http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/cdc_dallas_ebola.phpLearn something new every day.
Today in multiple stories, our only and always comforting local daily, The Dallas Morning News, reiterates the official public line of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: that physical contact with a person suffering symptoms of Ebola disease is the only mechanism of transmission by which the Ebola virus can infect a human being.
That's not untrue. But it falls short of the full truth.
A more careful look at the CDC's own pronouncements and at recent research in respected journals shows that "viable" (living) Ebola virus can survive for days on surfaces outside the body. And it shows that little is known about the ability of "environmental" (outside the body) Ebola virus to infect.
The Canadian bulletin is based in part on research published in 2010 in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, which found that Zaire Ebola virus, "can survive for long periods in different liquid media and can also be recovered from plastic and glass surfaces at low temperatures for over 3 weeks."
In Africa, there is little chance of the "cold" bit.
Another CDC bulletin, "Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus," says, "Ebola on dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours."
It's notable that the CDC's own protocols -- aggressive decontamination or incineration of materials that have come in contact with an infectious person -- seem to assume that a viable virus on fomites is a risk.
Hospitals are one thing. What about homes? A 2007 article in The Journals of Infectious Diseases concluded that disinfection protocols in dedicated hospital isolation wards probably kill off any virus that may have escaped to a surface, but the same article also said, "The risk from environmental contamination and fomites might vary in the household or other settings where decontamination would be less frequent and thorough, especially if linens or other household materials were to become visibly soiled by blood."
Ebola: Hothouse plant that dies off outside a greenhouse (human host)? Or more like kudzu?
Skinner: Well, I was wrong; the lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
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And this:
Dallas ISD Puts Parents on High Alert for Ebola Symptoms as CDC Monitors Five Studentshttp://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/dallas_isd_ebola.phpEarly this morning, Dallas ISD received word from the Center for Disease Control that five district students have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The students attend Emmett Conrad High School, Sam Tasby Middle School, Dan Rogers Elementary, and Hotchkiss Elementary. Jack Lowe Elementary, which is located close to Tasby and Conrad High, is also being closely monitored.
The five students have been identified as within the patient's immediate family circle. They are being kept at home for the 21-day incubation cycle of the virus, but are not being quarantined. While CDC and local health officials are in close interaction with the families, they will be allowed to leave their homes until or if they exhibit symptoms.
That puts Mr Vibrant Ebola's residence in what is locally known as "The DMZ," a neighborhood chock full of third world immigrants near the local light rail station (W), the area's big indoor mall (Northpark, farther W), and a shopping complex with Sams, Walmart, JC Penny, and others(S). Across the highway (W) from the DMZ is some high-dollar neighborhoods. Mr Vibrant Ebola was taken to the nearest emergency room (N) on the north border of the DMZ.
The DMZ is referred to as "Vickery Meadow" in the article.
The schools are located in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood, an ethnically diverse area with a high immigrant population, including many immigrants and refugees from Africa. "We're going to reassure people face-to-face and in close proximity that they're okay. That's one of the best ways that you are going to be okay," Judge Clay Jenkins said. "People are from many different countries and speak 33 different languages, and many people are going to be very afraid."
"And, uh, we want to get eyes on as many folk as possible to see if they are symptomatic."
Map of the area:
http://goo.gl/maps/trmFtOh, and Presby Dallas is not the first place one thinks of in DFW when one thinks, "OMG, I think I am dying from tropical disease." They just got lucky to be so close, I guess.