# Ebola Patient's Family Ostracized & Feel Short Changed



## WhatInThe (Oct 6, 2014)

The Dallas Ebola patient's family feel ostracized by their own family and friends even from their own country. They also can't believe there isn't an Ebola medicine available. Apparently stuff they used earlier or had some success is not available. 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as...family-copes-with-stigma-isolation/ar-BB7IyC0

They complain their kids are complaining and can't see other family members and friends. No one wants to visit them either. They said they were told see you in 30 days which is the window they are using to declare no Ebola. So rather than turn in a family member from an Ebola region of Africa right away they wait until he gets sick. They did pursue getting him care but again they let a high risk individual into their home. The medicine used is experimental/so new it's not in mass production yet. Apparently there is Canadian company along with a US company that make Ebola drugs and both are out.


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## Pappy (Oct 6, 2014)

Sounds a lot like the polio epidemic of the 40's. Mothers were keeping their children home and I remember my mom wouldn't let me go swimming for the longest time. A close classmate of mine did have it and was in an iron lung.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 6, 2014)

Plus I was told not to drink out of public water fountains.. and if I sat still for more than 5 minutes my mom was asking me if my neck hurt.  She was really freaked out.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 6, 2014)

Hopefully the CDC will be able to develope a vacine and medication to treat..  But as a side not... You realize the House of Representatives cut funding to the CDC by $600 million.   The President has requested $1 Billion to fight the disease... Congress has only approved $50 million..  Thanks Boehner..


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## SifuPhil (Oct 6, 2014)

Just one more reason to re-institute stronger immigration laws and medical testing like we had in the past.

I don't feel sorry for these people - they're already being taken care of on the taxpayer's dime, and this guy sounds like a conman.


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## Denise1952 (Oct 6, 2014)

Pappy said:


> Sounds a lot like the polio epidemic of the 40's. Mothers were keeping their children home and I remember my mom wouldn't let me go swimming for the longest time. A close classmate of mine did have it and was in an iron lung.



I was thinking about the polio vaccine earlier today Pappy, when someone had brought up the flu vaccine.  I remember that well.  Seems I heard that some folks that had received the vaccine had gotten polio in later years, something like that.  Maybe it was people that had it once, got it again.  I can't remember.

I do think there will be more and more diseases crop up on us as time goes by.  Seems there is always a new commercial with a new drug for a new disease.  Makes me wonder what is causing all these

Love your avatar Denise


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## QuickSilver (Oct 6, 2014)

The ebola virus is not new..  Nor is this the first outbreak of it.  It IS however, the worst as it happened to hit in 3 of the poorest countries on earth.. Countries that do not have the resources to mount much of a fight against it... and countries where customs and distrust of modern medicine make it much more difficult to fight the spread of the disease.


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## Butterfly (Oct 7, 2014)

I remember polio -- one of my friends got it.  I was one of the "Polio Pioneer" kids who got the first immunizations.  

All the fuss about quarantine -- when I was a kid, quarantining a family was not that uncommon.  We got quarantined when my sister got scarlet fever, and we all survived (including my sister).  People got quarantined with measles.  Being quarantined isn't the end of the world.  Friends/relatives brought us groceries and left them on our porch and we went out and got them after the people left.  The only person who came in was the doctor.  

Maybe part of the reason that family is bring "shunned" is because they knowingly let a person who might be infected in to their home and into the neighborhood.  They KNEW where he was from, and they had to have known ebola was raging there and how deadly it was, yet they let him in. They were in on planning his visit  -- he didn't just drop in from Liberia.  Very stupid and dangerous choice, for them and for all those friends they are complaining they can't see.   This may sound very harsh, but IMHO they brought this on themselves.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

Did they KNOW this person was infected?   It's my understanding he did not become ill until 4 days after he arrived?    Did he tell the family he carried a dying pregnangt woman to the hospital and she had ebola?   Not every person in Liberia is infected... so that's why I question how YOU know they knew that he was?  and yes... a tad harsh.. but victim blaming is something we do well in this counrty.


