President Sirleaf: ‘Gov’t Won’t Outsource Ebola Fight’

Wed, 09/03/2014 - 09:14 admin

‘Liberians Can Do It, We Just Need Support’

By: 

William Q. Harmon

Amidst many calls for the government of Liberia to outsource to internationally acclaimed health organizations, the fight against Ebola that continues to wreak havoc on the country, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said that government will do no such thing.
Speaking at the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) at the ELWA, where two medical practitioners that were cured of the Ebola virus were presented to her, President Sirleaf said: "There's nobody that cares more for people than the people themselves”.
Dr. Sengo Omeoga, a DR Congolese, and Physician Assistant (PA) Kandy Kobah, who were last Saturday released from the ELWA ETU,  were recipients the Ebola experimental drug, ZMapp.

President Sirleaf’s comment was in reaction to barrage of calls from Liberian lawmakers as well as international organizations that the government and its many functionaries that are spear heading the fight lack the requisite expertise, experience and knowledge required to contain the virus.
The head of Medicins Sans Fontiers (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders, recently called for United Nations intervention  -- military medical expertise--  to  effectively combat the scourge n West Africa.
Several Senators over a week ago, suggested during a plenary session that the fight against the Ebola epidemic be outsourced to experts such as MSF and Samaritan’s Purse,, arguing that the Government of Liberia has been overwhelmed and no longer has the capacity to contain the disease.
In a lengthy debate that became heated and emotional, a majority of the Senators cited instances demonstrating that the Task Force headed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf did not have the expertise to handle the situation.

Their expressed anger was prompted by a communication from President Sirleaf, informing them about the establishment of a parent body National Response Committee (NRC) that will encompass all satellite bodies in the fight to contain the Ebola virus.
The Senators further argued that despite their initial approval of US$5 million and later US$15 Million, there are still cries for more funding, and that the situation in the counties is getting worse day by day.

Those who expressed discontent over the handling of the Ebola fight suggested that the situation be turned over to groups like the Médicins San Frontiers and other international health-related organizations, which have experience from past outbreaks.
The lawmakers noted that over two weeks since the declaration of the State of Emergency by the President, there were no indications to show that the war against Ebola was being won.
“We need to change our strategy because we have too much bureaucracy. We need to outsource the management of the Ebola outbreak to a non-governmental organization that has the resources,” the Senators pointed out.

The Senators’ assertions were also echoed by the Liberia National Red Cross Society, which cited poor coordination between the functionaries of the government that are heading the Ebola fight.
But speaking at the ELWA hospital compound, President Sirleaf endorsed a statement made by Health Minister Walter Gwenigale that Liberia will not relinquish the Ebola fight to non-governmental organizations as was being suggested by some stakeholders and members of the public.

The President stressed that the fact that Liberian doctors and nurses and health practitioners are taking care of their people, as evidenced by the effectiveness and efficiency of the Liberian-run ETU where the two medical practitioners got cured, shows that "we need to give them the support so that they can continue to do the good work."
The Liberian leader expressed appreciation that Liberians were taking ownership and said she was further encouraged by the motivated health workers at ELWA Ebola Treatment Center.
Former Health Minister and senator for Grand Kru County, Dr. Peter Coleman, has argued that the involvement of international health bodies like Médicins San Frontiers, WHO and others in the fight suggests that it is already being outsourced.
The contention of many now is that the government should not be leading the process, as there have been and will continue to be, many lapses in the process, if government continues to spearhead the process. Those who are also demanding for the outsourcing are also citing accountability and transparency issues, which they allege that government lacks.

Meanwhile, President Sirleaf had also rejected the WHO’s prediction that over 20,000 people will die in the affected countries before the Ebola disease is contained.
"I do not accept that   prediction—no! I say no to that. Tell them that may be their arithmetic and calculator’s projections, but we will solve Ebola so that we do not have those numbers of people dying. That's our challenge; that's our responsibility; that's our commitment that we must make to ourselves to prove them wrong," said the Liberian leader. http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/president-sirleaf-%E2%80%98gov%E2%80%99t-won%E2%80%99t-outsource-ebola-fight%E2%80%99

‘Ebola to Worsen in Next Two Weeks’

Thu, 09/04/2014 - 08:51 admin

CDC Director Reveals, as US Gov’t Pledges up to $42.3 million for ZMapp Production

By: 

William Q. Harmon

We know how to stop Ebola. The challenge is to scale it up to the massive levels needed to stop this outbreak, ~ Tom Freiden

In direct contradiction to the peception that the Ebola virus is gradually being contained in Liberia as a result of the low number of cases now being reported, the Director  of the United States-based Center for Disease Control, Dr. Tom Frieden, has made the alarming warning that the Ebola outbreak in the region is likely to get worse in the next few weeks.
He did not state the basis of his prediction. 
Since the outbreak of the virus in the Mano River Union basin, it has claimed more than 1500 lives.
....
"We're likely to see significant increases in cases. Already we have widespread transmissions in Liberia. In Sierra Leone, we're seeing strong signs that that will happen in the near future," he said. He did not say what those signs were.
The US health agency boss  made the revelation during a tele-briefing of journalists in the US.
He noted that the outbreak is the first epidemic of Ebola the world has ever known, which indicates that the virus is spreading widely in society and is threatening the stability of affected and neighboring countries...  http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/%E2%80%98ebola-worsen-next-two-weeks%E2%80%99

Can Ebola Go Airborne?

A study in the journal Science, released last week, shows that the Ebola strain spreading across Western Africa has undergone a surprisingly high amount of genetic drift during the current outbreak. Experts say the mutations could eventually make the virus harder to diagnose and perhaps treat with a new therapeutic, should one come along.
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, I wrote that in response to the crisis, the Obama administration has stressed that the disease is unlikely to spread inside America. We will certainly see cases diagnosed here, and perhaps even experience some isolated clusters of disease. For now, though, the administration’s assurances are generally correct: Health-care workers in advanced Western nations maintain infection controls that can curtail the spread of non-airborne diseases like Ebola.
But our relative comfort in the U.S. is based on our belief that our public health tools could easily contain a virus spread only through direct contact. That would change radically if Ebola were to alter its mode of spread. We know the virus is mutating. Could it adapt in a way that makes it airborne?
It’s highly unlikely. It would be improbable for a virus to transform in a way that changes its mode of infection. Of the 23 known viruses that cause serious disease in man, none are known to have mutated in ways that changed how they infect humans.  Of course, we only know about a small portion of the existing viruses.
A little background is in order.
The ability of Ebola to spread without direct contact with an infected individual, and whether or not it is efficiently spread through air, are different issues.
It’s already possible that Ebola can spread, in rare cases, through direct contact with respiratory secretions. This might occur, for example, when an infected person coughs or sneezes directly on another, uninfected individual. The Centers for Disease Control specifically recommends “droplet protection” be taken in the hospital setting when healthcare workers are treating patients infected with Ebola. This kind of direct spread is sometimes referred to as “droplet contact,” but it’s distinct from airborne spread.
When a viral infection becomes “airborne,” like ordinary influenza, it means that discharged microbes remain suspended in the air for long periods of time. Generally speaking, this is what is meant by “airborne transmission.” In this case, the organisms must be capable of surviving for long periods of time outside the body and must be resistant to drying. Airborne transmission allows organisms to enter the upper and lower respiratory tracts. This sort of transmission is sometimes also referred to as “droplet contact” or “viral droplet nuclei transmission.”

