Posted on 08/07/2014 6:29:41 AM PDT by EBH
In Liberia, where the dead lay in the streets, lawmakers gathered to ratify a state of emergency while Sierra Leone sent troops to guard hospitals and clinics handling Ebola cases. Nigeria held out hope it could receive an experimental US-developed drug to halt the spread of the virus.
Since breaking out earlier this year, the epidemic has claimed 932 lives and infected more than 1,700 people across west Africa, according to the World Health Organisation
Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.
As African nations struggled with the sheer scale of the epidemic, Spain flew home a 75-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, who contracted the disease while helping patients at a hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia.
The missionary was the first patient in the outbreak to be evacuated to Europe for treatment.
A specially equipped military Airbus A310 brought him to Madrid's Torrejon air base along with a Spanish nun, Juliana Bonoha Bohe, who had worked at the same Liberian hospital but did not test positive for the deadly haemorrhagic fever, the Spanish government said.
- Priest 'stable' -
Immediately after landing Thursday morning, ambulances took the pair to Madrid's Carlos III Hospital, which specialises in tropical diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A health worker, wearing personal protection gear, offers water to a woman with Ebola virus disease (EVD), at a treatment centre for infected persons in Kenema Government Hospital, in Kenema, Eastern Province, Sierra Leone in this August, 2014 handout photo provided by UNICEF August 6, 2014. (REUTERS/Dunlop/UNICEF)
No wonder some many are getting infected. Look at what they call a containment center!
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
We will do better.
BUT, even we will not be perfect.
In this article they’re blaming Ebola on Bush.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/08/06/UN-Ebola-Outbreak-Likely-Caused-by-Bushmeat
When this all started you just knew the lefties were going to eventually bring it back around to Bush. ;o)
Ping...
The child appears to be eating, too ...sort of an epidemiological “what’s wrong with this picture?”.
The second missionary sent to the U.S. for treatment had no direct contact with sick patients, but was there for deconamination.
Yet CNN stated yesterday that there was no airborne Ebola conamination
If no airborne contamination is possible ~ explain how that non-contact decontamination individual got infected .
I call that non-expert analysis BOGUS !!
Easy. They got contaminated during the decontamination process, or they came in contact with someone infected, but not yet symptomatic.
Based on a field report I saw from USAMRIID, the limited infrastructure to deal with an outbreak like this has exceeded capacity for many of these countries. They do have a limited number of “real” isolation areas in these countries, and makeshift wards at actual hospitals, but what do you do when all these are filled? The same would happen here if we had an outbreak of modest size, there are a very limited number of facilities. What they are doing is the best they can. Obviously the kid who just picked up a meal being that close to an infected patient is not cool, but I would guess that the medical workers, of limited education, are told it is not capable of airborne transmission and are basing their care around that assumption, coupled with the fact that compared to current endemic rates of malaria and other diseases that are killing tens of thousands in the region they are a bit more callous about risk and human life than we would be.
That’s probably the kid’s mother that’s the patient. There may not be any other family members to care for the child. And, likely, the child is already infected, just not symptomatic yet.
If the missionary lived there, he could have picked up Ebola from someone on the street or anywhere. That is the reason I have cancelled my next vacation to west Africa. (I am joking of course I would never EVER go to that hell hole)
Don't know any specifics, but presumably someone has to remove the space suits from the caretakers (they don't do it themselves). That person has to be careful not to touch any contaminated items.
Someone posted this one on another Ebola thread yesterday. I’m finding it very informative. http://learn.flvs.net/educator/common/EnglishIIv10/TheHotZone.pdf
Blood come right out through the victim's pores along with sweat and the violent shaking makes them spatter these fluids over distances to infect others. A single drop hitting your skin will infect you.
Horrifying disease.
Yes, it is a horrifying disease.
But how many die from the flu each month in the US? 4,500?
Ebola has claimed on average what 170 a month?
Now that is simply used to give another number as a reference — but I don’t see it as being a huge threat yet. Maybe.
And traditionally Africans have a good way to stop the spread of killer diseases (otherwise they would have been wiped out a long time ago). They put up roadblocks and do not allow travel between villages. It is us first worlders, who think we can handle this disease, who are potentially in for a rude shock.
The problem is even survival from Ebola has major consequences. Permanent loss of hair. Skin possibly falling off in some areas. Possible blindness. And your testes will not be the same. The disease basically destroys cells. The question is how many cells die before your immune system can stop it.
Please add me to the Bring out your dead list. Thanks
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.