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I want to organize a thread of facts and information about the current Ebola outbreak in Western Africa.
My intention with this thread is to follow the timeline and what is known. I would greatly appreciate anyone adding links on the virus and its spread. This outbreak has had a fatality rate of approximately 60 percent. In this outbreak alone, more than 100 health workers have been infected and at least 50 of them have died, according to the WHO.
So far this strain of Ebola has spread (from one person to another) in three countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The virus traveled by way of Patrick Sawyer to Nigeria on July 20, when he collapsed in the Lagos airport. He died 5 days later. That was almost two weeks ago a no new cases have been reported in Nigeria, yet. However, the incubation period is up to 21 days. 59 people were identified as coming into contact with Sawyer on his travel from Liberia to Nigeria. As of July 29, 20 of those 59 had been tested for Ebola and all were negative.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/28/us-health-ebola-nigeria-idUSKBN0FX15420140728
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/health-ebola-transport-idUSL6N0Q570N20140731
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fullpage/ebola-virus-24809270
Two US citizens are en route, or will be shortly to the Emory campus quarantine for treatment. These two would be the only other confirmed cases outside of the four countries previously listed. Their transport is controlled and intentional, though.
Please feel free to add questions, links and discussions to this thread. I find this epidemic tragic and interesting to follow, if slightly terrifying.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)If not contained, many more could be infected.
It spreads through blood, urine, feces, saliva and sweat with a long incubation period. It's a cocktail for disaster if we don't get on this.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)The Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, made the disclosure when he addressed newsmen on the update of the countrys first Ebola case in Ikeja.
Idris said the two persons were among the 70 contacts being monitored and investigated for any symptoms of the disease by the state government and other partners.
The commissioner, who said the two cases were under observation, however stressed that they did not test positive to the virus.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/ebola-two-down-with-fever-in-lagos-after-contact-with-victim/
Lagos State commissioner for health, Dr. JideIdris, in conjunction with federal health officials tackling the challenge of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) have declared that the two people suspected of infection have tested negative to the virus.
Idris said yesterday that an official statement on the matter became necessary as result of the rumours being spread in Lagos and beyond that one of the 59 contacts of the late Liberian Patrick Sawyerr, who was physically screened, has been confirmed positive to the virus.
The contact tracing team is following 70 contacts by now and linking them to clinical support when needed. Suspected cases will continue to be monitored until the end of the incubation period of 21 days, from their exposure to the late Sawyer who had EVD.
http://dailytrust.com.ng/weekly/index.php/new-news/17211-ebola-critical-contacts-report-negative-lasg
defacto7
(13,485 posts)showed the actual number of survivors of the disease. We see the 60% mortality rate but the numbers I have read are 60% under the best care and up to 90% without care. The graphs show the number of cases, the number of deaths but that does not relay the number of survivors. That would be an indicator that holds some important value.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)on CNN the number was 60% without care so they were assuming it would be much lower with good care (this is when they were talking about the Americans being flown out...trying to make us feel better about their survival maybe? I don't know). It would be nice to actually see the data.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)and this is the Zaire strain. There are 3 other strains with a lower mortality rate without care.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)defacto7
(13,485 posts)msongs
(69,912 posts)are American citizens, and they have the right to come home for treatment.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)Dr. Brantly was brought here under tightly controlled circumstances, as will the other patient.
The facility where they are being treated was specifically set up to treat researchers who have accidental exposures to the highly infectious pathogens that they work with while developing treatments and vaccines. The portable isolation unit they are traveling in was designed by the CDC and the DOD specifically to transport those patients.
Here in the US, their chances of survival will be better. Furthermore, it will give US doctors and researchers valuable information for the future. They will also have available experiemental treatments, should they choose.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)hootinholler
(26,449 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)How do you propose to keep US citizens out of the country?
This I want to hear.
You do know that their return to the US was privately financed. Yes?
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)of persons suspected to be infected with dangerous pathogens... the catch is they have to know if the person might be infected.
sP
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)We don't do "banishment".
