For the first time in two decades, I got the holidays off for personal vacation. (Seniority, or the gods of random fortune, thank you).
Consequently, by the time this goes up, I'm sitting on a beach much like this one.
Just because.
Happy Holidays, &c.
Back after New Year's.
Oh no, is that the Ivory Coast?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
ReplyDeletenick
Watch out for chickengunya.
ReplyDeleteHave a Merry White [sand] Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYou're in the Philippines, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteAmazed at how cheap those Liberian Resorts are? And they are not even crowded this year!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, and happy travels, Aesop.
ReplyDeleteIf you like your ebola you can keep your ebola.
ReplyDeleteMerry christmas
CDC Clowncarcopia of fail fodder for your return: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-reports-potential-ebola-exposure-in-atlanta-lab/2014/12/24/f1a9f26c-8b8e-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b_story.html
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the time away from the grind, I know I am!
"For the first time in two decades, I got the holidays off for personal vacation"
ReplyDeleteWhat job is it, and why do you put up with that sort of treatment?
I could see going along with it one out of every 2 years, if the job was something that really required people being active during holidays; or every year if it was a holiday-focused job with extra time off through the rest of the year.
Or, that you really like working through the holidays.
Failing any of those, the correct answer is "Screw you, I'm just not going to be here whether you like it or not"
ER nurse in the LA area, if I'm remembering all the hints.
ReplyDeletenick
You go away for a while and this happens:
ReplyDelete"An Ebola corpse was arrested in Liberia this week. Relatives dressed up the corpse and sat her between two relatives as they traveled to Margibi.
All Africa reported:"
http://allafrica.com/stories/201412292655.html
"Two thousand persons have been quarantined in Lofe Town, Margibi County, after a corpse transported for burial was confirmed by the County Health Authorities of being Ebola infected."
Sweet jibbering jebus.
nick
Rollory: re: vacations. Hospitals typically do not allow staff to schedule vacations over listed holidays because, coverage. Holidays and staff are split into two groups; one year A staff works the first list and B staff works the second. The next year they switch. If it is not your holiday, you are still required to either work the day before, or the day after. Thus, NO ONE gets away during any holiday. You can't go to family reunions or visit far away relatives over Christmas. You're essentially chained to the hospital 365 days a year. Boat rockers who complain about the arrangements are quickly disposed of for 'not being team players.'
ReplyDeleteAesop: while you were sunbathing:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890198/Dozens-Ebola-cases-erupt-Liberia-s-border-Sierra-Leone-locals-sticking-tradition-washing-bodies-infection-rate-passes-20-000.html
How many by Christmas, you said?
Right on schedule with the pause, and restart.
ReplyDeleteNote the "more than" 20,000 weasel words, followed by the very precise death count, which they will later admit is probably under-counted by 2-3 times. But the precision implies control to the reader.
nick
And no news about the case being treated at NIH in Maryland.
ReplyDeleteWonder how that's going?
nick
Bugger. Looks like one got thru in scotland
ReplyDelete"A health worker who returned from Sierra Leone last night is being treated for Ebola in Glasgow.
The patient flew back via Casablanca and London Heathrow before arriving at Glasgow Airport at around 11.30pm on a British Airways flight.
The worker, believed to be a women, is being treated at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital, the Scottish Government confirmed. "
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890355/Health-worker-treated-Ebola-Glasgow-returning-Sierra-Leone.html#ixzz3NJdcsD7s
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! After three weeks, I finally get to add a new color!
ReplyDeleteEbola is obligatory in Islam:
ReplyDelete"Having the deceased’s body washed is obligatory in Islam. It is preferable for relatives to wash the bodies. A man’s body should be washed by men and a woman’s body by women. The washing can take place in a mosque, where many have sections devoted to these washings, or at the home of the washer or the relative’s of the deceased..."
Reported "as of Dec. 29th 2014" however the reports are as of Dec. 24th for Guinea and Liberia and Dec. 25th for Sierra Leone.