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## Warrigal (Oct 7, 2014)

Quarantining one family is mild compared to the drastic actions that had to be adopted in the past to contain epidemics.

This is what happened in Sydney in 1900 when bubonic plague broke out.



> *The Bubonic Plague hit Sydney in January 1900. Spreading from the waterfront,  the rats carried the plague throughout the city. Within eight months 303 cases  were reported and 103 people were dead.*
> *Quarantine areas established*
> 
> These stretched from Millers Point east to  George Street, along Argyle, Upper Fort, and Essex Streets then south to  Chippendale, covering the area between Darling Harbour and Kent Streets, west to  Cowper Street, Glebe, along City Road to the area bounded by Abercrombie, Ivy,  Cleveland Streets, and the railway. The area east from George Street enclosed by  Riley, Liverpool, Elizabeth and Goulburn Streets, Gipps, Campbell and George  Streets were also quarantined, as were certain areas in Woolloomooloo,  Paddington, Redfern and Manly. (This is quite a large area of the city of Sydney)
> ...



Bubonic plague is unknown in Australia today thanks to containment of earlier outbreaks.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

We have also erradicated Small Pox and Polio.  There is already research being done on an ebola treatment using the blood antibodies from people who have survived the illness.  Like all viral illnesses, the body will eventually build up antibodies and fight off the disease.. that's why viruses are self limiting.  Then research can begin on an actual vaccine... provided funds are allocated.. not cut.


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## Debby (Oct 7, 2014)

Butterfly said:


> I remember polio -- one of my friends got it.  I was one of the "Polio Pioneer" kids who got the first immunizations.
> 
> All the fuss about quarantine -- when I was a kid, quarantining a family was not that uncommon.  We got quarantined when my sister got scarlet fever, and we all survived (including my sister).  People got quarantined with measles.  Being quarantined isn't the end of the world.  Friends/relatives brought us groceries and left them on our porch and we went out and got them after the people left.  The only person who came in was the doctor.
> 
> Maybe part of the reason that family is bring "shunned" is because they knowingly let a person who might be infected in to their home and into the neighborhood.  They KNEW where he was from, and they had to have known ebola was raging there and how deadly it was, yet they let him in. They were in on planning his visit  -- he didn't just drop in from Liberia.  Very stupid and dangerous choice, for them and for all those friends they are complaining they can't see.   This may sound very harsh, but IMHO they brought this on themselves.




Or maybe it's not really being 'shunned' so much as people are afraid that while they might not be showing symptoms yet,  they're carrying the virus and will get sick, so folks are afraid that they'll catch it.


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## Debby (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> We have also erradicated Small Pox and Polio.  There is already research being done on an ebola treatment using the blood antibodies from people who have survived the illness.  Like all viral illnesses, the body will eventually build up antibodies and fight off the disease.. that's why viruses are self limiting.  Then research can begin on an actual vaccine... provided funds are allocated.. not cut.




You say self limiting but is it possible that this virus has the capability to mutate much faster than most and it might only die out when there are no new potential victims?  I am not an expert on virus's so I'm asking as you seem to have the best handle on this kind of thing.  At least on this forum.


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## SifuPhil (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> We have also erradicated Small Pox and Polio.



Except for the smallpox samples being held in a U.S. research facility and the ones that disappeared from the Russian labs, as documented in the book "Biohazard".

Since no one born after 1978 has been immunized for it, should it turn up again from these samples there would be another mad rush for the vaccine ...


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

Ebola has been around since 1976.I'm sure it has been around forever, but that is how long we have known of it. . It has not mutated so far. AIDS has not become airborne either..


