Aug 13 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday reported 128 new Ebola cases and 56 deaths in West Africa in the two days to August 11, raising the death toll from the worst ever outbreak of the disease to 1,069.
Since the outbreak was identified in March, there have been a total of 1,975 confirmed, probable and suspected Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, the United Nations health agency said in a statement. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
If EVD arrives in dense populated city such as New York city, the hospitals could be overwhelmed and not sure if health care workers will choose to serve the public or run to the hills?...
If we don't implement restrictions on flights from west Africa and also implement scanning measures for incoming flights, then it is only a matter of time...one has to fight this disease one way or other....there in Africa or here in usa...
Isaacs of Samaritan's Purse said that a huge problem will be persuading African communities to abandon the traditional practice of washing the body and kissing the corpse immediately after death, when the body is most infectious.
He said aid workers have been attacked when trying to intervene, and that some physicians in Liberia even mocked the existence of the Ebola virus, shunning protection around patients.
=======
This thing won't end anytime soon, but I really don't see it spreading beyond Africa, except for sporadic cases.
Published August 08, 2014 Associated Press Facebook49 Twitter113
People walk past a billboard encouraging people suffering from symptoms linked to Ebola to present themselves at a health facility for treatment in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. While the Ebola virus outbreak has now reached four countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone account for more than 60 percent of the deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak that emerged in March has claimed at least 932 lives. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff) WASHINGTON – U.S. health authorities have eased safety restrictions on an experimental drug to treat Ebola, a move that could clear the way for its use in patients infected with the deadly virus.
Canadian drugmaker Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration modified a hold recently placed on the company's drug after safety issues emerged in human testing.
ADVERTISEMENT The company has a $140 million contract with the U.S. government to develop its drug, TKM-Ebola, which targets the genetic material of Ebola. But last month the FDA halted a small study of the injection in adults to request additional safety information.
Tekmira said Thursday the agency "verbally confirmed" changes to the hold that may allow the company to make the drug available, although it has yet to be proven as safe and effective.
Two Americans diagnosed with Ebola recently received a different experimental drug called ZMapp, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. of San Diego. It is aimed at boosting the immune system's efforts to fight off Ebola and is made from antibodies produced by lab animals exposed to parts of the virus.
The U.S. aid workers were first treated in Liberia. And while the FDA must grant permission to use experimental treatments in the United States, it does not have authority over the use of such a drugs in other countries.
The FDA's move Thursday comes amid an Ebola outbreak in West Africa that health officials warn could sicken more people than all previous outbreaks of the disease combined. More than 1,700 people have been sickened in the current outbreak, which began in March. Nearly 1,000 have died, according to the World Health Organization.
Currently, there are no licensed drugs or vaccines for the deadly disease. Several are in various stages of development, but none have been rigorously tested in humans.
The FDA in March granted Tekmira "fast track" status for its Ebola drug, a designation designed to speed up approval of high-priority drugs by granting companies extra meetings with FDA scientists. Early studies of TKM-Ebola in monkeys suggested it could block high doses of the Ebola virus. But on July 21, the company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, announced the FDA had halted a small dosing study of the drug in 28 healthy adults. The company said regulators had questions about a type of drug reaction that can cause nausea, chills, low blood pressure and shortness of breath.
Tekmira's CEO Mark Murray praised the FDA for modifying the restriction on Thursday.
"We have been closely watching the Ebola virus outbreak and its consequences, and we are willing to assist with any responsible use of TKM-Ebola," Murray said. "The foresight shown by the FDA removes one potential roadblock to doing so."
FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said she could not confirm the company's announcement since FDA regulations bar the agency from disclosing information about experimental drugs. She did note that the agency places clinical holds on studies based on the risks and benefits to patients. Patients in the Tekmira study were healthy volunteers.
Tekmira's U.S.-traded shares jumped 89 cents, or 6.7 percent, to close at $14.27 in regular trading. They climbed another $1.18 cents, or 8.3 percent, to $15.45 in afterhours trading.