For this article, I am focused on the latter circumstance — whether or not Ebola could mutate in a way that makes it highly contagious through the air, by allowing the individual viral particles to survive for long periods suspended in dry air.
Right now, Ebola is spread through direct contact with the body fluids of actively infected individuals. Indirect transmission is also possible by means of contact with an object (fomite) that has been soiled by the body fluids of an infected individual.
The widespread belief is that the Ebola virus would be very unlikely to change in a way that would allow the individual virus particles to be concentrated, and remain suspended in respiratory secretions — and then infect contacts through inhalation.

The Ebola virus is comprised of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Such a structure makes it prone to undergoing rapid genetic changes. But to become airborne, a lot of unlikely events would need to occur. Ebola’s RNA genome would have to mutate to the point where the coating that surrounds the virus particles (the protein capsid) is no longer susceptible to harsh drying effects of being suspended in air.
To be spread through the air, it also generally helps if the virus is concentrated in the lungs of affected patients. For humans, this is not the case. Ebola generally isn’t an infection of the lungs. The main organ that the virus targets is the liver. That is why patients stricken with Ebola develop very high amounts of the virus in the blood and in the feces, and not in their respiratory secretions.
Could Ebola mutate in a way that confers these qualities on the virus?
Anything is possible. But such a scientific feat would rate as highly unlikely. A lot of the speculation that Ebola could be airborne stems from a set of earlier studies that showed Ebola virus may have been able to spread through the air between infected pigs and monkeys. There are reasons why these studies are not applicable when it comes to questions around human-to-human transmission. In animals, Ebola behaves differently than it does in people, for example concentrating in lung tissue.
Nonetheless, the fact that the Ebola virus is undergoing rapid changes reinforces the urgency of getting this epidemic under control. We need to snuff it out. While the virus is unlikely to be modified in a way that changes its mode of infection, the resulting mutations could nonetheless make it harder to diagnose, or even treat.

Moreover, our ability to prevent an epidemic here in the U.S. doesn’t relinquish our obligations abroad. Even if the epidemic remains confined to Western Africa, the outbreak could rank as one the cruelest natural catastrophes of recent times—if not in human death and suffering, then certainly in the economic and social devastation caused by declining commerce, and the strife resulting from mass cordons. As I note in the Wall Street Journal, “compared with a one-time act of nature, like a storm, that delivers its destruction at once; the swelling nature of a viral epidemic can magnify its impact on economic and civil life.”
For all of these reasons, and most of all for the humanitarian imperative; we need to be very concerned about the epidemic unfolding in Western Africa, even if the U.S. isn’t at direct risk of an outbreak now. We need a vigorous plan for helping that region deal with this evolving catastrophe.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgottlieb/2014/09/03/can-ebola-go-airborne/

FG Bans Corpses Of Nigerians From Abroad, Lagos Wants Borders Closed (EBOLA FEAR)

Following the scare caused by the return of a corpse suspected to have died of Ebola from Liberia, the Federal Government has placed a ban on the return of all corpses from three countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — worst hit by the pandemic.
Similarly, the Lagos State government has also appealed to the Federal Government to consider closing some of the country’s borders as a means of containing the spread of the disease.
The appeal by the Lagos State government, is coming after the Ghanaian authorities announced the ban of all flights from Nigeria and other West African countries as governments in West Africa scrambled to contain the spread of the disease that has killed almost a thousand people mainly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Announcing the ban during a press conference at the Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, in company of the Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Jide Idris, the Project Director of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Abdulsalami Nasidi, said the corpse was brought in from Liberia through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and taken to a private hospital in Anambra State by road.
He said while effort is still ongoing to identify all those who came in contact with the corpse, all those who accompanied the corpse from Lagos to Anambra and the workers at the mortuary that received the body have been quarantined.
“The dead body came into the country through Air Gambia. It was received in Lagos, precisely on July 21. From there, it was transported by road. It was received in a private mortuary,” he said.
“The federal government has issued a directive that we will henceforth not receive anybody or corpse from the West African coast especially from Liberia and others that were on red alert for Ebola virus.
“Mechanisms are in place to checkmate that. For instance, a plane was to come into the country with a corpse but the airport health officials rejected it. Our problem is the land border.
“But in order to have effective monitoring, we held a meeting today and how it will be done was stated. We shall be giving update very soon. These countries will be notified through the diplomatic channels that they should not allow any transportation of any dead corpse into Nigeria.”
The Anambra state government has however said initial testing suggested the corpse did not test positive to Ebola.
Also in a separate session with journalist, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, appealed to the federal Government to consider closing some of the country’s borders as the disease ravages the subregion.
“The virus is no longer a local, but an international problem. This is because it is easily transmittable across the borders and boundaries,” he said.
“I think what the federal government need to do at this time is to consider the imperative of closing some of our borders. It is difficult to stop the epidemic. We must now choose the treaty obligations that we hold under the ECOWAS treaty to address the health issue.
“I think we should give it that attention. I think men and women who man our border posts –sea, air and land-especially the customs, now know that they are our first line of defence.
“What happens going forward depends on how professionally our border officials act. It is prevention rather than calling the health professionals to quarantine people. That is really the strongest defence now against migration of the virus. We will continue to put out information about what the health risks are and the symptoms.”
Mr Fashola also justified the cremation of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian American that died of Ebola virus in Lagos saying the disease could be contacted through the fluid from dead bodies.
“This is a health security and people must embrace contemporary hygiene standards. All the residents who had contacts with the dead Liberian have been tested and the result proved negative.
“But there is still risk because we had a dead body that was brought into the country from Liberia. This means there is still need for vigilance at our border posts. The officials at these places should act professionally and report every incident they suspect,” he said. http://www.9gmusic.org/news-fg-bans-corpses-of-nigerians-from-abroad-lagos-wants-borders-closed-ebola-fear/#sthash.ZDLVVlou.dpuf

Liberia: Ebola Hits Police Barracks

3 SEPTEMBER 2014
 

The wife of one of the officers of the Police Support Unit (PSU) residing at the Barracks on Horton Avenue, Camp Johnson Road has reportedly died from the deadly Ebola virus.

