Boat coming into NO has sick passengers that will be quarantined.

[StaceyinLA]

The CDC has made a statement about a boat coming into NO that has some passengers from Africa (or passengers that have been there - don't remember exactly). Apparently several are fairly ill and are going to be hospitalized and quarantined.

 

I surely hope this isn't serious, and if it is, that they are VERY aggressive about controlling it. I just always wonder if they'll even tell us the truth if there were to be something like Ebola in the states. I mean before they'd HAVE to tell us...

[Lisbeth]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

[Slartibartfast]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

 

 

Where else are they supposed to quarantine people? 

[Farrar]

The Americans who had been working for SP who were quarantined in Atlanta were technically at a hospital, just in a special separate quarantine building.

 

I assume that no one knows how to quarantine better than hospital officials and doctors.

[Slartibartfast]

The Americans who had been working for SP who were quarantined in Atlanta were technically at a hospital, just in a special separate quarantine building.

 

I assume that no one knows how to quarantine better than hospital officials and doctors.

 

Nebraska also had a patient in quarantine. 

[PrincessMommy]

is there a link?

[Slartibartfast]

http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2014/09/ship_carrying_sick_crew_to_be.html

[Spryte]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

What choice would you make?

 

It appears that they are talking about Malaria, not Ebola, though we have already had Ebola patients in US hospitals.

[StaceyinLA]

Thanks for linking. I still have no idea how to link.

 

I'm glad to see they pinpointed what it is. The local links I saw earlier had not.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

What choice would you make?

 

It appears that they are talking about Malaria, not Ebola, though we have already had Ebola patients in US hospitals.

I wonder if hard choice equals what I would consider an inhumane choice?

[Farrar]

I wonder if hard choice equals what I would consider an inhumane choice?

 

Sometimes hard choices, while hard, can be more humane in the long run. They seem so very unnecessary to even be brought up... for what is apparently malaria... at this stage anyway that I can't imagine what we're even discussing when they're mentioned.

[Desert Strawberry]

I worked in a military hospital overseas. We had three separate quarantine rooms for different levels of isolation. We used them regularly. We were Very Serious about infection control. Very. 

 

At least some hospitals are well equipped for quarantine.  

[justasque]

Thanks for linking. I still have no idea how to link.

 

I'm glad to see they pinpointed what it is. The local links I saw earlier had not.

It's easy - there's a button for it in the toolbar.  First, copy the URL to which you want to link.  Then, in your draft post, highlight the words you want to be linked.  Click on the little button that looks like links in a chain - it's the 9th from the left on the second row of the toolbar above the edit box.  It will make a little window pop up.  In the little window, in the space marked "URL", paste the URL of the site you want to link to, then close the box by hitting the box's "OK" button.

 

(Note - this only works in the WYSIWYG editing view.  If, when you quote someone, the quote box comes up the way it will show up in the post, you are in WYSIWYG view.  If, instead, you see square brackets with "quote" inside them at the beginning of the quoted text, you are in the code view.  The little square in the upper left corner of the edit box toolbar toggles between the WYSIWYG view and the code view.  I'm guessing you are always working in the WYSIWYG view, in which case you can ignore this entire note and enter your links as I described above.)

[Mergath]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

 

What do you expect them to do, blow up the boat?  I think you've seen too many movies.

[Scrub Jay]

What do you expect them to do, blow up the boat?  I think you've seen too many movies.

 

We need Bruce Willis - STAT!!

 

[Laura Corin]

I was quarantined with suspected malaria in 1986 in the UK. My home city had an infectious diseases hospital all set up and ready. It was not in any way a panicky or doom-laden procedure. These systems are in place - I'm sure the US is no different.

 

ETA: it was interesting discovering a bit about how these things work.  After I was cleared, I waited for a taxi with another young woman who had been cured.  She had come down with some vile kind of stomach bug whilst in a remote part of Egypt.  She had lain in a local hospital for some time before the representative from the British Consulate was contacted, and arrangements were made to bring her back.  It was automatic to quarantine people with unknown diseases returning from foreign parts.  I don't know what she had, but it responded to treatment and she went home.  

