Are you sure about that? I read somewhere that it lives off host for 1 - 2 days. I need to go websearch it, but I am sure I read it.

That said, I am by no means in a major panic and trust this will be well controlled.

The people who are freaking out really need to realize that the way infection control is in Africa cannot be compared to the US .

Oh indeed.

I must have read that on one of those bogus sites I tell everyone else to ignore. :eek: So sorry. :(

FYI:

How long does Ebola live outside the body?
Ebola is killed with hospital-grade disinfectants (such as household bleach). Ebola on dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours; however, virus in body fluids (such as blood) can survive up to several days at room temperature.

Taken from: Q&As on Transmission | Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever | CDC

This new case, a camera man who has contacted Ebola has been send to Omaha Nebraska, ten minutes from my Grand-daughter.

This statement is confusing or contradictory to me. Isn't it "only" found/transmitted in body fluids? Does this mean it dies several hours after it dries regardless of what surface it is on? And if it's "moist" or "fresh" it can survive for several days? Or does this mean in a dead body where fluids are still accumulated it can survive for several days and that's why people who tend to the deceased are at greater risks? Wait....it says outside the body..so..... I just don't think this statement is very clear, but it could just be me. :confused:

Here's what little I've found out but it gave me as much security as I guess anyone can have in this day and age. None of the highly respected and most-lettered doctors in the epidemiology/infectious disease fields seem to be that worried, nor are those working in research and in those fields recommending Draconian measures to prevent, contain and live with this disease now that it's in our midst.

Marshall Emory, M. D., MMSc(Masters Degree in Master of Medical Science, Clinical Investigations, from Harvard Medical School and a fellowship at Mass. General in Infectious Diseases and additional Epidemic Intelligence Service training at the CDC ), Associate Professor of the Emory University School of Medicine, just said yesterday on CNN during a live interview with Fredricka Whitfield that the Ebola virus is a wimpy virus and is dead on environmental surfaces within 30 - 60 minutes after leaving the human body.

A little bit of online research though shows some laboratory studies have proved it can live under certain laboratory conditions up to 50 days(see link below - more in depth information than I could easily find at the CDC website). But who knows who funded or performed the studies, the quality of the study protocols and how the data and conclusions were calculated, peer reviewed, etc. - I won't bother to check on that. I've read on the CDC website that in one study Ebola "sub-populations" persisted in organic debris, but again, no particulars on all the factors involved in the study. Still I tend to place my faith with the doctors on the firing line who have worked for years with this disease when it's in the environment we humans live in.

Dr. Lyon said rubbing alcohol, soap and water, hand sanitizer and bleach all kill the virus once it's off its host. I've also read that direct sunlight, UV light and heat kill it. I would tend to give more credence to a combination medical researcher, clinical investigator and practicing medical doctor in the field of infectious diseases, one of the team who attended Ken Brantly, M. D. and Nancy Writbol, during their stay at Emory University Hospital for Ebola management, over lab studies under certain conditions.

Dr. Emory works with Ebola and other highly infectious/communicable diseases and how they infect and affect actual patients and their contacts in the real world. And he's just one of the parade of similar doctors who are telling the public and media that this virus can be extremely deadly to its human hosts but not all that easy to contract as long as infectious/communicable disease precautions and management are taken.

Ebolavirus - Pathogen Safety Data Sheets

Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus | Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever | CDC

HIV is difficult to contract IF you follow the appropriate disease control recommendations, yet people still contract it. Sadly, people don't follow recommendations and many people are selfish and don't care who they expose.

From what I am reading, I believe Ebola is actually more worrisome than HIV in that it is in saliva and sweat. That is just me speaking...and I am NOT saying it is going to be as out of control as HIV became.

I just don't totally buy that comment about it being a wimpy virus. People are certainly going to great lengths to control this so called wimpy virus. Just sayin'

Yes, I totally agree with you Linda. The sweat & saliva transmission is very concerning. I'd find it very hard to believe that it could live for 50 days outside of a host. As for the hazmat suits I'd bet that there had to be some human breakdown in prevention and the virus didn't penetrate the suits to infect the healthcare workers. Otherwise, there would be many more sick in the enviorment they are in the trenches daily treating the patients. Just like HIV it's a virus or OPPORTUNITY and if you give it the opportunity to enter it will.

Again, I don't know the particulars of who did the testing and studies referenced in this article but it seems more and more as if this really isn't that hardy a virus once off the host as compared to some viruses.

Look at the bolded paragraphs bolded below.

WHO: Ebola doesn't spread through the air like a cold

With some Americans on edge over the news of the country's first Ebola patient, the World Health Organization issued a statement Monday clarifying how the virus does and doesn't spread.

While the virus is new to many Americans, infectious disease specialists have been fighting Ebola since the first outbreak four decades ago. There's nothing to suggest that Ebola is spreading any differently today than it has spread in every other outbreak, says William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been growing for 10 months, with at least 7,470 cases and 3,431 deaths in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The virus has spread out of control in those countries because it wasn't recognized until the outbreak had been going on for at least three months and had infected 50 people, according to the WHO.

