Note: This is ONLY Hypothetical salt and peppered with some reality. This is straight up FICTION
Man who lives in West Africa decides to come to the US. Just a few days before leaving he helps take his landlord's daughter to a hospital where she dies. The landlord's son dies the next day and it's possible a few people in the neighborhood die as well. A few day's later this man, who we will call Patient Z, boards a flight with his visa and heads to America.
Patient Z grabs a cab on the morning of his flight. While in the cab he takes a Tylenol (or the equivalent). He feels a little under the weather...maybe a small cold and some sniffles. Every now and then he wipes his face or nose with his hand...no tissue.
Before boarding the plane they are checking people's temperature and being watchful for anyone who may shows signs of sickness. He thinks to himself how glad he is that he just has a small cold with runny nose and slight cough....nothing to really catch anyone's attention. He boards the plane and touches every other seat as he makes his way to his spot. Before opening the above hatch to load his suitcase, he coughs a little more. The flight is fine, although he feels a bit sluggish and makes his way to the restroom several times. The attendant comes by with the warm rags. It feels so good he wipes his face and neck down and gives it back to attendant. He eats the meal served on the plane although he doesn't have as much of an appetite. Again uses the napkin to wipe his nose.... and really wishes for some Kleenex, but the attendant brings him some more napkins.
When they leave the flight, he walks through the airport and stops in a gift shop to find some Kleenex and cold medicine. After this long flight the coughing and sneezing has gotten worst....he's really starting to feel bad. Patient Z picks up several different snacks before deciding against them all. He grabs a magazine...licks his fingers....and thumbs through it, but decides to put it back and go to the coffee shop. He's got a few minutes before his people get there to pick him up. As he sits with a nice hot cup of coffee he struggles to get the cold medicine open and tears it with his teeth. In a moment of just sheer fatigue he lays his head on the table for just an instant and watches as his breath fogs up the table. Jet lag is horrible....surely after a good night sleep he'll feel better. It's about "that time" so he jumps up and heads off to meet his people....leaving a mess behind.
Meanwhile, the attendants are tidying up the plane for the next flight. One is cleaning up the towels and the other the dishes. They make their way through the aisle's to pick up any trash. Geez this one dude really used a lot of napkins! She picks them up one by one and puts them in the trash. She really doesn't have time for this and is aggravated at someone else's insane messiness.
In the gift shop a little boy runs up and grabs a candy bar that Patient Z had picked up and put down. Like many young kids, he is rubbing it on his face and trying to put in his mouth. Another guy picks up the magazine....flips through and puts it back. Not sure if he licks his finger when he flips the pages but the next guy does and buys the magazine.
Over at the coffee shop a young couple with a child happily grab Patient Z's table as soon as he moves. The coffee shop is so crowded they were lucky to get the table! As the young Dad gets the toddler strapped into the highchair, the young Mom disposes of the coffee cup, tissue and medicine wrapper left behind. She gently wipes the table with a dry napkin as the young toddler pounds his hands on the table....right where Patient Z had laid his head.
Patient Z is greeted with so much excitement from his family and friends. There are hugs and kisses to go around at least ten times. A big dinner and welcome party awaits him back at their place with even more family and some neighbor's. The house is packed with family and friends and some of the little kids keep running off with his drink thinking it is theirs. He sure hope's they don't catch this cold. The jet lag is really weighing on him so he excuses himself and goes to bed.
The next day is rough and his Aunt makes him some hot tea and uses some home remedies to help combat what is ailing him. His stomach is starting to hurt pretty bad as the day continues. He tries to tough-it-out and feels like a horrible house guest. The family thinks nothing of it. His Aunt loves waiting on him hand and foot. She rubs his head with a rag and believes that the horrible neighbor across the street must have brought some bad food. As the day turns into night the aches get really bad and he is running fever. It is decided that the very next morning he will go to the local emergency room to get checked out.
When he arrives at the emergency room, he waits for hours. The waiting room is packed and they are very busy. By this time his dry cough has turned into a wet hacking cough, his eyes are watering and he goes from burning up hot to having chills. He's gone through all of the Kleenex he bought at the gift shop, and has resorted to using his hand to wipe across his nose and brow. The aches and pain in his body is just awful. Rubbing his eyes helps relieve the burning, but they tear right back up. The only relief he gets is to walk a bit, but he feels so tired and the coughing makes him have to stop. He goes from sitting in one seat to another and leaning on the wall....just trying to get a comfortable spot until they call him back.
