Global Pandemic

[Horatio Nelson]

Is such a thing a possibility? Could there ever be a "Hollywood style" disease outbreak?

I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions.

[Miserabilia]

It is possible, simply because if a virus evolves that we aren't resistent against it would wipe out most of humanity/other animals untill we evolve to be resistent to it.

[TheN3rdyOutcast]

Perfectly possible, and a top 5 contender for "Ways the World Could End".

[Gamma Male]

It's perfectly plausible, and one of the top ways species have gone extinct in the past.

I'd like to see those anti vaccine nuts try to keep spouting their bullshit in the event there was a pandemic and we developed a vaccine.

[Typhlosion]

Well, Big Pharma is already plotting this behind our backs. Then, they will sell the vaccines at extortious prices....

I wouldn't rule out the possibility, but I question if really isolated groups may repopulate and where would such a killer virus come from. It's really much more hollywood to me than actual possibility.

[Ben_Frost]

Well, Big Pharma is already plotting this behind our backs. Then, they will sell the vaccines at extortious prices....

I wouldn't rule out the possibility, but I question if really isolated groups may repopulate and where would such a killer virus come from. It's really much more hollywood to me than actual possibility.

AIDS and Ebola are pretty good examples. I think it could be possible, but of course a global pandemic would take quite a lot of time to wipe out humanity, there's always scientific vaccine research going on and with the huge advances in technology being made, I hardly see this happening.

[Stronk Serb]

The disease needs to spread faster then it kills. And at an alarming rate. If someone engineered a disease to evolve killing symptoms afer a huge percent got infected.

[CosmicNoodle]

Perfectly possible, its more than possible, hell, even likely, thats how the human race willl eventually bid the universe goodnight.

[Nomad_X]

There has already been a "hollywood style" Pandemic. The 1918-19 "spanish flu" is a prime example.

HIV/AIDS is already a global pandemic; just not Hollywood style.

The Ebola virus, if it mutated or combinded with a flu-like virus it could spread beyound Africa.

[thatcountrykid]

There has already been a "hollywood style" Pandemic. The 1918-19 "spanish flu" is a prime example.

HIV/AIDS is already a global pandemic; just not Hollywood style.

The Ebola virus, if it mutated or combinded with a flu-like virus it could spread beyound Africa.

its already brought into the usa cause some doctors went to africa and got themselves sick and brought it back. we should have made the doctors stay there.

[Gamma Male]

its already brought into the usa cause some doctors went to africa and got themselves sick and brought it back. we should have made the doctors stay there.

There's virtually zero risk of the disease spreading from them to others in the US. They're being transported in top of the line quarantine systems, and Ebola really isn't a very contagious virus in the first place. Over here, their chances of survival are slightly better too.

[thatcountrykid]

There's virtually zero risk of the disease spreading from them to others in the US. They're being transported in top of the line quarantine systems, and Ebola really isn't a very contagious virus in the first place. Over here, their chances of survival are slightly better too.

its spread by blood and body fluids. ebola causes diarhea and bleeding externaly. all doctors treating them need to be quaruntined too. its just gonna cause a bigger problem and will spread within hospitals and doctors/nurses.

[Gamma Male]

its spread by blood and body fluids.
Enough said. Unless the doctors plan on fornicating with the patient I seriously doubt it will spread. The patients are being taken to one of four hospitals in the United States who have quarantine units and have received extensive training in treating people with tropical fevers and other dangerous viruses. They know what they're doing.

[thatcountrykid]

Enough said. Unless the doctors plan on fornicating with the patient I seriously doubt it will spread. The patients are being taken to one of four hospitals in the United States who have quarantine units and have received extensive training in treating people with tropical fevers and other dangerous viruses. They know what they're doing.

shit happens why take the risk

[Gamma Male]

shit happens why take the risk

Because two lives are at stake, and there is very little risk.

Also, the chances of them spreading the virus would've been much higher in Africa than here. It would be immoral to keep them in an ill equipped hospital where the staff are more likely to get infected when we could take them in here where the staff are very unlikely to become infected, simply because of the nationality of those at risk.

[thatcountrykid]

Because two lives are at stake, and there is very little risk.

Also, the chances of them spreading the virus would've been much higher in Africa than here. It would be immoral to keep them in an ill equipped hospital where the staff are more likely to get infected when we could take them in here where the staff are very unlikely to become infected, simply because of the nationality of those at risk.

did i say it was because of nationality? no. i said why bring it home. send our doctors there. put em on a navy hospital ship. get the oh so precious world saving un to help

[Gamma Male]

did i say it was because of nationality? no. i said why bring it home. send our doctors there. put em on a navy hospital ship. get the oh so precious world saving un to help

My point still stands. No hospital anywhere in Africa is as well equipped as the one they're being brought to here in the US, and by keeping them in an ill equipped hospital we would be drastically increasing the risk of them spreading the virus to hospital staff.

[thatcountrykid]

My point still stands. No hospital anywhere in Africa is as well equipped as the one they're being brought to here in the US, and by keeping them in an ill equipped hospital we would be drastically increasing the risk of them spreading the virus to hospital staff.

o kmow we disagree i just wanna know why my views were suddemly considered racist?

[Gamma Male]

o kmow we disagree i just wanna know why my views were suddemly considered racist?

