Ebola outbreak: nurse who treated first victim in Nigeria dies

The Guardian ^ | 8/6/2014 | Monica Mark

[mojito]

A nurse who treated Nigeria's first Ebola victim has died of the virus in Lagos as five new cases of the highly lethal disease were confirmed in Africa's most populous country.

The nurse had helped care for Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old Liberian-American civil servant who last month visited from Liberia, one of three countries in the region hit by the world's biggest epidemic. The five new cases are believed to be other health workers who came into contact with Sawyer, who died within days of his arrival.

The total death toll from the Ebola outbreak has now risen to 932 after another 45 patients died between 2 and 4 August, the World Health Organisation said.

"Yesterday the first known Nigerian to die of Ebola was recorded. This was one of the nurses that attended to the Liberian. The other five [newly confirmed] cases are being treated at an isolation ward," the Nigerian health minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Officials initially downplayed the risk of exposure, saying Sawyer had been immediately isolated when he collapsed on arrival at Lagos's bustling main airport two weeks ago.

But on Tuesday the state health commissioner, Jide Idris, said Ebola was diagnosed only after Sawyer had been taken to hospital and had direct or indirect contact with at least 70 others. They include airline passengers, airport officials and health workers, and have all been placed under precautionary surveillance. Seven have been quarantined.

Officials told reporters they were compiling a list of secondary contacts, and appealed to those who believed they may be at risk to come forward.

[mojito]

Everyone on that plane with Sawyer is potentially a carrier, now dispersed far and wide inside Lagos, the largest city in Africa.

[mojito]

Ping.

[Tugo]

Hear this virius is airborne.

[Black Agnes]

“now dispersed far and wide inside Lagos, the largest city in Africa.”

Let me correct that for you:

“now dispersed far and wide”

[trisham]

"Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes,
they just don't know where to look."

~Ronald Reagan

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[trisham]

"Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes,
they just don't know where to look."

~Ronald Reagan

please click the pic
donate today!
Help support Free Republic

[mojito]

Sure seems that way.

Thus, if you're on a plane with an infected person, you get to breath recycled air over and over again.

And the Nigerian government says that all these people are quarantined.

My keester they are.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

UN Agenda 21 will be very pleased.

[Theoria]

Ebola death toll rises; Spain to treat priest

'A Spanish priest who contracted the disease in Liberia will be flown to Madrid and become the Europe's first patient from this outbreak, according to the Spanish government.'

[mojito]

In that link you sent, I notice the idiot CNN reporter in a t-shirt standing just outside the tent where health care workers in protective clothing are operating.

[kaila]

How come the media is whitewashing the fact that Sawyer knew that he was carrying the virus, and went on that plane anyway? is it because he is black, and no one wants to say anything bad about a black person? What, if true, he did was unconscionable. See links below:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201408060733.html

http://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/2506-sawyer-s-final-hours-in-lagos-indiscipline-rage-strange

I am so glad he was caught before he tried to kill American citizens.

[mojito]

Thanks for that link.

I hadn’t seen the background on the Sawyer story before.

Disturbing to say the least.

[joshua c]

Canadian scientists said their study was inconclusive. But how else did the monkeys get infected by the pigs when they were in separate cages?

I have read several sources from a quick internet search that say the virus can survive outside the body for several days. Anybody else read this? I have not seen in discussed in any of the articles posted.

[Black Agnes]

One of the things ebola does is affect mental state. If he was symptomatic when he got on the plane it’s possible he was already in an altered mental state wrt judgement.

I can’t believe he wanted to kill his beautiful little daughters.

[Mr. K]

"and appealed to those who believed they may be at risk to come forward."

That's not inspiring confidence...

If the death toll from this secondary wave (from sawyer) goes beyond any ONE person they have already identified then the cat is out of the bag already.

If the total death toll(now at 940- up from 740 a few days ago) goes over 5000, it is very very bad. After a point there is not enough resources to isolate AND try to identify anyone else who came into contact with them

I don't know what that critical mass is... I just did some math.

1 first person
27 next wave
729 third wave

Multiply by 27 each wave and you reach 10 billion in 141 days

And keep in mind that they knew they were dealing with ebola from person 1

The doctors who say not to worry because you need to have 'intimate contact' with bodily fluids are full of $hit

If it was that hard to catch they would not be isolating patients AND people who just had contact with them, and wearing containment suits to treat them

And even WITH the knowledge and prevention methods TWO US health care workers still contacted it (and Odumbass allowed them to fly to the USA)

keep a close eye on this

Make sure you have water supply stocked up at home and canned food - your freezer will be useless after one week

don't skimp on defense

I love a good conspiracy, and got a giant sized kick out of Dec 21 2012 scare, but never took it seriously. This I am watching DAILY for updates (and already making just-in-case purchases)

[kaila]

He knew he was exposed to Ebola because his sister died from it. His behavior at the airport was noted by security to avoid contact, because he knew he had Ebola. Ebola has a long list of symptoms , which take many days of illness before it kills you.. What he was doing was beating a hasty retreat back to the US, to get care from medical facilities here. He did not care that he would expose plane passengers to his illness. He only cared about himself.
He may have been affected mentally by the illness, but he denied to health care workers that he was exposed to Ebola. If he was lucid enough to know how to arrive at the airport, get checked in, arrive at the correct gate, and sit in the correct seat- he knew exactly what he was doing: trying to bring his illness back to us. No sympathy here.

[RinaseaofDs]

I like your method, but you are using the wrong statistic.

Apply your math to the CASES number, and then see what you come up with.

The CASES number is the one that’s important.

[Jedidah]

And he vomited all over the plane, then stripped naked and peed on hospital workers. Ebola didn’t need to be airborne for this guy to spread it effectively.

I know it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead, but let’s just say that his behavior was, at best, irresponsible.

More will die because of him. I fear those who were on that plane and perhaps traveled on to Europe and the US may spread it much wider, thanks to Sawyer.

[Selene]

RIP Nigerian nurse

11-16 days from exposure to death

[kaila]

Sometimes we have to speak ill of the dead when their behavior crosses the line. We have become so PC that we cannot say the truth about what really happened. There were probably beautiful little children on that flight who may already be dead because of him. In the Nigerian blogs, they are calling him a medical terrorist.