Ebola in Texas.

[hurley842002]

Unless you are directly in the patients face or immediate area, i.e. intubating, providing ventilations, starting an IV, etc. the risk associated with being EXPOSED to Ebola is extremely slim. Even still the Ebola Virus can be as small as .2 microns, N95, P100, etc. all base their protection size on .3 microns or larger. So if you want to get extremely anal about it an N95 or even P100 will not protect you based solely on the micron size of the virus. Ebola requires fluid to carry it such as mucous from a sneeze, those are much larger than .3 microns so they will effectively stop Ebola, but so will a simple face mask. So why only around patient care? Because a simple face mask has plenty of gaps, it is not a tight fit respirator like an N95. If someone coughs or sneezes right in your face with a simple face mask it is possible that some of the bad stuff could sneak in. With an N95 or other tight fit respirator that risk all but removed, even in close proximity of patient care.

What is the difference between exposure and contamination? Contamination means something is on your skin and you can be decontaminated (wash your hands), exposed is the the bad stuff has entered your body through one of the 4 routes of exposure (inhalation, injection, ingestion, or absorption). You can get Ebola on your intact skin from a sneeze and still not be exposed to the virus, go wash with soap. It must come in contact with your mucous membranes or other body fluid for transmission.

If I was still working in EMS I would not be concerned to much about this yet, If you start to see clusters of patients, then you can start getting concerned.

Good info!

[rbeau30]

Practicing good hygiene is probably the best and most effective way of combating stuff like this. You would be surprised how many times you put your fingers in and around your mouth eyes ears nose, etc.

I remember watching a show that put invisible ink on people's hands, then after a certain period they used a black light and showed where the ink was transferred. It also showed how effectively they were washing their hands as well.

I am sure there was a good reason why at all DFACs where I served in the AoR you had to wash your hands before entering. Good way for bugs to get into your body.

[HoneyBadger]

Unless you are directly in the patients face or immediate area, i.e. intubating, providing ventilations, starting an IV, etc. the risk associated with being EXPOSED to Ebola is extremely slim. Even still the Ebola Virus can be as small as .2 microns, N95, P100, etc. all base their protection size on .3 microns or larger. So if you want to get extremely anal about it an N95 or even P100 will not protect you based solely on the micron size of the virus. Ebola requires fluid to carry it such as mucous from a sneeze, those are much larger than .3 microns so they will effectively stop Ebola, but so will a simple face mask. So why only around patient care? Because a simple face mask has plenty of gaps, it is not a tight fit respirator like an N95. If someone coughs or sneezes right in your face with a simple face mask it is possible that some of the bad stuff could sneak in. With an N95 or other tight fit respirator that risk all but removed, even in close proximity of patient care.

What is the difference between exposure and contamination? Contamination means something is on your skin and you can be decontaminated (wash your hands), exposed is the the bad stuff has entered your body through one of the 4 routes of exposure (inhalation, injection, ingestion, or absorption). You can get Ebola on your intact skin from a sneeze and still not be exposed to the virus, go wash with soap. It must come in contact with your mucous membranes or other body fluid for transmission.

If I was still working in EMS I would not be concerned to much about this yet, If you start to see clusters of patients, then you can start getting concerned.

Thanks for the great explanation. This is a bit reassuring.

[Great-Kazoo]

Practicing good hygiene is probably the best and most effective way of combating stuff like this. You would be surprised how many times you put your fingers in and around your mouth eyes ears nose, etc.

I remember watching a show that put invisible ink on people's hands, then after a certain period they used a black light and showed where the ink was transferred. It also showed how effectively they were washing their hands as well.

I am sure there was a good reason why at all DFACs where I served in the AoR you had to wash your hands before entering. Good way for bugs to get into your body.

Unfortunately people do not wash their hands, based on a generic sample of people you see in food places.

[rbeau30]

Unfortunately people do not wash their hands, based on a generic sample of people you see in food places.

I hear ya.

I mentioned it in another thread about my experience at my kids' school. Such an efficient way of spreading diseases. We are our own worse enemy as far as hygiene. We also can do a lot to control the spread every day.

It is what makes us different from the places/people where this stuff proliferates.

So I have respirators... should we also be wearing eye protection? Aerosol or droplet particles could also enter the body through eyes.

[Great-Kazoo]

I hear ya.

I mentioned it in another thread about my experience at my kids' school. Such an efficient way of spreading diseases. We are our own worse enemy as far as hygiene. We also can do a lot to control the spread every day.

It is what makes us different from the places/people where this stuff proliferates.

So I have respirators... should we also be wearing eye protection? Aerosol or droplet particles could also enter the body through eyes.

I'd be concerned about open portals of entry other than eyes, nose, mouth. Keep an eye out for minor cuts or scratches.

[rbeau30]

I'd be concerned about open portals of entry other than eyes, nose, mouth. Keep an eye out for minor cuts or scratches.

Nitrile gloves in the preps too. And EDC. Ohh darn should have posted that in the other section.



Scary thing is that "preparedness" subjects are getting more and more into general discussion... just like in life outside of here.

[Gman]

Practicing good hygiene is probably the best and most effective way of combating stuff like this. You would be surprised how many times you put your fingers in and around your mouth eyes ears nose, etc.

I remember watching a show that put invisible ink on people's hands, then after a certain period they used a black light and showed where the ink was transferred. It also showed how effectively they were washing their hands as well.

This discussion reminds me of the SNL parody commercial for Fecalvision glasses.

[Irving]

This discussion reminds me of the SNL parody commercial for Fecalvision glasses.

Tim Meadows! I was thinking of that too.

[sellersm]

Here's an example of how some people think. Taken from here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fb...-solution-to-h

As reported by LifeSiteNews, the virus causes a form of hemorrhagic fever in which internal organs eventually deteriorate and liquefy. There is no known cure or vaccine for the disease, and it has an extremely high mortality rate of between 80 and 90 percent in most parts of the world where it strikes.

In addition, as LifeSiteNews further reports:

It is also high on the list of possible bio-terror weapons of concern to international law enforcement and military security agencies. Tom Clancy's thriller novel, Rainbow Sixdescribes a group of radical environmentalists that wants to rid the world of people using a modified version of Ebola.

Every one will have to bury nine

And that's why the FBI is interested in speaking with Dr. Eric R. Pianka, a Texas ecologist and herpetologist who suggested during a meeting at the Texas Academy of Sciences that, were Ebola to become airborne, it would likely kill 90 percent of the human population and instantly solve what he called the "overpopulation problem."

Now that Ebola has come to the U.S. in, of all places, Texas, Dr. Pianka has been walking back his comments, telling the Austin American-Statesman that he has never advocated bio-terrorism and that he met with local FBI officials in response to suggestions that bio-terrorism was precisely what he had in mind.

"Someone has reported me as a terrorist," Dr. Pianka told the paper, according toLifeSiteNews. "They think I'm forming a cadre of people to release the airborne Ebolavirus into the air. That I'm the leader and my students are the followers."

When Dr. Pianka was named by the academy as a Distinguished Texas Scientist in 2006, he stated that the AIDS virus was not killing off the surplus human population quickly enough. What he said was needed was to have Ebola eliminate 5.8 billion of the world's then-6 billion people. Even more bizarre -- and scary -- is that his speech received a standing ovation at the academy's annual meeting, at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Indeed, as LifeSiteNews reported, quoting the Seguin Gazette, Dr. Pianka also stated, "Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine." There is more discussion of that quote and Pianka's statements here and here.

Continuing in his speech, Pianka said, "[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity. We're looking forward to a huge collapse. We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable," he continued, describing the world as a "fat, human biomass."