Airborne Transmission of Ebola!!!

[Vigilante]

Can you imagine, and the people IN POWER allow infected people into the country and haven't a CLUE if it can be transmitted through the air!

The public has been misinformed regarding human-to-human transmission of Ebola. Assurances that Ebola can be transmitted only through direct contact with bodily fluids need to be seriously scrutinized in the wake of the West Africa outbreak. The Canadian Health Department states that airborne transmission of Ebola is strongly suspected and the CDC admits that Ebola can be transmitted in situations where there is no physical contact between people, i.e.: via direct airborne inhalation into the lungs or into the eyes, or via contact with airborne fomites which adhere to nearby surfaces. That helps explain why 81 doctors, nurses and other...

Articles Airborne Transmission of Ebola

 

[LiberalMedia]

Can you imagine, and the people IN POWER allow infected people into the country and haven't a CLUE if it can be transmitted through the air!

Actually, they do have a clue, and they know that it can't be. They also know that the infected did not pass along their infection to any other American in the states. Deal with it.

But thanks for posting this with three exclamation points in the thread title. If it weren't for all three of them being there, I just wouldn't have cared to click onto it. Three exclamation points is the magic number for pyyple taking boring-sounding threads seriously. And a friendly tip for your next thread: Typing the thread title in ALL CAPS and following it with as many exclamation points as you can is a sure fire way to get the responses to literally flood into your thread.

 

[waltky]

Ebola doctor dies after given experimental drug...

Liberia: Doctor given experimental Ebola drug dies
Aug 25,`14 -- A Liberian doctor who received one of the last known doses of an experimental Ebola drug has died, officials said Monday. Separately, Canada said it has yet to send out an untested vaccine that the government is donating.

Ebola has left more than 1,400 people dead across West Africa, underscoring the urgency for developing potential ways to stop and treat the disease. However, health experts warn these drugs and vaccines have not undergone the rigorous testing that usually takes place before they are used. The experimental vaccines are at still at a Canadian laboratory, said Patrick Gaebel, spokesman for the Public Health Agency of Canada, who declined to speculate how many weeks it could be before those are given to volunteers. "We are now working with the (World Health Organization) to address complex regulatory, logistical and ethical issues so that the vaccine can be safely and ethically deployed as rapidly as possible," Gaebel said.

Earlier this month, Canada said it would donate 800 to 1,000 doses of an Ebola vaccine that it developed. Likely candidates include health care workers treating Ebola patients. The experimental drug known as ZMapp has been tried in only six people. Health experts caution that since ZMapp was never tested in humans, it is unclear whether it works. The small supply is now said to be exhausted and it is expected to be months before more can be produced. Dr. Abraham Borbor, the deputy chief medical doctor at Liberia's largest hospital, had received ZMapp, along with two other Liberians. He "was showing signs of improvement but yesterday he took a turn for the worse," and died Sunday, Information Minister Lewis Brown told The Associated Press.

Liberian security forces with riot gear stop people from leaving the West Point area, that has been hardest hit by the Ebola virus spreading in Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. A Liberian doctor who was among three Africans to receive an experimental Ebola drug has died, the country's information minister said Monday.

There was no update provided Monday on the other two Liberians who received the drug. Earlier, it had been given to two Americans aid workers and a Spanish missionary priest, who died after he left Liberia. After receiving rigorous medical care in the U.S., the Americans survived the virus that has killed about half of its victims. Ebola can cause a grisly death with bleeding from the eyes, mouth and ears. The virus can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the sick or from touching victims' bodies, leaving doctors and other health care workers most vulnerable to contracting it.

International relief efforts have included shipments of gloves, gowns, face masks and other protective equipment, although it's not clear how many have reached health workers struggling to contain the epidemic in West Africa, where even such basics as sterile fluids can be in short supply. But just getting enough gear isn't the whole story: Health workers can infect themselves while taking off contaminated equipment if they don't do it properly, a trio of infectious disease experts wrote Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

MORE

 

[Gracie]

All kinds of creepy crawlies are showing up nowadays. I just heard on the news that some hispanic guy is on the loose in this area..undocumented...escaped from the hospital where he was staying and for the public to keep a lookout for him because he is wanted by authorites but DO NOT APPROACH cuz he is a carrier of Polio....and the kind that meds won't touch.

Lovely, eh?

 

[waltky]

So medical supplies and personelle can get in...

