Ebola virus

Post Reply New Topic

My uncle is in a backpacking trip and now is in Africa, coming back to home next week. I'm going crazy about this!

I'm buying antiseptic gel (a lot)
afraid of eat in restaurants etc
I was thinking about to use surgical mask when he comes
reading about the disease, and how to avoid
afraid to go pick him up at the airport

There is no case of Ebola in my country, but I always had this OCD about disease because of asperger . I don't know what to do. Should I really be worried about this or ashamed of myself for being so neurotic?

Last edited by bguimaraes on 06 Sep 2014, 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Don't worry. Everything will be fine. I am sure your uncle took the necessary precautions and is aware of all of these things. And I have a dear friend who gave me a phenomenal piece of advice. She said, "Never worry about something until it actually happens." Otherwise you are just draining your energy and stressing for something that might not happen at all. Hundreds of people go on safari and backpack in Africa and have no problems. I am sure your uncle will be fine. And either way you worrying and stressing does not change the outcome it only hurts you. But if for some reason he does pick up a virus, he will go to the infectious disease unit of the hospital and get treated.

I don't think you need to worry about Ebola. I understand that you worry about it though.

1. Where in Africa is he?
2. There's no chance of him getting infected unless he's in direct contact with someone who's already sick and shows symptoms. And by "direct contact" I mean somehow exchanging some kind of bodily fluid.
3. If you're thinking about wearing a surgical mask to avoid inhaling the virus you should know that Ebola isn't airborne but only spreads via contact with blood or other bodily fluids.

Like I said, I don't think you need to worry. It's highly unlikely that he'd be infected and IF it would happen there are ways to safely managing Ebola patients in the US (I'm guessing that's where you live) by isolating them to keep the virus from spreading.

Click this to see what the people at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have written about Ebola (Q&A)

Also, I agree with what skibum has written above.

This is probably the only website in the whole world where I can discuss similar worries and fears without worrying about being treated like a sub-human. Like a few weeks ago when I mentioned Ebola made me more afraid to travel on The Weather Network of all places and someone told me to enjoy my so-called life. Yeah, I enjoyed it by crying half the night. Now I know better than to even say anything on that site, every topic mentioned there there is complete troll bait. I still remember all the talk about H1N1 and the debate over getting the vaccine. If you got it you were a "sheep" letting them inject all kinds of horrible things like mercury and monkey spinal cord shavings into your body, if you didn't you could end up dead or infecting other people who would die. You just can't win.

It's nothing to e ashamed about, OP. I find it perfectly natural that you would worry about that. I would too.

First of all, Africa is a big continent. So far only a few of its countries are affected of these two separated outbreaks. Congo, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal and Guinea. Your uncle may not even have been to the countries in question. And even if he has, the likelihood of him contracting ebola is extremely small. Just think of all the people living in those countries who haven't gotten this dreadful disease!

I would recommend trying to calm down as best you can and read up on the disease. Ebola isn't all that contagious. You need to be in direct contact with a sick person's body fluids in order to get it.
What's more, if a person is showing no symptoms, they are not contagious. They are only contagious when they start appearing sick, and even then they're far less contagious in the beginning of the disease than they are at the end.
Try to be prepared without going overboard with the fear. I know that's easier said than done; like I said I would also be scared if it was my uncle. But try to read up on the virus and how much it actually takes to get infected. The vast majority of the ebola-patients are family members and hospital staff, in other words those in direct and close contact with the disease.
The odds are very good for your uncle. Lots of people have returned from trips to Africa and not a single one of them has so far spread ebola to the outside world.

And as skibum pointed out, if the worst were to happen, he will get treatment and has a better outlook. Just something so basic as keeping him nourished and hydrated (as the hospital will see to) will give him a better chance.


Here are two useful pages

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/qa.html

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

I am glad you are comfortable here. We all worry about things and some worry more than others. It's normal to worry, that is just human nature. I am sure that that person who responded to you in such a mean and insensitive way on the other site has his own issues which are equally troubling to him as yours are to you. That is why we should all treat each other with kindness and sensitivity because each person will have a turn to be in a situation where he or she wants reassurance and compassion. You sound like you worry about infections. One great thing to do is to look at sites like the CDC like Rebbieh and Skil mentioned and become knowledgeable how viruses are spread and how to take precautions and how they are treated. That will alleviate a lot of your worry. A lot of worry comes because we don't understand how things work sometimes but educating yourself is a powerful tool and it will help you feel much better.