ReplyDeleteCases 20,081 [up 433 cases over the Dec. 25th report] - deaths 7842 [up 197 from the Dec 25th report].
https://www.facebook.com/umaru.fofana.5/posts/10152516381281921
ReplyDeleteJUST IN: A #SierraLeone presidential guard identified only as Kabbah fired a taser at the head of the #Ebola Situation Room, OB Sesay and another official a short while ago at Lumley. Eyewitnesses say a man had dropped dead around the Lumley roundabout and an apparently mad woman touched the body. It was night and the Ebola burial teams were off for the day. The presidential guard called on police officers to put on gloves and pick up the body. Sesay advised against that saying it would endanger the officers and was busy arranging for an ambulance when Kabbah fired the tasers at him and his colleague who were busy coordinating for an ambulance, allegedly accusing them of disobeying his orders, causing pandemonium.
You'll need to change the map color as the infected has been moved to London.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890355/Health-worker-treated-Ebola-Glasgow-returning-Sierra-Leone.html
nick
New possible case in Scotland of hiker recently returned from W.Africa and staying in a hostel! Meanwhile NHS telling returning medics to go home on public transportation, but after that self monitor and avoid the public.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890355/Health-worker-treated-Ebola-Glasgow-returning-Sierra-Leone.html
They really are trying to spread this, aren't they?
@HBGirl, it sure seems like it sometimes.
ReplyDeleteDid you get the sense of entitlement and self-importance from the Dr friend? His big complaint is that the health dept sent them home on the bus, rather than in taxis like previous groups of potential carriers. He says they noted that the policy didn't make sense at the time, AND YET none of these self important wankers called for their own taxi!
Who expects the government to buy them rides home from the airport? And what kind of a health worker acknowledges that there is a risk and then DOES IT ANYWAY?
These self important wankers need to stay home in the first place or take this sh!t seriously and self quarantine.
Oh, and did you notice the "it's really hard to catch, and the public is not at risk" BS followed by the speculation that this nurse did NOTHING MORE than hug some people in church? She supposedly was never knowingly in contact with an Ebola patient, and yet STILL got it. So, do I believe a .gov flack, or my lying eyes?
I'm going with, it IS catchable from casual contact and making my plans accordingly.
nick
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reddit.com/r/ebola/comments/2qvh23/sierra_leone_hcws_all_the_volunteers_were_kissing/
"...Colleagues who volunteered with her believe she may have contracted the deadly disease while she attended a church service on Christmas morning without her hazard suit on.
She is in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London after being flown from Glasgow this morning surrounded by a large medical team in protective clothing.
Dr. Martin Deahl, from Shropshire, England, sat next to her on their flight back to Britain and said today he "would bet anything that she caught Ebola in the community", most likely on Christmas Day.
Ms Cafferkey fell ill hours after she flew back to Scotland from Africa via Heathrow, and the authorities have traced 63 of the 70 people who flew with her from London to Glasgow on Sunday.
Questions are already being asked about the Government's Ebola screening programme because the woman was vetted twice - in Sierra Leone and at Heathrow - without any symptoms being detected.
Dr Deahl said that medical staff in Sierra Leone always wore hazard suits at work but some did not when they went out into the wider community.
A number of the 30 NHS staff out in Sierra Leone, including himself, worshipped at a local church on Christmas Day.
He also said that at Freetown airport in Sierra Leone all the volunteers were "kissing and hugging" as they left the country, including Ms Cafferkey...."
Guess they're gonna wish they hadn't done that.....
ReplyDeletenick
Two more symptomatic health workers and the nurse's partner now being tested. The good doctor is upset that the airport didn't have better facilities to receive their group, but honestly, did they bother to call ahead? Who just shows up with a couple dozen people, and 'oh, by the way, we might've been exposed...' You'd think, as health care workers, at least one of the group would've had some common sense. They need to just stop these do-gooding idiots until they can get their $$$$ together and have a plan for getting back and not bringing the plague with them.