[ChocolateReignRemix]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

 

So we should have blown up a boat or something because people had malaria?

 

This quote seems to sum up the Ebola threads quite well...

The person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it! - Agent K

[mysticmomma]

Really?

[Jean in Newcastle]

More fear-mongering

[TeacherZee]

The "regular" infectious disease wards in the west have very strict protocols. My dad took me and my sister to one a couple of times as a child when we had different infectious childhood diseases. We never saw anyone other than the staff. I also lived near one when I was a teen, there were separate entrances for each room.

[creekland]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

 

Wow!  I don't know how to respond to this to be honest - even if it were ebola.

 

Suffice it to say I disagree with you and am glad you're not in charge.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Wow!  I don't know how to respond to this to be honest - even if it were ebola.

 

Suffice it to say I disagree with you and am glad you're not in charge.

 

 

 

This is why Drs are in charge of quarantine.

 

Even if it was Ebola we should be perfectly capable of handling it. Even our most out-in-the-sticks hospital in this country has better capabilities than some of the places being overwhelmed with this in Africa. 

[JustEm]

If the book The Stand, which I'm reading now, has taught me anything it's that they're lying about it being malaria!   :lol:

[FaithManor]

Wow!  I don't know how to respond to this to be honest - even if it were ebola.

 

Suffice it to say I disagree with you and am glad you're not in charge.

 

I agree. My desire for self preservation does not go so far that a ship load of sick people should be turned away or worse.

 

We've got world class medical facilities in this country. Most of our major ports have excellent quarantine wards. Ebola is not even a level 5 virus. My local county hospital has two quarantine rooms that are level 3 and with a little help from Lansing, could be level 4 in a matter of hours. So, coming into port in a major US city, I expect that the medical community with help from the CDC and potentially army medical (army med teams are the ones that are working on testing and vaccine development for ebola anyway...they are experts), this will be handled well. If not, then we have to admit, if we can't do it, nobody can and it's only a matter of time.

[gaillardia]

If they admitted these people into hospitals, they are already not being aggressive enough. It takes the ability to make realistically hard choices to contain things like this...and I do not believe those in charge have the stomach for it. It is an all around horrible situation. :(

You are being blasted for what you wrote but I would like to know what you meant exactly when you said, "hard choices..." and you don't believe those in charge "have the stomach for it."

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I was quarantined with suspected malaria in 1986 in the UK. My home city had an infectious diseases hospital all set up and ready. It was not in any way a panicky or doom-laden procedure. These systems are in place - I'm sure the US is no different.

 

ETA: it was interesting discovering a bit about how these things work.  After I was cleared, I waited for a taxi with another young woman who had been cured.  She had come down with some vile kind of stomach bug whilst in a remote part of Egypt.  She had lain in a local hospital for some time before the representative from the British Consulate was contacted, and arrangements were made to bring her back.  It was automatic to quarantine people with unknown diseases returning from foreign parts.  I don't know what she had, but it responded to treatment and she went home.  

Having read many of your posts over the years I have to say you have led an interesting life and should write a memoir so the rest of us can live vicariously through you  :thumbup: .

 

As for the worry over quarantine and Ebola or other infectious diseases in America, I hear way to much of this from my reactionary acquaintances/family members that  my eyes have started to glaze over.  So I'll say the same thing I say to them: we do everything we can to help everyone we can, otherwise how could we ever look ourselves in the mirror/sleep at night again?  We take every precaution knowing that yes we are risking infection but, that for me, is the only answer to the "hard" choices. I don't believe in a supreme being or an afterlife, we only get one go round, so I want to make it count for something.  

 

*on a side note my sister is gathering gloves and other OTC medical supplies (chlorine tablets, disposable scrubs etc) to send to a group in Africa(they told her what they could use).  It was just an idea she had and she found out where to send packages so she and her HSing group are getting together to send as much as they can.  It was easy and anyone can do it.  If you want info on how to contact the African group (sorry don't remember their name right now) PM me and I can give you their info.

