Thailand at low risk from Ebola

[webfact]

Thailand at low risk from Ebola
By Digital Content 
 

 
BANGKOK, Aug 1 -- Thailand is at low risk from the current spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa, and the public should not panic in response to unsubstantiated reports on social media, Dr Yong Poovorawan of Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medical Science warned today.
 
Emphasizing that it is still quite difficult for the disease to spread in Thailand, Dr Yong said although there had been 20 Ebola outbreaks in the past four decades, the disease is still contained mostly in West Africa.
 
The spread of Ebola is more difficult than an influenza as people could contract the deadly disease only after close contact with a patient or through direct contact from the patient’s blood or  urine, for example. 
 
The Ebola virus could spread if the patient has a very high temperature, but in this circumstance, it would be difficult for the patient himself to wander, said Dr Yong.
 
Members of the public should not panic after reading inaccurate information on social media, said Dr Yong. He said such fears joined with some people's prejudice against persons from African countries. 
 
Chulalongkorn University tests conducted on Lyle’s flying fox in Thailand also found no indication of Ebola disease.
 
As the number of Ebola victims is rising in some African countries, officials at the quarantine section of Suvarnabhumi Airport have become more strict on monitoring travellers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since June 8.
 
Inspections were conducted on 285 travellers from the three countries, but no disease victim was found, officials said. (MCOT online news) 
 
[tna]2014-08-01[/tna]

[bkkjames]

With an incubation period of up to 21 days is it, how can authorities judge a person walking through the airport? 

[Pib]

With an incubation period of up to 21 days is it, how can authorities judge a person walking through the airport? 

They have some of those Army bomb detectors.

[Soutpeel]

Bloody hell... is it Thai Ebola week or something ? waiting for TAT to get in on the action

 

"Tourist numbers arriving in Thailand have dropped 22% , due to an Ebola breakout in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

 

it would be difficult for the patient himself to wander, said Dr Yong

 

Very true Dr Yong seeing as the patients entrails will be hanging out their ar*e and getting caught on furntiure, house hold applicances, door handles and such..

 

 

[Soutpeel]

With an incubation period of up to 21 days is it, how can authorities judge a person walking through the airport? 

 

They cant all they can judge if someone has a fever or not and whether the person is bleeding through all their orifices...

[givenall]

Of course, Thailand is always the best

[NongKhaiKid]

Isn't sitting next to someone on an aircraft ' Close Contact ' ?

 

A patient in the early stages may not know he / she is infected until their wandering is over.

 

Why can't Thai officials be more careful with their words ?

 

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

Isn't sitting next to someone on an aircraft ' Close Contact ' ?

 

A patient in the early stages may not know he / she is infected until their wandering is over.

 

Why can't Thai officials be more careful with their words ?

 

 

Careful with wording , they have trouble reverting back to English from Thai , Thai allowance 70%, they mean well NKK.

[NongKhaiKid]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

Isn't sitting next to someone on an aircraft ' Close Contact ' ?

 

A patient in the early stages may not know he / she is infected until their wandering is over.

 

Why can't Thai officials be more careful with their words ?

 

 

Careful with wording , they have trouble reverting back to English from Thai , Thai allowance 70%, they mean well NKK.

Duly noted,  thanks

[Rorri]

bkkjames, on 01 Aug 2014 - 15:46, said:

With an incubation period of up to 21 days is it, how can authorities judge a person walking through the airport? 

Same way the police can determine how someone, usually foreigner, has died, without an autopsy or any medical inspection. They are very good.

[bangrak]

'Thailand at low risk from Ebola' Why? Does it attack the brains first? LOL (sorry couldn't stop myself)

[useronthenet]

Thailand must not be complacent, this disease is deadly, and it seems unless the country has a contingency plan in place, then the risk for this disease to spread is high. It only takes one to slip through the net, then you will have a problem. Thailand can ill-afford to sleep on this one, better to take action now before it's too late!

[ldnguy]

Isn't sitting next to someone on an aircraft ' Close Contact ' ?

 

A patient in the early stages may not know he / she is infected until their wandering is over.

 

Why can't Thai officials be more careful with their words ?

 

No, that's not close contact. You won't get ebola by sitting next to someone that has it. 

[ldnguy]

Thailand must not be complacent, this disease is deadly, and it seems unless the country has a contingency plan in place, then the risk for this disease to spread is high. It only takes one to slip through the net, then you will have a problem. Thailand can ill-afford to sleep on this one, better to take action now before it's too late!

The risk for this spreading is very low indeed, not high as you claim. What action do you want Thailand to take? Ebola is very well contained in a small area and is highly unlikely to spread to Asia or Europe or anywhere outside Africa. Stop spreading false information.

[losworld]

With an incubation period of up to 21 days is it, how can authorities judge a person walking through the airport? 

 

Because this is the "hub of inspections".... geesh.

[Johpa]

 

Thailand must not be complacent, this disease is deadly, and it seems unless the country has a contingency plan in place, then the risk for this disease to spread is high. It only takes one to slip through the net, then you will have a problem. Thailand can ill-afford to sleep on this one, better to take action now before it's too late!

The risk for this spreading is very low indeed, not high as you claim. What action do you want Thailand to take? Ebola is very well contained in a small area and is highly unlikely to spread to Asia or Europe or anywhere outside Africa. Stop spreading false information.

