Isa K. > Status Update

like pining after each other, but Ebola spreads by bodily fluids and what if one of them has it and the other doesn't? Does their passion transcend the possibility of being infected with this deadly disease? Find out in Passion Under Quarantine (idk, is that kind of a shitty title? there's a reason I don't write pulp romance novels)

I'm sure science would love to observe healing sex's powers in action :)

who knew Scroguard would be so prescient?



Ayanna; I LOVE THAT TITLE!!!!

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT? D:

did you watch the classy informercial?

also, did you see she also went to a bridal salon and tried on wedding dresses!

**edited to add link.

but there were 70 people who had personal contact with the guy who died. The incubation period is 21 days. You can't ask that many people to halt their lives for 21 days. The CDC should have set up specialised treatment centers from the beginning. This is all their fault.

Skyla Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books wrote: "The guy who came from a country affected shouldn't have been allowed to travel as they were supposed to have shut down the borders at that point."

Not all countries with confirmed cases of Ebola have yet closed their borders. At best, the ones who have, have closed airports, but there is nothing to stop people driving across a border and flying out from a country with no quarantine.

"70 people really isn't all that many people when you think about it. I understand it would be difficult and annoying but technically it could be done."

People would literally lose their jobs, livelihoods, and houses. Who will compensate them for their losses? I'm not arguing that a quarantine isn't ideal, but is it practical, under the circumstances under which the Texas hospital treated the Ebola patient? They didn't even have nurses confined to treating just that patient! They were still treating all patients. It's a giant screw-up. Clearly hospital management should have watched more zombie films.

We can agree the CDC should have handled things differently.

Emma Sea wrote: "but there were 70 people who had personal contact with the guy who died. The incubation period is 21 days. You can't ask that many people to halt their lives for 21 days. The CDC should have set up..."

Why shouldn't they? I mean, three weeks is just three weeks of staying at home, instead of killing others.

Steelwhisper wrote: "Why shouldn't they? I mean, three weeks is just three weeks of staying at home, instead of killing others. ."

who pays their bills? because the US health system doesn't seem set up for that.

Emma Sea wrote: "People would literally lose their jobs, livelihoods, and houses. Who will compensate them for their losses? ..."

The state of course. What for do we all pay taxes, if not that?

I mean you have to admit if every second of your life is going to be dissected and publicly mapped, best to have a life like this woman. Dress shopping, strippers, Ohio!

Emma Sea wrote: "who pays their bills? because the US health system doesn't seem s..."

Whoever confines them to quarantaine has to do that. It's only logical that if they stay at home for the greater good of the community, said community has to make good their losses in exchange for compliance.

Steelwhisper wrote: "Whoever confines them to quarantaine has to do that. It's only logical that if they stay at home for the greater good of the community, said community has to make good their losses in exchange for compliance. "

I completely agree that this should happen. And completely doubt that it would.

Well, than this is one further point in which the current response to Ebola is failing. You can't expect people to quarantine themselves when it costs them their livelihood.

Part of the reason the CDC has been conservative about quarantaine here is that ebola (while scary and deadly) is actually really hard to catch.

To put things in perspective the current outbreak numbers in West Africa are 8,000 cases and about 4,000 fatalities which is certainly a lot but it is also cumulative cases over three different countries and a total population of about 21 million (6 million Sierra Leone, 11 million guinea, Liberia 4 million) many of whom live without the benefit of what we would consider basic sanitation and without access to quality medical care. (I know this from experience, having lived in Ghana a few years ago, one of the more well developed nations in the area)

Ebola is not airborne and a couple of cases have been treated in the United States without requiring quarantine. As I understand it the main reason why these nurses were infected is that the hospital was not properly trained in procedure concerning the disease. Yeah they screwed up, but locking down entire towns isn't really the solution ... they could do to just keep people from traveling for about a month. I mean Jesus christ do Texas hospital workers get around

the best takeaway from this: Isa lived in Ghana!

Ooooooh yeah, one of more surreal periods of my life. There's a sports bar/Mexican restaurant called "Cheers!" in Accra where all the expats hang out.

And if you want an interesting tidbit to further set your mind at ease regarding the imminent ebola zombie apocalypse:

Thomas Duncan first became contagious on September 26th, at which point he went to the hospital and the geniuses at Texas Presbyterian sent him home with antibiotics. He came back three days later, three days in which he was infected, contagious and out and about in Dallas. It's now 19 days later, the incubation period (as already mentioned above) is 21 days tops. So far the only people who have been infected are people who were exposed during most contagious period towards the end of his life.

I think the male strippers are safe.

Skyla Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books wrote: "Of course America has different laws for different states and then hospitals are laws onto themselves so everything gets fucked up."

Pretty much sum up the whole situation about ebola in America. Couldn't say it better myself.