According to sources, the lady (name withheld) has been showing Ebola symptoms for nearly a week until she left the Police Barracks last week to see her mother apparently for care.

She is said to have died at the home of her mother about two days ago. When the contact tracing team got the news that the woman was living at the Police Barracks with her lover, they reached a decision to quarantine block "C" building of the police barracks where she was residing.

The Block "C" building is currently quarantined as officers residing therein remain trapped inside until a period of 21 days. The barracks contain three buildings.

The officer whose wife died from Ebola was recently on assignment at the Headquarters of the LNP. It is not known whether the entire headquarters will be quarantined as civilian staffers and police officers who interacted with the PSU officer whose wife died, are said to be worried.

Our reporter who visited the Barracks Monday saw police officers preventing their colleagues and families from leaving the building as water barrels were taken in the compound for the quarantined officers.  
http://allafrica.com/stories/201409030829.html?aa_source=acrdn-f0

Abia Declares Manhunt for 50 Suspected Ebola Victims Who 'Escaped' From Rivers State

As part of efforts to rid Nigeria of the deadly #Ebola virus, the Abia State Government says it would declare a manhunt to fish out all suspected Ebola patients who might have sneaked into the State from the neighbouring Rivers State.

Speaking in an interview with #Punch in Umahia, Commissioner for Health, Mr. Okechukwu Ogah, said he would liaise with his Rivers State counterpart to get the names of people suspected to have had contacts with the late Dr. Iyke Enemuo and later fled the state .

“We will work with neighbouring states to track down the 50 people that were said to have fled from Rivers State and put them on surveillance. We need to work together to rid Nigeria of Ebola; and if there is anybody hiding in Abia we will ask for their names and announce them on air for the public to help us track them.”

He however cautioned against politicising the pandemic following some media reports that Chinyere, the sister of the late Enemuo fled to Abia after the death of her brother before she was tracked down and bundled back to PortHarcourt where she is currently quarantined.

He said no case of Ebola had been established in Abia said so far, adding that intensive awareness campaign against the pandemic was on and the state government had fortified all two isolation centres set up to handle likely patients in the eventuality of its out break in the state.

Ebola situation in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Situation assessment - 3 September 2014

The Commissioner of Health, Rivers State, Nigeria, has now reported 3 confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt, the country’s oil hub. Additional suspected cases are being investigated.

Background on the Port Harcourt index case

Ebola virus was imported into Nigeria via an infected air traveller, who entered Lagos on 20 July and died 5 days later. One close contact of the Lagos case fled the city, where he was under quarantine, to seek treatment in Port Harcourt.
The close contact was treated, from 1 to 3 August, at a Port Harcourt hotel, by what would turn out to be the city’s index case. This case was a male physician who developed symptoms of weakness and fever on 11 August and died of Ebola on 22 August. His infection was confirmed on 27 August by the virology laboratory at Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
The male physician in Port Harcourt is therefore indirectly linked to Nigeria’s first case.
The case history of the index case in Port Harcourt is important, as it reveals multiple high-risk opportunities for transmission of the virus to others.
After onset of symptoms, on 11 August, and until 13 August, the physician continued to treat patients at his private clinic, and operated on at least two. On 13 August, his symptoms worsened; he stayed at home and was hospitalized on 16 August.
Prior to hospitalization, the physician had numerous contacts with the community, as relatives and friends visited his home to celebrate the birth of a baby.
Once hospitalized, he again had numerous contacts with the community, as members of his church visited to perform a healing ritual said to involve the laying on of hands. During his 6 day period of hospitalization, he was attended by the majority of the hospital’s health care staff.
On 21 August, he was taken to an ultrasound clinic, where 2 physicians performed an abdominal scan. He died the next day.
The additional 2 confirmed cases are his wife, also a doctor, and a patient at the same hospital where he was treated. Additional staff at the hospital are undergoing tests.
Given these multiple high-risk exposure opportunities, the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt has the potential to grow larger and spread faster than the one in Lagos.

The response

Nigerian health workers and WHO epidemiologists are monitoring more than 200 contacts. Of these, around 60 are considered to have had high-risk or very high-risk exposure.
The highest-risk exposures occurred in family members and in health care workers and patients at the facility where the index case was hospitalized. Church members who visited the index case while he was hospitalized are also considered at high risk.
The government, supported by WHO, UNICEF, and MSF (Doctors without Borders), has introduced a number of emergency measures. More will be introduced later this week.
An Ebola Emergency Operations Centre has been activated, with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A mobile laboratory, with RT-PCR diagnostic capacity, is set up and functional.
A 26-bed isolation facility for the management of Ebola cases is in place, with plans for possible expansion. WHO has 15 technical experts on the ground.
Twenty-one contact-tracing teams are at work; they have good training, provided by WHO, and adequate transportation, thanks to government support. Two decontamination teams are equipped and operational, as is a burial team.
Port Harcourt is the capital of Rivers State. WHO, together with the Rivers State Port Health Service, has assessed public health measures at airport gates and other points of entry. Screening is under way at domestic and international airport gates.
Social mobilization efforts have been stepped up, initially targeting key community and religious leaders.
However, civil unrest, security issues, and public fear of Ebola create serious problems that could hamper response operations. Military escorts are needed for movements into the isolation and treatment centre.