A US citizen has an unqualified right to enter the US.
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)however, it is my understanding that they can detain you at the border crossing and then quarantine you for health concerns... so, while you are technically correct, might be a little tough to get home.
sP
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)There seems to be this notion that the "US" brought them back.
As I understand it, a private organization managed to raise money to get the equipment needed to bring them back, and the patients were taken immediately into isolation on arrival.
There are a number of circumstances where one can be detained on entry, but at the end of the day if you are a US citizen, you're coming in eventually.
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)i think what most people are concerned with is that the US allowed them to continue on their way once within the US. i know they are essentially quarantined, but it blew my mind that they traveled down I-75 with just a little escort. i know the chance was remote, but if there had been an accident, who knows if some good samaritan might have tried to help... i suspect some might and would possibly then pay with their lives.
am i a worry-wart? kind of...
sP
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)The patients both were in biohazard suits. Their care takers were in biohazard suits.
If their ambulance broke down or was in an accident, their escorts were there to render immediate assistance and prevent "good samaritans" from interfering or coming in contact.
The isolation ward they are staying in was designed for the CDC in the event of a researcher being accidentally exposed.
And their transport and care is being paid for completely by the two aid agencies that they work for, Samaritan's Purse and SIM.
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)you can 'facepalm' all you want... but there are always unforeseen possibilities... as far as control, not so much. they traveled down a heavily utilized corridor in ATL during regular traffic flow. much could have gone wrong... hell, they were passed at one point by an 18 wheeler...
sP
morningfog
(18,115 posts)More than 1,323 people have been sickened, about 60% of them fatally, in West Africa since Ebola erupted from the forested interior of Guinea, according to the World Health Organization. The hundreds dead include a top Sierra Leonean doctor and another from Liberia, while two U.S. health-care workers are ill.
* * *
By Friday, only two had developed a feverthe handlers who helped Mr. Sawyer into a wheelchair. Their blood tested negative, and they are still under close watch.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/ebolas-threat-forced-nigerias-lagos-to-scramble-1406940469
LisaL
(46,240 posts)Doctor who treated Mr. Saywer was just diagnosed with Ebola.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)Here are some numbers, according to an article from The Wire (link at bottom of post). Interesting to see these numbers.
Maybe a statistician, or someone with a medical background, can shed some insight into what these numbers mean, thus far.
Numbers of Ebola victims who have died in 2014 from this recent outbreak in west Africa:
April 7, 100
April 30 150
May 27 200
June 18 300
July 8 500
July 23 672
August 1 750*
*final number reported by multiple sources
http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/07/how-the-ebola-outbreak-spread-across-west-africa/375231/
Squinch
(52,352 posts)That's an important list. Thanks for it.
840high
(17,196 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)dembotoz
(16,922 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)Officially in US now.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)If he does, he will have one hell of a book deal waiting for him! The obligatory appearance on Colbert would, of course, feature The Greatest Living American jogging across the stage to greet him, wearing a hazmat suit.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)As the two sets of basis functions give similar answers in the near future, it seems likely that the epidemic will continue at a steady or slightly increasing rate for at least the next few weeks, though we must still be careful projecting too far into the future. Unfortunately, the most recent data had a fairly pronounced effect on the variability of these estimates. From early July through the data released on the 23rd, the models predicted a temporary continuation of epidemic activity followed by a decrease into the fall. While these predictions are still encompased by the observed variability, the situation on the ground is clearly evolving quickly. The current evidence is not inconsistent with the possibility that the disease will soon start the slow process of dying out, but our best predictions no longer place a high weight on such a possibility. The next few weeks are likely to be highly dynamic, and will hopefully narrow down the large space of probable epidemic patterns. In the meantime, we may hope for the best for the people of West Africa, and support the efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations like the WHO and MSF
That wraps up the analyses for now. This document will continue to be updated as the epidemic progresses, reflecting new data and perhaps additional analysis techniques. As the document is tracked via source control it will be easy to see how well past predictions held up and how they change in response to new information.
http://grantbrown.github.io/libspatialSEIR/doc/tutorials/Ebola2014/Ebola2014.html#analysis-2-prediction-sect
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)were reported.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak
Zorra
(27,670 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person
exposure to objects (such as needles) that have been contaminated with infected secretions
As someone who has worked as a respiratory therapist within environments where universal precautions must be observed (you have to treat everyone as if they are infected, even if they are not, to be safe), we have the means to contain it.