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## Debby (Oct 7, 2014)

According to an article in Washington Post, the ebola virus has mutated during the course of this outbreak.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...235aaa-2ecb-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html


"The Ebola virus sweeping through West Africa has mutated repeatedly during the current outbreak, a fact that could hinder diagnosis and treatment of the devastating disease, according to scientists who have genetically sequenced the virus in scores of victims.....Thursday’s study also details hundreds of genetic mutations that make the current Ebola outbreak different from any in the past."


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

Ok then..... we're all dead...  seems like this is what everyone wants to believe.. so be it.   We are doomed!!!!


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## Debby (Oct 7, 2014)

Well when you make such 'definitive' statements like 'it hasn't mutated' and someone else  has read in several articles that it is mutating fast, what do you expect?  Better to say nothing?  At least I provided a link to prove I didn't make it up right?


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

Fine with me... Believe as you wish.. maybe it has mutated.. Is it airborne YET? Can we now catch it like we can measles? Or Chickenpox? If so.. then yes.. we are all going to die.. 

No.. seriously... Here is an article from the UN that states it is NOT mutating... If the Washington Post is your source... it is nothing more than a Republican shill.. and wants people to be frightened. 

and you should know by now that I never make definitive statements without having a source.  If you choose to believe the Washington Post.. or other rags spreading fear.. go ahead..  As Chicken Little said..  "The sky is falling!!!"

http://article.wn.com/view/2014/10/03/Ebola_Not_Mutating_Not_Airborne_United_Nations/



> There is a theoretical risk, it may be very low, we simply don’t know, that Ebola could become easier to spread through genetic mutation,” Frieden said to members of the press. “That risk might be very low, but it’ probably not zero. And the longer it spreads, the higher the risk.”The outbreak which became serious in March has spread throughout West Africa, hitting Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea the hardest. According to official estimates over 1,550 people have died from the infection, though due to challenges of reporting deaths and cases, those numbers likely underestimate total fatalities.
> Smaller outbreaks have occurred in Nigeria and Senegal. The CDC is hopeful that through public health education and improved preparation, smaller outbreaks can be contained.
> Frieden noted that while the threat of genetic mutation is possible, he has no indications that it has occurred. “Nothing we have seen so far indicates that Ebola is spreading differently in this outbreak.”


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## Denise1952 (Oct 7, 2014)

Debby said:


> Well when you make such 'definitive' statements like 'it hasn't mutated' and someone else  has read in several articles that it is mutating fast, what do you expect?  Better to say nothing?  At least I provided a link to prove I didn't make it up right?



That was a good read, just finished it Debby, thanks for that.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

nwlady said:


> That was a good read, just finished it Debby, thanks for that.



Too bad it was not factual..

Would you believe the CDC Director? Probably not.. Better to believe the Washington Post..   So... now.. excuse me.. I'm going to get my afairs in order... lol!!!

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternativ...ut-has-not-occurred-cdc-director-3022272.html


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## Denise1952 (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> Too bad it was not factual..



That's your opinion, and we all have a right to our own.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

nwlady said:


> That's your opinion, and we all have a right to our own.




Yeah... Mine and the Director of the CDC...


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## Denise1952 (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> Yeah... Mine and the Director of the CDC...



It's still an opinion, no matter what title someone has.


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## Debby (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> Fine with me... Believe as you wish.. maybe it has mutated.. Is it airborne YET? Can we now catch it like we can measles? Or Chickenpox? If so.. then yes.. we are all going to die..
> 
> No.. seriously... Here is an article from the UN that states it is NOT mutating... If the Washington Post is your source... it is nothing more than a Republican shill.. and wants people to be frightened.
> 
> ...



QuickSilver, the article you linked to said it is not mutating to become airborne.  But according to other researchers it is mutating in ways that could make detection and treatment difficult.  (...And the virus has mutated during the outbreak, which could hinder diagnosis and treatment of the disease, according to scientists who genetically sequenced the virus in scores of victims.)  

