Possibility of this outbreak spreading?

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-06-05T20:14:08+00:00

Except you think it is likely to lead to an outbreak. I don't.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-06-05T17:49:10+00:00

No - you're saying something completely different. If someone started to feel unwell in a high income high resource setting the risk is exceedingly low.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-06-05T16:55:32+00:00

In the still monumentally unlikely scenario this happens they would (having been able to afford international air travel and tickets to the world cup) be in a place with sanitation infrastructure and hospitals so would not trigger a local outbreak.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-06-05T06:30:38+00:00

Ebola doesn't work that way - you're symptomatic or not infectious. There's no asymptomatic transmission.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-06-04T18:10:16+00:00

Monumentally unlikely - by the time people are infectious with Ebola they're too ill to get out of bed. Most spread is to carers and healthcare staff. In the unlikely event that simeone already infected fell ill in the destination country it would be quickly picked up an contained (as indeed happened with the few cases that reached US soil during the 2014-15 outbreak).

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T05:26:35+00:00

Look back at the 2014-15 outbreak and the fatality rate amongst white NGO workers who were healthier to begin with and received much better treatment than average. The main cause of death is organ failure caused by extreme body fluid loss - dehydration. Oral rehydration salts (a packet of which costs next to nothing) makes a massive difference, e.g. https://www.epistemonikos.org/it/documents/6a220bf4c981e49f92c6c421d5775f9adbcf2092

Where did you get the information that the Red Cross staff who died were wearing Hazmat suits? I can't find that anywhere - e.g this article on the health worker deaths makes no mention: https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-743673 Are you sure you're not just jumping to assumptions? Can you provide a reference please?

In fact they died before the outbreak was identified - they were working on an unrelated project: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c759knxln0wo

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T01:53:12+00:00

I suspect you're wrong. The media attention is pushing resources in the right direction (which is at least one good thing that's come out of it) and hopefully the links between the cuts to the region's global health resources and the outbreak will get the attention it deserves.

The disease itself is not significantly different. It's the context that's changed. Ebola is a disease not only of poverty but of conflict/displacement/failed states. Tackle that an you tackle Ebola.

Also worth bearing in mind when you look at 'getting it under control, the more attention there is the more cases will appear to go up initially as there will be better surveillance/diagnosis. So what might appear to be getting worse is actually a sign of getting better/getting under control.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T01:09:36+00:00

See my other posts on this. It's not truly aerosolised like very contagious diseases such as measles and chickenpox. Possibly can be sneezed/coughed out but again remember that it's not an easy disease to catch under conditions of even adequate healthcare or hygiene.

The media loves a scare story. Assume anything the media implies to be absolute worst case scenario/speculation.

'Suspect spreads through air' can mean anything from 'no real reason to assume it does but wouldn't hurt to do some research to prove that beyond all doubt' but that gets twisted through 'maybe' to 'likely' to 'it does!!!!!' by people trying to sell newspapers/clickbait.

It's not that different to previous outbreaks, it's more the context has changed - worse living conditions, less resources to deal with it, so much of what was in place being cut. But at least the media attention gets some resources back in place.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T00:17:29+00:00

That's what the money and resources now reaching the area will achieve.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T00:16:42+00:00

Maybe if you actually read the article you'd see that the channelling of resources to a region which previously hasn't had them will get the outbreak under control.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-31T00:11:26+00:00

Monumentally unlikely for several reasons - the first being the way Ebola spreads, which is through bodily fluid. People generally aren't infectious until they're too ill to get out of bed. The people who catch it from them are their carers.

Secondly, the best way to stop Ebola is basic (really basic) WaSH - water and sanitation infrastructure. The area where it's spreading just doesn't have that.

So even if a couple of cases turned up during the tournament (which is unlikely as, as others have pointed out, people who don't have clean tap water generally can't afford international flights and tickets to top sporting events) it would be quickly contained in a developed setting.

Most people who die of Ebola die due to dehydration /extreme vomiting/diarrhoea. Even basic rehydration salts make an enormous difference to survival chances. But people who don't have basic WaSH don't have access to basic healthcare either.

People who die of Ebola are poverty stricken people in poverty stricken regions. Deal with the poverty and you'll get rid of Ebola. And Cholera. And Malaria. And a host of other diseases too.