Link:
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html
Avalux
(35,015 posts)Pandemics are global - everywhere. Unless Ebola mutates so as to allow for airborne transmission (highly unlikely), Ebola burns itself out before a pandemic can occur. So what we see are limited epidemics in the poorest parts of Africa where inadequate medical infrastructure and lack of infection control make it easy for the virus to spread. Ebola can live for several days in a deceased victim and on surfaces. If the people don't know this and don't take precautions, they'll be exposed unknowingly. That's a lot of what's happening now.
The epidemic IS tragic, all we can do is hope that the capable experts get it contained sooner than later, and not waste energy being scared about it.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Fact Sheet on Ebola Virus Disease:
Transmission
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
morningfog
(18,115 posts)LisaL
(46,240 posts)"A second case of Ebola has been recorded in Lagos. The Nigerian Health Minister said it was the doctor who treated US victim Patrick Sawyer."
http://www.itv.com/news/story/2014-08-04/doctor-becomes-second-ebola-case-in-lagos/
mnhtnbb
(31,922 posts)Hugabear
(10,340 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 4, 2014, 12:37 PM - Edit history (1)
I think we need to look at this from another perspective. When the media reports that several hundred people have died, we need to remember that these are also densely populated areas. Guinea's capital city Conakry, which has been hit pretty hard, has a population of several million people. If the Ebola virus were as easily spread as the flu, then we'd be looking at a truly horrific pandemic.
Fact of the matter is that the virus just doesn't spread that easily, it requires direct contact with the bodily fluids from an infected person. If someone is carrying the virus but not showing any symptoms, they're not going to be contagious. You can't catch the virus from simply being in close proximity, or touching something that they have touched.
LisaL
(46,240 posts)Including the one in Nigeria, who treated Mr. Saywer, and was just diagnosed with it?
Especially considering doctors were using protective equipment, and yet still somehow managed to get it.
Two of the doctors died, the American doctor got some secret experimental treatment (which is presumably why he is alive) and now the one in Nigeria.
Hugabear
(10,340 posts)It's possible that they may have come into contact with the bodily fluids prior to using the protective equipment, or there may have been some sort of breach.
Simple logic should apply here. Conakry is a city of over a million people, with a very high population density.
As of July 2014, 91 cases of Ebola were confirmed in Conakry. Given the population density of Conakry, if Ebola was that easy to spread, then there should be MUCH higher numbers of infected people in just that one city alone.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)to be fleeing hospitals to die in the wilderness.
Hugabear
(10,340 posts)I don't think there's some sort of international conspiracy going on to hide the truth.
Will the virus spread? Absolutely, especially in areas as you mentioned where people aren't educated about the virus and they may lack the proper methods of dealing with the virus.
But fact of the matter is that we KNOW how the virus spreads. Again - if the Ebola virus were able to be spread through the air - then we would be seeing tens of thousands - or even hundreds of thousands - of cases, with a lot more deaths. Think about how easily the flu virus spreads, and how many people die each year from the flu.
If you read any article quoting actual medical scientists, while they are very concerned about the outbreak, they also say there's very little chance of this turning into a global pandemic.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)The CDC describes it (my upthread post), so I think we have to understand the "universal precautions" taken to contain it.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)So far as I know, Ghana (capital: Accra) does not have Ebola cases, nor did it get out of the Group of Death at the World Cup.
Hugabear
(10,340 posts)Not sure why I was thinking Ghana, but I've fixed it in my post.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)"A doctor has become the second confirmed case of Ebola in Nigeria after helping to treat a U.S. businessman who died from the disease, it emerged today.
