Ebola, are the cruiselines ready?

[SPacificbound]

Of course this can happen on any vacation, and any airplane or hotel room.

 

I guess they could check your pass port for recent travel, but that would be profiling, and we all know people would be in an uproar, if they got wind of that.

 

You can live your life in fear, or just take it one day at a time.

 

If they check everyone's passport it is not profiling.

[luddite]

If they check everyone's passport it is not profiling.

 

Well, profiling isn't a bad thing.

[cruising cockroach]

Here's a translated interview with the scientist who first identified the disease

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

[sail7seas]

How thorough is the health check for returning crew members after their home leaves. Many are from countries where Ebola is an issue.

 

 

 

I have never met any crew from the West African countries where ebola outbreaks are currently an issue. Doesn't mean there aren't any but has anyone here met crew who come from Liberia or Sierra Leone?

 

HAL has a great many from Indonesia and Philippines but I have yet to hear of there being epidemic in those countries.

 

 

 

[SPacificbound]

Well, profiling isn't a bad thing.

 

I agree with you.

 

Profiling, instead of having passengers take out their 1 qt. Ziplock of 3.4oz liquid/gels etc. and some of the other TSA/Homeland Security hoop jumping, would be ever so much more effective.

 

Obviously I'm referring to safety in that last comment, but it would also be a more effective in the Ebola outbreak, then asking where travelers have been. Don't ask, look at the passport!

[BruceMuzz]

How thorough is the health check for returning crew members after their home leaves. Many are from countries where Ebola is an issue.

 

The CDC website has a very informative report on all known Ebola Cases on Planet Earth from 1976 up to the current outbreak.

-Zaire 634

-Sudan 335

-England 1

-USA 5

-Philippines 9

-Gabon 214

-Ivory Coast 1

-South Africa 2

-Russia 2

-Uganda 591

-Congo 537

 

Since the recent outbreaks, they have added:

Guinea

Liberia

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

 

In the 38 years that I have managed cruise ships, the only crewmembers I have met from the countries on the CDC List above are:

-USA; Latest case 2014 (Last week!!)

-England; Latest case 1976

-Russia; Latest case 2004

-Philippines; Latest case 2008

-South Africa; Latest case 1996

 

It appears that the only crewmembers we need to worry about are coming from the USA.

Edited October 5, 2014 by BruceMuzz

[BeagleOne]

Maybe we should all start cruising in big individual bubbles like that idiot who had to be rescued by the USCG off Florida!

[sail7seas]

Dr. Richard Sacra, who contracted ebola in Liberia and was treated and released from hospital in Nebraska, was admitted to hospital in MA tonight. News report was he went to a Boston hospital with respiratory illness, was transferred to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, MA and is currently in isolation and being again tested for ebola. To date, they are reporting he is being treated for respiratory illness and do not think he still/again has ebola but test results pending.

 

A Dallas hospital sent an ebola patient home when he showed up at ER requesting treatment and ultimately admitted and isolated him.

 

Now a Nebraska Hospital has been in the news again as having treated and released an ebola patient. NOT to say they have done anything wrong but it makes me a little queasy Dr. Sacra has been out and about in the population and apparently is still ill enough to require hospitalization and isolation.

 

[lovesublime]

The CDC website has a very informative report on all known Ebola Cases on Planet Earth from 1976 up to the current outbreak.

-Zaire 634

-Sudan 335

-England 1

-USA 5

-Philippines 9

-Gabon 214

-Ivory Coast 1

-South Africa 2

-Russia 2

-Uganda 591

-Congo 537

 

Since the recent outbreaks, they have added:

Guinea

Liberia

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

 

In the 38 years that I have managed cruise ships, the only crewmembers I have met from the countries on the CDC List above are:

-USA; Latest case 2014 (Last week!!)

-England; Latest case 1976

-Russia; Latest case 2004

-Philippines; Latest case 2008

-South Africa; Latest case 1996

 

It appears that the only crewmembers we need to worry about are coming from the USA.

