MERS Virus conspiracy theories?

[Mick West]

@Joe is right. There is a precedent for selective screening. In the nineties I vacationed a lot in Europe. When I returned to the US one of the questions I was asked (on an entry card) was whether I'd been to the UK and if yes if if I had been on a farm. The issue then was Mad Cow Disease.

They still ask similar questions (6059b)


They also ask if you are a terrorist, crazy, Nazi, etc. (I-94W)

 

[deirdre]

I agree with @Joe too. I can understand wanting to come home to be sick but it was incredibly irresponsible of a healthcare worker. The least they could do is wear face masks and spray em down before getting on the plane! They probably will make it mandatory now though.

The authors of this study conclude that patients returning from the Middle East with respiratory symptoms or with known exposure to a confirmed case of MERS-CoV need to be isolated for at least 12 days, with PCR testing of lower respiratory tract sputum samples for MERS-CoV 2013 http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertg...bation-period-longer-than-previously-thought/

Content from External Source

 

[deirdre]

They also ask if you are a terrorist, crazy, Nazi, etc. (I-94W)

lol. like crazy people are gonna say "yes i am". well, I know one guy who would but still.

 

[Soulfly]

@Joe is right. There is a precedent for selective screening. In the nineties I vacationed a lot in Europe. When I returned to the US one of the questions I was asked (on an entry card) was whether I'd been to the UK and if yes if if I had been on a farm. The issue then was Mad Cow Disease.

If we are talking about just asking questions then that is something completely different than the type of screening I was thinking of.

I'm talking about actual medical screening. i.e. Take your shirt off, the Doctor will be with you shortly.

 

[WeedWhacker]

@Joe is right. There is a precedent for selective screening. In the nineties I vacationed a lot in Europe. When I returned to the US one of the questions I was asked (on an entry card) was whether I'd been to the UK and if yes if if I had been on a farm. The issue then was Mad Cow Disease.

I remember that.....the "Mad Cow Disease" scare, at the time. But, it was handled simply (IIRC) by a questionnaire that asked if you had visited a farm, while staying in the UK. If your answer was "No", then that was that.

Also, I recall some floor mats, for travelers transiting the airports....to wipe their shoes on.

EDIT....silly, really.....because IF you lied, and had packed filthy, cow-dung laden shoes in your checked baggage?? But as usual, these sorts of "checkpoints" are merely eye-wash....(i.e., public affairs theatre).

 

[Soulfly]

They still ask similar questions (6059b)


They also ask if you are a terrorist, crazy, Nazi, etc. (I-94W)

And they ask everyone the same thing. So if they did something more to check for infectious diseases they would do it with everyone no?

 

[deirdre]

And they ask everyone the same thing. So if they did something more to check for infectious diseases they would do it with everyone no?

theyre pretty good at tracking outbreaks it seems. all they would have to ask is "have you been to so&so place" etc. no?

 

[Soulfly]

theyre pretty good at tracking outbreaks it seems. all they would have to ask is "have you been to so&so place" etc. no?

And people often just say no.

 

[WeedWhacker]

And people often just say no.

It's a bit like at many Hotels....the "pool rules"....

"Do Not Use The Pool If You Have Had Diarrhea Within The Last 7 Days"

Just a general "health warning" that probably varies by jurisdiction, but....it really is unenforceable, isn't it?

 

[Soulfly]

It's a bit like at many Hotels....the "pool rules"....

"Do Not Use The Pool If You Have Had Diarrhea Within The Last 7 Days"

Just a general "health warning" that probably varies by jurisdiction, but....it really is unenforceable, isn't it?

I have a better rule. Don't swim in public pools!

 

[WeedWhacker]

I have a better rule. Don't swim in public pools!

Actually....having owned several pools of my own, and knowing how to maintain them....with proper pH and alkalinity balance, and regular "shock" treatments to maintain "healthy" water balance....I don't worry too much about large pools, even in public.

Hot tubs, on the other hand.....(Egg Drop Soup) I once heard, and ever since, laugh inside.....sorry, poor mental image....might have to be snipped...

