Mali beats back Ebola

[SteadyMercury]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/h...oned-detective-work-thwart-ebola-in-mali.html

The case also illustrates how even people in close contact with victims do not necessarily get the disease, which spreads when infectious fluids get into an open cut, or a nose, eye or mouth.

Remarkably, no one who touched Fanta in Mali is yet sick. Not her grandmother, her 5-year-old sister or her uncle, who all spent three days traveling with her from Beyla, Guinea. Not Dr. Abdouramane Koungoulba, the pediatrician who first examined her on Oct. 21, nor two traditional healers who saw her earlier, nor any of a dozen other doctors or nurses who gave her a transfusion and intravenous hydration and cleaned up her vomit and diarrhea in the 48 hours before she died.

Mail joins Nigeria, Senegal, United States, and Spain in proving the spread of Ebola can be stopped after arriving in country.

I assume Vigilante and Silhouette are still claiming whatever bullshit about end of days after antelope spread it to the workers at our nuclear power plants.

 

[Asclepias]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/h...oned-detective-work-thwart-ebola-in-mali.html

The case also illustrates how even people in close contact with victims do not necessarily get the disease, which spreads when infectious fluids get into an open cut, or a nose, eye or mouth.

Remarkably, no one who touched Fanta in Mali is yet sick. Not her grandmother, her 5-year-old sister or her uncle, who all spent three days traveling with her from Beyla, Guinea. Not Dr. Abdouramane Koungoulba, the pediatrician who first examined her on Oct. 21, nor two traditional healers who saw her earlier, nor any of a dozen other doctors or nurses who gave her a transfusion and intravenous hydration and cleaned up her vomit and diarrhea in the 48 hours before she died.

Mail joins Nigeria, Senegal, United States, and Spain in proving the spread of Ebola can be stopped after arriving in country.

I assume Vigilante and Silhouette are still claiming whatever bullshit about end of days after antelope spread it to the workers at our nuclear power plants.

Theyre on to a new disease. That clown Bullkurtz has joined the hand wringing.

Obozo s Latest Gift To Us....The CHAGAS Parasite US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

 

[Moonglow]

 

[Moonglow]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/h...oned-detective-work-thwart-ebola-in-mali.html

The case also illustrates how even people in close contact with victims do not necessarily get the disease, which spreads when infectious fluids get into an open cut, or a nose, eye or mouth.

Remarkably, no one who touched Fanta in Mali is yet sick. Not her grandmother, her 5-year-old sister or her uncle, who all spent three days traveling with her from Beyla, Guinea. Not Dr. Abdouramane Koungoulba, the pediatrician who first examined her on Oct. 21, nor two traditional healers who saw her earlier, nor any of a dozen other doctors or nurses who gave her a transfusion and intravenous hydration and cleaned up her vomit and diarrhea in the 48 hours before she died.

Mail joins Nigeria, Senegal, United States, and Spain in proving the spread of Ebola can be stopped after arriving in country.

I assume Vigilante and Silhouette are still claiming whatever bullshit about end of days after antelope spread it to the workers at our nuclear power plants.

Theyre on to a new disease. That clown Bullkurtz has joined the hand wringing.

Obozo s Latest Gift To Us....The CHAGAS Parasite US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

When you're old and bored, what else is there to do?

 

[Moonglow]

 

[Moonglow]

 

[SteadyMercury]

That clown Bullkurtz has joined the hand wringing.

Yeah the other day BullshitUSMC was maintaining there are no mosquitoes in Arizona, despite posters linking to several news articles about how bad the mosquitoes were in Phoenix this year. I think he also started a chem trail thread in the conspiracy section.

Clearly he hasn't heeded the advice... never go full retard.

 

[waltky]

Ebola economic impact on growth in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea...

World Bank: Ebola Cutting Economic Growth More Than First Thought
December 02, 2014 ~ The Ebola epidemic is having a "stark" economic impact on Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and is cutting economic growth even more than estimates published in early November.

That's the conclusion of a study released Tuesday by the World Bank. Before the Ebola crisis, all three nations were growing strongly.

Liberia is now expected to grow at just a 2.2 percent annual rate, and Sierra Leone predicted to expand 4 percent, which is around one-third of the pre-crisis rates of expansion for these two nations. Guinea's growth projection has been cut from 4.5 percent before the crisis to just half of 1 percent now.