ReplyDeleteMy own experience with the heavy-assist west African two weeks ago makes me shudder. Nobody warned me, no isolation precautions, and who knew if the family was lying? It didn't help that two days later I was down with a killer headache and muscle aches. Before the influenza and strep diagnosis, I was freaking out at the prospect of the CDC showing up and burning everything we own. (Yes, I got the required flu shot, and no, it didn't work.) Two weeks spent coughing up a lung haven't been fun. And I had to work through it since staffing is critically low. Influenza is raging here; everyone has it, we've run out of testing materials and the patients refuse masks. If this hits here, as it eventually will, do I want to be one of the ones sacrificed in the first wave of CDC stupidity? No.
Anon @ 10:07 AM, Scotland is yellow on the Wikipedia map because that's where the isolated case was discovered. England is blue (was already) for medically-evacuated cases.
ReplyDeleteIf more pop up from her flight, or the disease "escape" the London hospital (as it did in Dallas), then England would turn yellow.
Based solely on some anecdotal reporting from across the nation,it appears they've missed at their guess for the dominant strain of Influenza this year, meaning the flu shots that everyone got are nearly irrelevant. I understand anecdote(s) =/= data, but with the numbers of people I know personally who got their flu shot and still came down with it, I'd put a c-note on it. Compound flu epidemic with these embers wafting out of West Africa, and all indications look like an 'interesting' new year.
ReplyDeleteCome back you bastard. This is a vacation not retirement. We need updates.
ReplyDeleteSo ISIS has ebola???
ReplyDeleteFrom Zerohedge.com
Weaponized Ebola? ISIS Militants Said To Contract Deadly Virus
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/01/2015 - 15:15
Forget targeted US airstrikes, ISIS faces a new existential threat. Citing an unnamed source in a Mosul hospital, Iraq's official pro-government newspaper, al Sabaah, said Ebola arrived in Mosul from "terrorists" who came "from several countries" and Africa. Mashable further confirms, three outlets reported that Ebola showed up at a hospital in Mosul. For now, it's unclear if any disease experts or doctors in Mosul are even able to test for the Ebola virus; but it would mark the first time the virus had been detected in an area controlled by ISIS, a group that doesn't embrace science and modern medicine."
With ready access to infectious material, some of the more terrifying worst case scenarios become a lot more possible.......
nick
Update on the UK case, and a possible second:
ReplyDelete"BREAKING NEWS: British nurse battling Ebola 'critical': London hospital treating health worker says her condition has deteriorated over past two days - and now a SECOND suspected patient is in hospital
Pauline Cafferkey, 39, is now in a critical condition, doctors revealed
The nurse contracted the virus in Sierra Leone before returning to UK
Royal Free London Hospital doctors said her condition had 'deteriorated'
Drug that was used in the recovery of other Western patients has run out
Mrs Cafferkey had agreed to undergo experimental treatment for virus
Second suspected case of Ebola reported in Swindon this afternoon
A patient is believed to be undergoing tests at General Western Hospital "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2895376/British-nurse-battling-Ebola-London-hospital-critical-condition.html
"South Western Ambulance Service's hazardous area response is understood to have responded to a patient who had recently returned to the area from west Africa.
The unidentified person reported feeling unwell and is believed to be showing symptoms of the virus.
They were taken to Great Western Hospital where tests are ongoing, it was claimed. "
AND more happy gas from the pols- ebola beat by end of 2015! SOOOOO glad they're on it, top. men.
nick
G-Man: Influenza vaccine problem in effectiveness is due to the H2N3 strain, which seems to be the dominant strain in circulation. Last experience with this: "During the 2007-2008 flu season, the predominant H3N2 virus was a drift variant yet the vaccine had an overall efficacy of 37 percent and 42 percent against H3N2 viruses." So the vaccine probably isn't totally ineffective against it, just not as good as hoped when formulated. See http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/no-the-cdc-did-not-just-admit-that-this-years-flu-vaccine-doesnt-work/ .