In my experience the early figures are always difficult to judge on. MERS had a similar start. Smaller but similar. You just don't know how well these figures were documented. We found with MERS the government held back on publishing them. Remember the sacking of the health minister and then figures jumped over night. There was other odd reporting before this too.
400 next week is not good, but its not too scary.
The most likely reporting scenario is that the first hundred cases are under reported. Factors behind this may be lack of understanding of why people died and a death is put down to the flu. Some townships dont have running water, so reporting out of these areas is terrible.
Then conversely. Recently every international emergency worker and their dog is just now starting to assist in these affected areas. This will have the effect of bumping up the numbers. So its early days. The numbers will be all over the shop.
Cobber you said if next week we are up to 5000 cases, then we have a problem. You've seen the numbers of the last 3 weeks. The new deaths reported. Roughly reported every 4 days. Those numbers were roughly 12, 25, 50, 100 and 150 (over three days). That is a trend that will almost certainly trend back down because if it doesn't, that's 40 million by Holloween. If the next numbers-release in a couple days is 400 additional dead then what do you make of that?
"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep" "Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
These numbers are increasing quite rapidly. I wonder if its one of those cases when its not until the virus is a problem do the authorities actually start counting. We found similar thing with other outbreaks. Its still early days.
There seems to be a bit of hysteria around Ebola. I know the general public $hits them selves when the hear the word Ebola. There also seems to be a bit of concern by people here too. Its easy to get swept up is the circus... (i have in the past too)
Some flu noobs may be asking them selves, when is it time to lock the gate, get out of Dodge or buy copious amounts of baked beans?
In my experience (several years here) and having debated the topic many times. Here's what to look for:
1) Consistent logarithmic growth of new cases and deaths. NB you must take into consideration lag effects such as poor reporting etc. If next week we are up to 5000 cases, then we may have a problem.
2) The next thing to look for is clustering in remote western countries. For example: If there is a case pop up in Australia, and it forms a 3 or 4 person cluster. Then we need to be getting concerned. If there are other similar cases in other advanced countries. Time to start packing and planning.
If there are consistent clusters forming in Western countries. Time to GTFOO Dodge!
At the moment this hasn't been the case. The virus is in the third world where basic hygiene is non-existent. Education is a luxury. We shouldn't base our fears on anything from these areas.
I think the significant words here are "can" and "easily". Both statements seem deliberately fuzzy, but they are both essentially true - consider that if you combine them you get "a simple handshake can transmit the disease, (but) it's not easily transmitted. Essentially true, if a little non specific. Don't put too much stock in soundbites like this. Consider that there was a time when everyone knew you could catch HIV from a door knob or handshake - something we now know to be patently untrue. The risk factors for HIV tend to result from much more intimate (no pun intended) contact with bodily fluids and blood than just a handshake - unsafe sex and shared needles specifically. Even then, it's estimated a needle stick with HIV infected blood carries only a 0.3% chance of catching it. It's not that easy to catch - I've had HIV positive blood on bare skin on two occasions that I'm aware of with no consequences. Hepatitis B is about as infectious as you can get - a drop of dried blood is sufficient to infect a huge number of people after a week on a hard surface, and yet there hasn't been a Hep B pandemic. Thankfully there's a vaccine available if you're in a position to get it. I've worked in isolation rooms with Hep B patients and the precautions will have you pulling your hair out. And for some reason, your nose always itches once you have your gloves, gown and face shield on. Go figure...
"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep" "Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
In order to catch HIV you need to be exposed to about 100,000 virus particles but that has spread world-wide. 1-10 is sufficient for ebola transmission.
Enough said.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
Lopper,I agree with you. There are to many healthcare workers in Africa that are getting and dieing of this disease.There has to be another mode of transmission that we have not notice yet.Johnray1
Development banks pledge $260 million to help Ebola-hit countries contain virus
Officials
said the World Bank will provide as much as $200 million, while the
African Development Bank has promised close to $60 million in funding to
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The U.S. will also increase its
support for the African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak, which
has killed nearly 900 people since February.
