Well, shit. Ebola has arrived.

West Africans are skeptical of modern medicine and quarantine and would much rather go to witches and that is why it has spread there so quickly. It could have been better contained but you can't fault them because they don't have the same economy and infrastructure as the United States does. It won't spread in the United States very much so I wouldn't be too worried.

As for Africa, it can be a serious matter there because they don't have the luxury the western world enjoys. I wouldn't downplay the virus though because they have killed millions over the years.

everythingred said:

It won't spread in the United States very much so I wouldn't be too worried.

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I disagree - and here's why:

The only reason this person is in hospital is because he presented himself when he developed symptoms.
And the only reason he thought to do that was because he had just arrived from West Africa and therefore suspected it could be Ebola.
It also transpires that he has been in contact with other people since he became infectious.

All it takes is for someone to develop symptoms who has not been to Africa and is not aware of being in contact with someone who has - and that's not only possible, but probable.

That person would probably think they had flu, or some other common bug, as the initial symptoms can be similar.

That person will then not present themselves in hospital and until they are diagnosed, they are spreading Ebola to others.

At that point, you have an outbreak of the disease in a densely populated city and no way of tracking down all the potential carriers.

jazzc said:

Not exactly, it's 50% of those infected. So, if without any counter measures it infects say 1/2 in a town, the mortality rate is 25%. Black Death was 40-50% of the population, not those infected.

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Good point but some Ebola strains have had a 90% mortality rate whereas this one is at 50%. How quickly does this virus mutate and to your point, there's no good info as to how many people are susceptible to this disease in the first place? What's equally creepy about this virus is that dead bodies remain infectious.

No need to throw shit at me bro xD

Yea i confused some things like disease instead of disorder but it was early morning.

Anyway, one thing that's true is that everyone wants to medicate everyone. Such that there's a massive tv ad campaign everywhere where they promote a one 'click' solution.

jazzc said:

ADHD is a real thing but blown out of proportion, in the sense that where it should be 1 patient, there are 1000 (fake numbers I just made up to illustrate the point). It's such a joke that there's no physical diagnosis for it, but a statistical one. Are you an outlier of what somebody considers the norm? You're sick and because sick is a hard word, you have a "disorder".

What it is, and we can learn a lesson from, is fantastically marketed. ADHD is the smart kids "disorder", it's almost cool to have. And so simple to resolve, here take this pill.

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jazzc said:

People are suckers for things that are written on paper. If it's on a book, it must be right.

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If it's an accepted disorder in a peer reviewed medical textbook it's as right as it gets until the medical community comes to a consensus that says otherwise. Feel free to present your contradictory findings to the scientific community Dr jazzc.

jazzc said:

So, newsflash. Where big money is involved, science and administration hurts bad. Unless you think all the world works tirelessly for your/mine benefit. Billion dollar industry by blowing something totally out of proportions vs no $. Now let's see, where would I put my money?

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ADHD can be over-diagnosed and still be a real thing, and that evil big money incentive has been the driving force for more way more good then evil in the world. Talk about blowing things out of proportion.

Grizzy said:

If it's an accepted disorder in a peer reviewed medical textbook it's as right as it gets until the medical community comes to a consensus that says otherwise. Feel free to present your contradictory findings to the scientific community Dr jazzc.

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Don't peer review me. Instead go get some actual experience on how the peer review system works in practice and how torturingly long it takes for the process to produce an acceptable approximation of the truth. No unicorns in science, always a huge struggle.

ADHD can be over-diagnosed and still be a real thing, and that evil big money incentive has been the driving force for more way more good then evil in the world. Talk about blowing things out of proportion.

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You need to understand first, type later. Nobody said hunting for money is a bad thing. What I did say, is that hunting for money is a bad thing when it trumps reality and milks people by tricking them.

Chill guys! Ebola`s going to kill everyone.
Let`s just die happy...

jazzc said:

Don't peer review me. Instead go get some actual experience on how the peer review system works in practice and how torturingly long it takes for the process to produce an acceptable approximation of the truth. No unicorns in science, always a huge struggle.

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I'll peer review whoever I want thanks. I'm sure you'd prove all those medical professionals and people who obviously suffer from ADHD/ADD wrong if only you had time for all dat

You need to understand first, type later. Nobody said hunting for money is a bad thing. What I did say, is that hunting for money is a bad thing when it trumps reality and milks people by tricking them.

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Nope. You said: "Where big money is involved, science and administration hurts bad." That's word for word, and it's obviously not the case (as we've seen by the countless scientific advancements spurred on by "big money"). Before your press "Submit Reply", you should really understand what you're about to post...

Grizzy said:

I'll peer review whoever I want thanks. I'm sure you'd prove all those medical professionals and people who obviously suffer from ADHD/ADD wrong if only you had time for all dat

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They aren't right needed to be proved wrong. They need to be proved right and they haven't done it. Scientific process 101.

Nope. You said: "Where big money is involved, science and administration hurts bad." That's word for word, and it's obviously not the case (as we've seen by the countless scientific advancements spurred on by "big money"). Before your press "Submit Reply", you should really understand what you're about to post...