[Laura Corin]

Having read many of your posts over the years I have to say you have led an interesting life and should write a memoir so the rest of us can live vicariously through you  :thumbup: .

 

 

I think that we can put this one down to an over-zealous and frankly excited GP.  I went to him with a story of recurrent fevers; he heard that I had travelled through a malarial area and he seemed thrilled.  He invited all his colleagues to come in to talk to me, then packed me off to hospital.  Where I proceeded to have no fevers at all, and where - when the doctors questioned me properly - it became very clear that my fevers were not nearly severe enough to be likely malarial symptoms.  Oh well.  Interesting though.

 

L

[Seasider]

Tulane University's Medical School in New Orleans hosts the graduate level School of Tropical Medicine. I feel pretty sure they know what they're dealing with. No doubt they've seen malaria and many other bugs come through the port. I feel sorry for the sailor that disembarked in the Caribbean and passed away. Perhaps if he'd made it to NOLA, he'd have had a fighting chance.

[Desert Strawberry]

Honestly, if any city in the US can handle a weird outbreak, NO would have to be at the top of the list. The oil field workers travel back and forth to Africa all the time, and often come back with sketchy illnesses. A friend's husband just came back from Lawanda with "food poisoning". They had a few tense days, but it passed, he's fine, and no one else got it. They have 6 kids at home, including a toddler. It happens. 

[StaceyinLA]

Tulane University's Medical School in New Orleans hosts the graduate level School of Tropical Medicine. I feel pretty sure they know what they're dealing with. No doubt they've seen malaria and many other bugs come through the port. I feel sorry for the sailor that disembarked in the Caribbean and passed away. Perhaps if he'd made it to NOLA, he'd have had a fighting chance.

 

Well I didn't see anything that mentioned they were going to Tulane. I think West Jefferson is where one was tested for malaria and found to be positive.

 

I wasn't trying to start anything with the post; just thought it was interesting and it caught my attention because it's so close to home for me.

 

My only issue with any of the disease stuff at all is whether or not they'd be up front out the outset, so people could,choose to take their own precautions. However, with the way people tend to panic, I doubt they would.

[Ravin]

If the book The Stand, which I'm reading now, has taught me anything it's that they're lying about it being malaria!   :lol:

 

Unfortunately, some people seem to think The Stand is reflective of how the world really works somehow.

 

It stopped being funny when people started getting shot to death by police in misguided attempts at quarantine that accomplished nothing but increase the death toll of the outbreak and impede constructive efforts to combat it.

 

Ignorance and paranoia about Ebola will have killed more people than the actual virus before this is all over.

[Jean in Newcastle]

People do not get malaria from other people.  They get it from mosquitoes.  

 

In the case of Ebola, it doesn't make sense for the government to hide it.  If there is a complete quarantine of all infected peoples then they might not use the media to announce it at first but if they are not able to quarantine everyone then they need to use the media to alert people.  It would be political suicide to try and cover it up because of course it would be found out.  

[JustEm]

Unfortunately, some people seem to think The Stand is reflective of how the world really works somehow.

 

It stopped being funny when people started getting shot to death by police in misguided attempts at quarantine that accomplished nothing but increase the death toll of the outbreak and impede constructive efforts to combat it.

 

Ignorance and paranoia about Ebola will have killed more people than the actual virus before this is all over.

I had no idea people had been shot to death because of a quarantine.that is very sad and disturbing.

[Ravin]

People do not get malaria from other people.  They get it from mosquitoes.  

 

In the case of Ebola, it doesn't make sense for the government to hide it.  If there is a complete quarantine of all infected peoples then they might not use the media to announce it at first but if they are not able to quarantine everyone then they need to use the media to alert people.  It would be political suicide to try and cover it up because of course it would be found out.  

 

People with malaria need to be quarantined in places like NO because there are mosquitoes there, too. Which is why you want them in a hospital and not in the middle of the Mississippi river, I would assume...

