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Pets and Ebola
#1
The Ebola scare has hit North America so there is a lot of talk about transmission. There are actual active cases in the southern USA.

This brings up the issue of pets and the danger of them spreading Ebola. Experts say it is very unlikely that a pet could transmit the disease.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/life.../17369241/

There is certainly no history of transmission by pets in Africa. Primates and bats would be the big danger. A sick person here is not going to come into contact with a bat after they become sick. We do not have wild Apes of any kind.
The important thing is to know that your pet can't make you sick.

That means the nurse's dog in Spain was killed for no reason.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ities.html

It figures that they would react this way without thinking it through.
Calm and reason will help more to contain the spread of Ebola than gut level reactions.
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Catherine

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#2
I was very sad about poor Excalibur -the Spanish nurse's dog. Her husband did all he could to save him, and got incredible support from so many people. Sad outcome however. I wish they had decided to quarantine him instead. However I suppose the authorities were concerned about him being a possible 'carrier' without developing symptoms.
I hope we will go on to learn more about how the virus is spread, and which animals can be carriers- and which not. To save other peoples' animal companions in the future.
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#3
Dogs have not been shown to be carriers of Ebola. If they were the transmission in Africa would be different. They have lots of dogs and many of them roam freely. Ebola tends to spread more in Hospitals.

Quarantining and one and anything is a good idea. The world needs to be consistent if we want to contain this. Spain killed a harmless dog. In the USA a nurse with Ebola got on a plane and flew across the country.

Flights into affected areas probably should be cancelled until the epidemic dies out. We know what to do, but we do not do it. Instead we make a big show of killing a dog. That does not make me feel safer.
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Catherine

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#4
I agree Catherine. Too much emphasis upon the dog....not enough care when it came to that nurse boarding that plane! -And other breaches of hygiene....such as workers hosing down the pavement outside the Texas victim's house! With no precautions taken! Not even rudimentary face-masks....and the public free to walk by!
I happen to know what a pressure-washer does, having used one recently. It renders every little bit of everything stuck to the ground into minute droplets which fly through the air!
Yet authorities chose to suspect the dog!!
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#5
I hadn't heard about the pressure washer incident. That could have serious consequences. People do not really understand about viruses and transmission. I wonder how much some of the nurses know.

I wonder how a nurse exposed to Ebola could ever think of travelling by plane. She went to visit family. How could you risk your family like that.

When I had the swine flu I stayed home for two weeks because that was the infectious period. I wish the person who gave it to me had done the same.

It is easier to make a big public show of killing a dog then to do the ongoing little things that would prevent virus transmission.Smiley13
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Catherine

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