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Monday, September 22, 2014

The U.S. Does a Lot of Crazy Things, but This?:

Doctors Call it "Irresponsible" to Send U.S. Troops to Combat Ebola

It's more than irresponsible; it's insane! And, as retired Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin is quoted in the article, It's "an absolute misuse of the U.S. military." Congress should resist Obama's attempt to send troops to Africa and, instead, encourage humanitarian work through health agencies and Church groups. That is, after all, what many religious congregations were formed to do - tend the sick. What are troops going to do, as the article asks - surround the infected areas and shoot anyone who tries to leave?

Our young men and women are not trained for this type of work. How long does it take to train a medical corpsman? The most likely result from this plan is that troops will come home infected with the virus and spread it to every corner of the U.S. Ebola is the black plague of our age. It's deadly and we really don't know how to treat it successfully. According to the World Health Organization 50 - 90% of those infected die. The best that can be done is to contain it as much as possible and restrict it to Africa. Here's a bit from the article:
According to the World Health Organization, at least 4,985 people have contracted Ebola and at least 2,461 have died. Several doctors have fallen ill with Ebola, and two of them have died....

“You can see that these doctors, who are highly trained people, got themselves infected,” said Dr. Lee Hieb, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. “So sending troops into an area, if they’re dealing one-on-one with a patient, they’re not going to be able to protect themselves very well. It’s not easy to [prevent transmission]”....

Dr. Hieb said quarantine measures should be taken to control the outbreak and prevent Ebola from coming to America.

“You don’t get Ebola from Europe,” she told WND. “You get Ebola from Africa. And it’s a really simple formula: Don’t let people fly to America if they’ve been to areas where there’s an outbreak. When there’s an outbreak, stop air [traffic] flow."....

We should not allow flights from nations that are having Ebola outbreaks.”

Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, has warned that the U.S. must “treat Ebola as a wake-up call."....

Orient called the planned U.S. deployment a “dubious mission,” warning that the nightmarish scenario could bring Ebola to America.

“There is definitely a risk,” she said. “It seems irresponsible to send more people there when the ones already there are having trouble leaving. Probably anyone who has been exposed should be quarantined for 25 days since the last exposure.”
Amen! And WHO has one other interesting bit of information:
People remain infectious as long as their blood and body fluids, including semen and breast milk, contain the virus. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness. 

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