Obama: ‘Everyone has to do more’ to stop Ebola

The Hill ^ | September 25, 2014 | Justin Sink

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

President Obama warned world leaders at the United Nations Thursday that the international response to the Ebola crisis is "not enough," urging them to step up their efforts.

"We know from experience that the response to an outbreak of this magnitude needs to be both fast and sustained — like a marathon, but run at the pace of a sprint," Obama said. "That’s only possible if every nation and every organization does its part. And everyone has to do more."

Last week, the president announced the U.S. was sending 3,000 military personnel to West Africa to respond to the crisis, which the World Health Organization estimates has killed more than 2,900.

The Pentagon plans to establish a command center in Liberia, build more than a dozen temporary hospitals, and distribute kits with sanitizing equipment and medicine. According to a senior administration official, the U.S. is prepared to devote more than $1 billion to the effort if necessary.

But Obama said that, while the U.S. "will provide the capabilities that only America has," other nations need to step up to the plate.

"We will continue to lead and do our part," Obama said. "But this must also be a priority for the world."

The president called on other countries to contribute assets and capabilities, including air transport, medical evacuation, healthcare workers, equipment and treatment.

"Everyone can do something," Obama said.

The president warned that, if other countries did not contribute, regional and global security could be threatened, and tens of thousands of people could die.

"If this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause a humanitarian catastrophe across the region," Obama said. "In an era when regional crises can quickly become global threats, stopping Ebola is in the interests of the entire world."

Obama also called for a more proactive investment in global health systems that could help prevent outbreaks in the future. On Friday, the White House will host a summit for 44 countries focused on global health security.

"Even as we meet the urgent threat of Ebola, it’s clear that our nations must do more to prevent, detect and respond to future biological threats – before they erupt into full-blown crises," Obama said.

[Gator113]

You cracked me up!!!!

[Dallas59]

Literary too.

[greeneyes]

Amen to that. And no one out either. Total quarantine.

[tina07]

absolutely...friggin’ moron-in-chief

[PghBaldy]

IIRC, Mr SmartyPants (aka BO), did not even notice ebola until the last few weeks. Kind of rich for him to be blaming everyone else when he is leader of the greatest county on Earth, which used to lead in noble endeavors.

[PghBaldy]

In Sierra Leone & Liberia, in which the possible 1.4 million cases are projected in a CDC worst case scenario. That would be 14% of their population in 2015. 14% would mean, IMO, absolute collapse there. Even if this happens there, it is hard to extrapolate that to here. We don’t have everyone washing bloody corpses here, for one thing...

[Morpheus2009]

How about sending a lot more than 3,000 to a nation of millions. It’s simply not enough, and yes, I would repeat the same expletive regarding the POTUS.

[Morpheus2009]

Indeed he does, too bad he’s a reflection of his voters.

[Smokin' Joe]

1% of 320,000,000 is 3,200,000 and not 320,000.

Sorry, but your figures were off by a factor of 10.

1.6 million dead.

If you could make suitable beds of 300,000 of them (Doubtful, considering this is a level 4 pathogen), that still leaves 200,000 to die or recover elsewhere.

[Smokin' Joe]

older article Ping…

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

[null and void]

Eeeee-bolllll-aaaaaa ping!

Bring Out Your Dead

We’re gonna need

a bigger cart!

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...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[exDemMom]

How else can he repeat the 1918 Spanish Flu by bringing back infected troops to American soil? Which killed 50 million people or so.

The factors that enable influenza to cause sporadic pandemics do not exist with Ebola. Ebola is not airborne, it is not contagious before symptoms appear, and it is only transmissible through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.

In contrast, influenza is contagious by the aerosol route before symptoms appear. Many people can be infected in a short time.

Africa has some unique customs that are responsible for the spread of Ebola. They wash bodies and give them enemas in preparation for burial; funerals involve physical contact with the deceased. The people who get sick are typically those who take care of the ill, and those who go to funerals of Ebola victims. In the US, we isolate patients with highly infectious diseases, and family members would not touch or kiss the deceased during the funeral of a person who dies of such a disease.

[bert]

What must be done to stop america’s worst threat?

What must be done to stop Obama?

[tomkat]

             

[exDemMom]

Do we have 100% certainty that it can not evolve into an airborne form?

Nothing is 100% certain. However, no virus has ever changed its mode of transmission, and this one is not likely to do so, either.

If it were able to gain the ability to be resistant to the drying effect of being suspended in the air and to be UV-resistant, it could lose its ability to infect. Also, in general, viruses that become more contagious become less pathogenic. In the off-chance that Ebola could become airborne, it would no longer attack the connective tissues of organs and blood vessels because it would have switched to being a respiratory virus--and respiratory viruses typically do not cause serious disease.