But I hope that you can always feel comfortable and safe here on WP to talk and ask questions about whatever you like.

Hello dear Skilpadde. I have not seen you in a while. I am glad to see you. I hope all is well with you.

It would be more prudent to get ebola, the flu, viruses, and germs. Get sick once in a while, and have your immune system fight it off, and kick it out. After this happens, you will be more resistant to your environment. Immunizations,;and antiseptics, are actually poison. It kills. Unless you are on the verge of dying, I wouldn't use that crap.

Think about it like this. If he had it, he wouldn't be coming back.

The Ebola strain that ravage Africa got a 50% mortality rate. Which mean that whatever benefice the virus can bring to your immune system, it's certainly not prudent to get Ebola. Of course, there is always the possibility to inject a weakened version of the virus that would make react the immune system and provide immunisation with a very low chance of complications, this is called vaccination... By the way, do you know what was the mortality rate when the population was very exposed to germs and had no vaccination; 50% before reaching adulthood, which is a lot!(Though once adult you had good chance to reach 50 years old.) Let's not forget the black death either, it killed in Europe in a few years between 30% and 60% of the population, and this was at a time when peoples were much more exposed to germs that we are!

Last edited by Tollorin on 06 Sep 2014, 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ebola is now airborne. Thankfully, the incubation time is 2 to 21 days. So, if he isn't symptomatic in three weeks, he (and you) are clear. The responsibility of spreading ebola recently is squarely on those in government who approved moving identified victims from the point of contact to U.S. (and other nations) hospitals. This risked infecting the airplanes, their crews, the receiving hospitals, etc.

As others have written here, however, is really does matter where he visited. Use universal precautions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_precautions , but don't worry. Ebola can be treated successfully in nations like the United States if it is discovered quickly.

The CDC is not calling Ebola airborne yet...
To transmit Ebola one has to have infected bodily fluids enter either via broken skin or mucous membranes. If you do some research make sure you use reputable info, because you don't want to get scared over false information. I get kinda freaked too when I hear of the procedures they follow and how I think more should be done. I just try not to think about it. I hope you feel safer soon!

If you look it up, Ebola is literally nothing to be worried about. It kills less people per year than the common illnesses like cold or flu.

The chance of him bringing it back is slim to non-existant, and th chance of you getting it from him is impossible, unless you intend on kissing him or the like.

You shouldn't be embarrassed/ashamed about the traits of your OCD or any other mental condition.

I think Ebola is very scary because of its dramatic, quick and bloody symptoms. But if you think about it, you hear about its outbreak once in several years. There are many people traveling to and from Africa every year and they are all fine. Although it depends on exactly where your uncle has been, I think the chance of him catching it is close to zero. It's possible he might catch something else though.

True, but the Wikipedia.org article about Ebola-virus disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease states that "[a]irborne transmission has not been documented during EVD outbreaks.[2] They are, however, infectious as breathable 0.8? to 1.2-μm laboratory-generated droplets.[23] The virus has been shown to travel, without contact, from pigs to primates, although the same study failed to demonstrate similar transmission between non-human primates.[24]" The article cites:

[2] "2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa". WHO. 2014-04-21.

[23] Johnson E, Jaax N, White J, Jahrling P (Aug 1995). "Lethal experimental infections of rhesus monkeys by aerosolized Ebola virus". International journal of experimental pathology 76 (4): 227?236.

[24] Weingartl HM, Embury-Hyatt C, Nfon C, Leung A, Smith G, Kobinger G (2012). "Transmission of Ebola virus from pigs to non-human primates". Sci Rep 2: 811.

If its just in animals I don't think we have anything to worry about yet, and her uncle will be fine.
Additionally, no offense, if its in a Wikipedia article you may want to back it up before getting scared over it. Also customs might do some sort of screening. Anyhow as long as her uncle wasn't in contact with the infected people he will be fine either way.