 

[Mick West]

And they ask everyone the same thing. So if they did something more to check for infectious diseases they would do it with everyone no?

At US passport control now they ask your occupation (presumably terrorists will go "er...", and be shuffled off to a small room). So it would be relatively easy to screen out health care workers from a particular country at that point. But I doubt very much they would be swabbing them at that point. It's just not that big a threat. If it was, then there's very little they could do about it.

 

[Soulfly]

Actually....having owned several pools of my own, and knowing how to maintain them....with proper pH and alkalinity balance, and regular "shock" treatments to maintain "healthy" water balance....I don't worry too much about large pools, even in public.

Hot tubs, on the other hand.....(Egg Drop Soup) I once heard, and ever since, laugh inside.....sorry, poor mental image....might have to be snipped...

DOODIE!!!!


Sorry OT!

 

[Joe]

A U.S. citizen previously hospitalized in Indiana with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, has passed the potentially fatal virus to an Illinois man, federal health officials said Saturday.

Content from External Source

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ase-of-mers-in-nation-20140517,0,112558.story

 

[Joe]

The biggest risk that Middle East Respiratory Syndrome will become a global epidemic, ironically, may lie with globe-trotting healthcare workers.?http://news.yahoo.com/foreign-docto...-123154003.html;_ylt=AwrTWfwsxnhTaFIAcD_QtDMD http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-05-18-01-30-51

"Asymptomatic carriers of diseases can represent a major route for a pathogen to spread," said Dr Amesh Adalja of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"Just think of Typhoid Mary," he said, referring to the asymptomatic cook who spread typhoid fever to dozens of people in the early 20th century.

Content from External Source

http://news.yahoo.com/silently-amon...-184810011.html;_ylt=AwrSyCVQaHZTDloAU7vQtDMD

 

[Miles Bloomer]

This conspiracy theory makes no sense for a number of reasons.

1. There are multiple sources, including the CDC, and third-party sources confirming the infected and the deceased.

2. This presumption also makes little sense. There are much more economical methods of population culling than killing. Sterilisation is one of them, which would not evoke attention until it was literally everywhere. Why create a virus that boasts such high visibility?

MERS is a mutated form of coronavirus (CoV). This virus has been around as long as the common cold, and it can result in anything from a simple cold to pneumonia and SARS. It is not actually the ''common cold'' virus, (that is actually rhinovirus, which accounts for the majority of ''common cold'' cases) that the 'theorists want the public to believe, but some strains can cause common cold-like symptoms, as pertussis can also be mistaken for a common cold in the early stages of infection (which is why it is often so deadly in young children).

Further reading:

http://www.cdc.gov/CORONAVIRUS/MERS/INDEX.HTML
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/tmp-pmv/notices-avis/notices-avis-eng.php?id=108
http://chealth.canoe.ca/condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=360
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27695140

 

[Gundersen]

Does anybody know if the MERS would have the same mortality rate (3/5) in a country with a more advanced and developed healthcare system? Like US or European countries? This I ask because I have no idea of the state of healthcare in Saudi Arabia.

What I have heard in the Danish National Radio (I will try to find a source EDIT: source found) is that the Ebola has a very high mortality rate mainly due to the fact that the infected countries lack proper healthcare, combined with a lack of general knowledge about diseases in the population. Many if the infected are in fact scared of the medical professionals.

If a disease like Ebola came to Europe or the US it would first of all not be as deadly (but still deadly, though), and it would be a lot less contagious. Ebola is only transmitted through bodily fluids like blood, spit, vomit, etc. Which we can easily control in a developed modern health care facility, where the population understands the seriousness, look for signs are goes to the doctor.

The MERS could (but this is purely speculation) be a lot easier to control in a Western country. Anybody knows anything about this?

EDIT: Source: http://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5952515/facts-you-should-know-about-the-ebola-outbreak/in/5712456

Gotta admit, I don't know vox.com, but heard the same thing from a doctor from the "Doctors without borders"-organization on the beforementioned radio show.

 

[Mick West]

Ebola discussion split to:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ebola.4041/