The public health systems are in shambles in those countries, and only about one in five Ebola patients is being treated in a hospital. Families caring for loved ones in their homes are at high risk of contracting Ebola.

The average American is at very low risk, however, and Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has predicted that the Ebola virus won't spread widely here.

That's because the Ebola virus does not spread through the air, like the flu or a cold virus, according to the CDC. "If you sit next to someone on the bus, you're not exposed," Frieden said last week.

A new poll finds that most Americans are divided about the government's ability to prevent a major outbreak of Ebola in the USA, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center. Relatively few are concerned that they or a family member will be exposed to the virus.

On the positive side, 58% of Americans have "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence in the federal government's ability to prevent a major outbreak.

On the negative side, 41% have "not too much confidence" or "no confidence at all" in the governments ability to control Ebola, according to the survey, conducted Oct. 2 to Oct. 5 among 1,007 adults.

About 11% are very worried that they or someone in their family will be exposed to the virus, while another 21% are somewhat worried, the survey shows. Two-thirds say they are either not too worried, or not at all worried, about contracting Ebola.

According to the WHO, Ebola spreads "through close and direct physical contact with infected bodily fluids," primarily blood, feces and vomit, the statement says.

In a 2007 article in The Journal of Infectious Disease, scientists who studied an Ebola outbreak in Uganda concluded that, "the risk of casual contacts with the skin, such as shaking hands, is likely to be low."

Doctors and nurses can catch Ebola from patients if they're not wearing gloves, because the virus can enter the body through small cuts on their hands. People also can infect themselves if they touch the blood of someone with Ebola, then touch their eyes, nose or mouth.

Many people are worried that they can catch Ebola because someone coughs on them. While this is a common way to catch the flu, it's not a major concern for Ebola, the WHO says.

In order for there to be "airborne spread," people would have to be able to inhale an infectious dose — not just a few viruses, but enough to make them actually sick — from a "suspended cloud of small, dried droplets," the WHO says. This can happen with measles, which can infect a susceptible person — someone who has not been vaccinated or had the disease — even two hours after an infected person has left the room.

Infectious disease experts haven't seen airborne spread of Ebola, in spite of "extensive studies of the Ebola virus over several decades."

The WHO adds: "Common sense and observation tell us that spread of the virus via coughing or sneezing is rare, if it happens at all."

While it's theoretically possible for someone to become infected through coughing, the WHO's new statement explains why this is highly unlikely.

"Theoretically, wet and bigger droplets from a heavily infected individual, who has respiratory symptoms caused by other conditions or who vomits violently, could transmit the virus – over a short distance – to another nearby person. This could happen when virus-laden heavy droplets are directly propelled by coughing or sneezing (which does not mean airborne transmission) onto the mucus membranes or skin with cuts or abrasions of another person."

Again, while spreading Ebola this way is theoretically possible, the WHO statement says there are no documented cases of Ebola spreading this way. When doctors and disease detectives interview people who have had Ebola, "all cases were infected by direct close contact with symptomatic patients."

While the Ebola virus has been detected in bodily fluids other than blood — including breast milk, urine, semen, saliva and tears — there's no conclusive evidence showing that the virus really spreads this way.

Although scientists have found the Ebola virus in saliva, it was most frequently found in the saliva of patients at a very late stage of illness, when the virus has had the chance to reproduce extensively. And while the DNA of an Ebola virus has been found in sweat, a "whole, live virus" — one that could infect someone — has never been found in sweat, the WHO says.

The risk of transmitting Ebola by touching a contaminated surface is low, and can be reduced even more by cleaning and disinfecting surfaces with a bleach solution, the WHO says.

In the study from Uganda, doctors tested 33 surfaces inside an Ebola treatment center, testing whether they could find the virus or even just its DNA. They didn't find live Ebola viruses anywhere. They found DNA from the Ebola virus — which can be present even if the virus itself has broken down — on only two surfaces: a doctor's bloody surgical gloves and a bloody site where an intravenous needle had been inserted.

Doctors found no Ebola virus on light switches, bed frames or bedside chairs.

Some experts have had other concerns.

Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, has said he is concerned that the uncontrolled Ebola outbreak in West Africa could give the virus the chance to mutate in a way that allows it to become airborne.

The new WHO statement, however, notes that this phenomenon — while theoretically possible — has never actually happened.

For example, the H5N1 avian influenza virus — known as bird flu — has caused sporadic human cases since 1997 and now spreads commonly among chickens and ducks in much of Asia. Although "that virus has probably circulated through many billions of birds for at least two decades," the statement says, "its mode of transmission remains basically unchanged."

The WHO adds: "Speculation that Ebola virus disease might mutate into a form that could easily spread among humans through the air is just that: speculation, unsubstantiated by any evidence. This kind of speculation is unfounded but understandable as health officials race to catch up with this fast-moving and rapidly evolving outbreak."

