Posted on 08/03/2014 10:32:51 AM PDT by nickcarraway
e American doctor who contracted Ebola while working with an aid organization in Liberia appears to be improving, a top U.S. health official said Sunday, less than 24 hours after the doctor was admitted to an isolation unit at an Atlanta hospital for treatment.
Dr. Kent Brantly "seems to be improved from the reports we got earlier," Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Authorities and doctors are still closely monitoring Brantly, who is being treated at Emory University Hospital.
Ebola has no known cure and can be treated only with "supportive therapy," such as balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, monitoring vital signs and treating any additional infections, according to the CDC.
But Brantly may have an advantage because he was likely healthier before contracting the disease than African victims of Ebola, Frieden said. And the death rate of the outbreak that began in March is 60 percent, lower than the 90 percent rate in some previous outbreaks.
Brantly was flown in a containment-outfitted plane from Liberia to Atlanta on Saturday and then taken by ambulance to the hospital. Doctors and his family were encouraged when he walked the short distance from the ambulance to the entrance of the hospital, with the assistance of an aide, instead of being brought in on a stretcher.
The walking is a “terrific sign,” said Dr. Delos Cosgrove, president of the Cleveland Clinic, who added that the care Brantly will receive in the U.S. is better than what he would receive “anywhere in the world.”
Nancy Writebol, a second American infected with the deadly disease, is expected to arrive at Emory within a few days, according to Samaritan’s Purse and SIM, the charity organizations with which Brantly and Writebol were working in Liberia.
While Ebola is a “formidable enemy,” the CDC and health workers are being “meticulous” about ensuring that Ebola doesn’t become a threat in the U.S., Frieden said.
“What our role is, in public health, is to make sure that if an American is coming home with an infectious disease, we protect others so that they don’t spread it,” he said.
While Americans infected with Ebola have the option to come home for superior treatment, those suffering from the disease in Western Africa don’t have that option, and the outbreak is only getting worse.
More than 1,300 people have been infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia since the outbreak began in March, according to the World Health Organization. WHO estimates that 729 people have died from the disease during the current outbreak.
In the next 30 days, the CDC plans to send 50 public health experts to the three affected countries, Frieden said Sunday. “We do know how to stop Ebola,” Frieden said. “It’s old-fashioned, plain and simple public health.”
“Increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination,” are required to get the “unprecedented” spread under control, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of WHO, said in a statement. “The countries have identified what they need, and WHO is reaching out to the international community to drive the response plan forward,” Chan said.
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So if there is no cure yet, and there is a 90% or so (varying reports) survival rate, to the survivors walk among us in the population? Where are the survivors?
Will these two people if they are “better” be released into the population?
What a better way to get developed countries to fast track a vaccine or cure than to spread it to those nations?
That 90% is the death rate. E.g 100 people infected 90 die. It says the death rate has been reduced by 60%, I guess that means .9X.6 = .54, .9-.54 = .36 or 36 %. So 100 people infected 36 die.
Depends on the virus strain as to the survival rate. There are 5 strains identified, one of those is specific to animals. The worst is a 90% death expectation. The next most prevalent is 60% deaths, but I am not clear which strain this is that is flaring up today. It appears to be the 60% one, based on numbers from the area..
The survivors are obviously in Africa. There is a great deal of work that has been done to chart this stuff since the seventies when it was first ID’d.
Yes, the survivors are released after a period of isolation and testing. Albeit with potentially debilitating joint pain and other damages. Why would they not be..?
Once he becomes asymptomatic, the clock starts on his body clearing the virus. I’ve seen anywhere from 7 weeks to 60 days before all his secretions are clear of the virus. Then another clock starts. I’ve seen either 21d or 42d before the area can be declared ebola free.
So we’ll know by Thanksgiving or Christmas if Emory has dropped the ball or not.
Many times the recovered have mental problems, ongoing physical issues related to mobility and/or blindness.
These are the first (known) human Ebola victims in the U.S. Ebola has been here in primates. The virus particles can stay in certain areas of the body for a time after ‘recovering’ .... for example, men should not have sex for at least 3 months after recovering from Ebola or until their semen tests clear of the Ebola virus; otherwise, they can transmit it. I would imagine that the Ebola patients will undergo a lot of testing before returning to their families and the general public. In Africa, there are plenty of Ebola survivors .... current fatality rate is about 60% which is low for Ebola Zaire (the strain going around & the most deadly of all the strains - around 90% fatality, usually). One of the reasons for a better survival rate (and higher number of people infected) is that this outbreak is in western Africa (more medical help/more travel centers) rather than in more isolated areas in central Africa. There are a lot of “unknowns” still with Ebola .... some indication it can spread through the air (pigs to monkeys). Viruses tend to mutate to survive (AIDS is a good example) so the “givens” regarding Ebola, Marburg, etc. could & likely will change over time (IMO).
It’s the deadliest strain [Ebola Zaire], says the man who discovered Ebola
I’ve seen discussions that it’s only around 60% because the outbreak is in western Africa (more hospitals, medical help, earlier treatment) as opposed to isolated villages in central Africa, where the outbreaks usually occur. Of course, you’re getting more people infected because it’s harder to isolate the virus - western Africa is where the travel centers are, thus all the alarm over plane travel.
I heard a dr. on CNN this morning say the virus hasn ‘t mutated since discovered in 1976.
The virus stays in the system for up to 7 weeks after recovery.
So I’d imagine they’ll be isolated for at least that long.
It says the death rate has been reduced by 60%Actually, it says the death rate is 60 percent. There's a comma after 60 percent -- so it is saying that the death rate is 60%, (which is) lower than than the 90 percent rate in previous outbreaks.
I read this to mean that the 90% mortality rate was reduced to a 60% mortality rate.
It is worded such that the intent is not to say there has been a 60% drop in the 90% figure. The new figure is simply 60%.
And the death rate of the outbreak that began in March is 60 percent,...
Though I was quick to express concern upon initially hearing of Emory’s plans to treat Dr. Brantley I am glad to hear he seems to be improving. This does not, by any means, lessen my concern over the lengthy period of communicability and the need for quarantine of months, not weeks.
Much panic and chatter has swept social media recently and some fear is valid. However let us remember that the West African population at large consists of a high number of people with immune deficiencies due to HIV, hepatitis A-C and a veritable cocktails of other illnesses due to poor diets and unsanitary water supplies...not to mention a legion of mosquitoes trading blood for the reaper.
It appears Nancy Writebol may be too ill for transport at this time. Sources are now saying she will arrive in “several days”. She is a generation older than Dr. Brantley and May have a tougher fight.
The Stand was one of my favorite novels growing up. I don’t think it is time to march to Boulder..but that damned book has made me more cognizant of possibilities. “ Baby can you dig your man?”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24860690
Untrue.
It’s drifting vs. time.
Look at the 5th chart on that link.
Yeah, there is something about the virus that makes it less prone to mutations.
At least that is what I read, and it’s real virologist speak so I can’t begin to describe it.
There’s been only a handful of Ebola outbreaks to get into the low 3 digits. At most, only a few hundred ever recovered from it. More people have Ebola in this outbreak than all previous outbreaks combined.
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