Joe Soap

With Ebola and other viruses “contact” in medicine, it does not mean what people think it means in ordinary conversation. It does not mean you have to rub blood into an open wound like a movie scene. Ebola virus disease spreads through infected body fluids: vomit, diarrhea, blood, sweat, saliva, semen, contaminated bedding, clothing, needles, and especially through caregiving and burial rituals. The viral load becomes enormous late in the illness. Intact skin is actually a poor barrier once you add real human behavior: People touch their eyes, nose, and mouth constantly. Tiny unnoticed abrasions are everywhere. Caregivers clean vomit and diarrhea repeatedly. Families hold and wash bodies before burial. Clinics without gloves, bleach, running water, or PPE become amplification points. One infected patient can contaminate multiple caregivers, who then infect households. That is why four health workers dying is such a dangerous sign in an outbreak. Hospitals become transmission hubs when infection control breaks down. And remember: Ebola does not need to be airborne to be devastating. Cholera isn’t airborne either. Neither is HIV. Transmission efficiency depends on circumstance, viral load, infrastructure, and human behavior — not Hollywood definitions of contagion.

San Diego Islamic Center Attack Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist: "Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured in the terrible attack at the Islamic Center in San Diego, and with the emergency services who responded." 📰⬇️