THEIR PASSION IS SAFE TO IGNITE.

Emma Sea wrote: "the best takeaway from this: Isa lived in Ghana!"

Isa, would it be too intrusive if I ask how and why Ghana? Was it for a really adventurous vacation or some nonprofit thing?

Isa wrote: "Thomas Duncan first became contagious on September 26th, at which point he we..."

Well, he achieved the "goal" of the Ebola vector: he infected two others. That's the going rate, and Duncan was 100% successful in that.

I'm not so particularly convinced that western hygiene is that much superior. MRSA is also a smear infection, albeit not nearly as deadly as Ebola. UK hospitals swarm with it, and I hear it's not that much better on the continent or in the USA. Only the Netherlands have a protocol in place that works.

Drop a few hundred cases of Ebola into our systems, which wouldn't be much, and it's just a case of doing the math.

Ayanna wrote: "THEIR PASSION IS SAFE TO IGNITE."

:D

I'm astonished anyway that there's no one who took up that storyline.

Work :) I was living in the Czech Republic at the time working for the Czech government, Radio Free Europe and a bunch of little refugee associations that paid me in cake (no seriously). In the summer everyone basically moves to their country houses and abandons the cities to tourists. Not having a country house I was not looking forward to an unpaid, unwanted, mandatory vacation so I decided to spend the summer working in Africa. I figured that the experience would help my career later on (since I now work for the UN I guess it did ^_^). I didn't really have a country/region preference when I started looking for a place to go. I knew I didn't want to be in South Africa, but other than that I was basically looking for work with a respectable organization where I would be given something useful to do with minimum risk of getting caught up in someone's civil war. Ghana fit the bill.

It was an interesting experience. I'm not sure if I'll ever do it again, I found it very psychologically stressful. I mean living without running water or electricity was easy. What I didn't realize is how isolating being a white person in a minor West African city is. I mean, whole groups of people would just follow me around O.o And it was the first time where the majority of my fellow travelers were not motivated by saving the world or experiencing new cultures but by shallow, superficial and occasionally racist ideas. The group I shared a house with the first month were all ivy league prepsters who constantly bragged about how good what they were doing in Africa was going to look on their applications to business school (*puke*) talk about culture clash.

Still glad I did it if for no other reason than I have a fun story about the Ghanaian ambassador to the Czech Republic coming down in her bathrobe to tell me to get lost :D

Steelwhisper wrote: "I'm not so particularly convinced that western hygiene is that much superior. MRSA is also a smear infection, albeit not nearly as deadly as Ebola. UK hospitals swarm with it, and I hear it's not that much better on the continent or in the USA. Only the Netherlands have a protocol in place that works."

Well as I understand it MRSA can survive outside of the body for a long time (as long as six months!?!), ebola only a few hours. I only brought up hygiene because even in the best possible conditions for the spread of infection (which West Africa provides) the outbreak is serious but hardly uncontrollable. Nigeria has been able to stop ebola in its tracks (largely by accident) and Nigeria has never been known for its organized and effective government. I don't always have the greatest confidence in my government, but I do think the CDC can handle this using their current procedures.

Steelwhisper wrote: ":D

I'm astonished anyway that there's no one who took up that storyline."

SOMEONE GO DO IT THAT ISN'T ME I CAN'T WRITE STUFF THAT ISN'T ATMOSPHERE-DRIVEN WITHOUT MAKING IT STUPID. THEIR NAMES ARE AXL GOODE AND TAYLOR COLE GO GO GO

With normal hygiene (as in cleaning surfaces every now and then) only hours, just as Ebola. If you keep washing things with the same sponge and keep it in a warm area longer than that, but so can Ebola.

As to the CDC in comparison to Nigeria, they allowed the nurses to air travel within the 21-day period and nillywilly around the country at that. Nigeria firmly clamped down on the initial set of potentially infected and stocked that up to a very high number of possibles in one fell swoop. I haven't seen any like response in either the USA or Europe so far. Instead I get the impression that quite a few people were too cocky by a mile.

Whichever it is in the long run, we'll see. A nightmare is the thought of Ebola hitting population centres in Asia or India.

Ayanna wrote: "SOMEONE GO DO IT THAT ISN'T ME I CAN'T WRITE STUFF THAT ISN'T ATMOSPHERE-DRIVEN WITHOUT MAKING IT ST..."

I propose an open google doc for co-operative composition

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H...

Isa wrote: "whole groups of people would just follow me around"

Any theories as to why?


Isa wrote: The group I shared a house with the first month were all ivy league prepsters who constantly bragged about how good what they were doing in Africa was going to look on their applications to business school (*puke*) talk about culture clash."

LOL. But I think that's just college students in general. I can attest.

