Ebola making a difference in your next cruise?

[Boytjie]

:confused: How would you know if the man or woman sitting beside you at the evening show had just returned from being a health care worker in West Africa? Perhaps this was the 'gift' their friends or family surprised them with upon their return........ a cruise.

 

 

 

Unless the person next to you is expelling body fluids (vomit, blood or feces) there is no risk. The person has to be very sick to be contagious and highly unlikely to be watching a show.

[sail7seas]

Yes........ or they could sneeze or cough in my face. :eek: I realize it is all a reach but is not impossible.

 

[Boytjie]

Well it isn't airborne and those aren't typical Ebola symptoms.

[chrispb]

For those of you who enjoy a good "panic", why not worry if your cruise is calling at Italy or France. There are many asylum seekers from various west African countries who are sailing from Libya to Italy and are often rescued by Italian coastguards when their rickety old boat gets into difficulties. From Italy most of these asylum seekers head for France with the aim of reaching the UK, hence those notorious camps at Calais.

 

I'm more concerned about Dengue creeping into Europe - those pesky mozzies are much harder to spot:cool:

[Lizzie68]

Unless the person next to you is expelling body fluids (vomit, blood or feces) there is no risk. The person has to be very sick to be contagious and highly unlikely to be watching a show.

 

 

I'd give it up. After 13 pages they still aren't getting that message.:rolleyes:

[Lizzie68]

Yes........ or they could sneeze or cough in my face. :eek: I realize it is all a reach but is not impossible.

 

 

 

It's evident that some people are not seeing the facts. No amount of explaining is ever going to get through.

[kazu]

Right now I am more worried about ISIS, terrorism and other such things than this.

 

For the first time, we didn't take our Canadian flag which we normally hang from our balcony and it gets cheered. I was nervous about it in the Black Sea.

 

and we saw drones.

 

We have just lost a Canadian Armed Forces soldier who was shot for no reason but terrorism and had the timing been different there would have been a lot more victims.

 

I am not belittling Ebola, but it's been there for years.

 

Ironically, like AIDS which existed for years in Africa, no one worried until it moved to North America. Sad but true.

[sail7seas]

Well it isn't airborne and those aren't typical Ebola symptoms.

 

It's evident that some people are not seeing the facts. No amount of explaining is ever going to get through.

 

 

 

Okay, So.......

 

 

Here's a hypothetical scenario:

 

I am seated in the show lounge. Those seats have no space between them. The person beside me sneezes right in my face. There are bodily fluids often emitted when one sneezes, No? It lands smack in my eye, my open mouth (I was laughing at the precise moment) and you are saying it is impossible for a person infected with Ebola to transmit by that method? That is not true and a number of 'talking head doctors' have reluctantly stated that yes, spittle from a cough and phlegm from a sneeze are bodily fluids and can contain infectious disease. That is NOT airborne transmission. That is fluid at an entry portal to another's body.

 

This is not a likely scenario but is not ridiculously impossible.

Do some more reading, you will find it is true.

 

[sapper1]

Okay, So.......

 

 

Here's a hypothetical scenario:

 

I am seated in the show lounge. Those seats have no space between them. The person beside me sneezes right in my face. There are bodily fluids often emitted when one sneezes, No? It lands smack in my eye, my open mouth (I was laughing at the precise moment) and you are saying it is impossible for a person infected with Ebola to transmit by that method? That is not true and a number of 'talking head doctors' have reluctantly stated that yes, spittle from a cough and phlegm from a sneeze are bodily fluids and can contain infectious disease. That is NOT airborne transmission. That is fluid at an entry portal to another's body.

 

This is not a likely scenario but is not ridiculously impossible.

Do some more reading, you will find it is true.

 

Statistically speaking, I think you are safe from that happening. In all my life that has never happened to me. You have a better chance of being struck by lightening or being abducted by aliens.

[sail7seas]

Seriously, in all your life no one has ever sneezed or coughed right in your face? Never in an elevator, never while standing in a line or on an airplane, on a tour bus, never? ...... really?

 

Edited October 24, 2014 by sail7seas

[visagrunt]

You have posited a very weird, but possible set of circumstances to establish the vector of transmission. Now do you want to talk about the concentration of transmission? Exposure to a single, live ebolavirus isn't likely to cause disease. You need to be exposed to a high enough concentration of the virus in a single incident (or lower concentration in multiple or prolonged exposures) to allow it to take hold.

