[Discussion] What if someone with Ebola sneezed on you?

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that's a toughie. probably huddle up in a corner and sob uncontrollably then collect my tears in vials, load them into a gun, and presto, a nifty makeshift biological weapon that's self-sustaining. if the initial impact doesn't kill them, the severe blood loss from internal hemorrhaging will.
 
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Vapid

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I would more than likely kill them in the most gruesome, painful way conceivable.

Then I would spread it to everyone in site, because I hate you all anyway.
 
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Aim64C

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Nothing would happen. Ebola can only be transfered from one person to the next if the infected person is in the mature stage of the disease in other words, the person is nearly dead and is all ready suffering from brain hemorrhage, continuous vomiting and external bleeding.

You won't get ebola if the person who sneezed on you was just infected
There is insufficient data to make that claim with any certainty.

For starters, each infection in each individual is unique. Different paths of entry lead to different tissues becoming infected at different times. This is especially true in Ebola, where the virus is capable of infecting any and all tissues. An initial entry into the eye can lead to differences in pathology compared to entry through a cut on the finger.

Further, there is simply insufficient data to tell us when people are most likely to infect others within a modern environment. We come into 'close contact' with dozens of people on a daily basis - those of us in cities with hundreds. A 1% chance of transfer per day with the type of mild fever that someone in our society will often slam down some Tylenol and work through can quickly stack up to a thousand exposures and dozens of successful infections.

If this were the flu - it would be acceptable to say: "It only has a 3% chance of transferring during the early onset of symptoms, so for all intents and purposes, we'll say they aren't contagious."

But since we are talking about a hemorrhagic fever with a 70% case fatality rate where infection almost always leads to the need for hospitalization (again, insufficient data on that - there will always be your outliers - but we simply don't have the quality of data) - you don't get away with saying: "It's not infectious at this point in time" and then several people are in the hospital when "you said they would be fine."

This is why you don't talk to people like they are children.

Progressives have a huge problem with this. "Just tell them what will let them get on with their lives - don't bore them with the unnecessary details like this is some kind of college course."

The fact is that pathogens don't work like tiny little robots with scripted behavior when they infect each person. Some don't get a fever. Some don't hemorrhage. Some don't display diarrhea.

When you try to define the processes of nature in such rigid political talking points - you ultimately fail when you can afford to fail the least.

Will Ebola become a global pandemic?

It shouldn't.

That said, the arrogance coming from the center for anything but disease control sets a dangerous tone that assumes Ebola will not have a chance to spread in America and that it will be easy to track and contain as foreigners bring it here.

It's like standing in a pool of liquid and one of your friends says: "Hey, this stuff smells oily."

Then, Dippy-Derp in charge of the CDC turns to the guy who is smoking and says: "Hey, I bet if you throw that down, it won't do anything" - pointing at the cigarette in his hands.

It's a completely unnecessary risk even if the 'odds are in our favor.'

One does not trifle with the gods of probability, as D&D and Destiny have shown.
 
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