Nigerian authorities said tests were also being carried out on three other people who treated Patrick Sawyer after they reported similar symptoms.
The second case of Ebola in Africa's most populous country is an alarming setback as officials across the region battle to stop the spread of a disease that has killed nearly 900 people."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE NUMBER WENT UP BY 200 WITH NO NOTICE OR ANNOUNCEMENT WHATSOEVER.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)Test samples are pending for three other people who also treated Sawyer and now have shown symptoms of Ebola, he said. Authorities are trying to trace and quarantine others.
"Hopefully by the end of today we should have the results of their own test," Chukwu said.
The emergence of a second case raises serious concerns about the infection control practices in Nigeria, and also raises the specter that more cases could emerge. It can take up to 21 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear. They include fever, sore throat, muscle pains and headaches. Often nausea, vomiting and diarrhea follow, along with severe internal and external bleeding in advanced stages of the disease.
* * *
Sawyer, who was traveling to Nigeria on business, became ill while aboard a flight and Nigerian authorities immediately took him into isolation upon arrival in Lagos. They did not quarantine his fellow passengers, and have insisted that the risk of additional cases was minimal.
Nigerian authorities said a total of 70 people are under surveillance and that they hoped to have eight people in quarantine by the end of Monday in an isolation ward in Lagos. The emergence there is particularly worrisome because Lagos is the largest city in Africa with some 21 million people.
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/08/04/nigeria-confirms-doctor-as-2nd-ebola-case
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Hopefully no further spread will follow from this doctor's infection.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Hundreds of troops deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia on Monday to quarantine communities hit by the deadly Ebola virus, as the death toll from the worst-ever outbreak reached 887 and three new cases were reported in Nigeria.
With healthcare systems in the West Africa nations overrun by the epidemic, the African Development Bank and World Bank said they would immediately disburse $260 million to the three countries worst affected - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The World Health Organization, which warned last week of catastrophic consequences if the disease were not controlled, reported 61 new deaths in the two days to Aug. 1 as the disease continues to spread.
The outbreak began in February in the forests of Guinea. The toll there continues to rise, but the epicentre has since shifted to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
In Nigeria, where U.S. citizen Patrick Sawyer became the first person to die of the virus after arriving from Liberia in late July, the WHO reported three new cases, two of them probable and one suspected.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/healh-ebola-africa-idINL6N0QA4M020140805
morningfog
(18,115 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)The outbreak can only be declared over after two successive incubation periods, or six weeks, have passed without incident. Yet when we could see such a period remains hard to pin down. You can get lulled into thinking the epidemic is under control because the numbers will go down and then itll turn out that you missed [one infected person] and now its spreading to other people, Fischer says. I dont think we are anywhere near the end The NIAID's Fauci agrees. I think it will go on for awhile, he says.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cross-border-ebola-outbreak-a-first-for-deadly-virus/?utm_content=buffer8eac6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
morningfog
(18,115 posts)As of Aug. 5, one new case has been confirmed in Nigeria by someone treating Sawyer.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)British Airways announced Tuesday that it has temporarily suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone, two of the West African nations afflicted with the Ebola outbreak.
The suspension will remain in place until the end of August, due to the deteriorating public health situation in both countries, the airline said in a statement. The safety of our customers, crew and ground teams is always our top priority and we will keep the route under constant review in the coming weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2014/08/05/british-airways-suspends-flights-to-liberia-and-sierra-leone-citing-ebola-concerns/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
slipslidingaway
(21,210 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)He arrived Monday, so we should hear the test results by tomorrow.
slipslidingaway
(21,210 posts)initially I had heard results by latest today.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)The Mount Sinai Hospital patient who has been in isolation since Monday does not have the Ebola virus, hospital officials said Wednesday afternoon.