 

 

 

It figures you would pin this latest outbreak on Americans. Everything (according to you) is our fault. I and many others are onto your continuous anti-American rhetoric. You may be fooling yourself, but you're not fooling anyone else. Believe it or not, North Americans (as you like to put it) are not the cause of all the world's problems. Grow Up.

[navybankerteacher]

Perhaps the appearance of Ebola will be enough to finally inspire a critical mass of the cruising population to wash their hands - thoroughly and frequently, and to seriously follow other procedures long suggested to protect against Noro; which, like Ebola, is largely spread by contact with fluids/substances from infected persons.

 

Concern about Ebola might have the side effect of minimizing Noro.

[luddite]

The CDC website has a very informative report on all known Ebola Cases on Planet Earth from 1976 up to the current outbreak.

-Zaire 634

-Sudan 335

-England 1

-USA 5

-Philippines 9

-Gabon 214

-Ivory Coast 1

-South Africa 2

-Russia 2

-Uganda 591

-Congo 537

 

Since the recent outbreaks, they have added:

Guinea

Liberia

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

 

In the 38 years that I have managed cruise ships, the only crewmembers I have met from the countries on the CDC List above are:

-USA; Latest case 2014 (Last week!!)

-England; Latest case 1976

-Russia; Latest case 2004

-Philippines; Latest case 2008

-South Africa; Latest case 1996

 

It appears that the only crewmembers we need to worry about are coming from the USA.

 

:) It also appears to be not an epidemic.

[Seago2]

There's an excellent book by Gina Kolata, science writer for the NYTimes, called "Flu". Outstanding book for those interested in epidemiology and outbreaks such as Ebola.

 

I have to admit that one of the first things I thought after the Dallas case was: cruise ships, not "if" but "when".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Seago2]

Dr. Richard Sacra, who contracted ebola in Liberia and was treated and released from hospital in Nebraska, was admitted to hospital in MA tonight. News report was he went to a Boston hospital with respiratory illness, was transferred to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, MA and is currently in isolation and being again tested for ebola. To date, they are reporting he is being treated for respiratory illness and do not think he still/again has ebola but test results pending.

 

 

 

A Dallas hospital sent an ebola patient home when he showed up at ER requesting treatment and ultimately admitted and isolated him.

 

 

 

Now a Nebraska Hospital has been in the news again as having treated and released an ebola patient. NOT to say they have done anything wrong but it makes me a little queasy Dr. Sacra has been out and about in the population and apparently is still ill enough to require hospitalization and isolation.

 

 

 

 

 

I am wondering why he is hospitalized for a respiratory virus and pink eye. Perhaps his immune system is compromised at this point?

 

I'm in my car on Tapatalk so I can't find and link an article I read this morning but it was excellent- it was an interview with the doctor who discovered Ebola. He said that the best thing for the virus would be if people lived longer while suffering from it and that would be a likely mutation.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sail7seas]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz View Post

The CDC website has a very informative report on all known Ebola Cases on Planet Earth from 1976 up to the current outbreak.

-Zaire 634

-Sudan 335

-England 1

-USA 5

-Philippines 9

-Gabon 214

-Ivory Coast 1

-South Africa 2

-Russia 2

-Uganda 591

-Congo 537

 

Since the recent outbreaks, they have added:

Guinea

Liberia

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

 

In the 38 years that I have managed cruise ships, the only crewmembers I have met from the countries on the CDC List above are:

-USA; Latest case 2014 (Last week!!)

-England; Latest case 1976

-Russia; Latest case 2004

-Philippines; Latest case 2008

-South Africa; Latest case 1996

 

It appears that the only crewmembers we need to worry about are coming from the USA

 

 

 

 

 

:) It also appears to be not an epidemic.

 

 

The current epidemic is in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Bruce Muzz entered no number of cases beside those countries in his post. He listed those countries but the epidemic numbers are not shown. There is no question there is an epidemic currently raging in those countries.

 

[deckchair traveler]

A couple of months ago I suggested that fears about ebola affecting the Capetown to London cruise were overblown. I'm not so sure anymore.