 

Effective quarantine needs media cooperation. It can't be done secretly, because you want to make sure you can track the quarantined person's past movements and all those they might have exposed.

 

In the Stand they tried to keep it secret because it was directly the fault of the military that the superflu existed. Certain things are beyond the pale for civilized governments to participate in--even ones that think nothing of shooting people with unarmed drones, etc. Those "unthinkables" are using nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. The international tolerance for genocide is higher than for using these types of weapons, or even possessing chem or bio weapons. Just look at how suddenly cooperative everyone was with disarming the Assad regime when they found out he had chemical weapons.

 

The political calculus of keeping a natural threat from our shores is simply different than keeping a hypothetical synthetic one of our own making contained would be. The best way to make sure Ebola is never a problem in the U.S. is to eliminate it in Africa.

 

Anyone who finds themselves in this paranoid thinking about Ebola and the motives of our own government--and what appropriate responses to medical crises are--needs to watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

 

Then spend some time contemplating the Golden Rule.

[gaillardia]

Well I didn't see anything that mentioned they were going to Tulane. I think West Jefferson is where one was tested for malaria and found to be positive.

 

I wasn't trying to start anything with the post; just thought it was interesting and it caught my attention because it's so close to home for me.

 

My only issue with any of the disease stuff at all is whether or not they'd be up front out the outset, so people could,choose to take their own precautions. However, with the way people tend to panic, I doubt they would.

 

Of course you weren't trying to start anything. Once you've posted you have no control on what part of your post will grabbed and chewed upon, what parts will be ignored.

As Jean said, malaria is from mosquitoes, why would they quarantine that? I know someone who had malaria after time in Africa at least 30 years ago; he got terribly sick and recovered; and is now in his late 80s.

 

[Laura Corin]

People with malaria need to be quarantined in places like NO because there are mosquitoes there, too. Which is why you want them in a hospital and not in the middle of the Mississippi river, I would assume...

 

 

Yes.  I think I was quarantined with suspected malaria not because I could pass it to anyone else (the UK doesn't have the right kind of mosquitoes) but because I had an unexplained illness having come back from overseas.

 

L

[Seasider]

Well I didn't see anything that mentioned they were going to Tulane. I think West Jefferson is where one was tested for malaria and found to be positive.

 

I wasn't trying to start anything with the post; just thought it was interesting and it caught my attention because it's so close to home for me.

 

My only issue with any of the disease stuff at all is whether or not they'd be up front out the outset, so people could,choose to take their own precautions. However, with the way people tend to panic, I doubt they would.

Guessing West Jeff is the nearest to the main River Road offloading sites; and though Tulane wasn't specifically mentioned, I assume it would be a resource if needed.

[Ravin]

Of course you weren't trying to start anything. Once you've posted you have no control on what part of your post will grabbed and chewed upon, what parts will be ignored.

As Jean said, malaria is from mosquitoes, why would they quarantine that? I know someone who had malaria after time in Africa at least 30 years ago; he got terribly sick and recovered; and is now in his late 80s.

 

 

They would quarantine people with malaria because we don't want it reintroduced to mosquitoes here.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/map.html

[elfgivas]

they are doing really great things with air flow and quarantine these days.  i was in a room where the room was pressurized slightly above the hallway, etc, so air would flow out when the door opened, not in.  it prevented me from catching things.  i am sure the reverse is done, too, where rooms are at a lower pressure so that air flows in to the room, not out. 

 

ann

[Plink]

My BIL had malaria around '89. It was awful, but he was not quarantined. We even spent time at the lake (with lots of mosquitos) with the hospital's blessing while he was feverish. I never thought about it then, but reintroduction was a real possability. Yikes.

 

The reality is that quarantine is expensive, emotional, and difficult to accomplish. I don't know that my brain is big enough to consider all the aspects needed to do it well.

[Ravin]

I had no idea people had been shot to death because of a quarantine.that is very sad and disturbing.

