Ebola

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CNN is reporting that the CDC is flying two Americans infected with the Ebola virus to the U.S. for treatment.
Is it just me, or is this an absolutely terrible idea? I understand that Ebola is not (currently) airborne, but it's still a very dangerous disease and accidents happen. The incubation period can be up to three weeks. Also, what can they do for these patients in America that they couldn't do where they were? There is no treatment for Ebola other than keeping the patient hydrated and trying to control the fever. Are they bringing the patients here to experiment upon? If so, couldn't they also do THAT elsewhere?

I'm just flabbergasted that the government is intentionally bringing Ebola to America.

The patients can be sufficiently isolated so they will not spread the disease to others.

If they are here, it is much easier to bring to bear equipment and lab facilities to manage their treatment. Also a prevention or cure might be found if the right facilities are at hand.

ruveyn

The CDC was in the news just two weeks ago for keeping Anthrax in Ziploc baggies and using expired disinfectant. I don't have faith in their ability to contain Ebola.

News report about one of the patients' treatment-team members getting infected also in 3, 2, 1....

Seriously, though, the risk of dying from Ebola is far lower than that of dying from Influenza. The only difference is that the mainstream media FREAKS OUT about Ebola, but gets paid to advertise seasonal over-the-counter drugs for the flu.

Manufactured hype ... so far.

Ebola has at least a 60% mortality rate.
It's like getting hit by lightning - it's unlikely that it will ever strike you, but if it does you're probably going to die.

Anything nasty like that I'd just as soon they contained it elsewhere.

Agreed.

I agree...leave it where they found it and stop putting people in jeopardy unnecessarily.

I agree. And besides, we're talking about fellow Americans, who through no fault of their own are facing life threatening jeopardy. How can we not help our own in America?

We can and should, of course, help our fellow Americans anywhere in the world but it they do not necessarily have to be actually be brought to America to receive that help. Just do it someplace over there. If I were an ebola infected American abroad I'd rather remain in place in a containment effort and receive whatever help there increase the risk of infecting my country.

I don't know of another single country in the world that would allow foreigners with Ebola in their borders to be treated, and the African countries where the disease is rampant are hardly known for their medical science. And sure, we could transfer all the necessary medical equipment to Africa, but that would probably take way too much time than it would to just bring the patients to this country, taking the risk that said patients might die while waiting.

If they're already there and got infected there.......

I'm not sure how much it would take in terms of medical equipment and personnel but it could certainly be done in a timely manner.

Oh well; in a case like this we have to think of the greater good. I think most people with any genuine sense of compassion would prefer to bite the bullet and take one for the team by dying abroad than risk spreading the virus to their country. We're not talking about the common cold here.....

Ebola isn't easily transmissible, I'm not too worried about them bringing 2 Americans who are locked down in quarantine here. It's a scary disease but it isn't contagious in its incubation period and fortunately or unfortunately(it depends on how you look at it) the disease is so deadly that it kills the victim so fast they can't spread it.

There are a number of experimental treatments for Ebola that have proven promising in chimps, but have not yet received human trials. Among the questions you do not want to be asking in the middle of an outbreak is: does this work and if it does how long does the virus remain contageous afterwords (up to two weeks in those who recover naturally). I suspect the one or two persons being repatriated are about to receive some of this experimental medication is an environment where its effects can be closely monitored. I would be somewhat surprise to find out that the plan is just to bring these people back to receive the same care that they could get in the field.

This is probably all being done to protect and/or promote the interests of big pharma.
The answer to every question in America is "for money".

An infected doctor or aid worker might be willing to "bite the bullet," but I'm pretty sure their families and loved ones don't want to see them die.