The triage nurse calls him back and checks his temperature. She tries to dispose of the thermometer cover in the trash and misses....she decides she will just pick it up later. They place Patient Z in a room and several nurses come in and get his vitals. Some wear gloves and some do not. Finally the Doctor comes in and after looking him over determines that he possibly has a sinus infection or even the flu and sends him home with some medicine. He and the family member catch a bus back home.
The bus is hot, stifling and crowded. It seems as if he may suffocate before getting off and his coughing gets worst. When they finally get off the bus and make it home he goes straight to bed. Throughout the night the pain gets worst...the chills are worst and his eyes are watering so heavily his face stays wet. His nose is running so badly that he wipes his face on anything that is laying around.
Day three become really bad. He has constant diarrhea and can barely keep down any fluids. He has become so weak, but his Aunt, Cousin and Uncle are right there wiping his brow and helping take care of him. By nightfall he is almost delirious and the vomiting has wiped him out. When he finally drifts off to sleep so does everyone else.
On day four they awake to the sound of banging and find him on the floor covered in his own fluids. He's unable to talk much and is very weak. They call an ambulance and it arrives minutes later to take hime to the same hospital he went to only two days before. The Aunt rides with them and the Cousin follows in the neighbor's borrowed vehicle. Because he can not talk very much the Cousin fills in information when he can't. They ask him for his social security card and he tries to explain he doesn't have one. The Cousin explains that he had just arrived a few days prior from Liberia. While they are taking more information, Patient Z turns and vomits blood.
The alarm bells go off for the hospital. People start scattering. The people who had been in the room are pulled and told to immediately suit up for a possible isolation situation. Ladies and Gentlemen.....we may have Ebola.
We indeed DID have Ebola. Although this is a hypothetical sequence of events, on a made-up timeline, from my rampant imagination but based on some facts....I hope it makes you THINK.
The CDC is quick to say that Ebola WILL BE contained. It is not transmitted through the air. No one is contagious unless they are symptomatic. These statements are contradictory to what has been already witnessed in many situations in West Africa. These statements are contradictory to many other statements that they have released.
Let's break it down:
It's not airborne......that means that it will not sprought wings and fly, but aerosol droplets of mucus and saliva are a different story. Those, along with sweat and tears carry Ebola and they can live on a surface for a number of days.
http://www.msdsonline.com/resources/msds-resources/free-safety-data-sheet-index/ebola-virus.aspx
Is a Person Contagious During the Ebola Incubation Period?
Even if a person exhibits no signs or symptoms of Ebola, he or she can still spread the virus during the Ebola incubation period. Once Ebola virus symptoms begin, the person can remain contagious for about three more weeks.
THIS WOULD MEAN THAT ANYONE THAT HAD CONTACT DURING INCUBATION PERIOD...NOT JUST AFTER SYMPTOMS START COULD BE INFECTED
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola/ebola-incubation-period.html
Now ask yourself...
1) What happened to the cab driver that took him to the airport?
2) What happened to the people who sat in his seat and rested their arms on the arm rest in the airport?
3) How many people touched the seats he touched after swiping his hand under his nose?
4) What about the flight attendants who took his ticket, took his warm rag, handled his dishes and picked up his discarded tissues?
5) What about all of the people on the flight that breathed the same re-circulated air that he was coughing and sneezing into. Those fluids landed somewhere....who touched them?
6) How about the restroom? Those toilets flush with such pressure it is proven that they shoot waste back out in droplets. Who went in after him?
7) Do you think the child with the candy bar could be at risk or the man who bought the magazine?
8) How would you feel knowing you had sat at a table that an Ebola victim had coughed and sneezed over and laid their head? Your child played patty-cake where his head "watched his breath fog the table". Your wife cleaned up the discarded tissues and medicine packet he opened with his mouth.
9) The family that smothered him with kisses. The kids who ran off with his drinks. The people who cleaned his dishes. The dutiful loving family that cared for him as any of us would have....all now exposed. In those few days who did they have contact with?
10) The people in the waiting area's both times....how many sat in his chair, used his arm rest after he sneezed and hacked? Where did they go off to? The healthcare workers who took care of him both times.....the ambulance workers.
All of these people that one person had contact with branch out and have contact with others. It forms a web....a very dangerous web. One more thing. If any of these individuals got sick in the next few days to weeks their travel history would not include West Africa....it would only be contact with a person that they never realized was contagious.
Get informed. Don't take someone else's word....come to your own conclusions based on your own research. You can not depend on anyone other than yourself to take care of your family.
God Bless those affected. God Bless the First Responders, God Bless Texas and God Bless America.
