you guys worried about Ebola?

Glorious NHS will protect me.

Its not airborne and spreads as I understand it through bodily fluids so as long as known cases are isolated I think the spread isnt' nearly as dooms day as the media might have you believe.

Here's how my thinking goes: I am probably in the top 10% as far as health goes so my chance of death given that I catch it is like 25%, now the probability of catching it, given my location/circle/activities is probably about 0.01%, now given that I catch it, I have the student NHS like 200 meters away from me, so the chance that I won't make it to the NHS is around 1%. Now of course there might be things in common so its incorrect to treat these as independent probabilities but nevertheless there are other things I should be more worried about it, such as crossing the street, driving places, and even food poisoning. The media always blows the risks out of proportion, this deserves no more of your personal anxiety than these things.

I'm not worried, but seeing how the the hospitals and the CDC has handled US cases so far does not exactly give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

If something did happen like in the movie Contagion, we're fucking screwed.

I think if anything, the rhetoric and media coverage on Ebola has made me highly dismissive of its potential deadliness/contagiousness. Maybe I should be more frightened than I am.

Nahhh.

The government is desperate to rile us up so FEMA can swoop in and save the day? What are you talking about? The only elements in government that have an interest in brewing fear are the same old buzzards that will use any and all tactics to peck away at the Obama administration, and that is in part accomplished by pandering to the crazies with the old "FEMA is desperate to establish martial law" tactic. That's the fever dream of bunker dwellers and Rapture enthusiasts.

The commercial based media, on the other hand... this is a field day. Weird computer graphics of viruses, pictures of hazmat suits, that scary-ass biohazard symbol... oh yeah. Disaster porn at its finest.

Concerned because it's going to kill thousands more people, and it's an awful way to die. I'd maybe start being worried about my own safety if it ever hits Toronto, and only if it starts spreading. I'd be less concerned with personal infect, more of the panic that'd come with it.

and then there's this sort of horseshit:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/08/14/beware-of-fraudulent-ebola-supplements/

tl;dr- people selling anti-ebola supplements. i.e. snakeoil.

and before anyone chimes in with 'free market' haberdashery- health is one venue where the public really should be protected from their own ignorance.

it might sound naive, but i still find it highly disturbing that people could find this human-tragedy-in-progress as an opportunity to swindle.

My sister works at a hospital in admissions. She has to ask everyone who comes in if they have been to Western Africa in the past few weeks or came into contact with anyone who has recently been to West Africa. She has to ask this, it is now proceedure. Most of the assholes who stagger into the ER with an 'ear ache' or with a 'spinter' (80% of an ER) look at here like she's crazy?

"What is West Africa?" How do I know if I have been? "Oh, why? What is happening there?", "Why do you need to know?" [Really that is what people ask! If they don't just outright lie, they act cagey about nothing. - A simple "No" is sufficient you idiots. -

Anyway, they got a scare a weeks ago. Someone with a fever and aches came in who had had contact with people traveling from West Africa? It was a church group from West Africa; yeah, they decided to come. You might be sane and ask yourself, "Why is a church group from West Africa not cancelling their plans to come to the US and meet with people?"

GOOD DUCKING QUESTION!!!

However, they came anyway, they schmoozed, and they met a few hundred people. Thankfully, the guy who meet them who was achy and sick did not have Ebola. This group came over a month ago, before the US was really geared up to stop them...but still. I won't say what State this was, you'll probably find out soon enough, although with medial law and the fact that nothing came of it you might not hear about it. [Think on that, you don't know what sort of loonies might show up in your state because they don't give a damn...they just want to travel....they made plans months ago to travel...oh, my the work it to cancel them - lets just go!"

Believe me, I think civil right are important, health care privacy is important, and all of the Bill of Rights. But guess what? Some people don't give a damn, and will NOT take one once of caution about your safety or your heath. So, when states like Connecticut put out executive orders to force quarantine on people who have had contact and who show symptoms - I'M FINE WITH IT.

In a sane world we are very safe form Ebola in the US even with sick patients. Yet, the above story shows how INSANE people are about rolling the dice for no damn reason.

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Note: to the EMS guy. If possible carry some extra masks. I gave my sister a pack of 20 of Surgical Anti-fog Face Masks with Eyeshield - Fluid-Resistant, Latex Free. She cannot wear them at work officially...she's not allowed to scare people. But, I told her if "shit goes down" to pull them out of her locker and ask for forgiveness later. If shit goes down she is allowed gown up, so I doubt anyone will notice at that point anyway.

Even though that last nurse that was just diagnosed was visiting family 20 mins from where I live, I'm still not that worried. So far the only people in the U.S. that have been diagnosed were either just in West Africa or were directly providing medical attention to someone in the later stages of the disease. If random people start getting the disease than I'll start getting worried but that's pretty unlikely.

The only thing that concerns me is the "it can't happen here, we have procedures and guidelines" mentality. Clearly that is not true, as we have had cases of ebola spread to caregivers. Is there still time to train and otherwise prepare hospital staffs? Sure, and I doubt this is going to be any sort of major pandemic in developed countries. I just feel that hubris might be what allows the disease to spread more than it otherwise should.

I'm not worried, there's almost zero risk in Vancouver.

Too bad that medical attention doesn't involve curing Ebola.

