Are The Health Officials Being All Too Lax Over This?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11320819/Ebola-in-Britain-Passengers-on-nurses-Glasgow-flight-traced.html

/// Eight passengers sitting in the two rows in front and two rows behind Miss Cafferkey on flight BA1478 have been asked to take their temperature for 20 days to watch for signs of fever, though doctors say the chance of them developing the deadly disease is negligible. ///

Instead of this 'self monitoring' shouldn't the health officials be carrying out this task along with keeping an eye on these contacts, the risk of them carrying this deadly disease may be slight but who can tell how many more people they will be in contact with in the 20 day period?

[Sqad]

AOG...I do see and appreciate the point that you are making, but as Ebola is only transferred by contact with bodily fluids (so we are told) then, I agree with the health officials, that cross infection is unlikely........

My main concern, on the flight, was the chance of contaminating other passengers if and when the nurse used the toilets, even if she hadn't vomited or had diarrhea.

Same problem.........21 day quarantine for all "contacts" OR regular temperature checks?

I just hope that our "boys" have got it right.

[sp1814]

No AOG

Ebola is actually quite difficult to catch. It is not airborne, and I am willing to believe that necessary precautions as advised by the WHO and our own experts are correct.

[Amphilogiai]

I see Sqad has included "so we are told" in his reply which suggests an element of doubt from someone who was in the Medical Profession, and if he doubts what we are being told, how can the rest of us non-medical people have any faith in the information given?

[vulcan42]

The problem here is these precautions are based on what we think/know about how the disease is transmitted. Until we find out, if we ever do, how the nurse caught it, who we presume had taken every precaution, we simply don't know how it's been transmitted.

[douglas9401]

If there's a cheap option, rest assured it,ll be implemented in the UK.
Unless, of course, a politician or royal is affected. That's a different story.

[Sqad]

amphilogia

\\\\I see Sqad has included "so we are told"\\\

LOL...I have had a lifetime in the "business" and one thing that i have learned is to back a horse both ways.....never to win.

I like the answer of vulcan above.

[237SJ]

I would think there is more risk to the cabin crew on that flight who handled her used drinking glass than other passengers TBH

[mushroom25]

//I would think there is more risk to the cabin crew on that flight who handled her used drinking glass than other passengers TBH //

BA's economy catering service features disposable utensils, and the staff routinely wear latex gloves when clearing away.

[237SJ]

They don't , mushroom.

[jim360]

There is no evidence suggesting that the transmission of Ebola has changed to become easier (eg by simpler forms of contact than through bodily fluids, or by becoming airborne). Equally, it seems still true that during the incubation period there is no (or at least a negligible) chance of passing the disease on. While these still hold there is no real need to do anything other than monitor possible cases.

It remains the case that the best way to tackle the current epidemic is by trying to contain it in the three countries where it has taken hold. Efforts to do so seem to be gradually working, especially in Liberia.

[vulcan42]

jim, the worrying question remains, how did a highly trained, well equipped nurse get the disease?

[jim360]

Human error, possibly?

[vulcan42]

well,if that's the case then human error invalidates all precautions.

[jim360]

Not sure I agree, really. There are thousands of volunteers working in the affected regions (possibly many of these are in background logistics), volunteers who spend most of their time in the region (a typical "shift" might last several weeks) in contact with the infected. Of these the odd mistake is highly likely to occur, and already has a few times. But that doesn't invalidate the procedures, because it also hasn't happened all that often. The agencies working in Africa can, and should, try to tighten things up still further, but the handful of cases of volunteers being infected shouldn't be much of a surprise -- and the fact that these volunteers have to date not managed to spread the disease beyond Africa in any great numbers should provide some comfort that this is very much a containable disease.

[Sqad]

Jim

\\It remains the case that the best way to tackle the current epidemic is by trying to contain it in the three countries where it has taken hold. Efforts to do so seem to be gradually working, especially in Liberia.\\\

Agreed.....absolutely.

\\\\\jim, the worrying question remains, how did a highly trained, well equipped nurse get the disease?\\\\

Good question by vulcan.

\\\\Human error, possibly?\\\

Ah!....now we come down to the "nitty gritty."

The non scientific part of the equation.......LUCK..which is needed badly.......and i hope that we are not running out of it.

[BlackadderV]

On the same subject I read a report this morning that getting cancer is more down to luck (or the lack of it) rather than any genetic inheritance or lifestyle.

[237SJ]

Unfortunately, it`s not looking too good at the moment https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/news-media/news/ebola-patient-receiving-treatment/