REUTERS
Tuesday, August 5, 2014, 9:42 AM
0
5
International development banks on Monday committed $260 million in
emergency loans for three West African countries hit by the deadly Ebola
virus as nearly 50 African leaders gathered in Washington for a
U.S.-hosted summit focusing on the region.
The World Bank said it would provide as much as $200 million in emergency funding to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
"I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop
this Ebola epidemic in its tracks," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim
said in a statement. "The international community needs to act fast to
contain and stop this Ebola outbreak," he added.
African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka told Reuters that
his bank would immediately disburse funds to the three countries, whose
health systems and resources have been strained by the outbreak. The
worst outbreak of Ebola ever has killed nearly 900 people since it began
in February.
Bank officials said the funding was close to $60 million.
The funding is in response to a $100 million plan launched by the World
Health Organization last week to tackle the epidemic. WHO chief
Margaret Chan said on Friday that Ebola was outpacing efforts to contain
it and warned of "catastrophic" consequences if the situation
deteriorated.
The United States will also provide more help to the affected countries
and to international agencies responding to the outbreak, providing
equipment and technical expertise, State Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki said on Monday.
Separately, the Pentagon on Monday said that a small U.S. military team
— made up of less than five uniformed and civilian personnel — was in
Liberia, where they helped set up a diagnostic laboratory related to the
disease and provided protective equipment and test kits to laboratory
personnel. A similar center was also established in Sierra Leone,
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters.
Senior State Department officials met with Guinean President Alpha
Conde and representatives from Liberia and Sierra Leone to discuss U.S.
support.
"The group identified national and regional priorities and held
intensive discussions on the types of assistance needed to mount an
effective response," the State Department said.
Liberia and Sierra Leone's presidents canceled their plans to attend
the summit to deal with the outbreak at home, although they have sent
delegations to the meetings.
The nearly 50 African leaders are attending the economic, security and diplomatic summit through Wednesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that the United States was
"taking the appropriate precautions" and that some participants at the
summit would be screened for exposure to the virus.
A second American aid worker who contracted the hemorrhagic virus while
helping fight the disease in West Africa was expected to arrive in
Atlanta on Tuesday, according to Christian mission group SIM USA.
Sierra Leone and Liberia deployed hundreds of troops on Monday under an emergency plan to fight the spread of the virus.
NEW YORK (AP) — As the Ebola outbreak
in West Africa grows, airlines around the globe are closely monitoring
the situation but have yet to make any drastic changes. Below are some
key questions about the disease, what airlines are doing and how safe it
is to fly.
Q: Why are airlines concerned?
A: Airlines quickly take passengers from one part
of the globe to another. One sick passenger on a plane could
theoretically infect hundreds of people who are connecting to flights to
dozens of other countries. Health and airline officials note, however,
that Ebola only spreads through direct contact. Outbreaks of diseases
that can spread through the air, such as the flu and severe acute
respiratory syndrome, or SARS, are more problematic for airlines.
Q: Should people travel to West Africa?
A: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
on Thursday issued a warning for Americans to avoid nonessential travel
to the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Q: Is Ebola deadly?
A: Very much so. If contracted, there is no vaccine
and no specific treatment. Ebola has a fatality rate of at least 60
percent. The World Health Organization estimated Monday that there have
been 887 deaths from the current outbreak.
Q: How is Ebola transmitted?
A: The virus only spreads through direct contact
with the blood or fluids of an infected person, according to the CDC. It
can also be spread through objects, such as needles, that have been
contaminated with infected fluids. No airborne transmission has been
documented.
Q: Do U.S. airlines fly to West Africa?