ReplyDeleteI realize that the vaccine isn't totally ineffective, but when they 'miss'like this it makes the national odds much worse. With a virus as contagious as the flu, that means a LOT more people get sick. While that isn't such a devastating thing as it regards influenza specifically, but does create a significant level of 'noise' which will cover any Ebola 'signal' when that does appear...
DeleteAnother healthcare worker.
ReplyDelete"A South Korean medic exposed to Ebola while working in West Africa has been flown to Germany for treatment because the patient's anonymity would be better protected there, authorities in Berlin said Saturday.
Doctors at Berlin's renowned Charite hospital said the medic, who had worked for an aid group treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, arrived in Berlin Saturday, five days after suffering an injury with a hypodermic needle.
"The person wasn't flown to South Korea because the Korean government asked Europe step in," said Dr. Frank Bergmann, who oversees the treatment of highly infectious patients at Charite hospital. "First of all it's good from a transportation point of view to come here and secondly it's better for the person's anonymity to be treated here in Europe."
He said the South Korean government and the medic had requested that as few details as possible be released, declining to give the person's profession, age, gender or employer."
Latest West Africa discouraging report and growth graph from CDC as of 12/31/14: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/cumulative-cases-graphs.html .
ReplyDeleteCumulative case count by CDC as of 1/2/15: 20,831 and deaths: 7,989. (Notable uptick in Liberia cases.)
One still has to bear in mind the under-reporting factor and multiply things by at least 2.5.
New possible case (needle stick) of a Korean healthcare worker flown to Germany for treatment and in isolation there reported today, but no news of test results yet. Iraqi news of possible infections in terrorists joining ISIS and seeking treatment in Mosul is, of course, unreliable.
ZMapp still unavailable. Ebola news still being suppressed here courtesy of the Obama Administration and co-conspirators in the MSM.
Aesop - I came back to your site again and again, knowing your readers would continue to investigate, source and update the information while you were gone. They did not disappoint.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all!
I'm not seeing any evidence that this disease is systematically escaping from its West African locale.
ReplyDeleteIf the ISIS claim turns out true then of course that blows everything wide open. However I have seen no specific evidence supporting this. I see the occasional news story about this or that random individual ending up in a Western hospital where they get treated and sometimes die - seems to be that happens when it's not caught early. No external clusters of infection though.
Even the Guinea / Liberia numbers have levelled off - they were looking exponential back in September or so, no longer and not for some time. Even with a 2.5 underreporting fudge factor, this doesn't look so terrifying anymore.
Is there evidence to the contrary somewhere which I have not seen?
(BTW: different captcha system needed. I went through about 50 before I finally got one right.)
Possible ebola patient arriving in Nebraska today.
ReplyDeletehttp://wgntv.com/2015/01/04/possible-ebola-patient-arriving-in-nebraska-today/
Rollory:
ReplyDelete"Even the Guinea / Liberia numbers have levelled off - they were looking exponential back in September or so, no longer and not for some time. Even with a 2.5 underreporting fudge factor, this doesn't look so terrifying anymore.
"Is there evidence to the contrary somewhere which I have not seen?"
I do not see this in the graphs, except for Liberia -- and the numbers for Liberia may not be reliable given the spike last week.
(Captcha can be a pain, I agree.)
rollory,
ReplyDeleteThe evidence from first hand sources suggests that it isn't dying down at all. The decreases in numbers are mainly decreases in people SHOWING UP at the EVD center to die alone. The reports of ill people staying home and illegal burials are still there and increasing.
You are correct that it is not getting out much, that we know of. The problem is that it wouldn't take more than a few in India or China to be a real problem. China has many people in the affected areas due to oil and gas exploitation. So do the South American oil producers. Ebola in a big city in Brazil or Venezuela would be a nightmare.