 

Since then, the 'authorities' (medical and governmental) have been wrong about the progression of this outbreak (they said it would burn itself out by mid-autumn), they have been wrong about it spreading outside Africa (they said it was extremely unlikely to come to North America and if, it did, would be well handled), and they continue to be wrong about the value of airline screening procedures.

 

We now know all their assurances were false. The epidemic is raging and considered out of control, it has arrived in North America and been poorly handled by medical authorities, it cannot be screened for on airlines except for people at a late stage of infection. And the US government is too politically correct to halt flights from affected countries. Fortunately, African countries, as well as Britain and France, have banned such flights.

 

Does this mean ebola poses a significant danger to our upcoming cruise. I don't think so, but I am not nearly so confident of authorities either getting a prompt handle on it or of protecting us.

 

One other point. Many people report that ebola can only be passed via bodily fluids and intimate contact. Yes, and no. Fact is, you don't need direct contact with an infectious person. A cough or sneeze within a couple of meters is sufficient. But worse, you need only touch something that has been lately touched by an infectious person, or that an infectious person has coughed or sneezed on, to pick it up. The virus can remain infectious for several hours out of body.

 

Journalists reporting on the disease in west Africa are instructed to touch NOTHING when they leave their compounds. And if they do inadvertently touch anything, they must immediately disinfect themselves. And still we now read of an American photojournalist who picked it up.

 

I will be keeping the above in mind while in African ports, and you can be sure we will have bottles of hand sanitizer with us whenever we leave the ship, as well as taking full advantage of the mandatory hand sanitizers at the gangplank on returning to the ship. I hope others will too.

 

Happy cruising.

[nbsjcruiser]

What bothers me is the the man in Texas went to the ER 2 days before and was sent home. My thing is what about the people that were in the ER with him that day. Did they quarantine them?

I know the ER where I live is very busy everyday. They are saying that the quarantine is only about 115 people. The ER handles a lot of people and this number seems low to me. Did they also disinfect the room that he was in? What about the people that used the room after him? All they need to do is miss one person. There is always a patient 0 that starts it off. Sars, Flu, and Noro were all started by just 1 case.

[sail7seas]

What bothers me is the the man in Texas went to the ER 2 days before and was sent home. My thing is what about the people that were in the ER with him that day. Did they quarantine them?

I know the ER where I live is very busy everyday. They are saying that the quarantine is only about 115 people. The ER handles a lot of people and this number seems low to me. Did they also disinfect the room that he was in? What about the people that used the room after him? All they need to do is miss one person. There is always a patient 0 that starts it off. Sars, Flu, and Noro were all started by just 1 case.

 

I was thinking that, as well.

 

 

Also, I am confused about the repeated litany that we must have close contact with bodily fluids to be infected but I have yet to hear sneezes and coughs addressed as stated in the preceding post. I understands they say you can not 'breathe in the virus' like you can a common cold but what about touching the armrest where sneeze or cough droplets may have fallen?

 

 

Edited October 5, 2014 by sail7seas

[mapsmith]

I am really more worried about the Flu and EV-68. Both are spread by sneezing/coughing, etc.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/ev-d68.html

 

And, in the US, both are responsible for thousands of deaths each year.

Edited October 6, 2014 by mapsmith

[cruisecritiquer]

There's an excellent book by Gina Kolata, science writer for the NYTimes, called "Flu". Outstanding book for those interested in epidemiology and outbreaks such as Ebola.

 

I have to admit that one of the first things I thought after the Dallas case was: cruise ships, not "if" but "when".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article2503285.html

 

Fabiola Santiago: Miami can’t afford to not act on Ebola

BY FABIOLA SANTIAGOFSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM

10/03/2014 8:17 PM 10/04/2014 11:27 AM

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article2503285.html#storylink=cpy

[cruisecritiquer]

http://www.local10.com/news/teen-with-ebolalike-symptoms-quarantined/28961968 Edited October 6, 2014 by cruisecritiquer