A healthcare worker dons protective gear before entering an Ebola treatment center in the west of Freetown, Sierra Leone

The economic impact of disease and death has been amplified by workers and shoppers staying home to avoid contagion. The economy also is hurt by reductions in trade, travel and the loss of foreign experts in mining and other industries.

The impact of Ebola will continue to be felt as rising expenses for health care and falling tax revenue strain national budgets and force governments to move money from infrastructure projects to emergency medical activities.

World Bank Ebola Cutting Economic Growth More Than First Thought

See also:

WHO: Ebola Stabilizing in Some Places But Far From Over
December 01, 2014 — The World Health Organization reports the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is slowing down and stabilizing in some places, but is far from over.

The World Health Organization reports two United Nations targets have been partially met; to get 70 percent of Ebola-infected people into treatment, and to have 70 percent of fatalities safely buried by December 1. WHO officials think more than 70 percent of those ill with Ebola are in treatment in Liberia and Guinea. However, the WHO notes Sierra Leone falls short of this goal. It says the 70 percent target is probably being met in most places, but a number of hot spots remain in the western part of the country. It says another few weeks will be needed before the 70 percent target is met.

WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said there was some good news on the second goal. “In all three countries, it is clear now that more than 70 percent of the Ebola deaths that we know about are buried safely. This is because in the past 60 days, the number of safe burial teams has more than doubled from probably less than 100 or thereabouts to nearly 200 or just over. I think we are squeaking at 202 today across the three countries,” he said.

Health workers wearing protective gear spray the shrouded body of a man with disinfectant as they suspect he died from the Ebola virus, at a USAID, American aid Ebola treatment center at Tubmanburg on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia

While significant progress has been made toward the 70-70 goal, Aylward said that was not good enough to stop Ebola. He called it an important milestone along the way. But, eventually, he said, the three Ebola-stricken countries must reach 100-percent treatment and safe burials. He said these actions would have to be complemented with more intense surveillance measures. He said it was critical to trace every person who has had contact with an Ebola victim and break the chain of transmission before the epidemic can be ended.

“As the disease is falling like this, the actual number of people you are going to need and the geography that you are going to need to get to zero is actually going to increase…Now, you are going to have to have surveillance teams in every single district, every single county, every single prefecture to be able to find any remaining viruses, to be able to find the contacts of those cases and to be able to systematically really turn the tables on this virus and hunt the virus rather than being hunted by it,” Aylward said. He said about 20,000 local monitors will be needed to trace all those who have been in contact with an infected person. Aylward added that the World Health Organization would deploy around 400 people to every county to help train these people. He said the U.N. planned an intense six-month effort to try to get Ebola cases down to zero. And, then, he said at least 42 days would have to pass without any new cases before the epidemic can be declared over.

WHO Ebola Stabilizing in Some Places But Far From Over

 

[waltky]

U.S. sendin' disease detectives to pursue ebola's trail...

US Disease Detectives Pursuing Ebola’s Trail
January 06, 2015 — A year into an Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 8,000 people in West Africa, resistance still plagues the public health response.

And when a public servant charged with protecting people denies the deadly virus’ existence, it’s especially alarming, said Meredith Dixon, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was visiting one of Guinea’s western prefectures when a police officer stopped the vehicle in which she was riding. Dixon and her driver explained they’d been traveling for Ebola research. "The gendarme said, 'There’s no such thing as Ebola,'" Dixon said. "I know, I know – there are people who don’t believe. But to hear it is a little different." That resistance both challenges and motivates Dixon and other Americans involved in the international effort to combat Ebola. They’re helping local governments – in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and some neighboring countries – as they try to track, treat and prevent the unpredictable disease.

CDC epidemiologist Meredith Dixon confers with another physician at the Doctors Without Borders Ebola treatment center at Donka hospital in Conakry, Guinea

While dismissiveness gradually has been yielding to rising death tolls and aggressive public awareness campaigns, other obstacles remain. Among them: a general mistrust of outsiders, particularly white people; limited formal education; and poor infrastructure, especially a rickety health care system devastated by years of civil strife and widespread poverty. Dixon, 36, is among more than 170 CDC staff members in West Africa aiming to expand knowledge about Ebola and how to fight it. Most rotate in for one or two months. Dixon is wrapping up a three-month tour, by far the longest of three trips she’s made to Guinea since the country’s health ministry acknowledged the Ebola outbreak. She was one of the early responders, arriving in April for a month and returning in July for another. A pediatrician, Dixon has been drawn to West Africa since volunteering with the Peace Corps in Cameroon and Gabon. Now, as an officer training in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, she appreciates working among the region’s "kind" and "fantastic" people, polishing her skills in disease detection.