The CDC is currently monitoring about 1400 people in the US. That number has been pretty steady, so it seems to be the sort of 'rolling average' of people traveling here, from there. Any one or more of those people could be the next new outbreak. The longer this goes on, the less seriously people take the quarantines. There is evidence of that in africa that is easy to see.
It's hard to abandon everything you've got, so the people with the resources to LEAVE africa are probably not yet willing to do so. There are widespread reports of complacency and denial throughout africa. I think there will be a tipping point, where the people who can leave, will. That is when we'll see outbreaks in the 2nd and 1st world countries as some will undoubtedly wait too long...
nick
WRT the captcha, the system seems to change occasionally from simple numbers to mixed distorted words. No rhyme or reason that I can see. I'm logged into my google account (by having my calender open in another tab) so I just see a box to check that I'm not a robot. I POST using the anonymous option (thank you to our host for allowing that.)
As to why it is not getting out, this Lancet article, published yesterday, is of interest:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2961828-6.pdf .
Quote re reduction in air travel from these countries and projection re infected travelers:
"Findings. Based on epidemic conditions and international flight restrictions to and from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as of Sept 1, 2014 (reductions in passenger seats by 51% for Liberia, 66% for Guinea, and 85% for Sierra Leone), our model projects 2·8 travellers infected with Ebola virus departing the above three countries via commercial flights, on average, every month."
Study concludes that departure site examination for symptoms would be helpful, if that's news.
Re: captcha
ReplyDeleteWhat I get now and for the past week or so is a box to check that is labeled "I'm not a robot." Used to get pictures house numbers some of which were hard to make out.
@Percy,
ReplyDeleteso banning incoming flights DOES have an impact on potential spread, HMMMMMMMMMM.....
Wonder why something so effective at protecting citizens isn't being used by USA..... HHHMMMMM....
nick
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNotes on Ebola in the UK and non-quarantine of returning healthcare workers:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11324626/Ebola-in-Britain-No-quarantine-for-health-workers.html .
Some disagreement about this over there:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/30/doctor-exposed-ebola-patient-utterly-illogical-quarantine-system .
Yo, Aesop; it's a full week after you said you'd be "back after New Years"...
ReplyDelete...you didn't name a nap in a tide-pool and get eaten by crabs, did you?
I think we've lost him.
ReplyDeleteThe thread's gone pretty thin as well; no new information on scottish nurse and all the others tested neg. On the bright side, they're expecting a whole new batch of returning aid workers in about a week and a half.
Wouldn't mind tangential discussions regarding preparedness/responses to other current events.
Hillbillygirl: Could be that we've lost him. Sort of romantic, actually, thinking of Aesop drifting away from it all and disappearing into some island paradise and just giving it all up. His biting wit, inimitable style, and, most of all, his knowledge will be missed, if so.
ReplyDeleteA consideration may be that Ebola is not breaking here (or in Europe or anywhere but West Africa) in the frightening way he and others once projected. You know, where it was "get your survival gear together" and "pack up and leave as soon as you can" for goodness knows where. At least not yet, and hopefully never.
Ebola, as per past experience, may just burn itself out. Total Ebola deaths of over 20-40,000? Well, don't we lose that many here to influenza on an annual basis? Ebola is particularly hideous and news about it and preparation for it here wasn't handled well by the CDC, and, in any event, was suppressed to prevent panic. But is it still such a big, scary deal -- as it was supposed to be? If not, some of what drove the creation of this wonderful site has disappeared, too.
In theory, we have TWO people currently in ebola isolation facilities here in the US.
ReplyDeleteOne was admitted WITH ebola and should be dead or recovering by now, but we don't know (in Maryland.)
The other was admitted but (so far) hadn't tested positive. 'Course if that was the case, why admit to isolation?
We know nothing about those two, or their caregivers. Minimum, it takes 2 of our 4 facilities offline, and roughly 200 skilled healthworkers offline for the next month.
