Ebola experts speak out...complacency with ebola is deadly.

[koshergrl]

"Strictly speaking, when we look at our figures, there is deceleration in the number of cases in a few spots in Liberia and Guinea, but they are still on the rise in Sierra Leone.
There are a few things we need to be conscious about: we have had those decelerations in the past. Basically, it happened while it was spreading in other communities and after that, there was another surge in other hot spots. So we need to make sure it’s an opportunity to consolidate our Ebola isolation centers and case management, strengthen the community information and education. That is key. We need to use this time for that. But the main thing is to not let down our guard.

"There’s no room for complacency, no room for mistakes. Every time you go down that path, you pay: you get infected, more people are infected. Ebola does not allow you to make mistakes."

There s no room for complacency in the fight against Ebola - Vox

 

[koshergrl]

""Ebola is one of the most deadly infectious diseases," according to Kaiser; it kills between 50 and 90 percent of those that become infected. For comparison, polio kills between 15 and 30 percent of those infected and malaria kills less than 20 percent of those who contract it. "

Ebola Characteristics and Comparisons to Other Infectious Diseases The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

 

[koshergrl]

"Case fatality rates for other diseases are much lower, including those for influenza (less than 1%) and SARS (13-43%)."

Ebola Characteristics and Comparisons to Other Infectious Diseases The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

 

[Pogo]

The Cliff's Notes for this thread:

 

[koshergrl]

Take it up with the Kaiser Foundation.

 

[waltky]

Ebola has many potential animal hosts...

Ebola Virus Can Live in More Animals Than Once Thought
June 10, 2016 - Ebola virus hotspots are more widespread across Africa and are carried by a greater number of animal species than previously suspected, according to a recent study published in the science journal Mammal Review.

The study was led by scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research, also known as CIFOR, and other international universities. The report challenges the notion that the Ebola virus is mainly carried by three species of fruit bats. It found numerous potential animal carriers including rodents, primates, hoofed mammals, civets and shrews. “The most important aim of what we were doing was to see if we could understand better the factors that may be linked to the presence of the Ebola virus,” said Professor John Fa, one of the lead authors of the study and
researcher for CIFOR and faculty member at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom.

A woman has her temperature taken as part of Ebola prevention, prior to entering the Macauley government hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone​

The research was performed by scientists who looked at climates, types of forests, and animals that would likely be the hosts of the virus. “By doing the work that we have done, we were able to better map the areas which are favorable for the Ebola virus," he said. "And in so doing we can then start looking at these particular areas and hopefully come up with an early warning system that will say, 'Well, these areas are more likely to be the places where the disease might happen.'"

Central and West Africa

The study found that areas within Central Africa, such as the western part of the Congo basin, and West Africa are very favorable areas for the Ebola virus. “Tropical forest areas are the ones where the Ebola virus seems to like," Fa said. "That doesn’t mean that it can’t occur somewhere else at some particular point in time. What we’re saying is that given the information that we have, there is a very strong association between tropical rain forests and the Ebola virus." Science has proved the Ebola virus does require the body of an animal to survive. Without the animal host, the virus cannot reproduce and infect other animals.

Many potential hosts

Fa said the study found a wide variety of animals can be potential hosts. “The story that has been up to now is that there are only three possible species of mammals that may be the transmitters of the disease, and these are three fruit bats," he said. "We show in our study that we’ve got to be cautious about that because currently there isn’t sufficient evidence to clearly state that these three bats are the only ones responsible for the transmission of the virus." The wider range of animals flagged as potential carriers of the disease include more than 60 species of animals. Because of this, Fa said they have to look at the Ebola picture in a different way.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Doctors in US, Africa trying to prevent another outbreak of ebola...

Doctors in US, Africa Work to Contain Future Ebola Outbreaks
November 22, 2016 — Thousands of people died during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, but as memories fade and concerns about future outbreaks of that magnitude subside, health care specialists say the danger is not completely over.

While the worst affected countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - have been declared free of the deadly virus, there have been some minor flare-ups. “The virus can hang around in the bodies of people who’ve survived Ebola and can then be spread to other people and start new outbreaks... In fact there have been seven clusters of Ebola since the epidemic was controlled: three in Liberia, three in Sierra Leone and one that started in Guinea,” said Dr. Barb Marston of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, director of the CDC's office for Ebola -affected countries.

A woman has her temperature taken as part of Ebola prevention, prior to entering the Macauley government hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone​

Dr. Marston told VOA, “Our biggest focus in those three countries is on activities related to surveillance, laboratories and building human capacity. ... Right now we have a team of between 50 and 60; that’s counting Americans who are permanently stationed in the three countries plus some locally employed staff and also some staff [from] CDC traveling there temporarily to assist."

Cooperation across borders

This kind of cooperation has proven to be helpful in dealing with the latest minor outbreaks, says the CDC's Liberia country director, Dr. Desmond Williams. "In March we had a case again in a remote part in Guinea. One of the contacts from that family moved down to the capital city of Liberia, Monrovia," Dr. Williams said. "But because the two governments were ready this time, we were able to limit that outbreak to 13 infected people and nine people dead." Dr. Williams told VOA the agency’s field epidemiology program has trained significant number of surveillance officers in Liberia, at the national, county and district levels, but the most important work has been developing laboratory capacity, so health care workers are able to diagnose Ebola infections rapidly.

The number of health care workers in Liberia was already low before the epidemic, but the situation is worse now, since scores of medical staff died after contracting Ebola. Dr. Marston said health workers must feel safe at their workplaces, so they have to be able to protect themselves from the virus. “One of the important things we are really focused on is helping health care workers understand how to take care of [Ebola] patients," she said. "That involves identifying people who might have infections early, triaging them appropriately, managing them carefully."

