[TangledUpInBlue]

The only thing - and I’m kind of “into” Ebola.... sick, I know. The thing with VHF’s is that they are far too efficient in their lethality. Most people fall too ill to travel and/or die way before they have time to make it to a population center.

Couple that with our medical facilities being - just a bit! :) - better than the procedures in Africa and we can quarantine things much faster and better.

Finally, as long as Ebola (and Marburg) stay infectious and don’t become contagious, then we’re ok. The real scary thing would be something with the killing power of ebola and the communicability of smallpox.

The Russians were working on that if you believe Ken Alibek......

[Qiviut]

The only thing - and I’m kind of “into” Ebola.... sick, I know.

****************************

If you are predisposed to medical matters, it’s fascinating stuff although this is ‘terrifyingly’ fascinating.

[pfflier]

It sounds like my scenario would be hard to do...directly with ebola. Last night the Fox news story said the incubation period is 3 to 21 days. I went on that and assumed the 21 day window could allow introduction into the general population.

Any disease could be spread efficiently via the border because we have simply given up on stopping the illegals. Now we are only figuring out how to accomodate them.

[grania]

Ever since reading OUTBREAK I've been morbidly fascinated with the danger of an out of control disease. In this last outbreak, the fatalities have been down to 60% instead of the historical 90%. That would indicate that Ebola is becoming less lethal, thus more likely to spread.

One thing that unnerved me a little is that families of those working with Ebola joined them in Africa. It seems to indicate less respect for the threat Ebola poses. Another is that if Ebola morphs into something less lethal, it's highly unlikely anything extreme would be done to stop its spread. Halting plane travel to and from affected areas and closing borders would be bad for the global economy.

It's a miracle there hasn't been a global pandemic of Ebola or something else already. With millions of people, globally, living in unsanitary conditions, in war-torn areas and refugee camps, crossing borders at will, it seems likely that it will at some point happen.