In Africa we have this: http://allafrica.com/stories/201501080779.html
"Today is the eighth day of the year 2015 and we had hoped that by now, we would have truly had something tangible to celebrate--an Ebola-free Liberia. Alas! Here we are, well into the second week of the New Year, facing 49 new Ebola cases, 27 of them confirmed, 13 suspected and nine probable. This is not newspaper speculation. This alarming and distressing report came from the lips of non other than the Ministry of Health Assistant Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, head of the Incident Management System (IMS) established by government to fight the spread of the virus."
Still spreading, still essentially uncontrolled.
And in other news, at home we have a virulent flu epidemic that is killing otherwise healthy people, a 'polio like' infection spreading through the country, and MEASLES spread through contact in public.
"Kathleen Harriman, chief of vaccine preventable diseases for the state, said that "it's our speculation that there was an [infected] international visitor at one of the parks, and that person or persons was able to infect a lot of people.""
It wouldn't take much to start the fire........
nick
What's got me concerned about the measles at Disneyland is that the NHL: just recently had a mumps problem, if people remember:
ReplyDeletehttp://regressing.deadspin.com/why-the-nhl-lost-control-of-its-mumps-outbreak-1670727885/+kylenw
The measles vaccine comes packaged with the mumps booster, along with rubella. (MMR). If the current MMR vaccine is somehow less effective, for whatever reason, we could be in for a bad time. Measles is VERY contagious (R12-18), so keeping my fingers WELL crossed that the last few years rounds of booster shots worked. Though with even Sidney Crosby coming down with mumps even after a booster - that's just spooky. I suggest everyone keeps their fingers crossed on this one.
My theory is that Aesop read about the measles, is an NHL fan, said "Hell with that!", and stayed on the desert island ;)
Percy,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is kinda romantic, isn't it? Yes, I will miss all of those. I'm still kind of perplexed at the skills, depth of knowledge on everything from statistics to politics, and especially his analytical and reasoning skills. Combined with the writing talent, I've been wondering if friendAesop is RN/JD? Most of the nurses I work with couldn't pass 8th grade English if their lives depended on it, and statistics is definitely a no-go. So sad to have such talent drift away like this.
After moving away from the farm five years ago, I'd kind of fallen away from self-sufficiency. Used to grow all my own food, homeschooled my kids, etc. Moving to town has been a trial, but if nothing else, the ebola thing is real, and has renewed my old passions for rural skills. Made soap and candles again this weekend, bought garden seeds. (The only sunny patch is in the front yard, so I hope the homeowners' assn doesn't have a fit over vegetables.) Neighbor came over and helped me split a couple cords of firewood when the ash trees all died. Have renewed sense of purpose, but will miss Aesop's voice.
Percy, the flu doesn't have a CRF of 76%.
ReplyDeleteI think he's spending all his money on LBFMs, and hasn't come up for air yet. (Those Mayan girls down the coast along the Yucatan are hella cute. Of course their boyfriends carry machetes, so that may be another possibility....)
ReplyDeleteAre you favored-of-Fed? or not.
ReplyDeleteMike18xx: No, it doesn't. But it's way harder to contract Ebola. The scary part of that to me has always been a healthcare worker accidentally contracting it, showing no symptoms, and walking around like a normal person while able to further transmit it. But that does not seem to be happening.
ReplyDeletePercy, Mike,
ReplyDeleteNo one had any needle sticks or otherwise gross exposure reported; I'm still betting on airborne. Otherwise the CDC wouldn't have us in the positive pressure suits, would they. They just don't want to start a panic.
Also, continue to be intrigued by the fact that Duncan's family, who were living with all his liquid wastes, and who were walled up with it for a week afterward, didn't contract ebola, yet two people who were taking extreme precautions, did. Population immunity or something similar, like the european introduction of smallpox to the native americans? Bad for them, but lethal for the natives.
geoff, what's favored of fed?
And, Aesop, how could you possibly need a vacation? I thought California WAS a vacation! At least that's what the ads would have us believe. It's minus 8 here today. Enjoy the beach.
