Posted on 07/23/2014 5:09:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A physician at the helm of Sierra Leone's efforts to contain and control the Ebola epidemic has just been diagnosed with the virus, according to reports from Reuters and the BBC.
Sheik Umar Khan, a virologist, has treated more than 100 patients with the deadly disease and was admitted earlier this week to a high containment treatment facility, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the government. A source inside the ward told Reuters that the doctor is receiving treatment, though no details were given on his current state of health.
Health Minister Miatta Kargbo called Khan a "national hero" and said she would "do anything and everything in my power to ensure he survives," Reuters reports.
Khan, 39 years old, is one of many health care workers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone who has contracted the disease as a result of firsthand involvement. Though health workers in the region are required to be thoroughly covered in protective gear, many who are tending to the ill have contracted the virus. A BBC reporter at a clinic in Freetown in Sierra Leone said dozens of nurses at a government hospital went on strike on Monday after three health care works died from suspected Ebola infections.
Play VIDEO Face to face with deadliest Ebola outbreak ever In June, Khan told Reuters that he had installed a mirror in his office at the clinic in Kenema so he could check to be sure there weren't any holes in the back of his protective gear before he entered the treatment facility to care for patients. "I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life," he told the reporter from Reuters. "Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk."
Play VIDEO Ebola outbreak strikes West Africa As of July 12, there have been 964 incidences of Ebola and 603 deaths due virus in this area of West Africa since the outbreak first emerged in February, according to the World Health Organization. The virus has maintained a stronghold on the region because of the insufficient borders that separate the three countries. Experts say this current outbreak is the largest in the history. In April, Michel Van Herp, an epidemiologist for the aid group, Doctors Without Borders, predicted the Ebola outbreak would develop into an epidemic on an unprecedented scale.
There currently is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which has less than a 10 percent survival rate.
Yeah, you tell him Doug!
Steve, you remind me of the pugnacious little leper boy who was always trying to pick fights with the other kids.
He would go up to a smaller kid, pull off one of his own fingers and lay it on his shoulder and say, “You want a piece of me?”
Yeah, it surprised me too. Ebola is from the Dark Continent, not the southern portion of the North American Union.
There is no such thing as a pure discussion on Free Republic except maybe some of the devotional threads in the religion forum.
They go all over the place in a stream of consciousness type of pinball. I can see how a big issue can connect with another story, as with the ‘borders’ comment. And while ebola won’t be that disease — as someone has pointed out, the carriers would be dead — other deadly diseases might well be.
That said, I am impressed by the courage of these medical teams treating this illness.
Devotional and caucus threads.
That's true but these immigration (or anti-evolution or anti-physics or whatever) spammers frequently disrupt scientific and medical threads to the point that sincere and technical posters are discouraged. I long for the days of Judith Anne, Mother Abigail and others.
Doctor's waiting rooms can be hazardous to your health.
Flying on a commercial airline flight ... ditto.
Wearing a mask is probably a good idea.
Agreed. There should be a moat with alligators protecting the United States on its long and perilous border with Sierra Leone...
You do realize it's perfectly possible for an infected person to just hop on a plane in Freetown and be in New York or another major American city -- completely legally -- in a few hours? That's how we'll get it over here -- not across the Mexican or Canadian borders.
If you recall, about three weeks ago someone from the medical community commented that the immigrants had a variety of diseases. The 0bama Regime immediately clamped down and imposed gag orders.
I understand the mental connection and for the most part those kind of comments on a free republic thread are standard, non-disruptive, and sometimes the connections can even be thought provoking. That’s not to say they are on topic with the thread. But think how some FR threads have thousands of comments. You just know there’s a few sidebar discussions going on among that many posts. So long as someone isn’t attempting to be intentionally disruptive or trolling, then I just see them as business as usual.
OK. To The Sons of Liberty: on behalf of steve86, I give you his apology for criticizing you and labeling you with a charge of which you were not guilty. You are clearly not a single issue commenter. In this case, the border comment was spot on.
And it was a male airline steward who brought AIDS to the world.
A very brave and noble man.
Currently, the only known way to contract Ebola is to be in contact with the bodily fluids of an infected patient or recent victim. I am guessing either a needle prick or failure to follow safety protocols. Heaven forbid this stuff becomes an airborne vector. If it does, it’s all over. No vaccine. No known cure. Palliative care only.
no. ebola is in fluids and the people they treat leak and cough and spit and drip. it gets on surfaces anbd canb get picked up. that’s what the gear is blocking, not airborne transmission.
Considering that Islamic fanatics have no problems blowing themselves up and continuing to whittle away at Western civilization, it’s not difficult to imagine someone being provided with a way of self-infection after reaching this country whether by tip toeing through the tulips to cross the border or arriving in a conventional manner and demanding a pat down from the TSA.
Build it and they will come applies.
I have had pneumonia seven times in my past. Colds were a constant problem, but no more.
For the last five years I have taken vitamin D3 daily. I take 4000 IU.
I suggest you try it, for it may make a difference in your health.
An exception might be if blood levels are low, but you have to spring for a lab test to find that out.
My 97 YO mother just had her serum D tested -- was in normal range.
Although the researchers identified 137 different health outcomes associated with vitamin D levels, they found that only 10 of these outcomes had been comprehensively tested in trials, and only one outcome - that an infant's birth weight is linked to a mother's vitamin D levels in late pregnancy - had enough evidence to deem it a "benefit."
We live in Washington State. The sunshine here is rare during the rainy late fall, winter, and spring.
The last two days it has rained with temps in the mid-sixties to mid-seventies. This means staying inside the house for me. If it wasn’t for the oral dose of D3, I probably wouldn’t be receiving that vitamin.
Start taking vitamin D3. Take enough. Get a blood test if you want. Your levels should be over 60 and you won’t get sick much, even if exposed. Ok, Ebola might be another story...
I live in Washington State but on the sunny and hot eastern half of the state. High last week was 110 at Hanford.
Glad it helps you. The D3 seems to do nothing for my wife’s sinus problems. She doesn’t like to go out in the sun so was hoping it would help.
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