We would like to report that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined that the patient kept in isolation since Monday, August 4, 2014 at The Mount Sinai Hospital has tested negative for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the hospital said in a statement. The patient is in stable condition, is improving, and remains in the care of our physicians and nurses.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/mount-sinai-hospital-president-patient-in-good-spirits-ebola-test-results-could-come-wednesday/
slipslidingaway
(21,210 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)This is one of those things that people are prone to dismissing because we are so inoculated against the real harsh realities that this disease is responsible for in the parts of he world Ebola wreaks havoc. We see it as a fictional horror story when we think about it's possible spread here and scoff at the notion. The truth is it is a real horror story for the people and nations that experience it and borders and distance are a weak guarantee if you can call it that , that this horror story will remain mostly something we read about happening somewhere else.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I know some countries have reacted strongly to outbreaks of illnesses in the past. I live in South Korea and during the bird flu outbreak some foreigners were taken from the airport and essentially locked in a hospital. The thing the authorities didn't realize is the people had laptops and started blogging about it. Soon word got out and people saw the gross overreaction for what it was.
I'm headed back from the US to South Korea. While I'm not worried about getting sick, I am wondering if they are going to try to quarantine people.
emsimon33
(3,128 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)A Nigerian nurse has become the second person to die of the Ebola virus in Africas most populous nation, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
The nurse had helped treat Liberian government worker Patrick Sawyer, who fell ill from the virus after arriving on a flight to the commercial capital, Lagos. He was taken to a hospital in the city and died five days later on July 25.
Nigeria has five other confirmed cases of Ebola in Lagos, Chukwu said in a statement handed to reporters today in Abuja, the capital of Africas biggest economy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-06/nigerian-nurse-dies-of-ebola-as-5-others-confirmed-with-disease.html
Assuming one of the five is the doctor who treated Sawyer that we knew about, it is not clear whether the other 4 were Sawyer contacts or not. Nor is it clear at this moment if they were already under observation.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Spain's government said Wednesday it will send an air force plane to Liberia to fly an elderly Spanish missionary infected with Ebola back home for treatment.
"This news lifts my spirits, it's great, I am very happy, it is worth fighting," the 75-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, told the online edition of daily Spanish newspaper ABC by telephone.
Pajares tested positive for Ebola at the Saint Joseph Hospital in Monrovia were he has worked for the past seven years, Spanish aid organisation Juan Ciudad ONG said Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/spain-sends-plane-evacuate-missionary-ebola-113810956.html
morningfog
(18,115 posts)A Saudi national, who fell ill after returning from Sierra Leone, died early Wednesday in his hospital isolation ward where he was being tested for the Ebola virus, said the Saudi Health Ministry.
The 40-year-old returned on Sunday from Sierra Leone, where there has been an Ebola outbreak, and was then hospitalized in Jiddah after showing symptoms of the viral hemorrhagic fever.
The patients samples are being tested in an international reference lab on the advice of the World Health Organization. He had already tested negative for dengue fever.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-man-being-tested-for-ebola-dies-in-hospital/2014/08/06/177890d6-1d60-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Nigerian health authorities acknowledged Tuesday that they did not immediately quarantine a sick airline passenger who later died of Ebola, announcing that eight health workers who had direct contact with him were now in isolation with symptoms of the disease.
* * *
Initially authorities told reporters that the risk of any exposure to others was minimal because Sawyer was whisked into isolation after arriving at the airport with symptoms of Ebola.
But Lagos state health commissioner Jide Idris said Tuesday that the nature of his disease "was not known" the first day, and only after further investigation did they suspect Ebola. Sawyer's sister had died in Liberia from the disease, which has no proven cure or treatment.
"They went back to the history and they were like 'Oh, this is Liberia,' and that's why he was put into isolation," he told reporters. "So even in that window period it was possible that some of these people got infected."
A doctor who cared for Sawyer has tested positive for the disease, and seven other health workers are now showing symptoms so have been placed in isolation. They are among 14 people who had "serious direct contact" with Sawyer, most of them at the hospital, Idris said. Authorities say they are also following the conditions of 56 other people who had "primary contact" with Sawyer presumably less at risk than those in the first group.