 

Ebola is actually a lot more difficult to catch than, say, the common cold, norovirus or enterovirus. That's one of the reasons why it's R0 value is relatively low.

 

You are at a much higher risk from something like MDR pulmonary tuberculosis which is just as lethal as Ebola, has a significantly higher R0 value, and which has vastly more infected people in the general population.

 

But the mob isn't getting whipped into a panic about tuberculosis.

[Mary Ellen]

You have posited a very weird, but possible set of circumstances to establish the vector of transmission. Now do you want to talk about the concentration of transmission? Exposure to a single, live ebolavirus isn't likely to cause disease. You need to be exposed to a high enough concentration of the virus in a single incident (or lower concentration in multiple or prolonged exposures) to allow it to take hold.

 

Ebola is actually a lot more difficult to catch than, say, the common cold, norovirus or enterovirus. That's one of the reasons why it's R0 value is relatively low.

 

You are at a much higher risk from something like MDR pulmonary tuberculosis which is just as lethal as Ebola, has a significantly higher R0 value, and which has vastly more infected people in the general population.

 

But the mob isn't getting whipped into a panic about tuberculosis.

You're being logical. :rolleyes: You've been around here long enough to know the facts don't matter. Particularly when panic and hysteria will do. ;)

 

My brother used to tell me - If you're going to be logical then there is no sense having this discussion.

[sapper1]

Seriously, in all your life no one has ever sneezed or coughed right in your face? Never in an elevator, never while standing in a line or on an airplane, on a tour bus, never? ...... really?

 

 

Never as you have described it. It was like one of those dramatic Seinfeld sequences. I really laughed out loud.

[sppunk]

One person above said the doctor didn't have to self-quarantine until he had symptoms and was fine going out and about. If that is the case, why is the girlfriend quarantined in the hospital if she has no symptoms? If she does have symptoms, why is it being kept from us?

 

 

 

I said that. She likely is quarantined becasue she was in the house with him when he began suffering symptoms. He probably vomited in the one bathroom they have that she has to use. They probably sleep in the same bed and do other things that exchange bodily fluids.

 

There has been no reported evidence of a single person receiving Ebola from being sneezed on by a patient. The chances of you being killed in your plane on the way to your cruise are higher than that happening. Worrying about dying from Ebola but ignoring other much more common things makes no sense to me unless you start to worry about every other possible way of dying - which you'll come across hundreds on the way to your cruise that are MUCH more likely of occurring.

Edited October 24, 2014 by sppunk

[Lizzie68]

Seriously, in all your life no one has ever sneezed or coughed right in your face? Never in an elevator, never while standing in a line or on an airplane, on a tour bus, never? ...... really?

 

 

 

With such fear, obviously the only option is to stay home, lock your doors and never intermingle with the masses. I really feel badly for those who have so much fear.

[sail7seas]

You have posited a very weird, but possible set of circumstances to establish the vector of transmission. Now do you want to talk about the concentration of transmission? Exposure to a single, live ebolavirus isn't likely to cause disease. You need to be exposed to a high enough concentration of the virus in a single incident (or lower concentration in multiple or prolonged exposures) to allow it to take hold.

 

Ebola is actually a lot more difficult to catch than, say, the common cold, norovirus or enterovirus. That's one of the reasons why it's R0 value is relatively low.

 

You are at a much higher risk from something like MDR pulmonary tuberculosis which is just as lethal as Ebola, has a significantly higher R0 value, and which has vastly more infected people in the general population.

 

But the mob isn't getting whipped into a panic about tuberculosis.

 

 

 

:) Yes, certainly there are many risks in life that are more likely to get us than Ebola here in U.S. if we are not health care workers.

 

I could get hit by a bus tonight, have a heart attack, fall down a flight of stairs..... having other risks, does not negate any one of them. IMO For me, I recognize it is low risk but I nevertheless pay attention that it is a risk.

 

All any of us really can do is decide for ourselves if where we want to go and what we want to do matters enough to us to expose ourselves to whatever risk, danger, discomfort, inconvenience, annoyance etc Is the trip worth it? :D :D And the other thing we can do is respect not all others agree with us and show courtesy and not be disagreeable about our disagreement. Nasty, sharp comments are not helpful though sadly predictable.

