AZ man ignores his doctor's order, may now be quarantined for life

[alnorth]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/03/quarantined_for.html

Apparently this guy has some horrible deadly mutated strain of tuberculosis, and the doctors told him he must continue treatment and wear a mask anytime he is outside his house for the rest of his life or until cured.

However, after he stopped taking the medicine and started eating out publicly without the mask, the cops grabbed him. He is now confined in a hospital, under guard in a special isolated room with controlled air flow, etc. Because he apparently can no longer be trusted to take care of himself and voluntarily self-quarantine, the doctors have now said that his disease has become resistant to treatment and mutated to the point where it is too risky to allow him out of confinement until he dies or is cured.

What do you think? The guy says he was confused and didnt understand how serious it was, but if I was in this situation I sure as hell would do every damn thing the doctor told me to avoid a possible confinement for life.

[jidar]

That's the breaks, if he's deadly and needs to be quarantined that's just how it is.

I mean you're not going to let the guy walk around if he could pass a fatal disease on to people through the air.

[Valiant]

Is it PC to say ship him to the middle east???

[Ebolapox]

eh, shoulda listened to the doctor--they generally know what they're talking about

[kstater]

Could he be considered a Darwin candidate?

[Rain Man]

That's an amazing story. I didn't know that stuff like this happened. I hope he gets a lot of cable channels.

[chagrin]

Pretty creepy, he's patient Zero for some mysterious strain of the marburg virus, WE'RE DOOMED!!

[Skip Towne]

Is it PC to say ship him to the middle east???
:LOL: Rep

[Dartgod]

You guys are slipping up.

A bowl of antifreeze should cure him.

[eazyb81]

Doesn't everyone get immunized for tuberculosis these days?

[Ebolapox]

That's an amazing story. I didn't know that stuff like this happened. I hope he gets a lot of cable channels.

it happens, but it's very rare

[Ebolapox]

Pretty creepy, he's patient Zero for some mysterious strain of the marburg virus, WE'RE DOOMED!!

marburg virus?!?

I'd think you'd pick one of the strains of ebola--after all, ebola zaire kills around 90% of people who get it, as opposed to the 25% that marburg kills

fun fact: marburg hemmorhagic fever was named after a town in germany, marburg, that had an outbreak of marburg (in the family of viruses known as filoviridae) in 1967--five out of 19 people who were exposed to green monkey tissue died

so it's lethal, but not as lethal as other viruses you could've used

[chagrin]

marburg virus?!?

I'd think you'd pick one of the strains of ebola--after all, ebola zaire kills around 90% of people who get it, as opposed to the 25% that marburg kills

fun fact: marburg hemmorhagic fever was named after a town in germany, marburg, that had an outbreak of marburg (in the family of viruses known as filoviridae) in 1967--five out of 19 people who were exposed to green monkey tissue died

so it's lethal, but not as lethal as other viruses you could've used

That was my "Millennium" reference, sorry

[Ebolapox]

Is it PC to say ship him to the middle east???

there's a problem with that... with air travel being what it is now, any form of biological warfare could VERY EASILY backfire on us-- yeah, it would kill a lot of them (that's not morbid, is it?), but if just one infected person catches one of thousands of flights to ANYWHERE in the 'western' world, spreads it to a couple of people traveling other places, then you have a possible pandemic on your hands

which aren't good for the human race period... the last few 'true' pandemics were in 1918 (swine flu, of which avian flu is related) and europe in the fourteenth century--bubonic plague... you think people panic at the threat of terrorism? just imagine how much people would panic if people were dying by the millions worldwide and our infrastructure collapsed under the weight of unpreparedness (one can never be ready enough for a global plague)

[Ebolapox]

That was my "Millennium" reference, sorry

eh, sorry-- I'm too much of a science geek to let a virus reference like that slip :p

[oldandslow]

there's a problem with that... with air travel being what it is now, any form of biological warfare could VERY EASILY backfire on us-- yeah, it would kill a lot of them (that's not morbid, is it?), but if just one infected person catches one of thousands of flights to ANYWHERE in the 'western' world, spreads it to a couple of people traveling other places, then you have a possible pandemic on your hands

which aren't good for the human race period... the last few 'true' pandemics were in 1918 (swine flu, of which avian flu is related) and europe in the fourteenth century--bubonic plague... you think people panic at the threat of terrorism? just imagine how much people would panic if people were dying by the millions worldwide and our infrastructure collapsed under the weight of unpreparedness (one can never be ready enough for a global plague)

Excellent post.

