Here is the link to the first thread, for those who would like to refer to the vast body of material it contains:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1396311/posts
I'm posting your links again, here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0404_050404_ebolagorilla.html
This has some enlightening info...its about ebola ....
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/bardi.htm
this is unrealted but offers insight into what they think about situations like this...
http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/ebola/ebonew18.html
very old speculation...interesting info though
http://www.asyl.net/Magazin/Docs/docs-15/L-24-26/L8820ang.htm
also old but relevent info on Angolan press
Thanks for the new thread Judith.. fantastic job as usual.
Thanks for all you do!
Would it be possible to flag 2ndreconmarine's excellent analyses so we don't have to dig back through lots of old posts to find them? If it's hard, no problem. I don't mind digging.
Were we discussing botulism, would this be a club rather than a thread (more appropriate for Ebola)?
Thanks for starting the new thread.
Thanks for all your good work.
Especially for telling that complete nut case to buzz off. Too bad he wasn't banned.
catch up again later ping
Dear Judith Anne,
Thank you for such an excellent job of maintaining these threads. I think everyone would agree that you have uniquely been the glue to hold all of us together.
I like that fact that one poster stated this was one of the most "congenial" places to be on FR. That is a measure of your leadership as well.
Finally, you handled the earlier problem with a calm discipline. Nicely done!
The brain trust here has been fantastic. The combined efforts, which have truly been a team effort of many people, have provided an extraordinary information and database to use.
I just wish all research was as easy as this has been (although the subject is horrific). Your leadership has enabled a very effective research effort here.
Thanks again, from all of us.
Didn't find this link when I searched but it looks like some good information..
http://allafrica.com/stories/200505100167.html
HEALTH authorities in Mongu have gone on a Marburg alert after a resident of Imwiko North Park in the town died from what was suspected to be the deadly viral disease that has claimed several lives in neighbouring Angola.
And Mongu District Health Board chairman, Charles Wakung'uma has said that the provision of health services should be taken as a right.
Mongu director of health Dr. Francis Liywalii said during an interview in Namushakende yesterday that his office has carried out education and sensitisation programmes in the compound where, Mubita Nang'alelwa, who died from an acute illness and was buried at Katongo Cemetery in Mongu last week, resided.
According to investigations, the deceased had come back from a visit to neighbouring Angola sometime in January this year and some concerned residents in the town thought he could have contracted the virological disease, especially that he had bled from the mouth just before he died.
"We carried out sensitisation programmes in Imwiko North Park last week, because that is where the funeral of the man took place," said Dr.Liywalii.
Dr Liywalii was however, quick to point-out that clinical evidence did not show that the disease was Marburg, which is a virological disease that is in the same class as the Ebola virus.
He also said they have put in place preventive measures and that they will keep surveying the situation in Imwiko North Park compound in view of the development.
And the Central Board of Health (CBoH) in the Western Province has concluded a 10-day epidemic preparedness programme along the province's border areas following the outbreak of the deadly Marburg disease in neighbouring Angola.
A source disclosed that the undertaking also included the supplying of protective equipment in all the areas along the border with Angola apart from sensitising the communities in the areas that fall in the Kalabo and Shangombo districts.
The source said that the initiative was conducted with the help of neighbourhood health committees in the various communities.
The incubation period for Marburg is five to 10 days after contact, which is usually through droplet transmission and coming into contact with an infected person's body fluids, before the patient develops a fever and general body malaise. This is followed by the development of a rash and at this time the disease becomes highly infectious.
Marburg, according to expert information has claimed about 90 percent of the reported cases in Angola and is said to have become more virulent than before, and residents in Western Province fear that there might be a cross-over as has been the case with the livestock disease Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia (CBPP).
And opening a five-week workshop for Community Health Volunteers (CBVs) and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) at Namushakende Youth Skills Training Centre yesterday, Wakung'uma noted that it would be difficult to stretch health services close to the people without involving members of the community.
"Health services should be seen as a right. It is extremely difficult for health workers in the rural health centres to cover all the places, because catchment areas for rural health centres are very, very wide," Wakun'guma observed.
Wakung'uma said the role that traditional birth attendants play in ensuring the drastic reduction of death among expectant mothers during child labour could not be overemphasised.
MARBURG HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - ANGOLA (46) *************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Date: Mon 30 May 2005 From: ProMED-mail Source: Medecins sans Frontieres, Mon 30 May 2005 [edited]
Angola: Marburg epidemic continues to spread fear in the north
Feeling hopeless against the Marburg epidemic that has gripped their region, inhabitants of the Angolan city of Uige are either suffering in silence, expressing their anger, or fleeing their homes. Marburg fever has already claimed the lives of more than 280 people in the province, and new cases are surfacing almost every day.
Faced with a disease that can be transmitted by the simplest contact with an infected and symptomatic person, the 200 000 or so city-dwellers of Uige want to know who is responsible, and sometimes their fears turn into wrath. Stones have been thrown at international teams who are fighting against the epidemic but cannot treat patients, as no cure exists; the only measure they can take is to isolate infected persons to avoid further transmission.
As patients who enter the hospital very rarely come out alive, families are refusing to abandon their sick and prefer to keep them hidden at home, exposing themselves to the risk of being the next victims.