Warnings about bushmeat

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - bury `em deep...

Red Cross: Safe Burial Practices Helped Prevent Spread of Ebola in West Africa
June 23, 2017 — A new study by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says that safe burial practices may have helped prevent the transmission of thousands of cases of Ebola during the epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016.

More than 11,300 people died from Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea before the epidemic was stopped in those countries in 2016. Ebola is highly contagious and spread by direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids. Symptoms include a sudden fever, aching muscles, diarrhea and vomiting.

Red Cross study

A co-author of the Red Cross Federation study, Amanda McClelland, says the traditional burial practice of washing and touching the dead was a major mode of transmission of Ebola during the outbreak in all three countries. While isolating patients is key to preventing the spread of the disease, she says early burial is crucial to keeping Ebola in check. “They can really produce super-spreading events where we get very large chains of transmission well beyond what a live case would cause in the community,” she said. “So, the infectiousness of the bodies increases. The virus is at its peak when a person dies. So, we see a much higher transmission from a body than we do from a live person.”

McClelland says the Red Cross had to change its approach in dealing with communities that adhered to traditional burial practices. Aid workers stopped talking about management of the remains and instead spoke about safe and dignified burials, she said.

Local volunteers

Burial teams made up entirely of local volunteers, gained the trust of the communities, which was critical to success, she said. In all, the teams provided more than 47,000 safe burials, accounting for more than 50 percent of all burials in the three countries during the outbreak. This action, McClelland said, may have prevented more than 10,000 people from becoming infected with the virus, which is named for the Congolese river near where it was first identified in 1976.

Red Cross: Safe Burial Practices Helped Prevent Spread of Ebola in West Africa

 

[bodecea]

The Cliff's Notes for this thread:

Allie must be expecting another election....time to pull out the old "OMIGOD! EBOLA" memes.

 

[MindWars]

Isn't it exciting how many could come into the US and have it before the symptoms show .

 

[Old Rocks]

And, of course, the administration of the fat senile old orange clowns reaction to this is to cut funds for the CDC. I mean if Ebola get loose in our nation, we don't need the CDC anyway. LOL

 

[LuckyDuck]

With Ebola, I see the potential for an excellent biological weapon, especially if combined with a Rhinovirus that causes the common cold.

 

[Old Rocks]

Problem with biological weapons is that they don't recognize uniforms or nationnalities.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Problem with biological weapons is that they don't recognize uniforms or nationnalities.

Agreed, but it will solve the overpopulation problem in the near future.

 

[badger2]

These "experts" are not saying much about Marburg, the other family member. If they are that serious about it, we note that the critters involved with Marburg link to Mt. Elgon and include birds brought into the home and fd with table scraps. That Marburg case links to the irrigation system at the Nzoia sugar plant, because the victim was an electrician who worked ion the pumps. There is also a book about cholera from Great Britain, The Broadstreet Pump, so where are the publications regarding this Marburg case, the first to show that the virus sequestered in male testicles. We don't think that the "experts" have the stones to address our argument. Thomas Duncan's anti-ebola meds wereare based on anti-poliovirus dihydroguaiaretic acid from Pycnanthus, food of the African chevrotain. Maniac fruit-bat crib mobiles without balls.

 

[waltky]

Congo hit by ebola again...

Why Ebola keeps coming back
14 May 2018 - The Ebola virus has reared its head again, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While it is impossible to predict exactly where and when the next outbreak will occur, we now know much more about how to prevent a crisis.

The news of an Ebola outbreak in the town of Bikoro in north-west DR Congo instantly brings to mind the horror of the epidemic that took 11,000 lives and infected 28,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. It is a nightmare no-one wants to relive - or should have to. Since 4 April in DR Congo, there have been more than 30 possible cases - involving 18 deaths - although only two incidents have so far been confirmed as Ebola. So why does Ebola keep coming back and what work is being done to prevent a repeat of the tragedy in West Africa?

Out of control

Ebola can spread rapidly, through contact with even small amounts of bodily fluid of those infected. Its early flu-like symptoms are not always obvious. Its appearance in Bikoro - a market town close to other local towns, well connected by major rivers and near the national border - is a cause for concern. This is an area where people connect, trade and travel - an environment ripe for spreading disease. The West African epidemic of 2014-16 began in a small border village in Guinea, its first victim thought to be a two-year-old boy who died in December 2013. The disease spread quickly across Guinea and neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, spiralling out of control when it reached urban centres.

DR Congo is thousands of miles from the West African countries devastated by that epidemic. That it should reappear so far away is not in itself a surprise. The Ebola virus has been traced back to two simultaneous outbreaks in 1976 - 151 people died in the Nzara area, South Sudan, and 280 in the Yambuku area, near the Ebola river, from which the disease takes its name. This latest outbreak is the ninth in DR Congo, which has seen all three Ebola outbreaks to have occurred since the 2014-16 epidemic. In total, there have been 24 recorded outbreaks - in addition to the 2014-16 epidemic - in west and central Africa, including in DR Congo, Uganda, Sudan and Gabon. The number of deaths has ranged from one to 280.

While we can identify high-risk areas, it is unrealistic to expect that we could ever eradicate this disease and impossible to know when or where the next outbreak will occur. Fruit bats are thought to be the main host of the disease, but it is also introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, organs or other bodily fluids of other infected animals. These can include chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, antelope and porcupines. The disease is endemic to the area and it is not possible to eradicate all the animals who might be a host for Ebola. As long as humans come in contact with them, there is always a possibility that Ebola could return.

Looking for 'patient zero'