Ebola: a hypothetical question concerning bush meat.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Even though the situation is under control (relative to the person saying it)...

Even though it will not spread (assuming everyone follows "protocol") and that you CAN spread ebola on a bus but you CANNOT catch it on a bus (per the CDC)...

Assuming Barack Obola (our lord and saviour) is always telling the truth and doesn't know something we don't know (he cancelled fundraisers for gawd's sake)...

Assuming there are not 100+ West Africans flying into this country a day...

Assuming that this isn't a liberal dream-come-true, in the form of their proving (to themselves) they "got it," and to prove (to themselves) that man has consistently shown, throughout history, that he will not repeat his past mistakes...

Assuming that we don't make the 60 day deadline to slow the epidemic (gonna be a rough duck season)....

And even though the virus will surely not spread by air (viruses don't mutate!), nor will any terrorist slip across the border and chit on a bunch of Old Miss fans at a ball game (that would be MSU and Ole Miss's luck: have our dream season cut short by a bad case of the ebola)...

Nothwithstanding the fact that flue season and the mass hysteria when someone gets the "fevah'" WILL occur (or somebody with the ebola will get sent home)...

Even though, assuming all of the above, I have a theoretical hypothetical question:

Reports are that Mr. Duncan, our lying Liberian friend (who lied in order to make what looks, at face-value, to be a desperate attempt at getting medical help) who infected two nurses that had to help the poor dead soul, had mounds of vomit and feces soaked waste that had to be disposed of.

So let's say that, assuming more folks- many more- catch ebola, and say that we have the same scenario: literally truckloads of waste material per patient that needs to be disposed of. Now let's say that we do dispose of this waste...

Before I continue, my wife and I were in New Orleans this weekend, and I was reading the paper one morning before we went out for the day. I read an article where the AG of Louisiana filed some legal motion to ban the dumping of the truckloads of waste in a LA landfill. I may be wrong on some details of that, but the general idea is the same: LA did NOT want the waste material. So the question then becomes: where will we dispose of it and how? Can we trust who IS disposing of it to dispose of it CORRECTLY?

So let's say we dump this waste at "x" landfill. Let's say it is your landfill.

My question is, doesn't this virus originate from humans eating infected bush meat (not THAT bush meat)?

Didn't the nurse in Spain who contracted the virus have her dog put down by authorities for fear that it could be a carrier?

I was fishing this afternoon and I got to thinking: If I were "roughing it" in the woods, waiting on the ebola to blow over...and I caught a nice mess of slab crappie to feed the woman n' the kids n' dogs n' me, but, unbeknownst to me, ole' Aunt Jemima is dumping her buckets of feces and vomit just up the creek, then would or COULD the virus wind up in my bush meat slabs (not THAT kind of bush slab)?

Seriously though, once introduced into the environment, en masse, doesn't this virus live there from then on?

In all seriousness, I am a conspiracy theorists worst buzz kill. I think humans tend to be stupid, not prone to conspiracies- prove me wrong on the stupid part. I certainly hope that the smart folks at the CDC, WHO, etc. put into practice all that science has discovered (and remember the repetative nature of history). I certainly hope the fallible nature of man and his pride, ego and political correctness don't get in the way of good old fashioned common sense. I certainly hope the lying nature of this government doesn't swallow the liars alive and spit them out in the form of projectile vomiting. I, for one, do not trust a man's judgement- no matter how enlightened or educated he is- enough to bet me and mine's life on it. It's not that I don't think we can or will control this epidemic, but I believe if it is time for it, then no man or woman can stop it until it runs its course. If we use the virtuous characteristics we have been gifted with, like walking around sense, then we can stop it. However if we assume that just because we live in warm houses, eat perfectly braised pork belly in the French Quarter, fly around the world at will, master the laws of physics and make artificial limbs, that somehow we are insulated from contracting a virus...then we better buckle our chin strap.

I hope you're good at baking bread, I'm not. And wild pork belly is just not that good. And I am just not that good at fishing to feed myself; much less at catching grasshoppers BEFORE I go fishing. And I consider myself a pretty outdoorsy guy, but, as a disclaimer, I do not own any Mountain Hard Wear gear or Patagonia visors. But seriously, go camp out in one spot for a few days and see how hard firewood can be to find. We suck at sustenance living. We ain't ready for it. You would cut my throat for a half-jar of mayonaise if it came down to that, and I cannot honestly say, for sure, that I wouldn't cut yours for a dented can of cream of mushroom. I'd damned sure fight you for it- definitely if it were cream of chicken.

But I digress...

But I do wonder that, if large amounts of waste from one of the most contagious viruses on the planet are put into our landfills, then could birds and dogs, etc get into the stuff and introduce it into the nautral environment?

Can birds be carriers of it or just mammals? Or just primates?

It would suck to have to give up bush meat for fear of the bush diarrhea.

Like I said, I am not an avid worshipper or The Blaze or Moveon.org; I don't consider myself an ideologue. But I think we are ripe for an eye-opening experience of just how human we are. I think we are slowly being brought to our knees- and we don't even know it yet. But to the original hypothetical theoretical hypothesis: can this virus enter our natural environment if it were to be introduced by the trainload? I mean hell, if one patient had 3 truckloads of waste then how much will 100 have? What does this mean for those buzzards I see hanging around the dump road? What about the primates who dump expired sofas on the dump road? Surely they must be primates if they think that is okay?