The provincial medical inspector Ecuador and the head doctor of the health district of Mbandaka suspended for mismanagement of the Ebola outbreak

September 4th, 2014 · 0 Comment

Mbandaka, 9.4 (ACP.) - The National Minister of Health, Dr. Felix Kabange Numbi suspended from office by order, Dr. Joseph and Dr. Mboyo Limpoko Mpasai respectively doctor provincial health inspector to Ecuador and chief medical officer of the district health Mbandaka for mismanagement of the epidemic of the disease reported since August 24 in the area of ​​health Boende Ebola virus.
It is alleged that the two health authorities mismanagement of several suspects in the town of Mbandaka and especially not taking seriously the instructions of superiors as to the involvement of all in order to avoid expansion This epidemic is so far contained in the area of ​​territory in Djera Boende.A this occasion, the national Minister of Health emphasized the updated statistics of this disease that remains to this day status quo with 53 cases which identified 13 confirmed cases, 19 probable cases, 21 suspected cases with 31 deaths.

The National Minister of Public Health, during his stopover in Mbandaka, Monday and Tuesday bound for Boende, said samples from the two suspected cases reported to the general referral hospital in Mbandaka Wangata were negative after being reviewed by the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa.

Outbreak of Ebola in Boende: 5 new cases reported

September 3rd, 2014 · 

Kinshasa, 03.09 (ACP) .- The updated statistics of the Congolese Ministry of Health on the epidemic of Ebola virus disease plaguing the health zone Boende south of the province of Ecuador, northwest of the DRC, indicate that five new cases have recently been reported, thus raising the number of cases from 53 to 58 September 1 to September 3, 2014.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, a cumulative total of 58 cases, there are 13 confirmed, 22 probable and 23 suspected, with 31 deaths (mortality rate 53.4%), including six health workers. To date, 291 people have been in contact patients are followed which 285 were seen.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Felix Kabange Numbi, arrived Tuesday in Boende after a 24 hour stopover in Mbandaka, capital of Ecuador, at the head of a delegation that includes the representative of World Health Organization (WHO) in the DRC, Dr. Joseph Waogodo Caboré, director of the Department of Vaccines and Immunization at WHO in Geneva, Dr. Jean Marie Okwo Bele (originally from the DRC) and Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) Kinshasa, the professor and virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum.

According to a press release from the WHO office in the DRC, the Congolese Minister of Public Health said during his visit to Mbandaka the DRC and its partners are launching a major challenge in
can interrupt the chain of transmission of this deadly virus within 45 days. He also said it is crucial that the Ebola virus disease remains confined in one area of ​​health Boende and it does not reach Mbandaka, the provincial County seat, access and exchange with Kinshasa made by the Congo River.

The Health Zone Boende is located 1,200 kilometers from Kinshasa, and 600 km south-east of Mbandaka, in a region with high hydrography, including large Lomela, Salonga and Tshuapa rivers experiencing intense fishing activities and 'trade of food products with other border communities of two neighboring provinces further south, Kasai Occidental and Kasai Oriental. In the city of Boende, located 68 km from Lokolia which is the epicenter of the epidemic, there is the International Committee of Technical and Scientific Coordination (CICTS), which coordinates the management of all the statistics of the epidemic, developing an update of the status report of the disease. The same CICTS must ensure infection control in the isolation of patients set up by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Centre....

EBOLA: PANIC AS BRITISH DIPLOMAT SLUMPS AND DIES AT LAGOS AIRPORT

Wednesday, 3 September 2014

A top British diplomat on Tuesday slumped and died at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, security officials at the flagship airport said.The envoy, who was said to have arrived aboard a United Airlines flight, died at the arrival hall shortly after disembarking from the plane around 3pm.

A top security operative at the airport said the diplomat might have died of heart-related complications.

“He was shouting help! Help! and then slumped. People did not want to go near initially because of the Ebola scare that has been in town,” the official added.

The spokesman for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Yakubu Dati, confirmed that somebody died at the airport but said the identity of the person had yet to be ascertained.

“Someone died at the airport. Port Health officials are on the matter. We cannot confirm the identity now,” he said.

Also, the Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, Mr. Wahab Salau, also confirmed that a foreigner had died at the airport on Tuesday afternoon.

He, however, said the identity of the person had yet to be ascertained.

Airport officials confirmed that officials from the British embassy came to evacuate the corpse from the airport at about 7.45pm.

“Some officials of the British Embassy came to evacuate the body of the diplomat that died at the airport this evening,” a top security official at the airport who did not want to be quoted said.

When contacted last night, the British High Commission spokesman, Robert Fitzpatrick, in a text message said, he could not confirm the passage of the diplomat.

He said, “I can’t confirm anything at the moment, but would ask that you exercise restraint in your publication until I am able to come back to you. GodHelpNigeria   http://kanuaugustineowrites.blogspot.com/2014/09/ebola-panic-as-british-diplomat-slumps.html

Dispatches from Liberia

The fight against Ebola

Dispatches from Liberia

September 3, 2014   Contact: David Orenstein   401-863-1862

Two Brown University medical faculty members are sharing their experiences online as they work in Liberia to help the country overcome the Ebola epidemic.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Two Alpert Medical School professors who have joined the fight against Ebola in Liberia’s capital city Monrovia have been publishing poignant online dispatches from the scene.
Dr. Adam Levine and Dr. Tim Flanigan are both veterans of global health work, including work in different parts of Africa.
Levine, assistant professor of emergency medicine, has already seen patients. In a blog entry at the Huffington Post, Levine said he found his first patient lying on the floor, tired and confused after wandering away from his bed.
“The physician with me calmly reassures him, and together we help lift him to his feet and guide him back to his thin mattress in one of the large white tents serving as an Ebola ward,” Levine wrote Sept. 1. “He is profoundly weak, and as we walk, I notice that his pants are soaked through with diarrhea, a hallmark of the disease.”
Meanwhile Flanigan, professor of medicine who sent a shipment of desperately needed personal protective equipment to Monrovia earlier this summer, arrived in Monrovia Aug. 31 to begin work with local Catholic organizations.
“In the afternoon we visited St Joseph’s Hospital, which was very moving,” Flanigan wrote Sept. 2. They have been hard hit indeed. When Brother Patrick died, many of the nurses, sisters, and brothers became ill suddenly with Ebola. I spent an hour with a wonderful doctor who survived and told me the tale. The hospital is closed and we’ll help in the reopening.”
In a very difficult time in West Africa, Drs. Levine and Flanigan are there to help.   https://news.brown.edu/articles/2014/09/ebola

Nigeria monitoring 400 contacts of doctor who died of Ebola; 'hopelessness spreading'

