West Africa Ebola-Biological Warfare Training Opportunity

[mvanwink5]

So, why send 4000... troops? Look, military strategists can postulate for a century and not get the real world insight that West Africa will give them. A tactician's dream come true (yes, yes, there is some modest danger to the troops, but sacrifices must be made). Cynical, unwarranted interpretation of the caring progressive intentions of the Obama team? They're not that smart might be the secondary dismissal? But, just look at the once in a lifetime military opportunity! And we do peace keeping all the time with troops... Who would question the motives of caring Progressives after all.

[D Tibbets]

Epidemiology studies of disease/ microbe spread has been tested and analyzed by the US, Russia, and probably others for for decades, even centuries. This is nothing new. Influenza provides a very useful disease for such studies. Even before the germ theory of infectious diseases, the spread of plague, small pox, etc. has been analyzed. Supposedly benign microbes have even been released purposefully to study their spread. When the USSR accidentally released weaponized Anthrax, they studied it's spread as they tried to contain it. Such study is certainly needed if you wish to pursue germ warfare, or preferably, to understand the epidemiology so that the spread can be halted, or at least slowed to such an extent that other measures can be put in place (such as immunizations, production of appropriate antibiotics, antivirals, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare

I point this out to emphasize the fallacy or your premise and to highlight your bias.

Dan Tibbets

[mvanwink5]

Nothing can really substitute for live fire testing, unfortunately. That said, I do not envy those who make the decisions to put real men in harms way, nor the men who make the choice to be put in harms way. And there are other sound reasons to put those men there such as it is a huge logistical effort to make headway to contain this horrific tragedy. And it is a deadly risk to those men as no amount of prior training can remove risk from such a deadly agent.

Finally, there's plenty of hindsight to come later, even as it is appearing now. I am sure we are all praying for the quick resolution of the deadly outbreak, I know I am.

[hanelyp]

I see shortcoming in influenza as a model of epidemic spread, human behavioral response. Medical personal, victims of Ebola in Africa, and surrounding people appear to be reacting decidedly different than in a routine influenza case, altering transmission patterns. There's also a difference in transmission mechanism.

Though I believe that even the experts aren't honestly entirely sure what it takes to transmit Ebola, there being so few cases before the current outbreak and most of those so isolated from proper study.

[paperburn1]

Using the influences spread model is not accurate. In reality the model that needs to be used as a flight model. You have to take in account that people in the zone of contamination want to leave and have the means to leave zone of contamination. Fortunately due to the poor financial status of most people in the hottest zones their major motor transportation is limited to ground travel and not air travel. This is been the major factor in preventing Ebola spread. If The virus was to come more easily transferable by aerosol and started getting into the higher economic population centers than we would have a huge problem to deal with. Right now it is technically no worse than a very bad influenza epidemic that is confined to a small area.