Yo Emma, it's set to view-only

eMMA COME BACK NO ONE ELSE CAN EDIT ANYTHING YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT SO ANYONE WITH THE LINK CAN EDIT AND NOT JUST SIT AND STARE

sorry, Ayanna

wait, I will fix

try now please

SOMEONE ELSE COME JOIN US I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ROMANCE FICLET

Emma Sea wrote: "The incubation period is 21 days. You can't ask that many people to halt their lives for 21 days..."

Apologies for interrupting the most epic collaborative pulled-from-the-headlines m/m effort...

but I wonder about this 21 day incubation period. The two heath care workers in Texas seemed to get sick much faster than that, assuming they were exposed to Thomas Eric Duncan after he was admitted to the hospital Sept 28. And, as far as we know, Duncan's host family (before he was admitted to the hospital) is ok. With hindsight, I could see how it would have been a good idea for the 2nd nurse not to travel. That being said, she called the CDC and they said, sure go ahead and get on the plane. So if anyone should be blamed if any travelers become infected, it's squarely on the CDC.

Steelwhisper wrote: " MRSA is also a smear infection, albeit not nearly as deadly as Ebola. UK hospitals swarm with it, and I hear it's not that much better on the continent or in the USA..."

MRSA is a terrible problem here in US hospitals. (I had a friend get it from the gym as well). Sounds like we need to learn a lesson from the Dutch on this.

all right, I'm into the heavy liquor now, writing Ebola porn with Ayannya. And that's just about my favourite way to spend a Saturday night.

also, incubation is typically 2-21 days, but 5% of cases develop in longer than 21 days.

Steelwhisper wrote: "As to the CDC in comparison to Nigeria, they allowed the nurses to air travel within the 21-day period and nillywilly around the country at that."

Agreed. This is completely ridiculous and never should have happened.

"Nigeria firmly clamped down on the initial set of potentially infected and stocked that up to a very high number of possibles in one fell swoop. I haven't seen any like response in either the USA or Europe so far. Instead I get the impression that quite a few people were too cocky by a mile."

Yeah... not really. The Nigeria situation is a particularly interesting comparison because it is so close to our ebola case-- sick Liberian man flies into the country. Duncan infected two hospital workers, in Nigeria eleven hospital workers were infected by that one patient... and he probably would have infected more had there not been a doctor's strike going on at the same time. They also did not quarantine all the possible people that could have been infected. Health officials tracked down the contact points and asked those people to check in twice a day ... I think they might also have isolated the hospital staff as an additional precaution, which was a good idea considering how many people had contracted the virus in that setting, but the people who had been on the plane with him just before he collapsed were allowed to leave. And as far as I know none of them contracted the disease.

So I don't really see why Nigeria's response was so much better than the CDC's ... even given the stupidity of letting nurses and staff exposed to the virus fly all around willy nilly two is still less than eleven.

Quarantines and closing borders seem like a good idea in principal, but they can actually increase infection rates rather than decrease them. They increase psychological pressure, people lie about their symptoms or try to escape (which is what happened with Nancy Snyderman) and now not only are more people exposed but it's harder to track and document those exposures.

(PS- oh how I have missed these good old-fashioned internet debates! So many interesting Googles)

KatieMc wrote: "but I wonder about this 21 day incubation period. The two heath care workers in Texas seemed to get sick much faster than that, assuming they were exposed to Thomas Eric Duncan after he was admitted to the hospital Sept 28."

21 days is the upper limit. If you go 21 days after exposure without a fever you're in the clear as far as the CDC is concerned.

Isa wrote: "21 days is the upper limit. If you go 21 days after exposure without a fever you're in the clear as far as the CDC is concerned. "

*cough* this

Experiment BL626 wrote: "Isa wrote: "whole groups of people would just follow me around"

Any theories as to why?"

Oh I know exactly why. Some of them had never seen a white person before. It was mostly just curiosity, they wanted to see where I was going and what I was doing. So it was innocent except EVERY DAY whenever I left the house, it could be quite stressful.

What was worse was the little babies who would see me and just starting SCREAMING then run to their mothers who would laugh at them.

Emma Sea wrote: "Isa wrote: "21 days is the upper limit. If you go 21 days after exposure without a fever you're in the clear as far as the CDC is concerned. "

*cough* this"

Well there goes the neighborhood XD XD XD

Incidentally I really want to watch Outbreak now... wonder if it's still on HBOgo....

hey, you want real chills, read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus - a non-fiction thriller

Emma Sea wrote: "hey, you want real chills, read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus - a non-fiction thriller"

Oh I have! Ages ago when I was apparently going through this infectious disease reading spree. Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS is still one of my favorite books (although it is constantly misrepresented to support things it does not argue)

yay for global death plague books

i missed you Isa. I am glad you're back. I hope you're back.

Emma Sea wrote: "i missed you Isa. I am glad you're back. I hope you're back."

I'm mostly back :D I missed you guys too!