Published on Sep 4, 2014 8:30 PM

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GENEVA (REUTERS) - Nigerian authorities are monitoring nearly 400 people for signs of Ebola after they came in contact with a Port Harcourt doctor who died of the disease but hid the fact that he had been exposed, a senior Nigerian health official said on Thursday.
Dr Abdulsalami Nasidi, project director at Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said there was a sense of "hopelessness" due to the lack of proven drugs or vaccines to treat Ebola that has infected 18 people in Africa's most populous nation.
In an interview with Reuters in Geneva, he said that more isolation wards were being opened in the oil industry hub but voiced confidence that there would not be "many cases" there.
After having contact with an Ebola patient and before his own death on Aug 22, the Port Harcourt doctor, named by local authorities as Iyke Enemuo, carried on treating patients and met scores of friends, relatives and medics, leaving about 60 of them at high risk of infection, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

WHO identifies six countries at high risk for spread of Ebola

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified six countries as being at high risk for the spread of the Ebola virus disease. It is working with these countries to ensure that full surveillance, preparedness and response plans are in place.
“The following countries share land borders or major transportation connections with the affected countries and are therefore at risk for spread of the Ebola outbreak: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Senegal,” the agency said in the first in a series of regular updates on the Ebola response roadmap.
WHO’s Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report 1 features up-to-date maps containing hotspots and hot zones, as well as epidemiological data showing how the outbreak is evolving over time. It also communicates what is known about the location of treatment facilities and laboratories.
It follows the release of an Ebola response roadmap that aims to stop the transmission of Ebola virus disease (EVD) within six to nine months.
The update noted that although the numbers of new cases reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone had been relatively stable, last week saw the highest weekly increase yet in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, highlighting ‘the urgent need to reinforce control measures and increase capacity for case management.’ http://www.continuitycentral.com/news07343.html

WHO issues its first detailed report of the spread of #Ebola to Port Harcourt

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The hopes that Nigeria’s Ebola outbreak could be quickly stamped out have evaporated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) this afternoon issued its first detailed report of the spread of the virus in Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil hub.
Last week, authorities announced that a doctor there had died of the disease,
after secretly treating a diplomat who had been infected in Lagos by a traveler from Liberia .
The doctor had close contact with family, friends, and health care workers during his illness, but he did not disclose his previous exposure to the virus. His infection wasn’t confirmed until 5 days after his death.
Experts are now following hundreds of the doctor’s contacts, 60 of which had “high-risk or very high-risk exposure,” WHO says.
The diplomat had been instructed to stay in Lagos in quarantine. Instead he flew to Port Harcourt, where he was treated—in a hotel room—by the doctor from 1 to 3 August.
The diplomat survived and returned to Lagos, presenting himself again to health authorities, who confirmed he was no longer was infected. He did not tell them that he had sought treatment in Port Harcourt.
The doctor who treated him became ill on 11 August. He continued treating patients at his private clinic for 2 days, operating on at least two of them. Between 13 and 16 August, he was ill enough that he stayed home, but, according to the WHO report, he received multiple visitors who came to celebrate the birth of a baby.
On 16 August, he was hospitalized. He did not tell doctors there that he had been exposed to Ebola.
The WHO report is grim: “During his 6 day period of hospitalization, he was attended by the majority of the hospital’s health care staff,” it says, and members of his church community visited and performed a healing
ritual that apparently involved laying on of hands. “On 21 August, he was taken to an ultrasound clinic, where 2 physicians performed an abdominal scan. He died the
next day.”
It was not until 27 August that tests confirmed he was infected with Ebola.
His wife (who is also a doctor) and another patient at the hospital where he sought treatment are also infected. Twenty-one trained teams are monitoring more than 200 contacts, and a 26-bed isolation facility is set up.
WHO says two decontamination teams and a burial team “are equipped and operational.”
The diplomat, associated with the Economic Community of West African States, may face manslaughter charges,
according to Nigerian press reports.  http://www.seyipeters.com/who-issues-its-first-detailed-report-of-the-spread-of-ebola-to-port-harcourt/

Liberia: Confirmed Ebola Cases Swell to 412

..Minister Brown, addressing the daily Ebola Briefing session held at the Ministry of Information yesterday, the total suspected cases of Ebola stands at 512, total probable cases at 847 while cumulative confirmed, probable and suspected cases is at 1,771.The statistics further revealed that cumulative cases among health-care workers are 150 while cumulative death among health-care workers is 76.
Minister Brown said total death in confirmed cases are 396, total death in probable cases 381 total death in suspected Ebola cases 238 while the total death in confirmed, probable and suspected cases are 1,015.
The statistics which comes from the Ebola Situation Report number 109 also said the Cumulative Fatality Rate (CFR) from March 22 to September is 617...  http://allafrica.com/stories/201409041539.html?viewall=1http://allafrica.com/stories/201409041539.html?viewall=1

Virginians Respond to Ebola Crisis

September 04, 2014

 -- Catherine Komp

• 
  

Lucana Kurvah, a mental health clinician, helps a psychosocial team explain to community members in Zango town, Lofa county, why they need to immediately report any sick family members.