Ebola outbreak: West Africa travel bans to be lifted
28 August 2014 ~ West African health ministers meeting in Ghana have agreed that travel restrictions imposed to combat Ebola should be lifted.

The ministers followed advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which said that the restrictions create food and supply shortages and harm efforts to contain the deadly virus. The WHO says the West Africa outbreak could infect more than 20,000 people. It says there could be four times more cases than officially registered.

The WHO says that travel bans are jeopardising efforts to beat the epidemic

The WHO said it was important that airlines resume "vital" flights across the region, because travel bans were threatening efforts to beat the epidemic. "This is not a West African issue or an African issue. This is a global health security issue," WHO's Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward told reporters in Geneva. It recommends that countries affected by Ebola should conduct exit screening amid concerns that the virus could spread to 10 further countries beyond the four now affected. The number of deaths from Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria now stands at 1,552. About 3,000 people are registered with the illness.

Proper screening will stop the spread of the virus, officials argue

Announcing an action plan by the WHO to deal with the outbreak, Dr Aylward said "the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported" in some areas. The plan calls for $489 million (£295m) to be spent over the next nine months and requires 750 international workers and 12,000 national workers across West Africa. On Thursday, Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola death outside Lagos, with an infected doctor in the oil hub of Port Harcourt dying from the disease. Operations have not yet been affected in Africa's biggest oil producer, but a spokesman for Shell's Nigerian subsidiary said they were "monitoring the Ebola outbreak very closely".

Bruce Aylward, a top WHO official, said the number of cases could be much higher than reported

The health ministers from across West Africa are attending an extraordinary meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in Accra to discuss how to prevent the virus from spreading. "Excessive restrictions of travel and border closures will adversely affect the economies of the sub-region," said Ecowas chairman and Ghana's President John Mahama explaining the decision to lift flight bans. Earlier Mr Aylward insisted bans on travel and trade would not stop the spread of Ebola, saying they were "more likely to compromise the ability to respond".

The transport of medical supplies should become easier if travel restrictions are lifted

Despite rumours to the contrary, the virus is not airborne and is spread by humans coming into contact with bodily fluids, such as sweat and blood, from those infected with virus. Meanwhile, the British medical charity Wellcome Trust and pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said safety trials on an experimental Ebola vaccine are being fast-tracked. GSK says it plans to build up a stockpile of up to 10,000 doses for emergency deployment if results from the trials, which could begin as soon as next month, are good.

BBC News - Ebola outbreak West Africa travel bans to be lifted

See also:

WHO says Ebola cases could exceed 20,000
28 Aug 2014 ~ World Health Organisation warns there could eventually be six times more cases than doctors know about currently.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than six times as many as doctors know about now. A new plan to stop Ebola by the UN health agency also assumes that in many hard-hit areas, the actual number of cases may be two to four times higher than is currently reported. The agency on Thursday published new figures saying that 1,552 people have died from the killer virus from among the 3,069 cases reported so far in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.

The agency says it needs as much as half a billion dollars to contain the outbreak. At least 40 percent of the cases have been in just the last three weeks, the UN health agency said, adding that "the outbreak continues to accelerate". It comes as Nigeria on Thursday said that a doctor had died from Ebola in the southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt in the first case of the deadly virus outside the financial hub, Lagos.

'Unprecedented' outbreak

"The cases are increasing. I wish I did not have to say this, but it is going to get worse before it gets better," Tom Frieden, the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference in Monrovia on Wednesday. "The world has never seen an outbreak of Ebola like this. Consequently, not only are the numbers large, but we know there are many more cases than has been diagnosed and reported," Frieden said on Wednesday. Liberia has been hardest-hit by the epidemic now raging through West Africa, with 624 deaths and 1,082 cases since the start of the year.

The WHO said the "unprecedented" outbreak has killed 1,427 people this year, while about 2,615 people have been infected with the disease. But the WHO also believes its count is probably far too low, due in part to community resistance to outside medical staff and a lack of access to infected areas. Health ministers from West African nations hit by Ebola gathered in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Thursday to discuss responses to the epidemic. Also on Thursday, it is expected that US health officials will announce a human study of an Ebola vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline will begin in the coming weeks.

Flights suspended

 

[waltky]

Airlines cautious about spreading ebola globally...

WHO: Ebola Fight Needs More Workers
September 12, 2014: The head of the World Health Organization says more and better-trained medical workers are needed in West Africa to stop the growing outbreak of Ebola.