If you had read the link I set out here, you would have noted that it was the Washington Post reporting the results of a study that was reported in the journal Science and that researchers at Harvard were involved.  Not exactly the musings of 'a rag like Washington Post'.

("The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science,......In a collaboration led by scientists at Harvard University and aided by officials at Sierra Leone’s health ministry, researchers sequenced Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients beginning in the early days of the outbreak this spring......Thursday’s study also details hundreds of genetic mutations that make the current Ebola outbreak different from any in the past.....")

Little side note:  I find it interesting that your link comes from a  paper that came out of Russia.  Your link got it from RiaNovasti which is a Russian site.  I thought the American policy was 'can anything good come out of Russia?  Nyet!'


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## QuickSilver (Oct 7, 2014)

Well... believe what you wish... Everyone is entitled to their own opinion... just not to their own facts...   So until facts prove otherwise... I'll go with the CDC..


Oh... and that RUSSIA thing?   If YOU noticed... it was the United Nations meeting on October 3rd.. where Thomas Friedman, the director of the CDC addressed the UN regarding the Ebola outbreak... I would think YOU of anyone would be all over something out of Russia?  lol!!


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## SifuPhil (Oct 7, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> Ebola has been around since 1976.I'm sure it has been around forever, but that is how long we have known of it. . It has not mutated so far. AIDS has not become airborne either..



If it has not mutated, then why did it go from monkeys to pigs? 

What about Ebola Reston, the strain that mutated (although not fatal to humans) in Reston, VA in 1989? It started from a shipment of monkeys and was transmitted to four of the facility workers who tested positive but did not die. Totally aerosol transmitted. 

Supposedly there are many virologists that are quietly talking among themselves about Ebola's chance of going airborne, and the fact that THEY are worried about it should be a warning to the rest of us. 

Saying that it CANNOT become airborne is blatantly false. The more that it spreads the more chance that it can mutate to survive in the air in a droplet-dispersal form, much like flus. Granted it hasn't changed much at this point, but we're at 4,000 cases now and the initial work was done when there were only 1,500 cases extant. Chances are, if the numbers start cranking upward quickly there will be mutations taking place. 

I just don't see Ebola as something you want to take any chances with at all. It's far too nasty, far too virulent to play with and to make assumptions about, and with the track record of places like the CDC I wouldn't place a lot of trust in "official" pronouncements.


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## Butterfly (Oct 7, 2014)

When I said what I said above about quarantine of the Dallas family of the Liberian traveller, I was NOT blaming the victim (not even sure who the "victim" is there, unless it is the sick traveller).  I stand by what I said that the family, in light of all that had been in the news about ebola and where it was raging, the incubation time, etc., made a very poor choice in letting someone from Liberia stay at their home.  The family probably did not know he had helped that pregnant woman, but they DID know he came from a region where ebola was rampant and that anyone from there might have been exposed and that a person exposed could be carrying the disease for days before symptoms appeared.  Therefore, they should not be surprised they are quarantined as a matter of public safety.

I believe we should not allow people to travel to the US from infected areas without a quarantine period. Period.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 8, 2014)

It's interesting to me that the family of Duncan.. the patient... who were in the apartment with him while he was very ill... vomiting, and diarrhea.. etc.. AND had to stay in that apartment with all that soiled linen for over a week before a new place was found for them... have so far NOT contracted the virus..   Now what is that telling you?   Perhaps that we should listen to the CDC and not assorted publications that just want to increase circulation?   I don't know why people want to believe all the speculation and rumors..  It's not time to set our hair on fire yet folks..


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## Debby (Oct 8, 2014)

Well I think that Mr. Duncan arrived in the US about 14 days ago and ebola has an incubation period of 2 to 21 days according to the WHO so it could still show up in his family members.  As for the CDC, the article you linked referenced that it hasn't mutated to become airborne and I found another page that suggested it might not make that kind of mutation ever as virus's rarely mutate to different methods of transmission (sorry I didn't keep that link otherwise I'd share it).