A: Delta Air Lines flies to Dakar, Senegal; Accra,
Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria. The airline also flies to Monrovia, Liberia,
but for unrelated business reasons previously announced it will cancel
that service at the end of September. Delta is letting passengers with
flights to the region in the next two weeks push back travel until the
end of the month. United Airlines also flies to Lagos, but has not
issued any travel waiver. American Airlines does not fly to Africa.
Q: What are U.S. airlines saying about it?
A: There have been no flight cancelations. All
three airlines said they are in regular communication with government
agencies and health officials and will follow their recommendations.
Q: What about airlines from other countries?
A: European carriers such as Air France-KLM,
British Airways and Lufthansa all fly to Western Africa from their hubs
in Paris, Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt.
Lufthansa notes that ‘‘there is no risk of getting
infected by the Ebola virus via air circulation during flight.’’ Crews
on Brussels Airlines flights have access to special thermoscans to check
passengers’ temperature, if they feel it’s necessary. And British
Airways has briefed all crew members flying to the region about the
‘‘causes and symptoms of Ebola.’’ The only airline, so far, to cancel
any flights is the Middle East airline Emirates. It has suspended its
service to Conakry, Guinea, until further notice. It is still flying to
Dakar.
Q: Are passengers leaving Africa being screened?
A: Since the outbreak erupted, the CDC has sent
about two dozen staffers in West Africa to help try to track cases, set
up emergency response operations and provide other help to control the
outbreak. Last week, CDC officials said the agency will send 50 more in
the next month. CDC workers in Africa also are helping to screen
passengers at airports, according to CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden.
Q: Is the U.S. government doing anything extra for arriving passengers?
A: Border patrol agents at Washington’s Dulles
International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International
Airport, in particular, are looking out for travelers who might have
been exposed to the virus. They’re watching for signs of fever,
achiness, sore throat, stomach pain, rash or red eyes. The CDC also has
staff at 20 U.S. airports and border crossings evaluating travelers with
signs of dangerous infectious diseases and isolating them when
necessary.
Q: Has the airline industry dealt with any outbreaks in the past?
A: In 2003, there was a global outbreak of severe
acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The disease was first reported in
Asia but quickly spread to more than two dozen countries in North
America, South America and Europe. Unlike Ebola, SARS can spread when an
infected person coughs or sneezes. During the 2003 outbreak, 8,098
people worldwide became sick with SARS; 774 of those died. Airports
started screening incoming passengers for fever. The disease was
devastating for airlines because fearful passengers stayed home.
__
With reports from AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, New York.
As the death toll from Ebola nears 900 in West Africa, medical
ethicists warn that US medical facilities and states have few plans in
place to allocate limited supplies of life-saving medications and
equipment such as ventilators if such a deadly outbreak were to occur
here.
Public health officials say it is unlikely the disease would spread
widely in the United States because infection control procedures and
protective gear are more advanced than in Africa. But the unprecedented
number of cases in Africa and the ease of travel have ethicists and
emergency preparedness experts pondering what-if scenarios.
With no vaccine or drugs to fend off Ebola, they say, an outbreak
could overwhelm hospitals as patients compete for supplies of
ventilators to help them breathe or beds in intensive care units. If an
experimental vaccine becomes available, its supply would be limited at
first — as were supplies of vaccine during the outbreak of the H1N1
“swine” flu in 2009 — and determining who would be the first to get it
in a national epidemic could cause widespread panic.
Only a few state health departments have established ethical
guidelines for rationing medical care in certain situations.
Massachusetts is not one of them, offering no guidance for how hospitals
should distribute immunizations or treatments in short supply,
according to the Department of Public Health.
“Imagine we have a pandemic in Boston with proven treatments that are
in limited supply,” said Dr. Robert Truog, director of Harvard Medical
School’s Center for Bioethics. “We have not adequately thought through
how to make the allocation decision of who will get it and who will
not.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning
for Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Guinea, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone, which have Ebola cases.
CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said on the CBS Sunday talk show “Face
the Nation” that it’s possible someone could travel to the United States
with Ebola and spread the virus to family members through personal
contact, but he doesn’t think “it’s in the cards that we would have
widespread Ebola in this country.”
