Khross wrote:
You guys are focused too much on human infection vectors to see the problem. If Ebola gets into American bat populations, then outbreaks will occur in other places, primarily because the bats are going to infect other carrier fauna that humans frequently encounter. What's the probability an infected bat bites a human? Pretty low. What's the probability that an infected bat gets eaten on a pig farm? And what happens with it gets into an American bacon mill?
How frequently do pigs eat bats, particularly farm-fed pigs? Yes, they're omnivorous but I don't believe they frequently catch and eat bats. Where is the actual information on transmission of Ebola through food - processed food, not African bush meat. Is there any actual evidence the Ebola is resilient enough to survive the process that turns a farm pig into supermarket bacon, and the time between the pig receiving the virus and the human?
Quote:
We don't want Ebola to escape into the wild in the United States precisely we won't be able to control fauna infection vectors. You guys are worried about direct infections to human as opposed to the actual spread among carrier fauna. And there are fauna types in the United States that do not exist in West Africa (and vice versa). And here's another scary thought ...
Quote:
Dogs are non-presenting carriers. They don't get sick. My dogs are good for a bat or two a year each.
Do your dogs bite? Normally, humans bitten by animals are immediately taken for medical treatment; and dogs that bite are generally heavily contained, or put down.
Furthermore, what exactly do you suggest anyone do about it? If infected aliens come into Texas they aren't too likely to get bitten by a mosquito in an airport. They ARE, however, likely to get bitten by a mosquito sneaking through the brush, and there's pretty much nothing to be done about that. They've already entered the US and it isn't like the Border Patrol can catch the mosquito, or stop it from biting the alien. Heck, the same mosquito could bite them while they're waiting on the river to load a raft, then get eaten by a bat that lands on our side. They can apprehend the alien, but it's already done at that point and now the alien himself is exactly the problem I talked about.
If Ebola gets into the fauna population it will have to be handled basically the same way rabies is - animal bites will require prompt, intensive screening and treatment. Stopping it from getting into the fauna population by means of West Africans crossing illegally is not something we can really control.