Avoiding Ebola and Other Flu Viruses by Singing Happy Birthday Twice…
Having been an Emergency Room physician for more years than I care to admit, I've been keeping a close eye on the Ebola news as many of you I'm sure. Ebola has now spread beyond Africa with the first USA case now in Texas and the exposed family is under close observation--no surprise. All viruses know “how to get around” and the Ebola virus-- probably from African Fruit Bats-- has infected humans in major areas in Africa. In other words, human Ebola now “lives” in the human race in these areas. Ebola is considered one of the hemorrhagic--fever family of viruses, which includes Dengue Fever.
Ebola, though, does not come from mosquitos like Dengue Fever. Ebola comes from infected individuals with common viral symptoms (e.g. aches, fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, headache, rash) that can escalate into life threatening sepsis in 2-3 days. Bleeding is one of the latter signs. Incubation ranges from 2-21 days with the “top of the bell shaped curve” at 8-10 days.
Once symptomatic, the virus presents in mucous membrane secretions (mouth, nasal), blood, semen, breast milk, feces, and vomitus. Contaminated secretions can even transmit into a healthy host through a skin wound. By far, the population at greatest risk are health care workers and many have died.
In most cases, contaminated hands are the bridge to bring the virus into another’s body!
The good news is that the virus is currently hard to “catch” if you are diligent (even in Ebola endemic Areas). HAND WASHING AND ALCOHOL-BASED HAND SOLUTIONS HELP. If you must take public transportation, commercial airlines, or must interact with a lot of people who, it is always a good idea to avoid going out with open wounds or touching your face before you sanitize your hands. How? Just start washing in the hottest water you can stand or use one of the alcohol-based sanitizers while singing silently to yourself “happy birthday” in whatever language; for roughly 17 seconds.
Public health is everything. Local health departments are alert and ready to contain. Bioengineering is in the works. But you, the public, also need to be alert and do your part. Frequent hand sanitizing, avoid sick people, send sick food-industry workers home, carry alcohol hand solutions or wipes (do not share); and alert any establishment that the bathrooms need attention. If there is no soap in the restroom, talk to the manager immediately and make a fuss (it is a violation.) And thank any public establishment for having alcohol hand solutions readily available. Buy something from them.
Additionally, be alert while traveling or gathering. A sick individual most likely has a viral infection (cold, flu), but if you are the one sick, try not to travel or gather. Wear a mask if you can. Do not shake hands. Report to an ER if you need to.
Nonetheless, while the Ebola we understand today is very real threat, it appears unlikely that it will be mass-infecting people of modern industrialized countries (through the normal channels of personal contact). What does concern me is how people and governments would react to potential containment measures getting close to home. There’s also the grim possibility of Ebola being used in a bioterrorism event. But that’s a different discussion for another day...
References:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/protective-me...
If contagious enough to catch simply caring for a family member who thinks they simply have the flu--isn't that enough to spread it?
If any concentration of cases pop up, won't that call for a shut down of transportation and borders in and around a potentially large containment area? That would seriously interrupt food and medicine supply chains to the full and complete vindication of National Geographic's Doomsday Prepper crowd, wouldn't it?
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