Posted on 07/27/2014 9:34:19 AM PDT by dynachrome
A Sierra Leone Ebola patient whose family sparked a nationwide hunt when they forcefully removed her from a treatment center and took her to a traditional healer, died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, a health official said.
Health officials say fear and mistrust of health workers in Sierra Leone, where many have more faith in traditional medicine, are hindering efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak which has killed more than 450 people in the country.
In recent days crowds gathered outside clinics and hospitals to protest against what they see as a conspiracy, in some cases clashing with police as they threatened to burn down the buildings and remove the patients.
Amadu Sisi, a senior doctor at King Harman hospital in the capital Freetown, from which the patient was taken, said on Saturday that police found her in the house of a healer.
Her family refused to hand her over and a struggle ensued with police, who finally retrieved her and sent her to hospital, he said.
"She died in the ambulance on the way to another hospital," Sisi said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
another ebola “bring out yer dead” ping
The white devil’s ambulance killed her.
Ebola: 90% mortality.
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.
People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory. So while it is of most concern while it is a pulmonary disease, it can reemerge long after.
From there, it exists in a reservoir in fruit bat colonies, its most common animal vector.
Sierra Leone
Someone is experimenting. Trying to mutate the virus into
an airborne pathogen. But then again Sierra Leone is a very
filthy and nasty place. Sorta like Central America only
with more flies.
I know! Let’s bring them to America! We need more problems!
Dang, I was hoping it existed in a ding bat colony so we could get rid of the dims.
Good grief! That country’s population may well be wiped out soon with this sort of superstitious behavior. I wonder what will become of the police and the health care workers who dealt with this woman.
The thing about quarantine is that if there's a suspicion you have a disease, you don't get to leave until (1) you test negative and (2) the hospital says you can leave. And while your there, you're surrounded by people who do have the disease.
Been there, done that.
Yikes! Did they give you a face mask to wear? After all, if they suspect you of having the disease without knowing if you're clear, the least they can do is give you a protective face mask in the interim.
FWIW, if there's ever a quarantine situation, I would advise against getting medical care unless you're accompanied by someone to keep you out of forced quarantine.
But the article says that the people taking their relatives out of these hospitals are taking them to “traditional” healers. I read that to mean witch doctors.
I once picked up a wounded Karamajong warrior in northern Uganda. He'd had his throat & abdomen slit by a Turkana warrior during an argument over who owned a cow. I was taking him to the nearest hospital in my Bell Jet Ranger helicopter. We got about halfway to the hospital when he sat up on the stretcher, looked out the window and saw that we were "halfway to heaven", smiled at me and died.
There was an Irish nurse in the back seat, tending to him. I told her, "We picked him up alive. This was the first time his village has seen a helicopter. There is NO WAY we are taking him back dead. The hospital does not want the body. We'll take him to the mission station in nearest town and they can drive him out in a Land Rover."
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...
This outbreak is "only" 60% mortality.
I would hate to think that there could be an infectious disease with high mortality, and people resist quarantine. Such selfish actions could turn a controllable outbreak into something that spreads beyond control.
With all of our advances in medical knowledge, we are still barely a step ahead of infectious disease. It wasn’t that long ago when infectious disease was a major cause of death. Even now, infectious diseases make up 3 of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
Ping...
I have an idea for a new business. I believe I can get a jump on unfolding events. I will start building Dead Carts. I’ll make a pile.
Wow, what a story. If you don’t mind telling what year did that occur and, if a long time ago, do you think the mindset is still the same?
This happened in NE Uganda during the Famine of 1980-81, probably in early '81.
...if a long time ago, do you think the mindset is still the same?
"A long time ago and a galaxy..." as they say. Which mindset do you mean? If the "halfway to heaven, lay back & die", the perhaps it is still the same. I did not mention that when we picked up the patient, the tribal Catholic catechist from the closest village was there giving the man "Last Rites", which probably had a very strong influence upon his attitude.
If you mean the attitude of "you took him away ALIVE, don't bring him back dead", then it is hard to say. Something of that attitude is present in all cultures, "primitive" and "sophisticated".
When I first started flying out there I assumed that the villagers would be in awe. "Look, Lotim, that mzungu is making that metal box float in mid-air!" However, one day I spotted a group of men carrying someone on a makeshift stretcher. I landed, discovered that they were carrying a woman, whom they thought might have a broken back, to be examined by the nurse at the mission station. I loaded her into the helicopter and told the men that I would be taking her to the hospital and that they should continue to the mission station to tell the nurse who the woman was and village was her home.
When they arrived at the mission they told the nurse that "Bwana was flying over in his motor car and stopped to help." Their evaluation of my wonderful (to me, at least) helicopter was that if the wazungu can make "motorcars" roll down the road then they could just as easily make them fly through the air. No big deal.
Ask a "sophisticated" Western journalist or movie star where the electricity comes from to charge their "save-the-planet" electric car and many will say, "Oh, I just plug it in and it charges. No big deal!"
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