USA NOW

'Contact tracing': Tracking Ebola in the U.S. | USA NOW
Oct 06, 2014


MORE FROM USA TODAY:

Jeanie, I am having a difficult time with your posts. In the one post, I thought it was your words in calling Ebola a wimpy virus. Now, I am confused as to what is your wording, and what is someone else's. I also am not following your thoughts.....I believe you are saying Ebola is not a huge concern. While I am not horribly concerned, I totally do not think we should ignore it OR believe it is a "wimpy virus" because if it were then I would think it would have been eradicated already. Plus, why, if it is so wimpy are hazmat suits being used?

This virus is indeed a concern imho. I don't think it will end up being an out of control pandemic situation here in the US, but I also don't think people should downplay its threat.

Also, I don't think anyone is totally clear about the transmission, but it is still my understanding that it is in saliva and sweat....I have NO idea how long it remains there outside of the body but it is supposedly in them. My point in saying that it was in saliva and sweat for ANY length of time was to compare it to HIV and to express my amazement that anyone would refer to it as wimpy.

Good lord, Linda, none of have actual Ebola expertise and likely we all learn words, facts, terms and phrases and post about them using the words the experts, CDC, WHO, NHIC, etc. use, not purporting the words or phrases to be our original thoughts unless we are experts in that field. I'm not the only poster on this thread who has made direct, very descriptive and definitive statements about the Ebola outbreak based on things they have heard or read on a subject none of us has any expertise in. People have posted that Ebola lives outside the body for days but they don't know that from personal experience or original thought, merely from things they have learned. We're all just passing along information we've gathered, good and bad, positive and negative, scary and less-scary.

Dr. Lyon and others who have referred to Ebola as wimpy are referring to the fact that it does not last long off its host as compared to other viruses and that it's easily killed in the environment using several methods. Google "Ebola is a wimpy virus" and you will see more than one Ebola health care provider, city health authority and at least one CDC spokesperson, well-versed in the viruses properties, using the term. Wimpy is a perfectly good term of the ability of this virus to fail to thrive or survive long off its host. NONE of them are saying it is not horribly deadly for many but that one cannot readily contract it from virus that has been off its host and in the environment for very long.

Most of the docs who should know and WHO are saying sweat carries none to very little amount of Ebola virus and that the saliva of an Ebola patient with a load of virus can carry it, but that newly-ill patients don't have much virus in their saliva. True? I don't know and neither do any other posters on this thread.

Who knows - maybe the experts are all wrong and we should be scared - but it seems to me that we'd have far more cases here with thousands of the Ebola patients in West Africa who kiss while early in the contagion phase, hug/touch/become intimate with each other with sweaty hands and body parts, ride in city elevators, buses, unknowingly sit beside unaware, not that sick-yet Ebola patients at home, in local clinics, cafes, church and touch things Ebola patients have touched before leaving West African countries prior to flying right to America. Three countries in West Africa have cases everywhere and many villages have families who have all been touched by the disease. Yet Thomas Duncan is our only such case of all the people who have arrived here since the epidemic started.

I expect we will have many more Ebola patients but don't think the disease will spread wildly here or that we should be really frightened of getting it unless we come into direct contact primarily with with the bodily fluids of someone sick with Ebola or a dead Ebola patient.

Health care workers wear protective suits only when working with potential/known Ebola patients for the obvious reasons that the patients could be highly contagious if their virus-laden, wet, bodily fluids should get on those working closely around them or with their bodily fluids or items still wet and warm from those fluids. I don't know nor have I heard any expert say how long a dead body hosts the Ebola virus but it could be at least as long as there is warmth and moisture in it - but that is merely a guess.

And none of the information above is original to me(except the guess) but from articles and advisories from the CDC, WHO, DCHHS, several online Ebola news articles and TV news shows.

Google Search for "Ebola is a wimpy virus" & CNN transcript of Dr. Lyon's statement
 

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...0wimpy%20virus

CNN.com - Transcripts

(On the transcript page, just enter "wimpy" into Find tool & you will quickly get to his statement half way down in the body of the interview Dr. Lyon had with Fredricka Whitfield on CNN.)

Your first sentence was enough for me Jeanie. No clue what's up with that "good Lord Linda comment". I was merely saying that I was confused about where your thoughts began and ended and where you were using others thoughts. Where I come from it is appropriate to give the source. I have a difficult time discerning what part of your posts are your thoughts and what part are others...that is all I was saying.

As for the other stuff, I am simply going to say that I took care of patients with HIV/AIDS in the hospital setting and never had to put the same protective gear on that they are putting on to care for Ebola patients. That alone speaks volumes to me.

I totally agree that it "could" theoretically mutate...what I was trying to say is that the only thing we're lucky about is that ebola is in a family of viruses that isn't known to *easily* or readily mutate into airborne. So, a very tiny upside, if we can call it that :rolleyes:. If it does ever become airborne, we'd be in a world of crap, that's for sure. If it happened and we didn't have a treatment or a vaccine, it would basically be like the plague. Scary.