NationStates Jolt Archive

Oh great. A really contagious virus carried by a sick person, who spent the flight cooped up with dozens of people (maybe hundreds). Who all have either arrived in the UK, and I bet some of them changed planes before they knew what the sick person had.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17105921&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=killer-bug-air-scare--name_page.html

Yay!

can you not find a more reliable news source for this than a tabloid. the beeb hasn't uttered a word on this as far as i know. i wonder if it's really true.

Ok, there's no other solution but sterilization: nuke the British Islands. Yes, that means Ireland too, it's not UK but it's one of the British Islands.

What? Guernsey and Jersey? I don't know, nuke them just in case. Nah, the Hebrides are ok, I guess.

Oh great. A really contagious virus carried by a sick person, who spent the flight cooped up with dozens of people (maybe hundreds). Who all have either arrived in the UK, and I bet some of them changed planes before they knew what the sick person had.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17105921&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=killer-bug-air-scare--name_page.html

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think Ebola is airborne. You'd have to come into contact with the carrier's blood in order to contract it I think. So unless that woman was spraying blood all over the cabin then I'm sure they have nothing to worry about.

Although I could be wrong....

On that note, what is the UK's equivalent of the CDC? And are they doing anything about this?

I would have thought this was quite important:
The results of a post mortem are awaited.

Lets just wait before bringing in Dustin Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr. eh? ;)

from what I know, ebola is spread through direct contact, not air, so I think most of the people are fine

Ok, there's no other solution but sterilization: nuke the British Islands. Yes, that means Ireland too, it's not UK but it's one of the British Islands.

What? Guernsey and Jersey? I don't know, nuke them just in case. Nah, the Hebrides are ok, I guess.

you leave us in the channel islands alone :p. or at least tell me before you do it so i can get my friends and family off the rock. :D

http://www.momsnetwork.com/postcards/celebrate.gif

you leave us in the channel islands alone :p. or at least tell me before you do it so i can get my friends and family off the rock. :D
Well, ok. But only if you stay wrapped in plastic just in case you're contagious.

Cabin crew and passengers rushed to her aid but towards the end of the flight she began to vomiting.

That could spread it tho, IF anyone touched it and somehow got ingested it. Ewww...!

Graham

lolz @ Britian

Maybe we should do with humans as we do with animals. We shouldn't let anyone into our country without chips to prove that they have no contagious diseases. Then if someone does bring a friend without one, they are quarantined for six months. And if anybody sneaks into the country, like illegal immigrants, we get out hunting rifles and shoot them down.

Or is that just a little bit too extreme...:rolleyes:

this would have been on all the major news channels if it had of been true I think Im not certain though :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The Mirror?

Disregard all information in that article.

Maybe we should do with humans as we do with animals. We shouldn't let anyone into our country without chips to prove that they have no contagious diseases. Then if someone does bring a friend without one, they are quarantined for six months. And if anybody sneaks into the country, like illegal immigrants, we get out hunting rifles and shoot them down.

Or is that just a little bit too extreme...:rolleyes:

hmm... works for me, where did I leave my rifle again?
gotta love the tabloids though, "someone looked a bit funny near me, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIE!!" and on that note, where did I leave my suicide pills? Don't want to catch any of these highly contagious non-airbourne diseases!!

Oh great. A really contagious virus carried by a sick person, who spent the flight cooped up with dozens of people (maybe hundreds). Who all have either arrived in the UK, and I bet some of them changed planes before they knew what the sick person had.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17105921&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=killer-bug-air-scare--name_page.html


Well let's face it, things are starting to get a bit crowded on this little island of ours. A nice ebola pandemic should give the survivors a little bit of breathing space.

Wait a sec just realised...look at the time stamp, its the 20th May 2006, 2 days ago. If this were true, something would have been said.

This is bullshit...like the 'newspaper' itself.

Graham

Ok, there's no other solution but sterilization: nuke the British Islands. Yes, that means Ireland too, it's not UK but it's one of the British Islands.

What? Guernsey and Jersey? I don't know, nuke them just in case. Nah, the Hebrides are ok, I guess.

Save Naddy (how does that nick' work for you anyways? Maybe Korry-kins? :p) first!

Seriously, the Mirror isn't very good!

hmm... works for me, where did I leave my rifle again?


I've just thought up a better idea. Instead of shooting them we can hunt them down with hounds. That will keep both the fox-hunters and the animal rights protesters happy.

In this age of air travel, the claim is at least theoretically credible, but I have my reservations - simply consult a map of Africa, and look at Lesotho's geographical situation with respect to the following nations.