 

Here's the story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/08/22/342404795/in-riots-sparked-by-an-ebola-quarantine-a-teen-is-shot-and-dies

 

It's only certain species of mosquitoes that spread malaria, and I'd think once it's under control with drug treatment the ability to spread it to mosquitoes goes down. Certainly previously-eradicated or not previously known mosquito-vector illnesses have spread in North America before. Notably, West Nile Virus.

 

In case anyone wants more info about malaria:

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html

[kiwik]

Where else are they supposed to quarantine people?

Well traditionally you made everyone stay on the ship until either they died or there was no-one left sick. I am glad I don't have to make tge decision because while I would never forgive myself for letting people die because I quarantined them on a ship nor could I forgive myself if I let someone in and they caused an epidemic.

[idnib]

As for the worry over quarantine and Ebola or other infectious diseases in America, I hear way to much of this from my reactionary family members that  my eyes have started to glaze over.

 

How can you be sure it's not Ebola?

[Audrey]

Well I didn't see anything that mentioned they were going to Tulane. I think West Jefferson is where one was tested for malaria and found to be positive.

 

I wasn't trying to start anything with the post; just thought it was interesting and it caught my attention because it's so close to home for me.

 

My only issue with any of the disease stuff at all is whether or not they'd be up front out the outset, so people could,choose to take their own precautions. However, with the way people tend to panic, I doubt they would.

 

 

Hmm.... you posted about a statement containing vague reference to disease and quarantine and in that post made the great leap by referencing Ebola despite the fact that the article (linked later) did not.

 

And you claim you weren't trying to start anything?  That sounds either fishy or conversationally clueless to me. 

[Ravin]

How can you be sure it's not Ebola?

 

I don't think eyes glazing over is a symptom of Ebola... it's definitely a symptom of having reactionary relatives who watch too much of certain news networks, though! :gnorsi:

[StaceyinLA]

Hmm.... you posted about a statement containing vague reference to disease and quarantine and in that post made the great leap by referencing Ebola despite the fact that the article (linked later) did not.

 

And you claim you weren't trying to start anything? That sounds either fishy or conversationally clueless to me.

Really? That's what you derived from my post? I only mentioned Ebola at all because there was speculation in local media articles here (the linked article wasn't one that I read before posting). I also realized the CDC had said they didn't believe it to be Ebola, so my mention of it was not with ill intent.

 

Your personal attack was not necessary. Frankly I'm sick of people's assumptions every time someone makes a da** comment.

[Audrey]

Really? That's what you derived from my post? I only mentioned Ebola at all because there was speculation in local media articles here (the linked article wasn't one that I read before posting). I also realized the CDC had said they didn't believe it to be Ebola, so my mention of it was not with ill intent.

 

Your personal attack was not necessary. Frankly I'm sick of people's assumptions every time someone makes a da** comment.

 

 

It's an observation.  You make these kinds of presumptive posts a lot, so it's not unsurprising.  Neither is your indignation when people don't agree with you and think you're being a pot stirrer. 

[Wildcat]

I appreciated the the OP, as this was the first place I had read about the vessel in NO.

 

Since countries world-wide are treating malaria-type illness in people who have been to an Ebola-hit country as suspected Ebola, I don't find the OP to be pot-stirring in this case, but just sharing info she had at that moment in time.

[Laurie4b]

Hmm.... you posted about a statement containing vague reference to disease and quarantine and in that post made the great leap by referencing Ebola despite the fact that the article (linked later) did not.

 

And you claim you weren't trying to start anything?  That sounds either fishy or conversationally clueless to me. 

 

Her post seemed reasonable to me, even though I don't have those kinds of fears about the gov't not telling us about an outbreak of disease.

 

She did what a lot of posters did: something was happening in her area that brought up worries for her and she posted it. I don't know what is "pot-stirring" about that. I think she also got some reassurance as a result of her posting, which is what can happen as a result of a thread like this and is a good thing. Just because other people might not have the same concerns/worries doesn't mean that someone who does is "pot-stirring."