Dr. Margaret Chan, speaking at a news conference in Geneva on Friday, said the death toll from the outbreak has climbed past 2,400, with the total number of cases rising to 4,784. She said officials trying to contain Ebola are short of almost everything, including protective gear, mobile laboratories and body bags, but that the biggest obstacle is a lack of trained health care workers. "Money, materials are important but those alone could not stop the Ebola transmission… Human resources is most important, and especially the needs for compassionate doctors and nurses who will know how to comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing, you know, PPG suits and working in very demanding conditions," Chan said.

Confirmed cases of Ebola in Western Africa

The WHO said this week that Ebola has killed nearly 80 health care workers in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the disease.
Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Chan said more than 1,000 health care workers are needed at regional Ebola treatment centers. She welcomed a pledge by Cuba on Friday to send 165 health professionals to West Africa. The workers are scheduled to go to Sierra Leone in early October and stay for six months. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has also sent staff to help fight the outbreak, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is seeking qualified medical professionals to go to the region. Volunteers can submit applications at the agency's website, U.S. Agency for International Development

Stronger response needed

U.N. officials including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have warned that a stronger response is needed to contain Ebola, a vicious disease that causes vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding eyes, ears and other body openings. U.S. government contributions toward fighting the outbreak have topped $100 million, while the private Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this week pledged $50 million to purchase supplies and speed up development of potential therapies. Liberia has become the epicenter of the outbreak, accounting for about half of all cases and deaths. The WHO said this week that "intense transmission" also continues in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Guinea ramps up response

See also:

Airlines Cut West Africa Flights, Delay Ebola Aid
September 12, 2014 — The Ebola crisis in West Africa has closed borders and international airlines have cut flights to the area, but some say the measures aimed at controlling the outbreak also are holding up humanitarian aid deliveries.

Senegal and Ivory Coast have closed airports to planes coming from Ebola-affected countries, and many airlines have cut services to the capitals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia despite World Health Organization calls to keep air traffic moving. WHO officials have discouraged air-transit restictions, saying the risk of transmitting the disease during a flight is quite low. The virus cannot transfer from one person to another through the air — by coughing, for example — but only from direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids.

Roberts International Airport in Monrovia, Liberia.

Still, some airlines have chosen to cut flights. Alassan Senghore, Africa director for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, says his organization cannot get staff into and out of affected countries. “It is really hampering efforts. The conditions in those countries, the closure of the borders and all those things, is not helping. So we try to use some creative ways — by driving by road, which is costly, takes time, and it really doesn’t help anybody," said Senghore. Humanitarian agencies criticized Senegal when it closed Dakar airport to U.N. flights last month. The government here subsequently announced it will open a humanitarian corridor, but details have not yet been released.

Expanding market

The West African aviation market has expanded rapidly in the past five years, and there are concerns that travel bans will reverse that growth. Companies like Kenya Airways, Arik Air and Air Côte d’Ivoire have cut dozens of flights each week since the beginning of August. The International Air Transport Association says flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea account for just three percent of annual African carrier revenues, but an IATA spokesman on Africa, Chris Goater, says lost revenue could skyrocket if the virus continues to spread. “If it were to spread to the whole West Africa region that would go higher to around a third of African carriers’ revenue. So if it were to spread, and similar restrictions were to start across the whole of West Africa, that would start to have a major impact on African carriers," said Goater. An aviation analysis company, OAG, measures flights in terms of available seats. During the first two weeks of August, Banjul-based carrier Gambia Bird flew nearly 6,000 seats to and from Freetown and Monrovia, OAG says. But then Gambia Bird cancelled all flights from mid-August through the end of September.

British Airways has cancelled more than 4,000 seats to these destinations, through the end of the year. Liberia’s finance minister, Amara Konneh, says the flight shutdowns are isolating the country and crippling the economy. “If those interested in investing in Liberia cannot come here, and Liberians who are also interested in building partnerships abroad for their private ventures here in Liberia cannot [travel], then you have an economic issue," said Konneh. Carlos Lopes, executive secretary for the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, says air restrictions have hit key sectors in the three countries. “A lot of activities that are supposed to take place in mining are no longer taking place," said Lopes. "In agriculture [it's] the same." He says companies cannot get staff into countries or plan for future projects. At a meeting earlier this week, the African Union called for an end to travel restrictions on the Ebola-affected countries.

Airlines Cut West Africa Flights Delay Ebola Aid

 

[waltky]

An airborne Ebola nightmare scenario...