 

 

Perhaps you have never sat for hours in a waiting room in a typical Thai government hospital.  Given the small but noticeable African presence along the lower Suk, I would say that today is the day for Thailand to prepare some contingency plans. It is certainly true that Ebola is less contagious than say a typical flu, but given the consequences, the mortality rates, I would suggest that it is hard to argue to not take, or at the very least, plan for actions today.  We may see international bans on flights out of West Africa in the coming weeks.

[useronthenet]

 

Thailand must not be complacent, this disease is deadly, and it seems unless the country has a contingency plan in place, then the risk for this disease to spread is high. It only takes one to slip through the net, then you will have a problem. Thailand can ill-afford to sleep on this one, better to take action now before it's too late!

The risk for this spreading is very low indeed, not high as you claim. What action do you want Thailand to take? Ebola is very well contained in a small area and is highly unlikely to spread to Asia or Europe or anywhere outside Africa. Stop spreading false information.

 

#idnguy, do your homework !

 

WHO has recently declared this to be a serious situation. If you call approximately 700 deaths, and over 1300 reported cases a small containment then you are seriously misinformed.

 

Quote "Ebola is very well contained in a small area and is highly unlikely to spread to Asia or Europe or anywhere outside Africa", based on what evidence have you reached to suggest that this has been entirely contained ?

 

So you think Thailand should just sit back and relax, whilst others in Europe are taking this outbreak extremely serious ?

[Thai at Heart]

Of course the most obvious reason is not many Thais go to this part of Africa and vice versa.

Other than that they are just as much at risk of someone with Ebola arriving as any other place. But really, why can't supposedly educated Thais weigh risk in a logical manner? Why?

[Tokay]

 

Emphasizing that it is still quite difficult for the disease to spread in Thailand

 

It's a good thing Africans are not pouring into Bangkok and staying on Soi 3 and surrounding areas.

 

I heard from a reliable source today that the airport is now using the GT200 bomb Ebola detectors. Even though they have been proven not to work and can not actually locate a bomb Ebola, military top brass said to trust them, they can't explain it, but it works.

[NongKhaiKid]

 

Thailand must not be complacent, this disease is deadly, and it seems unless the country has a contingency plan in place, then the risk for this disease to spread is high. It only takes one to slip through the net, then you will have a problem. Thailand can ill-afford to sleep on this one, better to take action now before it's too late!

The risk for this spreading is very low indeed, not high as you claim. What action do you want Thailand to take? Ebola is very well contained in a small area and is highly unlikely to spread to Asia or Europe or anywhere outside Africa. Stop spreading false information.

 

The BBC is reporting that those tackling the problem in W. Africa say it's spreading faster than it can be contained and poses a major catastrophe.

 

False information ?

[chaiyapoon]

I just hope the thai authorities have got their act together on this one,

The WHO say its spreading faster than the efforts to contain it and it has demonstrated its ability to spread by air travel unlike previous outbreaks.

Lets hope it never gets into the local fruit bat population its natural host because there are plenty here in some areas.

Inspite of the training and precautions taken over 60 heath workers including doctors have died tending the sick probably due to limited hygiene and facilities available in many parts of west africa where fatalities can reach as high as 90% of those who catch the virus.

 

Lets hope those trying to keep this out of Thailand remain vigilent.

[hawker9000]

http://www.newsweek.com/taxis-planes-and-viruses-how-deadly-ebola-can-spread-262486?piano_t=1

 

This article from Newsweek spells out the fact that Ebola does not spread through the air (but rather via bodily fluids such as blood, vomit & diarrhea), but does mention a woman traveling via "communal taxi" with five others who contracted the disease, subsequently all dying from it.  The "original case" ("original" in the sense of the spread of the disease from Guinea to Liberia) was a woman from Liberia who contracted the disease during a "market visit" across the border into Guinea.  The woman in the communal taxi was her sister (who had been caring for her, became ill herself, and then wanted to be with her husband...) travelling to Monrovia (then taking a mototaxi cross-country from there) to visit her husband who worked at the Firestone Rubber Plantation.  They're still looking for the mototaxi driver...  The article doesn't mention what happened to the husband on the plantation. 

 

If it's not airborne, then what bodily fluids would have been shared among a group of taxi riders?  Unless a matter of shared food (maybe), such a scenario doesn't sound that much different from long-distance plane travel tucked in next to, or possibly even just near, an infected fellow passenger...  And indeed the focus of the article is an infected Liberian-American arriving passenger on a flight to Lagos, Nigeria.  The article mentions WHO plans to trace every passenger on that flight...   Indeed, the title of the Article is 'Taxis, Planes, and Viruses: How Deadly Ebola Can Spread'. 

 

As of the time of writing of the article, there've been no actions to limit travel within the region (which I presume refers to West Africa;  Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria...).

 

I understand they're saying Ebola is not an airborne disease, or even easily communicable, but I'm not sure I can accept air travel being riskless...   And this is one deadly disease!

 

 

Edited August 1, 2014 by hawker9000

[noitom]

The Thais conducted inspections on "285" people. How did they perform these inspections? Where did they get these Lyle flying foxes that they "conducted" tests on? How many Thais do you think foolishly keep these animals as pets or illegally smuggle them and trade in them?