She focuses on health workers and their infection control practices, putting in countless hours in urban field hospitals and remote villages, working with Guinean and international teams, interviewing and encouraging. Dixon recalled speaking with an infected doctor at an Ebola treatment center. When another patient arrived, moaning from abdominal pain, the doctor turned to offer a few calming words. Despite his illness, "he was still in a role as a physician, providing support to others," she said. "It was a very touching moment for me. … This conversation was one which really made me feel the immensity of this work." But as the outbreak has dragged on, even some health workers have become complacent or careless. "We have seen, in parts of all three of the countries, health care workers relaxing their grip on the response, not using protective equipment, not thinking of Ebola at every opportunity," CDC Director Tom Frieden said recently.

Health workers, such as these at the Doctors Without Borders Ebola treatment center in Conakry, Guinea, provide vital but personally risky care for patients.

Still, health experts say they see progress. The transmission rate has slowed in Liberia and even in Sierra Leone, where it has been most intense, though it has fluctuated in Guinea since September. But experts have learned to be wary, especially after missing key cases last spring and mistakenly believing the outbreak was winding down. The World Health Organization, too, has been faulted for delaying the international call to arms and inadequately coordinating aid. There’s yet another challenge: weariness among West Africans and others working with them to battle Ebola. "I’m very tired, just like everybody else," said Dixon, who puts in long hours six and sometimes seven days a week. "But we have to keep doing what we’re doing, and doing it better."

Connecting cases

 

[SteadyMercury]

I'm surprised after that patient in Ireland that Silhouette didn't start a thread about impending doom of Ireland when Ebola starts spreading in Guinness beer, or maybe postulating about how long Ebola can survive on a clover leaf.

 

[waltky]

Ebola countries need to do more to end disease...

Ending Ebola in '15 depends on locals as much as foreign aid
Jan 9,`15 -- Sierra Leone rang in the new year without the usual midnight festivities on its beaches in the steamy capital. Instead, the president urged the nation to stay at home, fast and pray that the plague of Ebola will finally end in West Africa.

"Our national New Year's resolution for 2015 is surely we must defeat Ebola, and to snuff out this vile and ungodly disease," says retired Maj. Alfred Palo Conteh, who is heading the country's National Ebola Response Center. Whether the world's worst-ever Ebola outbreak can be wiped out in West Africa in 2015 is uncertain. To a large extent, it depends as much on locals changing their practices and beliefs as it does on continued international assistance.

The World Health Organization now says there are enough beds to isolate and treat Ebola patients, but not all are in the hotspots where the disease is spreading fastest. The United Nations estimates that the number of scientists needed to track the outbreak must be tripled. WHO is also working to speed testing of experimental Ebola vaccines but even if an effective shot is found, it would still take months to ramp up production.

Members of the British forces are on a boat as they deliver Ebola related aid goods, and personnel who are working on containing the virus in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone rang in the new year without the usual midnight festivities on its beaches in the steamy capital. Instead, the president urged the nation to stay at home, fast and pray that the plague of Ebola will finally end in West Africa.

One of the biggest problems is finding all contacts of confirmed cases. Teams are in place in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three worst-hit countries - to monitor suspect cases, but too little is known about where the virus is spreading. Typically, every confirmed Ebola case has about 12 to 20 possible contacts who must be monitored. In Sierra Leone, the epicenter of the current crisis, officials are reporting just eight, leading to suspicions that contact tracing is inadequate. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon previously said the epidemic could be over by mid-2015 but WHO is now declining to set a specific timeline after having been burned on previous predictions. Last October, WHO expected that all Ebola patients and safely bury all victims by Jan. 1, but neither goal was met.

There are now burial teams trained to provide safe and dignified burials for all Ebola victims, but the under-reporting of deaths means it's impossible to tell if all people killed by Ebola are safely buried and whether there are unknown chains of transmission. Among concrete progress since the crisis gained international attention last summer, a major initiative led by the U.N. has been put into place, including:

- Building 41 Ebola treatment centers

- Setting up 23 laboratories

- Sending hundreds of staff from Britain, Canada, Cuba, China, the U.S. and elsewhere

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