Ebola- Culture, the real issue
"The culture of the places that are infected is perpetuating the Ebola epidemic. All the planes, troops, and paper money that we throw into African nations won't fundamentally change the way African communities live their lives, which involves eating bush meat- the origin of the disease as proposed by scientists. The global community may be able to convince a small segment of the urban elite/ upper middleclass of African nations not to eat bushmeat, because they don't want bushmeat- they want McDonalds. However, you're not going to convince the average tribal farmers/villagers/peasants to simply change their diet. In fact, it would be morally reprehensible to try to convince them not too, because it a standard protein source in their diet. Understandably, most of these people in these infected areas are starving. If I'm starving to death, do you think I give a f- if the bat that I just ate might be sick, especially when I probably don't think viruses exist and illnesses comes from demonic possession? Of course not, I'm going to eat that bat, and I'm going to eat that chimpanzee because it looks tasty too."
I think you need to change the culture if you're going to solve this problem. What do you guys think?
I think you need to change the culture if you're going to solve this problem. What do you guys think?
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I like cake.0
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Or you could just eat at a calorie deficit0
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who are you quoting? tl;dr0
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oh, just one of my friends being hilarious. There's truth to it even if it is politically incorrect.0
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SonicDeathMonkey80 wrote: »Or you could just eat at a calorie deficit
What? I took that as "you want them to starve to death" lol0 -
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I don't want to try and change their culture. I just want to stop Ebola infected people from travelling outside their village. Let's bring back Leper Colonies.0
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TheRoadDog wrote: »I don't want to try and change their culture. I just want to stop Ebola infected people from travelling outside their village. Let's bring back Leper Colonies.
KFC would work better than sending troops.0 -
I think that although the natives eating bush meat may be the origin of an outbreak of Ebola (which is actually quite rare), it has nothing to do with the disease's spread in the population once it has broken out. It's a lack of education about the disease, medical resources for the infected, and personal protective equipment for caregivers that allows it so spread so quickly and easily in places like Africa. The cultural component that contributes to the spread is more about burial rituals -- it's common to touch and hold the dead before burial which is a great opportunity to pick up Ebola from someone who just died of it.
I think that throwing money and personnel at it can make an impact on educating the natives on how the disease is contracted, protecting caregivers from getting the disease themselves and then spreading it around, monitoring people who are leaving the country and possibly taking the disease somewhere else, and providing care for people who may be able to survive the infection. Convincing people to eat McDonald's won't impact any of that.0 -
mmmm....wine...cake....kfc0
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god I hate facebook0
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TL;DR I have no idea what's going on but feel that this is appropriate
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Just crossing my fingers that the post wasn't a long heart felt obit.
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Here is the problem as I see it and TheRoadDog may have the answer. EVD or EHD is a species jumping virus. It is spread from the bush meat sources to domestic animals (specifically pigs and dogs). Stopping the use of bush meat is not going to stop the spread EVD. The EVD (which is 4 out of 5 Ebola viruses that spread to humans) have a mortality rate of between 25%-90% with an average of 50%. That is a huge by average mortality rates! So the recourse may end up being placing travel restrictions on the countries have known active cases of EVD/EHD. You are not going to change a countries primary protein source easily. As a side note, the soldiers we are sending over are support roles only (communications and construction, they NOT expected to have contact with patients or even the locals. They are being deployed in extremely low numbers. They being briefed on protection and will have observers) Just one ole man's opinion........ Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease0
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Yea, whatever...
Until actual Americans start dying, what to have for lunch is much more important.
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Now villagers are burying their dead before the burying team can arrive. They are going door to door in attempts to educate everyone about the virus. There are still a lot of natives who believe it doesn't exist, and it's thinking like this is allowing it to spread like wild fire. As soon as they wise up and realize how to stop Ebola, the sooner they can get this under control.0
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Now villagers are burying their dead before the burying team can arrive. They are going door to door in attempts to educate everyone about the virus. There are still a lot of natives who believe it doesn't exist, and it's thinking like this is allowing it to spread like wild fire. As soon as they wise up and realize how to stop Ebola, the sooner they can get this under control.
This is a perfect example showing how the culture in these infected region is making the problem ten times worse. Healthcare workers are trying to change their cultural ways, but are encountering extreme prejudice. Some of these healthcare workers have been murdered by locals who have blamed foreigners for the rampant local deaths.