 

[sail7seas]

With such fear, obviously the only option is to stay home, lock your doors and never intermingle with the masses. I really feel badly for those who have so much fear.

 

Please do not trouble yourself feeling sorry for me. It is kind of you to care enough to bother but it isn't necessary.

 

[Lizzie68]

Please do not trouble yourself feeling sorry for me. It is kind of you to care enough to bother but it isn't necessary.

 

 

 

I didn't say I felt sorry for you. I think you are partially responsible for instilling some of the fear and keeping this thread going, and diverting from the facts.

[Princess1965]

If 2 male strippers in Dallas are doing self quarantine for 21 days since they were are the same flight as the nurse who traveled to Ohio, why can't the medical people do the same thing? It makes one wonder if male strippers have more common sense than the medical people.

[sail7seas]

I didn't say I felt sorry for you. I think you are partially responsible for instilling some of the fear and keeping this thread going, and diverting from the facts.

 

 

No one need read or participate in any thread they feel has no value.

I see you have a number of posts here so clearly you have something you wish to add.

 

I am respectful of another point of view but do not think any one poster or group of posters should ever try to shut another person down. I make a strong effort to be courteous and respectful to and about other posters with whom I almost never agree.

 

I have a viewpoint in this regard and have expressed it politely.

I know for a fact there are cruisers who have cancelled their bookings due to a combination of Ebola and ISIS. They have chosen to not travel right now. It is not for me or anyone to tell them they are right or wrong. It is right for them.

 

Edited October 24, 2014 by sail7seas

[Mary Ellen]

Never as you have described it. It was like one of those dramatic Seinfeld sequences. I really laughed out loud.

LOL. Reading that (highly unlikely) scenario I was picturing the contortions the person next to me would have to go through to sneeze directly into my open mouth. They would have to be directly facing me for that to occur. Can't imagine that happening in a HAL show lounge. Maybe we just don't "hang with the right crowd" when watching shows. We tend to actually watch the show, not turned face to face with strangers. Oops, there I go being logical again. :o

 

Nope, never had someone sneeze right in my face. I guess we just hang out with polite people, who know how to sneeze (into their elbow or shoulder).

[Salacia]

I said that. She likely is quarantined becasue she was in the house with him when he began suffering symptoms. He probably vomited in the one bathroom they have that she has to use. They probably sleep in the same bed and do other things that exchange bodily fluids.

 

There has been no reported evidence of a single person receiving Ebola from being sneezed on by a patient. The chances of you being killed in your plane on the way to your cruise are higher than that happening. Worrying about dying from Ebola but ignoring other much more common things makes no sense to me unless you start to worry about every other possible way of dying - which you'll come across hundreds on the way to your cruise that are MUCH more likely of occurring.

 

Hi sppunk. Actually, it is not only Dr.Spencer's girlfriend who is in quarantine, but also two of his friends:

"Three people -- his fiancée and two friends -- are being placed on quarantine and monitored, health officials said.

 

"They are all well at this time; none of them is sick," Bassett said.

 

Bassett provided a more detailed timeline of where Spencer has been since Tuesday, which is when she says he began to feel fatigued, though without a fever..." copied from http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/24/health/new-york-ebola-timeline/index.html

[durangoscots]

Remember that the people living with the orginal Dallas case were also confined at home for 21 days.... they were not exhibiting symptoms and.... none of them came down with Ebola.

 

Susan

[jbhcw]

Sooooo...I am really enjoying this thread...I am flip flopping back and forth but a recurring thought keeps coming up...how many of us have read Stephen king's "the stand"...the original ..and the uncut...I know most of this stuff is not plausible,..but since I am a huge Stephen king fan.... there is no doubt in my mind that stuff can happen..........let's REALLY hope it does not happen now with Ebola...:D:eek:

[kazu]

It's evident that some people are not seeing the facts. No amount of explaining is ever going to get through.

 

Sadly, I fear you are correct.

 

You can explain it to them but you can't comprehend it for them.

 

There's no point in beating your head against the wall.

 

The facts are the facts as stated by Health Authorities.

 

I fear we can't stop some fear mongering.