According to the CDC: "Confirmed cases of Ebola HF have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo." Additionally, Angola experienced an outbreak in 2005 - but that was limited to the northwest.

On a similar note: Congo virus outbreak suspected in Pakistan's Kashmir (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20218737.htm). Another interesting hemorrhagic fever.

Save Naddy (how does that nick' work for you anyways? Maybe Korry-kins? :p) first!
Erm, yea...either I suppose...I don't really care to be honest.

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think Ebola is airborne. You'd have to come into contact with the carrier's blood in order to contract it I think. So unless that woman was spraying blood all over the cabin then I'm sure they have nothing to worry about.

Although I could be wrong....

On that note, what is the UK's equivalent of the CDC? And are they doing anything about this?

The Reston strain of Ebola was proven to be an airborne variant.

Erm, yea...either I suppose...I don't really care to be honest.

I can live with that.

I can live with that.
Good, you don't really have a choice :p

Good, you don't really have a choice :p

ORLY? I could have...killed myself cuz you didn't care, or erased my memory with advanced future technology so I wouldn't have to know it, or...ummm...Okay, so my chocies were limited, but I could have done other stuff!

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think Ebola is airborne. You'd have to come into contact with the carrier's blood in order to contract it I think. So unless that woman was spraying blood all over the cabin then I'm sure they have nothing to worry about.

Not just the mirror http://www.worldhum.com/weblog/item/report_passenger_on_virgin_atlantic_flight_had_ebola_virus_20060521/ ( World Hum)

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17105559&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=ebola-fears-as-brit-dies--name_page.html (Daily Record)

I remember studying about the Ebola virus a while back (I did a project on it in biology. (this was a while ago so may not be 100%.)

Basicaly the main symptoms are fever followed by fits, then vomiting blood and excreeting blood. Finaly blood leaks from most bodily orafices including the nose, rectum mouth and even the eyes.

The mortality rate in Ebola Zaire (the most common and most deadly type) ranges from 83% to 90%. The patiant usualy dies within 2 weeks. The virus periodicaly pops up in Africa and kills a couple of hundred people and then will disapear without a trace.

It is feared that there are cases where the virus has wiped out small villages who have little contact with others and due to the fast acting nature of the virus has never been reported.

Unfortunately there are several different types of ebola. Yes you are right in that it is a desease spread generaly through the blood or bodily fluids (Sexual intercoarse* or even just kissing). Notably in the fits it has been reported the sufferer can scratch away their own skin, the blood exposed here can lead to infection from the person that dresses the wounds.

However while it is not airborne (IE it is not expelled through breathing) it can survive for very breif periods of time (We are talking a few seconds max here) when in bodliy fluids such as saliva expelled when sneezing. It can survive longer (minutes - hours) in human excrement. THis is because the ebola virus cause severe intenal bleeding and the infected blood then seeps into bothe the saliva and the excrement.

The problem would arise when

1) The affected person sneezes/coughs and does not cover mouth in the near vacinity of other people. A plane especialy with its close groupings of passengers would be a disastarous place to do this as the saliva particles would quickly be rushed around the plane. However this is a less likely scenario as it is very hard to transmit through the air.

2) A major symptom is vomiting and excreating blood. If this is done in a public place/a hotel/at home where a cleaner or loved one (or in this case the cabin crew) will come into contact with the blood they too have a high chance of being infected. If they have any small cuts or rub their eyes or face it could easily be ingested after touching the vomit.
It is more easily transmited in this case than imagained especuialy if untraied people do not realised what they are dealing with (bloody sick often looks very dark brown rather than red so will not allways be assumed to be bloody by an untrained person.

If done on public transport and nobody thinks to quaranteen the plane/bus then it is even worse as lots of people can potentialy come into contact with the blood.

Or the woman on the plane may just have had cholera.

Whatever the case it is a disease which is incapable of spreading long distances between cities due to its fast acting nature. (most sufferers would be too ill to drive). And as soon as the govt realised what was hapening they would close down entry to the unaffected cities.

*If it is of the more agressive Ebola viruses (such as Ebola Zaire) symptoms can set on very fast so the chances of the patient actualy being well enough to do this are low.


As a final point. A Texan scientist once sugested releasing the virus in airports to initiate a mass cull of Earths population so we would stop destroying the environment.

ORLY? I could have...killed myself cuz you didn't care, or erased my memory with advanced future technology so I wouldn't have to know it, or...ummm...Okay, so my chocies were limited, but I could have done other stuff!