As the Ebola crisis worsens in West Africa, Liberians in Virginia are growing more concerned about loved ones back home. In response, a group has launched Virginia in Action for Liberia Against Ebola to gather supplies and donations for the stricken country. Catherine Komp has more for Virginia Currents.
Learn More: Find information on the Virginia in Action for Liberia Against Ebola (VALAE) campaign and contact the intiative by emailing valae2014@gmail.com or calling (804) 714.7450.
Transcript:
At First Baptist Church in Richmond, a multicultural group sings, prays and listens to leaders of faith rally the congregation about the need to respond to the Ebola crisis. First detected in Guinea last March, at least 1,500 people have died including more than 100 health care workers, according to the World Health Organization. But officials warn that’s likely an underestimate and it will take months to contain the virus, which is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids.
(Music: Liberia Will Be Saved)
Prayer Vigil at First Baptist ChurchAs part of the vigil, seven Liberian youth light candles and the crowd sings “Liberia will be Saved.” The event was the public launch of Virginia in Action for Liberia Against Ebola (VALAE), which is partnering with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board to spread the campaign throughout the Commonwealth. Dr. Calvin Birch is chair of new initiative and founder of the African Christian Community Church.
Birch: The world has become a global village and therefore Ebola has become a global episode that everyone has to respond and react based upon the United Nations projection that it has become an international public health emergency issue that needs a desperate and urgent response.
Outside the Church, members of the Liberian community wrap up tall moving boxes filled with donations of soap, bleach and other disinfectants. Lydia Bull is originally from Liberia’s Montserrado county and has been in the US since 1994. Bull has four generations of family members in Liberia, who she says are growing more fearful as food becomes scarce and the healthcare system collapses.
Lydia Bull, Associate Minister, African Christian Community ChurchLydia Bull: My concern is about the youth, the little children not seeing a future and about the whole country because even though some of us are here we still got the majority of our family back home. So when one is affected all is affected.
Patrick Taylor: People dying everywhere, everywhere you go people dying.
The Ebola crisis has directly affected some Richmond residents. Patrick Taylor just lost his sister Beatrice to the virus. The pastor of Fountain Baptist Church said she ran a pharmacy where she often came in close contact with people, checking their temperature and vitals.
Taylor: She was 36 years old, she left four children, she was involved with the healthcare profession, so I guess that’s how she contracted that virus, but we we didn’t know that it was [Ebola] until the end, almost when she was about to die that’s when we discovered it was [Ebola].
Richmond resident Patrick TaylorTaylor said initial tests indicated his sister may have had malaria or typhoid, and when her conditioned worsened to the point where she couldn’t talk, there was no hospital or clinic willing to admit her. She died in the car, while her family members were frantically searching for medical attention. Now every one of Taylor’s family members who were in contact with his sister have been quarantined.
Taylor: Getting medication to them is very difficult, it’s a very fragile situation over there. Event getting help for them was very difficult and even up to now since my sister passed, the team that treats people has not been able to go to their house to start treating them and monitoring them.
And back in Taylor’s home village in Lofa county, he knows more than a dozen who died. Liberia is one of the hardest hit countries with more than 1,300 suspected cases of Ebola and more than 700 deaths. The population was already dealing with extreme poverty, unemployment and the lasting effects of civil war. Now entire communities are quarantined and curfews imposed; schools, markets and borders are closed; and prices for food and basic necessities have soared. Adam Kyne is President of Liberian Ministerial Association of Virginia.
Youth sing "Liberia Will be Saved"Adam Kyne: It is very important for us in America to also understand that just sanitizer now in Liberia is very expensive, so just one bottle of sanitizer can actually be a help to people. There are business people in Liberia who raised prices of every sanitary product to an extent that a poor person can’t afford. There’s already hunger, a person is just struggling to just buy water to drink, and then you’re talking about sanitizer that costs close to five dollars because the price has gone up.
Virginia in Action for Liberia Against Ebola is calling on individuals, hospitals, schools and companies to get involved in the donation drive. In addition to sanitizers and soaps, they’re collecting safety goggles, face shields, disposable aprons, latex gloves and hospital masks as well as monetary donations.
Reverend Birch is hoping Virginia’s historical connection to Liberia will help motivate the people of the Commonwealth to take action. The country’s capital city, Monrovia, was named after US President and Virginia native James Monroe.
Rev. Birch at the Ebola Prayer VigilBirch: Most Virginians probably don’t know, but this state has an outstanding relationship, historical tie with Liberia. Liberia’s first president Joseph Jacobs Roberts, was a descendent from Petersburg, in Virginia. There are so many streets in our country that carry same name of streets in Richmond because the group of free slaves that left from here they took the names of streets here in Virginia, in Richmond, in Williamsburg and named streets after them in Liberia....  http://ideastations.org/radio/news/virginians-respond-ebola-crisis

Ebola Outbreak Is Unstoppable for Now

04 September 2014

By Rachael Rettner
A doctor who just returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa predicts the current Ebola outbreak will go on for more than a year, and will continue to spread unless a vaccine or other drugs that prevent or treat the disease are developed.
Dr. Daniel Lucey, an expert on viral outbreaks and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, recently spent three weeks in Sierra Leone, one of the countries affected by the Ebola outbreak. While there, Lucey evaluated and treated Ebola patients, and trained other doctors and nurses on how to use protective equipment.
The current Ebola outbreak, which is mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, has so far killed at least 1,552 of the more than 3,000 people infected, making it the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. It is also the first outbreak to spread from rural areas to cities. Strategies that have worked in the past to stop Ebola outbreaks in rural areas may not, by themselves, be enough to halt this outbreak, Lucey said.
“I don’t believe that our traditional methods of being able to control and stop outbreaks in rural areas … is going to be effective in most of the cities,” Lucey said yesterday (Sept. 3) in a discussion held at Georgetown University Law Center that was streamed online. While the World Health Organization has released a plan to stop Ebola transmission within six to nine months, “I think that this outbreak is going to go on even longer than a year,” Lucey said. [5 Things You Should Know About Ebola]
In addition, without vaccines or drugs for Ebola, “I’m not confident we will be able to stop it,” Lucey said. There are a few studies of Ebola treatments and prevention methods under way, but more research is needed to show whether they are safe and effective against the disease.
One strategy that could help with the current outbreak is to implement public health “command centers” whose job it is to make sure that tools and equipment sent to the affected regions are properly distributed to places that need them, Lucey said.
When Lucey was in Sierra Leone, protective equipment for health care workers made its way to the capital city, but not to the hospital where he was working, he said. “We did not have gloves that I felt safe with,” Lucey said, noting that the gloves would tear easily. “We didn’t have face shields. We had goggles that had been washed so many times you couldn’t see through them,” Lucey said.
Another important factor in stemming the outbreak will be community engagement and education to help people in the region understand the behaviors that spread the disease, said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also important to understand the culture of an area so that control strategies are culturally acceptable, Cetron said.
This large Ebola outbreak could have been prevented with an effective public health response at the beginning, said Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. But the weak health systems of the affected countries left them unprepared to respond to the outbreak, Gostin said.
The international community should have been more generous in supporting poorer countries so they could develop the response capacities needed to contain the outbreak, Gostin and colleagues wrote in a recent briefing for the O’Neill Institute.
To help with the current outbreak, and prevent future ones, Gostin called for the establishment of an international “health systems fund,” which would be supported by high-resource countries. The money would be used to strengthen the health systems in those countries, he said.
“We want to avoid leaving these countries in the same kind of fragile health condition” that they are in now, and that is being worsened, Gostin said. http://thefielder.net/en/04/09/2014/ebola-outbreak-is-unstoppable-for-now/#.VAiRnBRkoos.twitter

Assessing the International Spreading Risk Associated with the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak

...Conclusions

We show by a modeling effort informed by data available on the 2014WA EVD outbreak that the risk of international spread of the Ebola virus is still moderate for most of the countries. The current analysis however shows that if the outbreak is not contained, the probability of international spread is going to increase consistently, especially if other countries are affected and are not able to contain the epidemic. It is important to stress that the presented modeling analysis has been motivated by the need for a rapid assessment of the EVD outbreak trends and contains assumptions and approximations unavoidable with the current lack of data from the region.