You know what? I wasn't untill a few hours ago. I'm a health professional on a hospital here in Portugal and we have a lot of people that comes from Africa (ex-portuguese colonies mostly). Some of the countries make border with nations that have infected people. Also, Spain, which is right next door, have at least 1 case confirmed. So yeah, I'm a bit worried. Not in panic obviously but concerned. Oh, and our country isn't prepared for a disease like that at all.

@ripelivejam & @ssully: M-O-O-N, that spells Ebola.

Sure would suck if I died. *shrugs*

No, I'm British

Yes, I am worried. The virus is evolving into a larger threat than it presented initially. By killing fewer people, and doing it less quickly it has more of a chance to infect new people instead of 'burning out'. Most viruses that plague us start very virulent, then evolve into childhood diseases.

People should always have a healthy respect for how things really work. Under the best of conditions an American hospital can handle Ebola....but

- Someone has a bad day, doesn't decontaminate correctly.
- Staff at your hospital is low that night-that year-that decade, a sick person is not triage for possible infection.
- Patient lies, they DID meet someone form West Africa or just returned, and they are scared.
- ER is BRAND NEW, but functionally the place doesn't work for good workflow...mistake happens in state of the art facility.
- Needle stick, vomit, normal fluid release...ASPIRATED FLUID RELEASE!

Lab work, medical work is dicey. People are foolish in 1000 ways, just watch The Andromeda Strain (1971).

I'll echo what others have said. It's scarier that the CDC has allowed a major city hospital to completely break protocol in treating the first couple of cases. That said, I live in a rural area. My area has like 40,000 people in it, 20,000 of which are college kids. So, they could all theoretically come back to school and carry it, but I'm still not that concerned.

There are two things that would make me start to worry about ebola. The first is evidence of it becomming airborne. The second would be a decent number of people in my country getting it. As of right now there isn't a single confirmed case in Canada.

Hey everyone, remember swine flu?

As a way to deal with it I'm purposefully allowing myself to be all like..plagueinc in RL yo.

I will die horribly if karma turns out to be real.

Nope

Outside of Africa it will be just like the recent 'outbreaks' of swine and bird flu; I.E. more people will die from the regular flu than it.

It's kind of ridiculous that this is even a story (in the US, obviously the African side is tragic), who benefits other than news corporations?

Eh, as a Bio major I have some working knowledge of Ebola and while the spread in Africa is tragic there is a far less chance of such s huge breakout in the U.S. it is mainly picked up through bodily fluids but it can also jump from people that are in close proximity (think of someone sneezing near you). As long as this thing is taken seriously then we shouldn't have a huge problem

@l4wd0g: it will help with mucous droplets through coughing, as far as other bodily fluids you are referring to, in EMS we've always had diseases to worry about before Ebola (see: HIV/AIDS, hepatitis) so Ebola doesn't bring any new worry as far as BBPs go...

Only in the sense that it sucks for anyone who does get infected. There's effectively no chance that I would be in a situation where I could be infected myself, or anyone I know personally.

Yes an no. Is it serious? Yes. But its getting sensationalized just like SARS and bird flu. Ebola has been around before. The news is just grabbing ahold of it because its a hot story. Also fear can sometimes help people take precautions which help stop the spread.

Insofar as it will continue to kill people who could have been saved given the proper allocation of resources, yes. As for my own safety? I've got plenty enough to think over, already.

Yep.

No, I rarely worry about diseases, for some reason. I didn't worry about the swine flu or the bird flu before that and it's the same with Ebola (I know it's a bit different, but anyways).

I tend to worry more about the threat of war and terrorist attacks... cause against the stupidity of humans, there's no immunology

I've got a bad feeling about this. All it needs is a few people to slip through the cracks and we're fucked.

I am not worried about it.

At this point I'm just annoyed that every few days the news around here explodes with "PATIENT ADMITTED TO LOCAL HOSPITAL WITH EBOLA-LIKE SYMPTOMS!" only to have the follow the next day be "nevermind it was the stomach flu."

I have an Ebola joke to tell, but you guys won't get it.

No more than I'm worried about heart disease, bad drivers, cancer, or having a meteor crash through my roof and kill me.

You're either going to die tomorrow or your're not. I tend not to think about what could possibly kill me. Being worried about Ebola at this point seems silly, unless you're in the business of touching people with Ebola.

I'll say...somewhat. I live in Texas, so there's that. I'm not freaking out or anything, but the situation isn't worth ignoring, either. My biggest concern is that the people tasked with controlling the situation are shitty, redundant government entities with their typical bureaucratic failures. I don't trust them in the slightest. Fortunately, as a Texan, I have guns and will Walking Dead this shit if necessary. (I'm joking. Sort of.)

It sure as hell is a dangerous virus, but it does seem pretty hard to contract and it isn't currently near where I live by thousands of miles, so no I'm not worried.

I live in a cold, dry city. I'm 28 years old and in decent health. The only places I go that have lots of people are college and the supermarket. I think I'll be fine.

Couldn't be less worried if I actively tried.

The ebola outbreak has a chance to impact the African Cup of Nations which means Papiss Cisse and Chieck Tiote can stay in Newcastle this January. Silver lining, folks. Unless we sell them.

Anybody think about the fact that Thomas Eric Duncan may have lied about his condition to seek help in the U.S.? Makes sense and I cant blame the guy for doing it. Should we stop all flights from western Africa? Lots of questions...