Officials said Monday an ailing man, who had recently traveled to
West Africa, was being treated at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and
kept in isolation while tests for Ebola and other illnesses were
performed. New York City’s Health Department, however, issued a
statement saying that after consulting with Mount Sinai and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, it concluded the patient is unlikely
to have Ebola.
Ebola spreads through direct contact
with an infected person’s blood and other bodily fluids and is not as
contagious as airborne viruses such as the flu and the common cold.
Threats of supply shortages were real during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak and after last year’s Marathon bombing.
At Boston Children’s Hospital, physicians worried on the day of the
bombing that they might not have enough ICU beds or staff if 50 injured
children showed up at once. While that didn’t happen, “it was a little
bit of a wake-up call,” said Truog, who practices critical care medicine
at Children’s, “that we need more planning and to build consensus”
among public health officials, hospital doctors, patients, and their
families.
Hospitals did deal with a shortage of amputation kits in the days
after the bombing, said Atyia Martin, director of the Office of Public
Health Preparedness at the Boston Public Health Commission. While the
city has a “skeleton” plan to locate, purchase, and ship supplies from
other locations, it has “limitations,” she said, and can’t be used to
solve every shortage crisis.
Bioterrorism fears following the 2001 anthrax attacks led to hoarding
of the antibiotic Cipro, which is used to treat it, causing shortages
in some states. And amid an avian flu outbreak five years later,
concerns about a possible flu pandemic prompted then-Governor Mitt
Romney to ask Massachusetts legislators to appropriate $36.5 million to stockpile thousands of hospital beds, breathing machines, and doses of medication, but his request was turned down.
New York is one of only a handful of states that has a guideline
recommending how hospitals should allocate ventilators should a deadly
flu pandemic strike this country, similar to the one in 1918 that killed
675,000 Americans. “We use a scoring system that predicts the
likelihood of survival,” said Dr. Hassan Khouli, chief of the critical
care section and chair of the ethics committee at Mount Sinai Roosevelt
in New York City. Khouli serves on the state’s task force that is
updating the guideline to include children. “The ethical principle
driving this is to save the most lives.”
The CDC and Institute of Medicine have recommended ways to allocate
scarce vaccines and ventilators, but these are voluntary. The CDC
recommended, for example, that vaccines and anti-viral medications
should first be distributed during a flu epidemic to those who preserve
the “functioning of society” — vaccine makers, police officers, and
hospital workers — over those who are more likely to experience serious
complications, such as pregnant women.
Without a federal mandate, however, local health officials are more
likely to follow recommendations issued by their municipality or state,
said Arthur Caplan, head of the division of bioethics at New York
University Langone Medical Center in New York City, preferring to,
perhaps, distribute immunizations made by a local plant to pregnant
women in their community rather than shipping it to the military.
Many hospitals have ethics committees that could set policies for
patient triage if an outbreak results in dire shortages. “We’ve thought a
lot about this,” said Dr. Paul Biddinger, medical director for
emergency preparedness for Massachusetts General Hospital. “We’re
unlikely to end up in a circumstance where we don’t have enough
resources, but it’s not impossible.”
The hospital doesn’t have a specific policy for allocating
ventilators or medications and would likely turn to federal
recommendations, he added.
In practice, however, such guidelines may be tough to implement. “You
can have rules about taking sick people off of ventilators to give them
to someone else,” Caplan said. “But I don’t know that every doctor in a
crisis will be willing to follow them.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-outbreak-could-be-much-worse-than-thought/ CBS NewsAugust 5, 2014, 6:24 AM
Ebola outbreak could be much worse than thought
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus
in history could actually be much worse than the official death toll
reflects. Already, the World Health Organization says 887 people have
died, but a top doctor working at the heart of the outbreak in West
Africa says many cases are going unreported.