Of course you did ;)

Not just the mirror http://www.worldhum.com/weblog/item/report_passenger_on_virgin_atlantic_flight_had_ebola_virus_20060521/ ( World Hum)

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17105559&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=ebola-fears-as-brit-dies--name_page.html (Daily Record)

those links don't work. and, while i don't know about worldhum, the daily record is another tabloid and is probably owned by the same company. and therefore is not a proper news source.

edit: okay, just did the copy-paste thing into url box. the worldhum article states the mirror as it's source for the story. so basically it is just the mirror that is reporting this as an ebola outbreak. :rolleyes:

The Reston strain of Ebola was proven to be an airborne variant. luckily, that is the strain that has not been found to impact humans. yet.

from what I know, ebola is spread through direct contact, not air, so I think most of the people are fine
Bodily excretions actually, so unless somebody craps or bleed on you you'll be okey

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think Ebola is airborne. You'd have to come into contact with the carrier's blood in order to contract it I think. So unless that woman was spraying blood all over the cabin then I'm sure they have nothing to worry about.

Although I could be wrong....


The ebola-Reston strain is airborne, however it only infects simians. It is not capable of infecting humans. The other 3 strains are not airborne.

It could have spread through the vomit. Ebola also likes to make its host bleed out of almost every orifice possible in order to spread.

A story this big would be in the BBC, you'd think. Not an obscure tabloid I've never heard of. Don't you ever consult reliable sources, DK?

This about the third time I've heard about the Ebola victim on a plane thing. Not that it couldn't happen, it's just not likely. But just because someone from Africa is real sick doesn't mean they have ebola.

And although ebola does have a terrible death rate it can't have a continent wide effect life the bubonic plauge did as it gets less deadly as it spreads from human to human. The reason ebola is so deadly is that it is adapted to living within a non human host that it adapted to keeping it under control. Humans are not adapted to controlling it and so the ebola goes crazy and kills the person within days. However, any mutations in ebola that make it less deadly will make it more likely to be spread around as the victims won't be too sick to move, quarrantined immediantly etc. This means as the ebola is spread from human to human their is a tendency for each generation to be less deadly. The black death had rats to live in which meant it could easily stay deadly to humans.

Ebola can cause huge death rates in small areas, but its tendency to burn out, become less deadly and our ability to respond quickly to outbreaks means it is little threat to the vast majority of people in the world.

Good thing I"m over here. Sorry guys, Ebola is a NASTY virus. Better start stocking up on masks/suits/duct tape and get used to decontamination procedures.

Oh wait, they're probably illegal. Man you're really outaluck their.

It's probably fake..who knows.....supermarket tabloids....

The Mirror?

I'll wait until the Guardian picks up on it. :D

This thread is testament to DK's austounding stupidity. Well done for letting the rest of us all feel better about ourselves.

So...



Scare-mongering, huh?

Good thing I"m over here. Sorry guys, Ebola is a NASTY virus. Better start stocking up on masks/suits/duct tape and get used to decontamination procedures.

Oh wait, they're probably illegal. Man you're really outaluck their.

It's probably fake..who knows.....supermarket tabloids....

Why would masks, suits and duct tape be illegal?

Im in rural Aust. Stuff you all

Why would masks, suits and duct tape be illegal?

Because apparently in Europe because we don't like gun crime everything is illegal.

Because apparently in Europe because we don't like gun crime everything is illegal.

Yeah thats what I thought he meant. Just wanted to confirm his logic was as crazy as I thought it was.

Why would masks, suits and duct tape be illegal?
:eek: Are you kidding?? Do you know what could happen if duct tape fell into the wrong hands? What if the terrorists have an evil MacGyver in their ranks, the world would be doomed, DOOMED!

Won't somebody please think of the children! :(

Well, until The Guardian picks this up, I'm slightly less worried, but Ebola is really quite horrible. Although I doubt anyone'll catch it, since the virus can only live in extremely hot, humid places.

So yeah, if you work at the Eden project, or Leeds Butterfly House, then be worried. Otherwise, we should be alright.

I'll wait until the BBC says something before I go insane with fear.

I wouldn't worry about Ebola until my dwelling had a cock-roach problem.
The hot and humid -bit, you see?

I'll wait until the BBC says something before I go insane with fear.
Hmhm. Calling the Mirror a reliable source of information is like calling something absolutely inedible the best source of nutrients ever.

The Mirror, I'd sooner believe it if it were in the Weekly World News.