California is rapidly becoming a classic third world country. Oppressive laws, huge population of underclass, small population of elites, crumbling infrastructure, etc.
ReplyDeleteParts of it are still extraordinarily productive, but those businesses that can leave, are leaving. The weather in parts is awesome, as is the scenery. But the rest--looking more and more like our neighbor to the south every day.
nick
"Favored of Fed" meaning the policies that the federal Government pursued imposed costs on various private entities. Some, the favored, got paid back for those expenses, others were ruined by the actions of the government and closed their doors.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say all should be paid but what happened is those with political clout got money and those without got crushed. It was Federal decisions which allowed the nurse to travel and go to the bridal shop which was destroyed by the Ebola association.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11304584/Ebola-wipes-out-every-mother-in-Liberian-village.html
ReplyDeleteNick: Thought you were talking about NYC there for a sec, not CA!
ReplyDelete@Percy, ha, that made me chuckle! No indication that people are leaving NYC though. NY STATE, for sure, esp gun businesses.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with NYers is that they have a sort of Stockholm syndrome relationship with NYC. And surprisingly, for all that it is a cosmopolitan city, a huge number of residents have NEVER been anywhere else. Given how much money and effort it takes to live there, and the compromises you have to make, I guess you HAVE to delude yourself that it is the best and only place to be on earth, or you would go mad.
(well, madder.....)
nick
Where are you? We miss you.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile,
ReplyDelete"Health officials are reporting seven more cases of measles in an outbreak tied to visits to Disney theme parks in California last month.
The new cases confirmed Monday by the California Department of Public Health brings the total to 26 people in four states.
Officials say 22 of the cases are in California and two are in Utah, with one apiece in Colorado and Washington."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2907791/Number-measles-cases-outbreak-linked-Disney-themes-parks-jumps-26-nationwide.html
nick
Place your bets?
ReplyDelete1) mea culpa
2) not wrong, just early. Ebola-induced TEOTWAWKI postponed until month/year
3) "Sorry, the blog you were looking for does not exist."
Aesop was keeping this blog well before (2008) the Ebola issue and wrote about a lot of good topics relating to healthcare. I have a hard time believing he'd close up shop because Ebola isn't making headlines. (And, frankly, it *is* making headlines and we still need a place where they are consolidated because I'm not seeing how it's going away.) He also was participating in other alternative news blogs. So, frankly, it concerns me that he disappeared. I don't care where he vacationed; surely he had Internet access on his phone. It's weird.
ReplyDeleteHe was listed as a contributor on this new site, perhaps that is occupying his time?
ReplyDeletehttps://griddownmed.wordpress.com/
Or maybe he's having some travel related trouble....
nick
Fort Hood officials have confirmed the dead man is a soldier who has just returned from deployment on West Africa.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/288431181.html
While I smile at the idea of Aesop sailing off to some tropical paradise, his absence does give me pause. Look at what happened to Nightjack.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he's picking up extra shifts after vacay, maybe got muzzled, maybe the pressure of being the only one reliably following the ebola crisis got to him - that's a lot of people expecting things. Hard to believe no internet access to post something though. Anything.
Yesterday's Daily Mail reported that the condition of the Scottish nurse appears to have stabilized, after getting worse last week.
Nick - That's a cool site, but not seeing Aesop listed as a contributor.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 9:35 a.m. - Agreed. For those who just came to this party for the Ebola, Aesop has been writing some really funny stuff for a while, stuff like, http://www.raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2013/03/repel-boarders.html
ReplyDeleteHave a look while we all wait for the man himself to return.
Roscoe
Nick, is Aesop Ivy Mike? The writing style and point of view is similar, and the new hogwarts site appears to have started up in mid december. Specialty: grid-down medicine. Too much coincidence? Awesome site, thanks for the headsup.