And Quicksilver, the Washington Post was merely doing a piece on a study out of Harvard(?).  If you don't like Harvard researchers, that's fine, but it was Harvard researchers not the Washington Post writer that made those statements about the number of mutations that have occurred.  No one is suggesting we 'set our hair on fire' but it's good to have all the proper information out there.  So no mutation to becoming airborne, but it has mutated which could make it more difficult to diagnose and/or treat.

And you're right, it was the Russian site that was reporting a UN meeting.  I suppose my point was that I find it interesting that you didn't go out of your way to find a page that reported on it that wasn't Russian.  I would have thought that an American page would have been more your choice.  Even I rarely use sites that are Russian to 'prove' anything because I understand how 'unacceptable' they are to most Westerners.  Oh well, who cares right?  My interest is finding out what is true as much as is possible and to that end, we can all contribute.  Hope you have a nice day.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 8, 2014)

I have no doubt that ebola will NOT run rampant through the US. Also there has been progress made in West Africa concerning containment. What bothers me is the fearmongering and hysteria that is being fueled by news sources.. It serves some purposes well to keep people angry and afraid as well as distrustful of everything. It's a method of control. I just hate seeing people buying into the wild conjecture and conspiracy theories. As for the family of Duncan.. time will tell, but as of yet, they are not infected. 





> CDC Director Doctor Thomas Frieden says there has been progress made in the fight against Ebola in West Africa.
> Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Frieden revealed that a district in Liberia that is considered the epicenter of the outbreak is seeing the number of Ebola cases plummet.
> He said the disease also seems to be contained in the Democratic Republic of Congo



One more point regarding Ebola and AIDS.. While both the same type of virus.. they are not the same.. Ebola is self limiting. You can recover from ebola and no longer be able to spread the disease..you can be cured.  which means it is not mutating as fast as some claim.. We are able to build up antibodies and fight the off the virus. Once gone.. it's gone. However, the AIDS virus does mutate and therefore once a person is infected.. they stay infected for life. They cannot keep up with the mutations in order to muster an immune defense.. so they can infect people forever. Make sense? 


Read more: http://www.kfbk.com/articles/kfbk-n...says-progress-is-being-12839083#ixzz3FYVJfTnJ​


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## Debby (Oct 8, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> ....... I just hate seeing people buying into the wild conjecture and conspiracy theories. ......One more point regarding Ebola and AIDS.. While both the same type of virus.. they are not the same.. Ebola is self limiting. You can recover from ebola and no longer be able to spread the disease..you can be cured.  which means it is not mutating as fast as some claim.. We are able to build up antibodies and fight the off the virus. Once gone.. it's gone. However, the AIDS virus does mutate and therefore once a person is infected.. they stay infected for life. They cannot keep up with the mutations in order to muster an immune defense.. so they can infect people forever. Make sense?
> 
> 
> Read more: http://www.kfbk.com/articles/kfbk-n...says-progress-is-being-12839083#ixzz3FYVJfTnJ​




So with that in mind, how did you deal when the authorities were fear mongering about swine flu and their 'we're gonna die, we're gonna die ... if we don't all get swine flu shots' a few years ago?  You know, the one where everyone was lining up for their shots etc.  Because that was rampant fear mongering on the parts of governments everywhere.

As for the mutating, whether fast or slow, I guess that's something you should discuss with the Harvard researchers.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 9, 2014)

It's estimated that the Duncan's hospital bill was running about $1000 an HOUR.

http://www.nhregister.com/general-n...eased-texas-ebola-patient-nearly-1000-an-hour

For the family cry he didn't get care when other treatments were not available or he didn't qualify(wrong blood type) is ridiculous. Also did Duncan say he thought he had Ebola when he first went into the hospital? Did he come right out and say it? Otherwise the hospital was trying to diagnose and treat your run of mill flu or stomach virus.


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