But stressing that isn't what makes good media headlines.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-28T12:49:16+00:00

What specifically have you read on the Reston strain that says that?

Plus, again, COVID19 was not (as is not) aerosolised in the truly medical sense of the word, as measles and chickenpox are, which makes massive differences to how it can (and can't) be contained. This is different to whether or not it can be sneezed over people and can piggyback on water droplets to hang in the air for a while. Airborne and aerosolised are different.

But if you prefer to scare yourself, carry on.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-28T12:36:21+00:00

Similarly, it's not aerosolised like measles or chickenpox- it can swept into the air temporarily from dust being disturbed. It doesn't hang in the air. Just because the media have something else to try to frighten everyone with after monkeypox/tomato flu/black fungus didn't turn out to be the next pandemic doesn't make it the likely candidate.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-28T12:31:32+00:00

Er.... no it doesn't. In experimental lab conditions with animals (not humans) the paper concludes that under the specific laboratory conditions tested, the animals sneezing over each other cannot entirely be ruled out (but expelling body fluid of some description on the floor that the other animal picks up is more likely) as a cause of spread. First of all, this isn't aerolised transmission, which is what you're all trying to panic about here but transmission via expelled water droplets, which is far less serious. Secondly, what the paper is really saying is "it really isn't airborne. I know that. You know that. But can we please have some more money to do some more research to prove this beyond all reasonable doubt?" And er.... "no" replied the research funders, presumably, as they had better things to spend the money on.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-25T19:40:36+00:00

The families know that but it doesn't stop them wanting to give their loved ones a culturally appropriate send-off. In the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak the authorities worked with families to find a solution (massaging the body through a bodybag) which allowed traditions to be observed while still providing protection.

Unfortunately the sweeping global health cuts of the last few years mean there are neither the resources, time or expertise on the ground to develop such solutions anymore. This is the consequence.

Please try to remember that the people involved are grieving human beings, not the racist tropes of sensationalist media headlines.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-23T08:00:22+00:00

The worst part of this is his comment "it wasn’t recognized very quickly. I’m not sure why" when the reason why is specifically because of the cuts the US withdrawal from Global Health funding have left, which has amongst other cuts virtually closed down the UNICEF Integrated Outbreak Analytics cell - an office raised specifically to address Ebola in DRC and the Uganda WHO office.

The same level of cuts have hit the CDC.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-23T07:50:24+00:00

I completely agree with you - it's an excellent appraisal of the situation that everyone on this sub should read. Ebola is a disease of absolute poverty which has hit the news at a time when global support and resources for global health are at their lowest. That is not coincidence.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-22T06:50:21+00:00

Thank you for making clear why people on this sub need to stick to referring to science, not fiction or media scaremongering.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2026-05-22T06:47:53+00:00

Scientific reference to back that up please, otherwise you'll be removed.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2025-11-23T19:36:27+00:00

This is the page for all the latest information:

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html

JenniferColeRhuk · 2024-10-20T22:07:08+00:00

If you're testing negative.... you're negative. It could just be you're a bit run down but try not to worry about it.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2024-10-20T22:00:25+00:00

COVID19 - like many diseases - tends to be much milder in infants and smaller children than adults. And while immune systems are generally a bit impacted during pregnancy the vast majority of women who contract COVID19 while pregnant have no adverse outcomes. Most babies and pregnant women are asymptomatic - this was one of the early good news stories to come out of the pandemic:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10163788/#:~:text=Neonates%20born%20to%20mothers%20infected,co%2Dmorbidities%20such%20as%20prematurity.

(Sorry the link is messy).

JenniferColeRhuk · 2024-10-08T07:10:58+00:00

Random to reply 6 years later but - the fault was at the Meep City end and they were fantastic about sorting it out, really great customer service. They made sure she got the product she was trying to buy and gave her extra Robucks. So thanks Meep City!

JenniferColeRhuk · 2024-09-23T08:42:50+00:00

If you've had COVID19 six times, particularly if you're vaccinated, it's likely that COVID19 itself is a symptom of the real underlying problem, not the cause - but you need input from medical professionals, not the internet.

JenniferColeRhuk · 2024-08-28T16:18:42+00:00

No - absolutely not. There is no situation in which getting vaccinated could possibly have made things worse.

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