Ebola mutation 'presents nightmare scenario'
2 September 2014 ~Michael Osterholm says virologists are quietly talking about the dangers of an airborne Ebola mutation, Catalonian separatists are watching Scotland, and Russian sanctions as a threat to the global economy.

Virologists may not be publicly talking about the possibility that the Ebola virus could someday mutate into an airborne strain, writes Michael T Osterholm in the New York Times, but it's something they are "definitely considering in private". The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota says that the virus - which currently can only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids - has proven to be "notoriously sloppy in replicating", which increases the chances that it could turn into something more contagious. "Why are public officials afraid to discuss this?" he asks. "They don't want to be accused of screaming 'fire!' in a crowded theatre - as I'm sure some will accuse me of doing. But the risk is real, and until we consider it, the world will not be prepared to do what is necessary to end the epidemic." The second disturbing scenario he envisions is if the Ebola virus is brought to a more densely populated area of the world, where it would be more difficult to contain.

According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has already infected almost 4,800 people and killed around 2,400. It is now predicting that more than 20,000 may contract the virus before the current outbreak is over. "What happens when an infected person yet to become ill travels by plane to Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa or Mogadishu - or even Karachi, Jakarta, Mexico City or Dhaka?" he asks. The more people who get infected, he says, the greater the opportunities for mutation. "The current Ebola virus' hyper-evolution is unprecedented; there has been more human-to-human transmission in the past four months than most likely occurred in the last 500 to 1,000 years," he writes. To prevent this, Osterholm says, the United Nations should be put in charge of overseeing containment of the outbreak by managing air supply chains, providing hospital beds and training medical staff.

Waiting for a vaccine isn't a realistic solution, he concludes. By the time one is developed, the disease could be in "our own backyards". Although Osterholm paints a dark picture - and it's not the first time he's taken to a major daily newspaper to do so - other public health professionals are unconvinced. Scott Gottlieb, former deputy director of the US Food and Drug Administration, writes in Forbes that it is very unlikely that the Ebola virus would ever mutate into an airborne version. "It would be unusual for a virus to transform in a way that changes its mode of infection," he writes. "Of the 23 known viruses that cause serious disease in man, none are known to have mutated in ways that changed how they infect humans."

Tara C Smith, writing for ScienceBlogs, says that diseases similar to Ebola have already appeared in the US and have been easily controlled. She adds that she is much more concerned with "ordinary" viruses like influenza and measles. "Ebola is exotic and its symptoms can be terrifying, but also much easier to contain by people who know their stuff," she concludes. In 2005 Wendy Orent, writing in the New Republic, called Osterholm a "doomsayer" who has been on the "disease and terrorism circuit" for decades, warning of impending dangers like smallpox, mosquito-borne viruses and swine flu. So is Osterholm's op-ed a "clarion call to action" or nothing but "fearmongering", as one molecular virologist called it on Twitter? If it's the former, we've been warned. If it's the latter, then it's fearmongering on some prime real estate - the opinion pages of the New York Times.

BBC News - Ebola mutation presents nightmare scenario

See also:

Ebola outbreak: Liberia 'sacks absentee officials'
14 September 2014 ~ Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sacked 10 government officials who have been "out of the country without an excuse," amid a national Ebola crisis.

She said the officials had shown "insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority". The 10 were given a one-week ultimatum more than a month ago to return home. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400. More than half of those killed by the Ebola virus have been in Liberia. The 10 officials include two commissioners, six assistant ministers and two deputy ministers at the justice ministry, Wheatonia Dixon-Barns and Victoria Sherman-Lang.

Food aid is delivered to some of the thousands of people affected by Ebola in Liberia

The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh says a press release issued from the presidency on Saturday reported that the officials had been fired "with immediate effect". Eight junior officials have also been warned to return to the country, and will not be paid until they do. "Junior officials will forfeit all compensation until they return home to join in the fight against the Ebola virus disease," the presidency said. One is Christine Tolbert-Norman, the eldest daughter of the late former President William Tolbert who was killed in a coup in 1980.

President Johnson Sirleaf has appealed directly to US President Barack Obama for urgent help in tackling the outbreak. In a letter dated 9 September she asks Mr Obama to build and operate at least one Ebola treatment centre in the capital, Monrovia. "Without more direct help from your government, we will lose this battle against Ebola," she writes. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned recently that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia. Ebola spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.

BBC News - Ebola outbreak Liberia sacks absentee officials