I never said that. I was just asking why you think it matters what country they're treated in. They should be taken to whoever can treat them best with the smallest risk of the virus spreading. That's us.

[thatcountrykid]

Because two lives are at stake, and there is very little risk.

Also, the chances of them spreading the virus would've been much higher in Africa than here. It would be immoral to keep them in an ill equipped hospital where the staff are more likely to get infected when we could take them in here where the staff are very unlikely to become infected, simply because of the nationality of those at risk.

I never said that. I was just asking why you think it matters what country they're treated in. They should be taken to whoever can treat them best with the smallest risk of the virus spreading. That's us.

keep them in africa where the disease already is. and it would have made a little more sense to say which country they are in.

[Ben_Frost]

keep them in africa where the disease already is. and it would have made a little more sense to say which country they are in.

But keeping them in Africa won't make a difference, these doctors need treatment, and they have the right to receive it in the US. The virus cannot spread so easily in such a developed country as it does in the poor countries from Africa, the US has better equipment to treat such a disease, better safety measures to keep the disease from spreading.

Staying on topic, what Comrade Mike said is actually the perfect way a disease would become a deadly pandemic quickly, it would have to be easy to spread and quite stealthy with discrete symptoms if any at all to not be noticed until later when it would seriously damage the patient's systems.

[thatcountrykid]

But keeping them in Africa won't make a difference, these doctors need treatment, and they have the right to receive it in the US. The virus cannot spread so easily in such a developed country as it does in the poor countries from Africa, the US has better equipment to treat such a disease, better safety measures to keep the disease from spreading.

Staying on topic, what Comrade Mike said is actually the perfect way a disease would become a deadly pandemic quickly, it would have to be easy to spread and quite stealthy with discrete symptoms if any at all to not be noticed until later when it would seriously damage the patient's systems.

trea them on a ship or an island. something not in the mainland usa. no where that if it infects a doctor or someone that cant hop on the highway sytstem and disappear

[Gamma Male]

trea them on a ship or an island. something not in the mainland usa. no where that if it infects a doctor or someone that cant hop on the highway sytstem and disappear

Why on Earth would a doctor choose to go into hiding after knowing he had become infected with Ebola?

[thatcountrykid]

Why on Earth would a doctor choose to go into hiding after knowing he had become infected with Ebola?

i didt say go into hiding. i said a hospital ship or set up treatment on an island

[Svan]

So, the other day I watched this movie called Contagion and I do think it could be possible, but for the most part I feel like modern day medicine is too advanced for a pandemic to happen.

[Ben_Frost]

i didt say go into hiding. i said a hospital ship or set up treatment on an island

These are ideas the CDC or the WHO could come up with to treat them but apprently haven't been thought of yet. Perhaps they're not being treated this way because they may take longer than expected to treat them or who knows, any kind of adversity could happen and they prefer to treat them in the mainland at one of the best hospital or something.

I don't think the disease will spread if they're being quarantined and treated following strict protocols to avoid contagion from their bodily fluids, it's not like the US healthcare system is as ramshackle as the ones from developing countries.

[Chuck_M8]

As far as the Ebola thing goes, the real reason those two doctors are here is because of research. Yeah, they are trying to save them, but there really is no cure other than an IV and waiting to see if your body can pull through. There is nothing they couldn't do here that they couldn't in Africa because we simply don't have the knowledge. Bringing them here could help that issue because you can study and observe to try and find possible cures. You can also have the top personnel in different fields more readily available to help.

The problem is that Ebola is extremely contagious. It is not airborne but can be transferred very easily through bodily fluids. Any sort of direct contact can cause infection. Additionally, the virus itself can survive a few weeks, if not longer, at a time without being in the hosts body. The worst part is that you won't even know you have it for a week. The first symptoms seem flu-like and then after that you may only have three days. It attacks all your muscle and organs by attaching itself to cells.

The CDC at Emory hospital IS equipped to handle things like this. Though, they have never handled anything quite like this.

[Chuck_M8]

Someone infected with Ebola showed up in a New York hospital within the past 24 hours. He was not quarantined and safely brought into the country like the Doctor was and the woman will be. Maybe the global epidemic is more likely than not.

[phuckphace]

I honestly think that the next pandemic will be "ultra-HIV."

http://www.out.com/entertainment/popnography/2014/05/20/why-i-am-truvada-whore

although the author of the article tries to handwave it away because he's biased in favor of his butt-buddies, the majority of people who use Truvada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenofovir/emtricitabine) are gay men who want to have unlimited unprotected sex with immunity, whether they admit it or not. what will end up happening, I predict, is that Truvada will be widely adopted amongst the most promiscuous segment of the population, leading to the emergence of a super-virulent strain of HIV that is resistant to everything we throw at it.

According to a CDC analysis released last year, only 15% of gay men use condoms consistently enough to derive substantial benefit from them. Truvada, then, is not a drug for a barebacking, pornographic minority, but for the overwhelming majority of people who do not consistently practice safe sex. As Dr. Judy Auerbach, a former vice president at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation put it to me, “It’s clear that for many people, regardless of sexual orientation, the goal is to have condomless sex. Why don't we acknowledge that desire and not vilify it?"

UGH straight people have bareback sex at bathhouses with complete strangers all the time BIGOTS! "regardless of sexual orientation" :lol3:

sorry kiddos but when S.H.T.F. your magic technology might not actually be of much use here.