Ebola: UK border staff 'unprepared' says union leader

BBC News ^ | July 31, 2014

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Border, immigration and customs staff feel unprepared to deal with people coming to the UK with possible cases of the Ebola virus, a union leader says.

Immigration Service Union (ISU) general secretary Lucy Moreton said her members needed more information on the threat.

But the Border Force has insisted staff have been given guidance on how to identify and deal with suspected cases.

Almost 700 people have died in West Africa since the first case of Ebola was detected in February.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK government was taking the current threat to the country "very seriously".

[Covenantor]

So is the death toll>

[null and void]

Done!

[null and void]

Yeah. Too true, that.

[vetvetdoug]

Epidemiology dictates that strict travel and quarantine restrictions are indicated to prevent the rapid spread of this outbreak. Political correctness be damned as the consequences of inaction at this time will be horrific. Immigration and the collecting and concentrating illegal aliens are a significant part of the equation that will enable the disease to amplify if a break was to occur.

[Lady Heron]

That 60% fatality rate is a lie...they are playing with the numbers.

[Covenantor]

This particular strain is on a different branch of the family tree of e. zaire. I wonder if it’s more transmissible somehow.

At the very least it seems to be a hardier strain that's found it's way into a target rich environment.

I'm unclear as to what is meant by the graphics on the Telegraph map below.

What exactly does the "No active transmission " overlay on the "Confirmed and probable Ebola cases" really mean?

[redgolum]

If you do that, watch the financial markets implode.

That is the game their in right now. The risk is a global pandemic of the Black Death part II, or a financial melt down that could send the banking industry back to the low Middle Ages.

Not a good choice either way. Looks like they chose to gamble on a pandemic.

[redgolum]

This step, more than anything else, tells me that the bug has changed.

It is spreading more easily now.

These groups have worked with and around Ebola for decades. To flee like this is rather disturbing.

[EDINVA]

Just let ONE infected person on one of those trains transporting “kids” from Central America to the US.

[ozarkgirl]

That 60% fatality rate is a lie...they are playing with the numbers.

I've been reading "The Hot Zone" and I can't imagine how anyone could recover of if they'd ever be the same. It seems to just pulverize your insides. How does a person recover from that?

[GOPJ]

Yeah, well I guess risking a few million lives is worth keeping the markets moving...

[Chgogal]

Please add me to your Ping list please. TY

[Chgogal]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sierraleone/11002041/I-would-sit-next-to-Ebola-sufferer-on-Tube-says-scientist-who-discovered-deadly-virus.html

The scientist who helped discover the Ebola virus said the outbreak in west Africa was unlikely to trigger a major epidemic outside the region, adding he would happily sit next to an infected person on a train.

[null and void]

Added, welcome aboard. Buckle up, it looks like it’s going to be a rough trip. Keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times.

[redgolum]

The risk is (in the financial view) doing a quarantine, and then nothing happens.

You will cost the market trillions, cause massive social disruption, for "nothing".

In other words their view is that if the quarantine is successful in limiting the spread of the disease, it is a failure. A failure because of the massive disruption in trade. Quarantines failed during the Black Death for the same reason. Look a Venice, which had the first effective quarantine, they ultimately broke it in order to speed up trade. Which brought the plague to the city.

After you see outbreaks in the UK (which I increasingly fear is very likely) you may see some sort of quarantine. Even then, it will be very hard to do an effective quarantine. The political pressure will be so much that it will be viewed as better to spread the virus, then shut the markets down.

[redgolum]

OK, that statement made me even more worried.
Either the doc is mad (many doctors are ego maniacs, it self selects for such) or willfully uniformed.

[Lady Heron]

From what I have read the few that recover are never the same. They have ongoing problems.

[Justa]

IMO he’s a whack job. Probably in love with the bugs and goes on about how perfect they are and how we should feel honored they’ve selected us as a host and what not.

[Chgogal]

IMO he’s a whack job. Probably in love with the bugs and goes on about how perfect they are and how we should feel honored they’ve selected us as a host and what not.

Well, I was hoping he was on some special PING list with other viral scientists and totally up to date. Guess not. : )

[Chgogal]

Keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times.

What fun is that? I love rough rides. ; )