The senior doctor,
who works for a leading medical organization in Liberia, explained to
CBS News' Debora Patta that what has helped set this outbreak apart from
previous ones is the virus' spread in urban areas.
One of the
epicenters of the disease is the Liberian capital of Monrovia, home to
about a million people, or almost a quarter of the country's population.
The
doctor, who spoke to CBS News on condition of confidentiality, said the
disease is spinning out of control in Africa partly because it is
extremely difficult to contain it in a sprawling, congested city center.
Meanwhile, the second American missionary infected with the virus was on her way back to the U.S.
aboard a private jet Tuesday morning. Nancy Writebol was expected to
reach the isolation unit at the Emory University Hospital later in the
day. Her colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly, is already there. Both have been
given an experimental serum to try and treat the disease, and hopes have
been expressed over limited improvements in their condition.
Also,
officials at a hospital in New York city said a man admitted to the
facility Monday morning showing symptoms commonly associated with Ebola likely does not have the disease.
He had traveled recently to West Africa, but a senior doctor at Mt.
Sinai hospital told reporters the "odds are" his ailment is not linked
to the deadly virus.
The official Ebola death toll jumped from 729 to 887
on Monday as Liberia confirmed dozens of new cases, but the doctor told
us he believes the real number is at least 50 percent higher.
He
put this down to the fact that people are scared to report Ebola cases,
and have instead been hiding sick relatives and burying the
still-contagious bodies of the dead in secret.
Traditions in
parts of West Africa involve touching bodies before burial --
potentially putting unknown numbers of family and community members at
risk.
The Liberian government has ordered that the corpses of all Ebola victims be cremated.
Two
treatment centers have been set up in Monrovia; JFK Hospital, which is
right in the middle of the city, and the ELWA (Eternal Love Wins Africa)
center, run by a Christian charity, in a suburb not far from the
center.
As Western aid organizations have pulled many workers out
of West Africa, control of the treatment centers has been handed back to
a large degree to the Liberian government, which has already said
trying to control the outbreak is beyond its capability.
The
international non-profit group Doctors Without Borders has issued a
statement saying it is over-stretched and under-staffed on the ground in
the region, and its workers still don't have a full grasp on all the
infected areas.
The implication in that statement is that the
disease could be quietly spreading in parts of Liberia and neighboring
nations where victims' families have not yet come forward.
Yes. This is the beginnings of what we resign to accepting will happen over there, drastically compounding the problem with all the other ills it will bring as well.
Dr. Brantley, if he survives, may become the most famous doctor in history. The news has been encouraging.
The stories about uncollected bodies paint a really grim picture. I feel very sorry for the residents of these poor countries, although their cultural practices seem to be contributing heavily to their own problems.
Dr. Brantly sounds as if he is making progress. There is probably no medical patient of any kind in the world who is being watched as closely & carefully as he is right now!
Probably innocent. Either not all symptoms match up or they can't work out how he came in contact. Not guaranteed innocent, just probably, You never can trust the powers that be, they have their own agendas.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
yeah, in another thread I just read on this site, they are already ruling it out as unlikely even though it takes the CDC 2 days for the test results to come back. Hmmmmm... something smells.
Hi Jen, nice to see you too. Not sure if anyone covered that there is testing being done on a man at Mt. Sinai in NYC. Here is the youtube video by AMTV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b30PqLhW590
I have to see if there are other articles on it...maybe it is on this site already. Just logged in.
If done in an open pit I'm not so sure that would be safe for the people immediately surrounding the burn area. It is not the same as a crematorium where all traces are contained and turned to ash. I think you could have one part of a body burst that is not engulfed in flame. It's groady but think about it. I read where this is how some bodies were burned.
Liberians have blocked major roads across the capital of the
Ebola-hit west African nation to protest against dead bodies being left
for days in houses and abandoned in the streets.
The impoverished country, along with neighbouring
Guinea and Sierra Leone, is struggling to contain an epidemic that has
infected 1440 people and left 826 dead across the region since the start
of the year.