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Big money as in big money at stake, obviously. Not big money as in "a stash of gold bars in the bank". I can't see how you fail to understand that short sentence you quoted.

If you're not ready to die of disease then, you should appreciate it if you find yourself in ghastly accident.
Ebola isn't the first contagious disease, and it wouldn't be the last. People like me can't die of such cruel virus.
Dengue fever can be contacted through air, yet it came and gone.
HIV is now a friendly virus.
Malaria is a healthy test to some people in many countries because almost everybody in those countries have it's antibody.
Ebola or no Ebola, i'm living my life for today and nothing will happen.

jazzc said:

They aren't right needed to be proved wrong. They need to be proved right and they haven't done it. Scientific process 101.

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Thousands of studies say otherwise. There is consensus in the medical community that ADHD is a potentially severe neurobehavioral disorder that can be treated with behavioural therapy and medication. The scientific method has been applied and the evidence has led to a consensus in the scientific community. The burden of proof has been met to an acceptable standard, and that's why it's in the text books. Science.

I don't get it... is it the lack of a biological marker that has made you so opposed to the idea of ADHD? Are schizophrenia, manic depression, and Tourette's Syndrome all bogus mental disorders as well?

The media is overreacting or we need more public attention over Ebola matter?

Ebola tried to come to Australia, but it heard that Arnold Schwarzenegger was moving here.

Shit guys, looks like we need Jack Bauer. Was it season 3 or 4?

rabbitking said:

Besides how are internet marketing going to contract it? Personally as long as Dominoes Pizza delivery does not
give it to me or it does not spread through my PC I am already quarantined working around the clock.

-RK

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Lmao! I just spit out my Dr. Pepper all over my laptop when I read your comment because I was thinking the exact same thing: "Good thing I'm in the house all day working on my websites. I won't come in contact with anyone except the pizza man, and I won't get anything delivered by FedEx. I'll just use UPS from now on."

Now my screen as a big rainbow smeared across it from the liquid.

Too funny.

Grizzy said:

Thousands of studies say otherwise. There is consensus in the medical community that ADHD is a potentially severe neurobehavioral disorder that can be treated with behavioural therapy and medication. The scientific method has been applied and the evidence has led to a consensus in the scientific community. The burden of proof has been met to an acceptable standard, and that's why it's in the text books. Science.

I don't get it... is it the lack of a biological marker that has made you so opposed to the idea of ADHD? Are schizophrenia, manic depression, and Tourette's Syndrome all bogus mental disorders as well?

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I'm trained in hard logic ("formal logic") and a purist in the scientific methodology. And because I intimately understand how science works, I am in a position to have my own opinion instead of being a parrot. Could my opinion be be wrong? Everything is possible. Is it probably wrong? Not really.

You on the other hand simply fell for the authority fallacy (google it).

Just after I watched the series Last Ship...

Izzma said:

Smallpox all over again? Time to consult some X-Files

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Zwielicht said:

Remember when people were apprehensive about contracting Swine Flu in 2010?
Speaking of crazy, do you remember when everyone was scared of getting Mad Cow Disease?
What about the classic Bird Flu "epidemic"?
Do you know what people are going to say next in the future? "Remember when people were panicking about Ebola"?

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rawr00 said:

... one only needs to read a bit of history to understand just how important it is. For example, the Spanish Influenza (1918) infected 500 million people, and killed 50 - 100 million in a **cking year. One year, 100 million dead. Now, Ebola is certainly not the Spanish Flu, but the point is the same. Plagues are often 'random', quick and deadly. The more coverage this gets, the quicker the isolation, more money is spent and the greater the effort for effective treatment.

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jazzc said:

Black Death killed up to 80% of the population on some countries, averaging around 40% in Europe as a whole. Such things are no joke, better hyped than sorry.

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Those posts and a few others in this thread highlight a major point about the modern response to potentially pandemic outbreaks of contagious diseases and the Catch-22 it causes for the officials and journalist reporting about them.

All the pandemic outbreaks we can study from history have one major factor in common, the contagion was already out of control before the threat became common knowledge. Another important factor was that medical science hadn't progressed enough to develop infectious disease theory for any outbreaks pior to 100 years ago. (In the 1800's they were still disputing the importance of having doctors wash their hands and sterilizing instruments.)

The big change in the modern world is that potential outbreaks can now be predicted and the threat become common knowledge before they become pandemic. So all the examples of hype over the last 100 years can only be considered that because the early response was successful. There's no way to know if any of those cases would have definitely developed into a pandemic without the early response and reporting, but every one of them had the potential. One thing we do know for certain though is that if an outbreak were to actually get out of control, then the early reporting won't be considered hype.

And that is where the Catch-22 comes in - if early reporting and official response to a potential outbreak actually does prevent or contain an outbreak then it will be considered hype and subject to ridicule for overreacting, but if an outbreak does get out of control then that same reporting and response will be considered insufficient and those same people who are subject to ridicule in the case of success will be subject to accountability in the case of failure.

I dont care of ebola ...Im using kaspersky

I will go with the conspiracy theory here. The vaccine is already made, and the company manufacturing the vaccine is the one that started the disease in a undeveloped country to incite panic and to make it a billion dollar maker.