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/08/05/nigeria-acknowledges-slow-response-in-ebola-case
B2G
(9,766 posts)As of 4 August 2014, the cumulative number of cases attributed to EVD in the four countries stands at 1 711, including 932 deaths.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_06_ebola/en/
Zorra
(27,670 posts)since the last report is a sign that the epidemic is being brought under control.
B2G
(9,766 posts)suffragette
(12,232 posts)are moving dead bodies to the streets rather than facing quarantines of their homes, I wonder how many new cases are not being identified.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/africa/dont-touch-the-walls-ebola-fears-infect-hospital.html?
Some Ebola patients still die at the hospital, perhaps four per day, in the tentlike temporary isolation ward at the back of the muddy grounds. But just as many, if not more, are dying in the city and neighboring villages, greatly increasing the risk of spreading the disease and undermining international efforts to halt the epidemic.
People dont die here now, said the deputy chief of the hospitals burying team, Albert J. Mattia, exasperated after a long day of Ebola burials. They are dying in the community, five, six a day. Mr. Mattia was particularly disturbed that many of the bodies his team were putting in the ground had come from outside the hospital, thwarting attempts to isolate patients and prevent them from passing the disease to others.
~~~
Dead bodies have been appearing on the streets and in houses throughout Monrovia, with people staging roadblocks to ensure that health workers remove them. But with hospitals closed in the capital, it was unclear how many of the victims had died of Ebola, or from other causes. A health worker said his burial team, one of twelve, picked up seven bodies in Monrovia and surrounding areas on Thursday alone.
Only two of the bodies were in houses, and the others were on the street, the health worker said.
Compounding this is that people with other diseases are avoiding the hospitals.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-06/malaria-cases-mix-with-ebola-amid-slow-motion-disaster-.html#disqus_thread
Its a widening challenge complicated by the fact that Ebola, malaria and cholera share common symptoms early on, including fever and vomiting, which can cause confusion among patients, said Cyprien Fabre, head of the West Africa office of the European Commissions humanitarian aid department.
We now have increased mortality for these other diseases as well, Fabre said by telephone from Freetown, the countrys capital, after visiting Ebola treatment centers in Kenema and Kailahun near the eastern border. This is a slow-motion disaster.
The issue threatens to further undermine health and welfare in Sierra Leone, which has the worlds highest rate of child and maternal mortality, Fabre said.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the use of an Ebola diagnostic test developed by the Pentagon to help contain the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus.
The move was one of a number of steps taken by the U.S. government this week to address the highly contagious disease that has killed more than 930 people in Africa and sickened hundreds more, including two Americans being treated in Atlanta.
The diagnostic test was authorized for use abroad on military personnel, aid workers and emergency responders in laboratories designated by the Department of Defense to respond to the Ebola outbreak, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
The test, called DoD EZ1 Real-time RT-PCR Assay, is designed for use on individuals who have symptoms of Ebola infection, who are at risk for exposure or who may have been exposed. It can take as long as 21 days for symptoms to appear after infections.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/06/us-health-ebola-testing-idUSKBN0G61YK20140806
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Liberia and Sierra Leone trucked in soldiers to quarantine whole sections of their respective nations on Thursday in response to the collapse of hospitals and clinics in the most Ebola-infected zones.
In Liberia, soldiers and police at checkpoints began halting all road travel entering and leaving eight of the nation's 15 counties, said Information Minister Lewis Brown.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had declared a state of emergency late Wednesday for the coming 90 days, saying her government "will institute extraordinary measures, including, if need be, the suspensions of certain rights and privileges."
A similar effort was under way in Sierra Leone on Thursday, where soldiers in riot gear blocked the roads leading to the country's two most infected districts, said Abdulai Baratay, a government spokesman. Only first responders and officials on public-health-related trips were exempt from the restrictions, he added.
"The broad plan is to keep unaffected areas unaffected," said Mr. Brown. "We cannot do that as long as people are moving."
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304070304580077651039836696?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB20001424052702304070304580077651039836696.html