 The results may change as more information becomes available from the EVD affected region and more refined sensitivity analysis can be implemented computationally. Furthermore, the modeling approach does not include scenarios for the identification and isolation of cases, the quarantine of contacts, and the proper precautions in hospital and funeral preparation that would be relevant in discussing optimal containment strategies. Such a modeling effort however calls for better and more detailed data not available at the moment.

First suspected case of Ebola in Thailand

| September 2, 2014

The Public Health Ministry today reported the first suspected case of the deadly Ebola virus in the country when the patient  returned from Ebola infected countries and has high body temperature.

But now the patient is under  quarantine, said Dr Narong Sahamethapat, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry said today at a press conference.

The  patient is a Guinean who arrived in Thailand on August 20 and consulted doctors after developing high body temperature.

Dr Narong said the first suspected case of Ebola was discovered yesterday.

The patient arrived  from infected country and had a high body temperature of 38.8 degree Celsius. The patient had soaring throat and nasal mucus.

He said she is now under quarantine closely monitored under international standards  by doctors.

Doctors have sent the patient’ s blood for laboratory test at the Department of Medical Science, and at Chulalongkarn Hospital.

The result of the blood test was expected to be known this afternoon, he said.

He said the second blood test would be conducted on Thursday for confirmation.

The ministry has  despatched surveillance rapid response ( SRRT) teams  from the Communicable Disease Control Department and provincial public health stations to locate those who had associated closely  with her  and had found 16 persons.

They have no sign of  fever but they were all quarantined at hospital for  a 21-day close monitoring laid down as a normal standard to limit the areas of  spread as much as possible to ensure confidence for the communities.

They will be treated the same as cold  and infectious patients under international standard.

Dr Narong said latest check of the suspected case of Ebola showed the patient’ s condition has improved but doctors continued to check the vital sign and body temperature every four hours.

All doctors and nurses giving treatment to the case were in protective clothing and all medical equipment used were strictly pasteurised.

He sad if all laboratory tests of the suspected case showed negative, they would be forwarded to a special team to diagnose and discard from its monitoring system, and all surveillance mission on contact people will be halted.

He asked the public not to be alarmed as the Ministry has a strengthened network and system to watch and keep the virus from spread.

He said the disease is not contacted easily.

It could be infected  only through direct contact with the patient’ s hands. The deadly virus is mainly in the blood and body fluids.

He said living close to the house or walking pass house of patients could not be infected unless direct contact with the patient and his fluids or vomits.

Washing hands after going to toilets is  strictly advised, he added.  http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/first-suspected-case-ebola-thailand-reported/

WHO Media Advisory: High-level United Nations delegation to update on Ebola outbreak

From:
Date: September 2, 2014 at 4:26:08 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: WHO Media Advisory: High-level United Nations delegation to update on Ebola outbreak (Washington, D.C., USA)



2 September 2014



Media Advisory

HIGH-LEVEL UNITED NATIONS DELEGATION TO UPDATE ON EBOLA OUTBREAK



WHAT:
The UN’s senior leadership on Ebola will give the latest update on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, and take questions from media about the newly committed UN surge and Roadmap for the global response.


WHO:
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
Dr David Nabarro, Senior UN System Coordinator for Ebola Disease
Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General for Health Security, World Health Organization


WHERE:
United Nations Foundation
1750 Pennsylvania Ave, 12th Floor
Washington, DC 20006
USA

Please use the following numbers to join by phone:
Toll-free US: 1-800-247-5110
Toll: 1-334-323-7224


WHEN:
Wednesday, 3 September 2014, 10h30 EDT (Washington DC time)/16h30 CET (Geneva time)/14h30 GMT


WHY:
Dr Nabarro and Dr Fukuda just returned from a needs assessment in the affected countries, in order to shape the new surge response plan that the UN has committed to in the region. Dr Chan recently visited the region and led the development of the WHO Roadmap for global response.


RSVP:
Mariam Khan: mkhan@unfoundation.org, +1 202.887.9040


CONTACT:
Christy Feig, Director of Communications, World Health Organization: feigc@who.int, +41.79.251.7055

Eric Porterfield, Senior Communications Director, United Nations Foundation: eporterfield@unfoundation.org, +1 202.352.6087

Donna Eberwine-Villagrán, Media and Communication, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization: eberwind@paho.org, Tel. +1 202 974 3122, Mobile +1 202 316 5469

Lessons Learned from the Ebola Epidemic

By KEN ISAACS

September 2, 2014 2:22 pm

On July 24, I wrote on this blog that the Ebola epidemic was spinning out of control and pleaded with the international community to join my organization, Samaritan’s Purse, on the front lines of the fight against this deadly disease.

Two days later, we received word that one of our doctors, Kent Brantly, had tested positive for Ebola. News of Nancy Writebol’s infection came shortly afterward. In the ensuing days, our team worked to care for Kent and Nancy, evacuate them to the United States, and continue to help Ebola-stricken Liberians at our two case management centers. Tragically, the situation on the ground became so out of control that we were forced to evacuate our expatriate staff.

Kent and Nancy have now recovered and have been released from Emory University Hospital. Upon his release, Kent stated, “I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life and am glad for any attention my sickness has attracted for the plight of West Africa in the midst of this epidemic.” He has definitely attracted global attention to the epidemic, but unfortunately that awareness is still not translating into effective action.

As Samaritan’s Purse and other organizations — most notably Doctors Without Borders — continue to engage in the fight against Ebola, I would like to share some of the lessons I have learned over the past few months.

Photo

Since March, Samaritan's Purse staff have distributed nearly 200,000 posters and pamphlets, worked with hundreds of schools and churches, and provided radio messaging to combat the Ebola virus outbreak.Credit Samaritan's Purse

The international community was caught off guard by this epidemic, and the response remains inadequate to address realities on the ground.

Ebola in West Africa is moving faster than a racehorse. On August 7, I testified before a congressional subcommittee. That night, the U.S. Embassy in Liberia ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel. The next day, the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency. In the weeks since then, the disease has claimed over 300 lives in Liberia, and at least 100 more in Sierra Leone and Guinea. International experts agree that these numbers are greatly underreported.

