While Im reluctant to join this frenzy, the public health community (forget the medical community) seems unable to communicate accurate information more effective than the job-saving messages of politicians, so a few suggestions to make this simple: in a good review of Ebola in the NYTimes, of note in particular the section “How does this compare to past outbreaks” (nytimes/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html?_r=0). In 5 outbreaks in Africa, including the current now infecting more than 6,500 individuals, 50-80% of people who contract the virus die. In the U.S. we’ve had 9 cases (7 imported, and only 2 spread to health workers in a Dallas hospital), 1 person (11%) has died. Having access to advanced supportive care makes a huge difference. When we discourage public health and medical experts from traveling to west Africa by stopping flights or imposing full quarantine on individuals when they return that has no scientific basis, we potentially sacrifice…….not an insignificant unintended consequence……… Africans while likely averting NO deaths in the United States (but if you’re a politician, it certainly looks good to do this). Confining people to their homes breeds unwarranted fear in an already fearful population about something they don’t fully understand. The African populations through which this has spread live as a community in close contact and living quarters, with burial practices that put them at high risk (washingtonpost/news/world/wp/2014/08/07/people-are-struggling-to-bury-the-ebola-dead-heres-why/). We have virtually none of these conditions in the U.S. Guess what, if your neighbor in the apartment next to you has Ebola, you’re not going to get it. If you’re neighbor in the house next to you has Influenza, and coughs a few times while you’re both in your backyards, you very well may get that. While hard to estimate, we likely have 5-18,000 deaths a year in the U.S. from influenza, in recent years 30-40% of which has been in healthy 18-64 year old persons, many of who didn’t get vaccinated. We’ve seen resurgence in pediatric deaths due to Pertussis because of irrational fears of vaccination, and this year are also dealing with the unfortunate emergence of enterovirus D68, putting your child at a much higher risk of death than Ebola ever will. We as health care workers are at risk of ALL these things and more. Let us worry about that. MESSAGE TO THE U.S. PUBLIC: YOU HAVE MINIMAL TO NO CHANE OF CONTRACTING EBOLA, AND IF YOU DO AND ARE TREATED EARLY YOU WILL LIKELY SURVIVE. IF YOU ARE AFRICAN AND CONTRACT EBOLA, YOU WILL LIKELY DIE. THE OFFICIAL STANDING IN FRONT OF YOUR NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE ENFORCING QUARANTINE IS OF VIRTUALLY NO BENEFIT TO YOU, NOR ARE ANY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS. IF YOU LIVE IN THE U.S., YOU AND YOUR CHILD ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO GET ILL AND DIE FROM ANY OF A NUMBER OF RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES, SO FREAKING (!!!) VACCINATE AGAINST FLU, AND GET YOUR CHILD VACCINATED AGAINST EVERYTHING RECOMMENDED! YOU ALSO HAVE A MUCH HIGHER CHANCE OF DYING IN A CAR ACCIDENT, OR (SADLY) GETTING SHOT. IF YOU WANT TO SLAM POLITICIANS AND PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES, I CAN COME UP WITH 100 OTHER THINGS YOU CAN SLAM THEM FOR BEFORE THE ‘EBOLA RESPONSE’. LET’S KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 15:54:24 +0000
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