and usually kills the host too quickly after symptoms to spread far. As Jim says, the outbreak is serious for ebola but not other diseases.

See this video for more details: