Octopus Overlords

The Article wrote:Christian Althaus of the University of Bern in Switzerland just released a grim new calculation of the RO for this epidemic that finds that when the outbreak began in Guinea, it was RO = 1.5, so each person infected one and a half other people, for a moderate rate of epidemic growth. But by early July, the RO in Sierra Leone was a hideous 2.53, so the epidemic was more than doubling in size with each round of transmission. Today in Liberia, the virus is spreading so rapidly that no RO has been computed.

A patient in a Dallas hospital has been confirmed to have the Ebola virus, News 8 has learned.

That person has been held in "strict isolation" as he or she was evaluated for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus.

This is the first case of Ebola confirmed in the United States.

Isgrimnur wrote:Please join me in welcoming Ebola to US soil:

A patient in a Dallas hospital has been confirmed to have the Ebola virus, News 8 has learned.

That person has been held in "strict isolation" as he or she was evaluated for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus.

This is the first case of Ebola confirmed in the United States.

Rip wrote:Should be interesting to hear where the person contracted it. It should be entertaining if it was an illegal immigrant who came across the border.

The Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance crew who transported the man infected with Ebola to the hospital has been quarantined according to the City of Dallas.

The City of Dallas said Tuesday that the crew took all safety precautions and has been quarantined according to Centers for Disease Control and Dallas County Health guidelines.

Isgrimnur wrote:Now imagine that you live in the same metro area as the case.

$iljanus wrote:Wow an unchecked epidemic, (except in Nigeria from an article I've read so that's good news) a long asymptomatic period and access to planes that can travel across oceans. Who would have thought such a thing could happen? I'm shocked...

Smoove_B wrote:Go ahead. Ask me about semen.

$iljanus wrote:Your knowledge of semen sounds scientifically intriguing.

Smoove_B wrote: acquired from eating fish. There have been a few cases where men that have been poisoned passed the poison on to their female partners via sexual intercourse.

Smoove_B wrote:

$iljanus wrote:Your knowledge of semen sounds scientifically intriguing.

Here's another one totally unrelated to viruses, but still semen-tastic: Ciguatera poisoning acquired from eating fish. There have been a few cases where men that have been poisoned passed the poison on to their female partners via sexual intercourse. For reasons unknown, the toxin can apparently accumulate in semen. The men came down with the illness, and then a day or so later, so did the women - and they ate completely different meals. Science is awesome!

Isgrimnur wrote:Now imagine that you live in the same metro area as the case.

Smoove_B wrote:I'm sure you're fine. Totally unrelated question - how much food and water do you have on hand at home? Could you maybe hang out indoors for say...21 days?

Octavious wrote:I HATE meetings in Florida. That's usually the place of choice for pharma companies. It's even worse when I'm staying in a Disney resort and have to work while families are running around having fun.

Captain Caveman wrote:I only eat the poop of people I know aren't infected.

FishPants wrote: I'm super stoked about being in Florida next week with tens of thousands of sweaty people at a conference from around the world.. I'm sure it will be fine.

Blackhawk wrote:
That said, I'm not too worried about ebola spreading in the US. That sucker is hard to pass on if you aren't living in each others' filth.

:

Smoove_B wrote:

$iljanus wrote:Your knowledge of semen sounds scientifically intriguing.

I live to serve. People surviving a hemorrhagic viral infection up until now has been quite rare. However, one of the last times it happened was a researcher that accidentally injected himself with Marburg in the lab waaaaaay back in 1971. Now, Marburg is a close relative of Ebola (not nearly as deadly), so it's not necessarily the same - but the Marburg virus was still found in his semen 61 days after he recovered. In theory this means people *could* be spreading it via semen after being cured and healthy, but we don't know because survival rates for Ebola historically speaking are terrible (< 10%). But I'm willing to bet for those that have been treated here in the United States, they'll be collecting fluid samples for the next year to see if they're still harboring the virus in any capacity.

Here's another one totally unrelated to viruses, but still semen-tastic: Ciguatera poisoning acquired from eating fish. There have been a few cases where men that have been poisoned passed the poison on to their female partners via sexual intercourse. For reasons unknown, the toxin can apparently accumulate in semen. The men came down with the illness, and then a day or so later, so did the women - and they ate completely different meals. Science is awesome!

Smoove_B wrote:

$iljanus wrote:Your knowledge of semen sounds scientifically intriguing.

I live to serve. People surviving a hemorrhagic viral infection up until now has been quite rare. However, one of the last times it happened was a researcher that accidentally injected himself with Marburg in the lab waaaaaay back in 1971. Now, Marburg is a close relative of Ebola (not nearly as deadly), so it's not necessarily the same - but the Marburg virus was still found in his semen 61 days after he recovered. In theory this means people *could* be spreading it via semen after being cured and healthy, but we don't know because survival rates for Ebola historically speaking are terrible (< 10%). But I'm willing to bet for those that have been treated here in the United States, they'll be collecting fluid samples for the next year to see if they're still harboring the virus in any capacity.

Here's another one totally unrelated to viruses, but still semen-tastic: Ciguatera poisoning acquired from eating fish. There have been a few cases where men that have been poisoned passed the poison on to their female partners via sexual intercourse. For reasons unknown, the toxin can apparently accumulate in semen. The men came down with the illness, and then a day or so later, so did the women - and they ate completely different meals. Science is awesome!

Health officials are closely monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person to be diagnosed in the U.S., the director of Dallas County's health department said Wednesday.

All who have been in close contact with the man diagnosed are being monitored as a precaution, said Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

Isgrimnur wrote:Possible patient #2:

"This is part of routine emergency operations during a health incident in the county. This is same protocol taken during things like flu and tuberculosis cases."

Smoove_B wrote:Seriously - we have our best men on this.

A man who had Ebola but didn't know it walked into a Dallas emergency room September 26. Although his symptoms could have indicated Ebola among other things, no one at the hospital asked him if he had recently traveled, a source close to the case told CNN.

The man, who had just flown from Liberia to the States didn't offer the information either, the source said, and the man left the hospital. A spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital says it's investigating whether he was questioned.

Regardless, two days passed between the time the man left and then returned to the facility September 28 where it was determined he likely had Ebola and was isolated. He tested positive Tuesday, health officials said.