Day after day, one woman visited her husband at the Marburg treatment center of the Uige Provincial Hospital. But back in the barrio (or neighborhood) of Camdombe Velho, she did not dare tell her neighbors why her husband was sick. "If I told them what he has, they would not approach my house," she said. After spending 13 days in the center, her husband no longer had symptoms, and he recently returned home. He is one of the 1st isolated patients who appears to have won the battle against the disease.
Yet for many Uige inhabitants, the provincial hospital remains synonymous for death. Not only because almost none of the confirmed cases have survived, but also because the hospital has been one of the main focal points of the outbreak. At 1st, children in the pediatric ward died; then their mothers died; health staff followed - 16 lost their lives; and the disease spread on to the staff's relatives.
"People always look for someone to blame for such deaths," said Pastor Alberto Moises, while watching team members from MSF and WHO collecting a body in the barrio of Pedreira. "They say that Marburg is in the hospital; that there is a large reservoir of blood there; and that anyone who approaches it dies," he explained. "Many people have fled to Luanda (the capital) or to the villages."
"It's very frustrating," said Diana Pou, an MSF doctor. "We can only wash the patients, give them food and drinks, and treat their symptoms." "We have to tell ourselves that we are here to deal with a public health problem, and we have to get away from a personal approach. The primary goal is to isolate infected persons so that they don't infect others," adds Luis Encinas, the medical coordinator.
Convincing the population that isolation is necessary is a Herculean task. An MSF team recently organized a meeting with representatives of the Pedreira barrio. The importance of having cases come to the hospital -- even though no treatment is yet available -- was discussed for hours. Then a traditional healer spoke up: "I have a cure. And I have cured 5 people," he claimed, without being able to name any of the 5. Suddenly, all the participants at the meeting -- including those who had seemed most convinced of the need to isolate cases -- began demanding that the traditional healer's cure be applied. 2 short sentences had reversed the meeting's progress.
In addition to such setbacks, local traditions and customs can become lethal. In preparation for a burial ceremony in the barrio of Ngana Camana on 10 Apr 2005, the body of a woman was washed by her sister, her sister-in-law, and her godchild. All 3 women subsequently died of Marburg fever.
"If we prove that [she] was infected, it is clear that the virus may have been passed on when her body was washed," said Evelyn Depoortere, an epidemiologist at Epicentre. Dr. Depoortere is also looking into the possibility that the woman belongs to a cluster of 5 people, all from Ngana Camana, who may have contracted Marburg at the local health center. A WHO team noted that needles in this center were being re-used after soaking for only a few minutes in warm water.
"If you compare it to AIDS," said Josefa Rodriguez, an MSF psychologist, "in Europe, after years of awareness-raising, we have managed to change some behaviors. Here, we need people to change their customs in 2 weeks. And no matter how hard we try, it's very hard to succeed in doing that."
In the meantime -- and despite the fact that new cases are registered almost every day -- the inhabitants of Uige are returning little by little to a semblance of normality. The streets, virtually deserted some weeks ago, have gradually filled up again. People no longer cover their mouths with horror when teams collecting bodies pass by. Accustomed to many other hardships, the population is showing signs of stoicism.
"In Angola, we have known war," said Ligia Maria Costa Pedro, head of the pediatric ward in the Uige hospital, "and we have come out of it and moved on. Even though Marburg is killing a lot of people, there will always be a few survivors." She lost 7 of her colleagues to Marburg.
-- [Recent reports from Angola have expressed, alternately, hope and despair. The absence of quantitative information on cases and fatalities in the MSF report above makes it difficult to evaluate the state of current progress in containing the outbreak. One can only admire the dedication and courage of those striving to achieve a successful outcome. - Mod.CP]
placemark
Thanks for the ping. I love a little melted Marburg on my patty melt.
This just in (via Reuters Alertnet)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19594073.htm
MAYBE it's over....they hope !
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?ArticleId=201829&CategoryId=12395
Official: patient in isolation in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD – A patient has been put into isolation in quake-hit Pakistan after falling ill with a suspected case of hemorrhagic fever, an aid official said Wednesday. “It’s still a suspected case. It’s not a confirmed case,” said Krist Teirlinck, a coordinator of emergency operations for the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders.
The patient has been put in an isolation tent on the grounds of the destroyed district hospital in the quake-devastated town of Bagh, in case the fever is contagious.
He would give no details about the patient or symptoms. He also said it was unclear if the earthquake had played any role in the illness. He said, however, he believed the fever was transmitted to humans by ticks. Hemorrhagic fevers, which include such illnesses as Ebola and Marburg, are characterized by a sudden onset, fever, aching, bleeding in internal organs and shock. AP
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/08/angola.virus.ap/index.html
"LUANDA, Angola (AP) -- Angola says it has stamped out an epidemic of the Marburg virus that killed 227 people in the world's worst recorded outbreak of the Ebola-like fever.
The Health Ministry and World Health Organization said in a joint statement late Monday they recorded the last Marburg case July 27. WHO considers outbreaks to be contained when there have been no new infections for a period lasting double the virus' maximum incubation time of 21 days.
"After more than 45 days of no new cases, we can say we recommend that the epidemic be declared over," WHO regional official Fatumata Diallo told reporters in Luanda, the capital."