Posted on 09/03/2014 1:59:43 PM PDT by Covenantor
Dramatic Surge in Ebola Deaths
Dakar - More than 1 900 people have died in the Ebola epidemic sweeping through West Africa, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.
"As of this week, we are reporting 3 500 cases confirmed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and more than 1 900 deaths - and the outbreak is rising," Margaret Chan told reporters in Washington.
The latest toll represents a significant increase from the 1 552 deaths and 3 069 cases reported by the Geneva-based organisation just days ago.
Speaking at a news conference, Chan said she hoped that, thanks to the global response to the crisis, transmission of the often fatal virus could be stopped in six to nine months.
"With this international response, co-ordinated response, the money is coming, the technical experts are coming, so we hope to stop the transmission in six to nine months," Chan said.
Citing the WHO's roadmap to fight the worst Ebola outbreak in history, she said that in countries with "very intense transmission" - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - "we would like to reverse the trend in three months".
She said for countries with "localised transmission" such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal, the WHO "would like to stop all transmission within eight weeks".
Meanwhile, AP reported from Dakar on Wednesday that at least $600m was needed to fight the Ebola outbreak.
The top priority is providing protective gear to health workers in the affected areas and ensuring that they receive hazard pay, said David Nabarro, who is co-ordinating the UN response to the unprecedented outbreak.
Echoing the WHO, American officials on Wednesday warned that Ebola is likely to spread to still more countries.
"This is not an African disease. This is a virus that is a threat to all humanity," Gayle Smith, special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director at the National Security Council told reporters during a telephone briefing.
The key to solving the outbreak will be implementing measures used in all previous outbreaks: isolating and treating the sick, monitoring their contacts for signs of disease and safely burying the dead, said Tom Kenyon, of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
"There is a window of opportunity, but it's closing with each and every day that we delay in getting measures in place," he said.
Ahhhh, It’s just a JV epidemic!
Bleedin’ plague ping
Weeks ago I watched a YouTube video from a Christian missionary doctor and he said that this was something that could explode. He repeatedly said he did not want to be an alarmist, but he certainly was warning people to take this seriously.
I stopped going to zoo’s monkey houses after reading the “Hot Zone.”
I am sure there is no issue, the Feds said not to worry.
/s
So when does a real quarantine go into effect? No travel in and no travel out of infected areas without at least a 30 day wait period to make sure the people going in and out are free of the disease?
Just wait and see where it is in two to four weeks!
“Ahhhh, It’s just a JV epidemic!”
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Absolutely.! And there is no need for us to defeat the epidemic — we should just plan on making it “manageable”.
To date, both CDC and WHO remain opposed to quarantine measures.
about a million people die each year from malaria.....
Can’t recall which country it was, but read a snippet today that they were building new crematoria rather than new clinics. WHO and MSF admit the cases and deaths are coming faster than they can count, and the number unknown cases may never be fully tallied.
don’t you think its time for ompha to go visiting?....you know....show off her wealth to the peasants....maybe she’ll take her fellow arrogant beech friend mooschelle and I hope they really really get into it...meaning the disease...
The MSM and the politically-correct forgot the rules when they termed “Asian flu”, Asian flu.
I think that statement referred to normalcy bias. As it’s an African disease and will largely stay there on its own.
uh-huh, and about how many of the family members, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff die caring for malaria parasite victims.
Sounds African to me. They have traditions of washing the bodies of their dead family members. Indeed, some corpses were stolen from hospitals by the families, so they could do the body wash. I don't know about all the people in my town, but I suspect my townsfolk do not wash the bodies of their dead. That sounds African/Muslim.
I just received an email from someone in Africa who is knowledgeable about the situation and said, "I've been following the Ebola saga. The situation is quickly becoming catastrophic. A world-wide epidemic is on the near horizon."
"The hajj is coming up; some people have already left for the hajj. Where this breaks out as a result of the hajj is totally unpredictable."
At least Saudi Arabia reportedly is denying Hajj visas for those coming from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
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