Further, the question is not "if" it will happen, but when.

The largest pandemic ever, however, happened on this continent. Native Americans were not overrun by superior tech - but by animal domestication. Europeans had more immunity to small pox (which came from cattle) than Native Americans (who had no immunity because they had no cattle to domesticate and thereby had not evolved in a way to prevent mass deaths.) There are some pretty good estimates out there that say 75-100 million Indians died after contact with Europeans.

[Demonpenz]

doctors, pharmacutical companies are out of control, they want to take your freedom, the same thing happened to my godson. We gave him some herbal medicine told the cops to **** off, got a pitbull and tivo'd some UFC and he has been fine since

[KC Kings]

doctors, pharmacutical companies are out of control, they want to take your freedom, the same thing happened to my godson. We gave him some herbal medicine told the cops to **** off, got a pitbull and tivo'd some UFC and he has been fine since
ROFL
I usually understand BD's point of view, but this was pretty funny.

[jspchief]

Doesn't everyone get immunized for tuberculosis these days?Have you seen some of the posts about immunization on this site?

[BIG_DADDY]

doctors, pharmacutical companies are out of control, they want to take your freedom, the same thing happened to my godson. We gave him some herbal medicine told the cops to **** off, got a pitbull and tivo'd some UFC and he has been fine since

That BD sounds like one cool mother ****er!! ROFL

[Chief Chief]

Let's all pitch in and buy him airfare and tickets to the next 2 games between the Faders and Bonkos!

[StcChief]

Waiting for the law suits against this guy. when somebody get's sick.

by then he will be dead.

[chagrin]

eh, sorry-- I'm too much of a science geek to let a virus reference like that slip :p


Yeah, I can dig it; in the show, it was a hybrid of the Marburg that 100% fatal, pretty cool TV show - glad to know that the Marburg doesn't actually make you sweat blod, umm...or does it?

[Ebolapox]

Yeah, I can dig it; in the show, it was a hybrid of the Marburg that 100% fatal, pretty cool TV show - glad to know that the Marburg doesn't actually make you sweat blod, umm...or does it?

here's a list of the symptoms according to the cdc (they're usually pretty reliable)

After an incubation period of 5-10 days, the onset of the disease is sudden and is marked by fever, chills, headache, and myalgia. Around the fifth day after the onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach), may occur. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhea then may appear. Symptoms become increasingly severe and may include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, and multi-organ dysfunction.

Because many of the signs and symptoms of Marburg hemorrhagic fever are similar to those of other infectious diseases, such as malaria or typhoid fever, diagnosis of the disease can be difficult, especially if only a single case is involved.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/marburg/qa.htm

interesting stuff... if my memory serves right, another 'symptom' of most hemorrhagic fevers is 'crashing and bleeding out,' in other words... going into cardiac arrest, your body shutting down (obviously), and spewing virus-riddled blood out of every body opening simultaneously... so it's not sweating blood, but it's damned close

FTR: if you're interested in a virus (or disease) with a 100% fatality rate, look no further than untreated rabies (if I recall correctly, I read that a few years back)... ebola-zaire kills as many as 95% of people who contract it as well (not 100%, but close in some instances)

the thing that's scary about a virus to me is the ones that don't have such a high fatality rate... the most lethal outbreaks and killers in history have been caused by viruses that killed a relatively 'small' percent of those who got it, yet it was easily spread... e.g., smallpox (30% fatality), plague (all variants: Mortality 50-90% if untreated; 15% when diagnosed and treated... if memory serves, this rate is brought up due to the fact that pneumonic plague and septicimic plague are 75% and 100% fatal respectively, and bubonic is around 30-50%)

[PastorMikH]

Dude gets a major infection/illness that cannot be treated, can be extremely contagious, and quite capable of becoming a serious epidemic that could kill thousands to millions, I have NO problem at all with him being quaranteened.


Stinks to be him, but if he had listened to the doctor and followed treatments instead of stopping part way through and allowing the tuberculosis to mutate into a antibiotic-resistent strain he'd still have his freedom.


In our medically advanced society we seem to forget the fact that if people with such illnesses are not a part of society it greatly reduces the chance of the illness to spread. There's a reason why homes used to be quaranteened, leper colonies existed and so on.