I think that Ebola is totally controllable. However, I am not convinced that those living in the infected regions are willing to change their habits that ultimately help spread Ebola. The world might be able send the necessary aid to these infected regions, but it's counterproductive if these people living in these infected regions don't change their cultural habits, which includes personally burying their dead and worshipping them holding hands.
Just to show how locals in these infected regions feel about the subject
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XasTcDsDfMg
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A doc just came back earlier in the week, developed symptoms Tuesday night and still went bowling on Wednesday. No telling if he infected anyone. He went to the hospital earlier this morning. Yeah our healthcare workers can't get quarnatine right, and this doc should know better considering he was caring for others with Ebola in Africa. It's people's mind set like this is what gets the rest of the country into trouble.0
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Well that sucks. Why aren't healthcare workers who are sent back to the US screened for the virus?0
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Kim Kardashian has been married more times than people in america with ebola virus…..its not serious and its scare tactics and its why I don't listen or pay attention to it….some have it….you will have a better chance of winning the lottery…ok maybe bad comparison but 1 person dying is yeah unfortunate my sympathies but in reality this will not affect us. we even had a news anchorman on fox news having to calm people down because its easy to get caught up in all that and get paranoid…its not worth it…if it was serious the government would really let us know-and we would know...0
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Oh, I'm not worried at all about the virus. I already know there are going to be cases in the U.S, but this isn't the reason why I started the thread. I wanted to discussion solutions, which involve changing the culture that perpetuates a very preventable virus.RedArizona5 wrote: »Kim Kardashian has been married more times than people in america with ebola virus…..its not serious and its scare tactics and its why I don't listen or pay attention to it….some have it….you will have a better chance of winning the lottery…ok maybe bad comparison but 1 person dying is yeah unfortunate my sympathies but in reality this will not affect us. we even had a news anchorman on fox news having to calm people down because its easy to get caught up in all that and get paranoid…its not worth it…if it was serious the government would really let us know-and we would know...
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What can you do? Not sure at this point, people are knocking their heads against brick walls because people over there don't understand and the ones that do are frustrated because someone they know is ill and there is no room at the ebola treatment centers.
Unless someone steps forward they trust without question, it will be very difficult to get them to change their ways because it's the only thing they know.0 -
Changing the culture? Good luck with that.
Oh, I'm not worried at all about the virus. I already know there are going to be cases in the U.S, but this isn't the reason why I started the thread. I wanted to discussion solutions, which involve changing the culture that perpetuates a very preventable virus.RedArizona5 wrote: »Kim Kardashian has been married more times than people in america with ebola virus…..its not serious and its scare tactics and its why I don't listen or pay attention to it….some have it….you will have a better chance of winning the lottery…ok maybe bad comparison but 1 person dying is yeah unfortunate my sympathies but in reality this will not affect us. we even had a news anchorman on fox news having to calm people down because its easy to get caught up in all that and get paranoid…its not worth it…if it was serious the government would really let us know-and we would know...
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Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Sound Familiar? AIDS was introduced in a very similar way. Both have been introduced to other countries via Flights from the infected countries. In both cases, the first person to introduce each disease has been identified. The only thing going for us this time is that people are more aware and working towards a treatment. Unfortunately, 3 decades ago, Aids was dimissed as "Gay Cancer" and nobody gave a shlt and just dismissed it as a disease that only affected perverts. (Note -- Don't give me any crap about the Gay Aids reference. That's not my opinion, but, rather the opinion of an ignorant society 30 years ago. My brother died of AIDS.)
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TheRoadDog wrote: »
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Sound Familiar? AIDS was introduced in a very similar way. Both have been introduced to other countries via Flights from the infected countries. In both cases, the first person to introduce each disease has been identified. The only thing going for us this time is that people are more aware and working towards a treatment. Unfortunately, 3 decades ago, Aids was dimissed as "Gay Cancer" and nobody gave a shlt and just dismissed it as a disease that only affected perverts. (Note -- Don't give me any crap about the Gay Aids reference. That's not my opinion, but, rather the opinion of an ignorant society 30 years ago. My brother died of AIDS.)