ReplyDelete@HBGirl, @anon 11:57
ReplyDeleteThe link I followed to the new site:
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/hogwarts-is-live/
said that DocGrouch and Aesop, among others were starting it up. I didn't scour the site, since it's just stubbed out, and there is more to come. I was figuring Aesop would be there somewhere.
I see that they have a new link up on the front page too.
I've only read a couple of the articles so far, but I'm impressed with the comment response, and the intended direction. It's a lot of work to blog well, and I hope they have the energy to keep it up :-)
nick
Bet you he's just enjoying some well-deserved time off, no more, no less. Seems he's a busy guy in the real world.
ReplyDeleteIf you miss him, go back and read his older posts on both blogs. Many entertaining tales of the USMC, the movie biz, hospital life, and life in general. Worth your time, and it will leave you wondering when the book is coming out. Homie can write, yo.
Nick:
ReplyDeleteTwo things.
As to NYC, I agree. Stockholm syndrome, indeed. Lots do persuade themselves that it is the best and only. As one raised there, fled, and never returned, I am to this day unsure whether they're right about that. May not be a delusion.
The Western Rifle Shooters site looks great. Have not yet found trade-mark Aesop material, except maybe the top line quote from de Jouvenel. Will keep looking. Thanks for posting it.
Ebola New from CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/guidance-ambulance-service-providers.html .
ReplyDeleteWorth reading for sick humor reasons. If this is what is to be done in the case of an ambulance used for a suspected Ebola case, could you tell me again what they are supposed to do with an aircraft and aircraft personnel who have been involved with a passenger suspected of being afflicted with the disease?
Latest CDC tally from WHO as of 1/11/15 (West Africa): 21,261 suspected cases, 8414 deaths.
WHO said yesterday: "Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone report that between 84% and 99% of registered contacts are monitored, though the number of contacts traced per EVD case remains lower than expected in many districts. In areas where transmission has been driven down to low levels, rigorous contact tracing will be essential to break chains of transmission. In the week to January 11, 15% of new confirmed cases in Guinea arose from known contacts (equivalent information is not yet available for Liberia and Sierra Leone)."
A couple of articles:
ReplyDelete"Sierra Leone: Ebola in Sierra Leone - News From the Frontline"
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501131378.html
Pull quote: "Some parts of the country, e.g. in the south and east, are seeing no new cases of Ebola; however, other areas, e.g. in the diamond mining areas around Kono, continue to see numbers rising.
In such areas it has proved so difficult to persuade people to abandon their culture and traditions of touching and washing dead bodies, the single most significant cause of spreading the disease. In one instance alone, one Ebola case led to a further 36 people being affected."
MSF press release:
Africa: Ebola Crisis Update - 13th January 2015
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501151220.html
Really good, complete summary of MSF activity in the region. Several times they note that lower than expected numbers is probably due to failure of outreach methods, ie-just 'cause they see lower numbers doesn't mean there is lower instance of infection. RTWT.
One good pull quote:
"Freetown/ Prince of Wales secondary school
The Ebola Treatment Center at Prince of Wales School has reached its full capacity of 100 beds, though the centre was only one-third full last week. The center includes 30 individual rooms for suspect cases to prevent cross-infection, as well as 70 treatment beds, including an intensive care ward with a Plexiglas corridor to enable more intensive monitoring. Delays between onset of symptoms and access to treatment remain the most significant factor related to mortality. Since the centre opened on December 10, there have been 178 admissions, 82 Ebola confirmed patients, 30 Ebola deaths and 32 survivors."
nick
Interesting story of an Ebola Dr from the US, when he thought he'd caught it....
ReplyDeleteANOTHER Dr who didn't follow the rules--
"The thought triggered immediate pangs of guilt - Ebola can only be spread when an infected person shows symptoms - and I figured, at the latest, my symptoms really started two days before. "
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908525/If-s-devil-disease-Steven-Seagal-s-former-doctor-relives-terrifying-moment-feared-d-caught-Ebola-glove-ripped-treating-convulsing-patient-Liberia.html
nick