"No cars are allowed to pass on this road until the
government can come and get the bodies that have been lying in the
houses for four days now," said protester Kamara Fofana, 56, in the
western Monrovia suburb of Douala.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced last week the
closure of schools and placement of "non-essential" government workers
on 30 days' leave in a bid to halt the epidemic, which has killed 227
people in Liberia.
Ministers have warned against touching the dead or
anyone ill with Ebola-like symptoms, which include fever, vomiting,
severe headaches and muscular pain and, in the final stages, profuse
bleeding.
"Four people died in this community. Because the
government says that we should not touch bodies, no one has gone to bury
them. We have been calling the ministry of health hotline to no avail,"
Fofana added.
Liberians have been advised to call the emergency
number to ask for the removal of the dead while soldiers on the streets
are keeping areas clear of corpses.
But many have complained that overstretched health workers have been leaving bodies in the streets and in homes for days.
"Our mother was vomiting. We tried to call the ministry
of health but we did not see anyone," said Miatta Myers, who lives in
central Monrovia.
"For five days now her body has been in the house. The
only way we can get the attention of the government is to block the
road. This is what we are doing."
Road blocks first sprung up across major routes over the weekend, and have appeared in several neighbourhoods of Monrovia.
Deputy health minister Tolbert Nyensuah said the government was doing its best to collect bodies as quickly as possible.
"We buried 30 people during the weekend in a mass grave
outside the city. The government has purchased land from a private
citizen and that land will be used to bury bodies," he said.
Nigerian authorities say a doctor in Lagos who treated a
Liberian victim of Ebola has contracted the virus, the second confirmed
case in sub-Saharan Africa's largest city.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, who confirmed the
positive test, said 70 other people believed to have come into contact
with the Liberian were being monitored, with eight placed in quarantine
including three who were "symptomatic."
The confirmed case "is one of the doctors who attended to the Liberian Ebola patient who died," Chukwu told journalists.
A quarantine unit has been set up in Lagos and blood
tests from the three people displaying Ebola-like symptoms have been
sent for testing.
Patrick Sawyer, who worked for Liberia's finance
ministry, contracted the virus from his sister before travelling to
Lagos for a meeting of west African officials.
He landed in Lagos on July 20 from Monrovia after switching planes in Togo's capital Lome.
He was visibly sick upon arrival and taken directly to
the First Consultants hospital in the upmarket Lagos neighbourhood of
Ikoyi. He died in quarantine on July 25.
The hospital was closed indefinitely last week.
The second confirmed case in Nigeria is the latest in
the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak, which has infected 1,440 people and
left 826 dead.
The other cases are spread across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
There can and probably will be many cases slip through the cracks here but concurring with JD, as long as there are no mutations or recombinations with the other filament virus(s) (if such hasn't already happened), I am confident it won't thrive here at all. But if it explodes in Africa and it appears to be in the infant stages of that as we speak then in my opinion these changes will take place with mathematical certainty.
And I really hate to say this but I was just in my dads doctors office appointment and witnessed the nurse doing something with her gloves and equipment that would have clearly failed an inspection demo at any of my tattoo shops.
Our system is good here. No doubt. But it is not flawless.
Hi Melody and Jen good to see you guys back! I am still around hope life is going good for you both. We have some great new people and some of our greats that are keeping us up on Ebola.
Let's face it AFT is the leading Forum when it comes to Viral/Biological SHTF. Ebola will only get bad here in the US if we have undetected people not getting treatment. Most Americans go right to the Emergency room when very sick we will see how well our system will work!
How do you get updates from Drudge? Is that a separate app? I also wonder how accurate the tests are...can you have a false negative...I mean can you have it but the test shows negative? I thought that was possible. Just curious.
Hi Melody from way back. Yeah, it's just an iPhone app. Usually the stories update in between clicking in and back out of reading the story but in this case it just poped up on top of the home page in red. Not sure if its official Drudge or not as I've had numerous ones on multiple iPhones and they're all from different owners I think and some may be live without having to refresh.