Agreed. And this is exactly why dismissing Ebola as something we don't have to worry about because it just affects ignorant villagers in Africa is foolish. When a populations becomes infected and the infection isn't stopped, it spreads exponentially. The more people who are infected in one place, the more opportunities the virus has to continue spreading to populations in other places. Eventually, even in a country like the US with excellent medical care and generally educated people, there is a chance that someone will bring it into the country, not realize they are infected, then go bowling and spread it to others. Who then do not realize what they have until it is too late and they have also spread it to others.
While I agree that the current hysteria is unwarranted, I also blame excessively downplaying the danger and the ease of spread for helping people along in making terrible decisions after they have been exposed to Ebola. We've already had a nurse board two different flights, a doctor ride around in a cab and go bowling, and a lab worker get on a cruise ship without bothering to wait out the 21 day incubation period to make sure they are safe to be around others. I'm going to argue that in order for first world countries to keep incoming infections contained and continue having the means to treat patients effectively, we also need to adjust our cultural behaviors and priorities.
As for Africa, I agree that there needs to be a great deal of education about cultural practices regarding burials and that is not an easy thing to fix. But in order for the virus to get stopped at it's source, we have to keep trying. Otherwise we will continue to see Ebola pop up in other countries around the world.0 -
TheRoadDog wrote: »
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Sound Familiar? AIDS was introduced in a very similar way. Both have been introduced to other countries via Flights from the infected countries. In both cases, the first person to introduce each disease has been identified. The only thing going for us this time is that people are more aware and working towards a treatment. Unfortunately, 3 decades ago, Aids was dimissed as "Gay Cancer" and nobody gave a shlt and just dismissed it as a disease that only affected perverts. (Note -- Don't give me any crap about the Gay Aids reference. That's not my opinion, but, rather the opinion of an ignorant society 30 years ago. My brother died of AIDS.)
Agreed. And this is exactly why dismissing Ebola as something we don't have to worry about because it just affects ignorant villagers in Africa is foolish. When a populations becomes infected and the infection isn't stopped, it spreads exponentially. The more people who are infected in one place, the more opportunities the virus has to continue spreading to populations in other places. Eventually, even in a country like the US with excellent medical care and generally educated people, there is a chance that someone will bring it into the country, not realize they are infected, then go bowling and spread it to others. Who then do not realize what they have until it is too late and they have also spread it to others.
While I agree that the current hysteria is unwarranted, I also blame excessively downplaying the danger and the ease of spread for helping people along in making terrible decisions after they have been exposed to Ebola. We've already had a nurse board two different flights, a doctor ride around in a cab and go bowling, and a lab worker get on a cruise ship without bothering to wait out the 21 day incubation period to make sure they are safe to be around others. I'm going to argue that in order for first world countries to keep incoming infections contained and continue having the means to treat patients effectively, we also need to adjust our cultural behaviors and priorities.
As for Africa, I agree that there needs to be a great deal of education about cultural practices regarding burials and that is not an easy thing to fix. But in order for the virus to get stopped at it's source, we have to keep trying. Otherwise we will continue to see Ebola pop up in other countries around the world.
You're right, of course, but, practically speaking, we can't afford to police the world.
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mikeshockley wrote: »
I believe that the healthcare workers coming back should go through a mandatory quarantine, before being allowed on a plane.0 -
A doc just came back earlier in the week, developed symptoms Tuesday night and still went bowling on Wednesday. No telling if he infected anyone. He went to the hospital earlier this morning. Yeah our healthcare workers can't get quarnatine right, and this doc should know better considering he was caring for others with Ebola in Africa. It's people's mind set like this is what gets the rest of the country into trouble.
Yup he came back here and was working closely with Bellevue (NYC's designated Ebola center) doctors and recording everything, paying attention to everything, as doctors do. As soon as his fever hit 103 and he started having intestinal cramping, he alerted the docs and they moved him over to Bellevue and sent cultures to CDC in Atlanta, but CDC here says they confirmed it's ebola.
I can look at this realistically and know that the chances of most people coming in contact with it and getting it are slim. But I am also not naive about living in NYC and the mass amounts of people and how we all lean on each other in the sweltering trains in winter, sweating and people sneezing everywhere without covering their mouths and spitting all over the subways and such. If there is an outbreak here in NYC, of any aggressive kind, it could be huge and spread exceptionally fast, ya know?
When homeboy got diagnosed yesterday, I marked it on my calendar as Day 1 for NY, just in case.0
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