What about Snow, the chicken?

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=snow%20t ... icken&sm=3

Will she become a target for the authorities (she will be my target if I am living in the woods)?

What about her owner? Well, never mind, ebola has gotten to where it is because "mother nature" is pissed at our lack of "natural selection." I don't think Snow's owner will make it past the coop door if she keeps stealing some mountain man's chickens under the guise of "rescue."

Someone who knows more than the average person: Assuming an outbreak and massive amounts of waste dumped into our environment, improperly, can animals be carriers? Could it potentially crop up in the future after an msducker eats tainted bush meat?

Spooky, no doubt: Tainted bush meat. Coming to a pin oak flat near you.

[Smoke68]

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I believe you are right Smoke.

However what scares me is that it took this long for citizens to take notice. Hell it took this long for the government to wake up. Let's be honest here...how many folks that work for the feds (I realize the CDC is not federal) are out grinding the long days and trying to make it in this world? I cannot, for the life of me, imagine a bunch of federal bureaucrats out hustling day-to-day saying, "Let's repeat until we get it right people!"

We have waited until a 60 day deadline, on behalf of the WHO, to decide to wake up. With porous borders and ten thousand new cases a day being the norm, I wonder just how well this incompetent government can handle the situation. Do not be surprised if the phrase "martial law" stars getting thrown around. As I said, I am not a conspiracy theorist. But I am a realist- I just don't know, at this point, where we are going. Do I think ebola will be the final nail in the coffin? No. But I think it will be a continuation of our downward spiral.

Of course I realize I am preaching to the choir here. Most folks who will even click on this thread (assuming bush meat is not in the title) are already responsible citizens. But still, there are so many who don't know or care.

I made the joke to several individuals that the disposable bamboo plates at our rehearsal dinner were imported from Liberia and Sierra Leone. I got mostly blank faces, but one girl who was a bridesmaid and who is a nurse in Jackson just replied with "oh neat." When I asked her if she was keeping up with the Ebola virus she said, "I try not to pay attention to that sort of stuff." I agreed that she was making a wise choice. The conversation ended when she had timeout for a selfie.

Really though, it is the bigger picture. We are saving chickens, but we are allowing ourselves to assume that someone else will always take care of the things that need to be taken care of. Sometimes that is correct. I expect the garbage man to take care of my garbage. I expect the flyway council to take care of setting up liberal frameworks every season. I expect the engineer who builds a bridge to take care in his calculations.

I expect the CDC to NOT tell a nurse- who has been exposed to an Ebola patient- to get on a plane and fly home after being diagnosed with a fever.

But while we are too busy to act like a sovereign nation with sovereign borders, or too busy subpoenaing pastors, or too busy to notice our coworker's head being sawn off in 8 seconds, or too busy to notice that purple penguins means boys and girls, or too busy to notice that we are not in fact God, we have plenty of time to take note of the new selfie that "that b**ch" posted up at da club.

It is easy for us to say, " There may be more infections before this ends." But it won't be easy when it is me. And it won't be easy to contain copious amounts of high pressure diarrhea.

So get off my bush meat and move!

[lilwhitelie]

This virus is an unknown for CDC. They are behind one step dealing with this virus everyday and will get much worse I predict. Not enacting travel bans, moving these infected to other states only spreads it out instead of somewhat containing it. It is one huge clustermuck!!!!! None of the hospitals, especially ms ones, are ready or equipped to deal with this. It is too political here. Look at Spain.....they offed that dog quickly due to not knowing if it could carry the virus and they were not willing to take the risk. Meanwhile in Dallas, the nurses pooch is being housed and cared for and will be reunited with the owner. PETA would have had a field day!!!!! But I doubt any of the members would have volunteered to house the animal themselves. This is getting scarier every day. With a survival rate at 70 percent now, something better happen now And stop trying to appease every liberal group.

[hillhunter]

I think if two people can get infected in a supposedly controlled environment in dealing w a patient, how many can get infected in an airport, plane, or in the ER while they are trying to figure out if it is or is not Ebola. The medical community I think is probably prepared for this to an extent, not sure any of them could handle an outbreak. Our government is probably not, as they have proven. While I sympathize with the families of the original victims, they would have never seen our shores. However this virus has gone from a problem separated by an ocean to a domestic problem in too short of a period.

We have the ability and science to control this, let's put it to work now. Why that nurse was allowed to get on a plane and travel after exposure, even under controlled conditions is beyond me.

[teul2]

9 Reasons Why You Need To Calm The F*ck Down About Ebola In America
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/why-you-shouldnt-buy-into-the-ebola-hype/784344/

[kb7722]

I stopped reading when you mentioned you were an ole miss fan. You lost all your credibility at that point. Not to mention the ridiculous statement that a state fan would get ebola just to $#!+ on your campus and ruin your season. A state fan can find a better place to $#!+ than oxford.