Haven't heard anything yet about false negative/posetives for Ebola. Chuck is going to start billing us I just know it but he may know the answer to this.
AUGUST 4, 2014 — Three global shipping organizations today issued
guidance to their members on the risks posed to ships' crews calling in
countries affected by the Ebola virus.
A spokesperson for the three organisations commented: "Everyone is
deeply concerned for those suffering from the Ebola epidemic and
supportive of a coordinated world response to help them. We particularly
applaud all those medical staff who are risking their lives to help. In
the meantime we want to make sure that those in the world shipping
industry play our part in ensuring the safety of crews visiting the
affected countries, and minimizing the risk of the virus spreading
further."
The ICS (International Chamber of Shipping), IMEC (International
Maritime Employers' Council), and the ITF (International Transport
Workers' Federation) urgently advise that on all such vessels:
The Master should ensure that the crew are aware of the risks, how the virus can be spread and how to reduce the risk.
ISPS requirements on ensuring that unauthorized personnel do not
board the vessel should be strictly enforced throughout the duration of
the vessel being in port.
The Master should give careful consideration to granting any shore leave whilst in impacted ports.
The shipowner/operator should avoid making crew changes in the ports of an affected country.
After departure the crew should be aware of the symptoms and report
any occurring symptoms immediately to the person in charge of medical
care.
The advice is supplemented with information from the World Health Organization on the virus.
Hi everyone. Haven't been here for a while, but when I heard about these latest cases, I knew there had to be more info and I knew I'd find it here. This is such an awesome group. Always has been. I'll be checking in daily to see what's going on. :)
How do you get updates from Drudge? Is that a separate app? I also wonder how accurate the tests are...can you have a false negative...I mean can you have it but the test shows negative? I thought that was possible. Just curious.
I watched that breaking news pop onto my iPhone screen from Drudge. So she is neg. that is good. Sorry for the false alarm. I suppose she could have just as easily been pos. either case we learned a great deal from this story. Unfortunately none of it very good.
Also there is an update of now 826 dead. That's double increase from just three days ago and those numbers were double the previous few days. If next week the new deaths (ugh) are two hundred...
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the passenger's
symptoms had not suggested she was an Ebola victim but the test was
carried out because she had travelled from West Africa.
The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
said they were called to Gatwick at 8:27 BST on Saturday after the woman
became unwell during the flight.
A spokeswoman said: "A single ambulance attended and
transported the patient, an adult female, to East Surrey Hospital at
Redhill where we understand she sadly later died."
A nurse sprays disinfectant at an isolation unit in Liberia
Ebola virus disease (EVD)
Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
Fatality rate can reach 90%
Incubation period is two to 21 days
There is no vaccine or cure
Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
Fruit bats are considered to be virus' natural host
The virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer's bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging
from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to
organ failure. The current mortality rate is about 55%.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said the government is taking the outbreak, and the threat to the UK, "very seriously".
Ministers have discussed what precautionary measures could be
taken if any UK nationals in West Africa become infected with Ebola.
Public Health England has advised UK medical staff to watch
out for unexplained illnesses in patients who have visited West Africa.
It said no cases of imported Ebola have ever been reported in the UK.
The US is to send at least 50 public health experts to the
region to help fight the disease. They are expected to arrive in the
next month.
Meanwhile, American Ebola patient Dr Kent Brantly is
improving in hospital after returning to the US from Liberia. Another
infected US citizen, aid worker Nancy Writebol, is expected to arrive in
the US soon.
I love the way we do not hear of this until it is over!
Holy crap indeed! WillobyBrat says; "Do you know anyone who makes nappies to fit a 70 year old? Does your government lie like ours does?"
I say I'm glad I look here, our media obviously "D-noticed" that. Strangely our newscasters have started to look decidedly nervous. I wonder why that could be....................................................
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
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