The number of infections — and deaths — are increasing so dramatically that few epidemiologists are publicly willing to project how many more may get the disease. Some epidemiological reports I have read speculate that it will be mid-2015 before this Ebola outbreak peaks.

Doctors Without Borders is fighting a tough battle, especially in Liberia.

One 20-bed facility in the remote area of Foya recently had a patient load of 67. Recently, they opened a new 120-bed facility just outside of Monrovia, and reports say it is already overwhelmed.

Donor countries have released some funds as an incentive for non-governmental organizations to begin new programs to combat Ebola in West Africa, which is a good start. The United States Agency for International Development announced that they landed a plane with tons of supplies in Monrovia recently. The military can also play a key role in providing logistical support and airlifting essential items like soap, chlorine, protective equipment and medical supplies.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control pledged to dispatch 50 emergency responders to West Africa within 30 days. I would not qualify sending 50 people over the course of 30 days as a true “emergency” response.

Liberia has tragically transitioned from an international public health crisis to a complete humanitarian emergency. Normal health care is disrupted and in many places halted. Insecurity and civil unrest is widespread. The World Food Program reports that up to one million people now need food rations. Ebola was the catalyst for this catastrophe, but now these other emergency needs are overshadowing the continued disease threat.

W.H.O., which is widely known for its bureaucracy, infighting, academic perspective and lack of implementation capacity, is the United Nations coordinating body for the response to the Ebola crisis. If they fumble the ball many more lives will be lost.

Local health authorities in the United States lack the knowledge and coordination necessary to deal with Ebola effectively.

As our evacuated staff returned to the United States from Liberia, we found wide discrepancies in how they were treated by local public health departments. One physician was quarantined for 21 days and directed not to leave the interior of the house under threat of a two-year imprisonment. In another area, our personnel were “isolated” for 21 days but only told not to leave the county. They were free to interact outside of their homes. Public health concerns can mean that a doctor serving in Liberia for two weeks may well end up missing five weeks of work.

We need to rethink how we are providing patient care and fighting to contain the virus.

The slum of West Point, adjacent to Monrovia, was under a quarantine enforced by bullets and barbed wire. Not long ago, some members of this community ransacked a temporary isolation ward. Dozens of patients were chased out, and rioters looted mattresses and sheets — the very materials that would be loaded with Ebola virus. No doubt many were infected and are now at home sick, dying or dead.

West Africans are faced with a very hard decision if a loved one gets sick: take them to a center where more than 60 of 100 patients die or try to care for them at home. Many are choosing home care, which means sick people are staying with their families in their houses where they will most likely die and pass the virus to others.

We must explore the possibility of alternative treatment options to help these caregivers. Are there ways to educate them and provide essential materials to improve their chances of remaining uninfected — and perhaps increase the odds of survival for their sick loved one? Samaritan’s Purse is trying to answer this critical question and think outside the box in developing interventions to assist family caregivers.

I share these lessons because I am frustrated about the continued lack of respect for this disease among those who have the best resources to fight it. The problem only seems to garner serious attention when Ebola victims are citizens of a developed nation, like Kent and Nancy.

Those of us who are still witnessing Ebola’s destructive path through West Africa are committed to continuing the fight. We are taking the lessons we have already learned and applying them to new strategies in areas such as ground logistics, the deployment of skilled personnel, the provision of fuel oil, payment of salaries, and the education and engagement of local populations. I admit there are times when the battle feels overwhelming. I pray the international community will immediately and exponentially increase its efforts. There are still lives that can be saved.

Ken Isaacs is Vice President of Programs and Government Relations for the international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse.

 http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/lessons-learned-from-the-ebola-epidemic/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Ebola: Untouched Patient Dies As Lagos Bungles In fear of Ebola

By: Temidayo Osikoya on 9/02/2014 10:25:00 pm

Patient dies in Lagos teaching hospital, LUTH untouched as Lagos bungles suspected Ebola case. The patient was not even diagnosed and was given no attention till died today.

Upon Nigeria’s claims of preparedness for Ebola, there was Total failure in response to this patient who possibly did not even have Ebola. The patient who was in respiratort distress was not given any assitance, not even drip, according to our reportes.
The Infectious Diseases Center refused to come and pick up the patient; and LUTH personell were too afraid to test and treat this sick person till he died.
Does this mean every critically ill person in Nigeria will now die untouched even if it is not Ebola?
From our story Yesterday:

Ill Inbound Passenger Causes Ebola Scare In Lagos; Hospitals Refuse To Accept

There was an Ebola scare in Lagos Monday.
The medical personnel at port health in the Lagos international airport were called when there was a report of a patient who they said was vomiting, on an Arik local flight from Jos to Lagos.
The first response team from the international wing put on their PPP uniforms and headed to the local wing. On arrival of the flight from Jos, the doctors met the plane on the tarmac and assessed the patient on the plane.
He actually wasn’t vomiting on the plane, but was having difficulty breathing and looked pale but with normal temperature, according to our NewsRescue reporter. He was given oxygen and rushed to LASUTH for further examination, but there they met a hostile reception; the doctors and nurses were reluctant on receiving the patient. They said they didn’t even have PPP or protective wear at all and no form of quarantine area.
Eventually after delaying for 2 hours they said they didn’t have bed space.
They then proceeded to LUTH. Here they met a similar situation, and were asked to take the patient to the Yaba Infectious Disease Center, IDS, quarantine center for Ebola.

It is worth noting that this patient had not yet even been confirmed to have Ebola, and until some persistence from the team before he was finally admitted at LUTH.

UPDATE 1-Wealthy nations must send medical teams to halt Ebola -Medecins San Frontieres

Tue Sep 2, 2014 4:21pm EDT

(Changes dateline to United Nations from New York, adds U.N. and WHO comments)
(Reuters) - The worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus will not be halted unless wealthy nations dispatch specialized biological disaster response teams to West Africa to stop its spread, the head of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday.
"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it," MSF President Joanne Liu said in a speech to United Nations member states. She said aid charities and West African governments did not have the capacity to stem the outbreak and needed intervention by foreign states. The organization is known in the United States as Doctors Without Borders.
The United Nations and its World Health Organization have also appealed for more global help to stop the deadly disease.
Deputy U.N. Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said an international response with more involvement of U.N. member states may be needed, and referenced operations after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
David Nabarro, senior U.N. coordinator for the outbreak, said more health workers and treatment beds were needed, along with food, money, equipment, materials, vehicles, training, information systems support and communications guidance.
"The way to deal with Ebola is well known; it's just a question of putting it into practice," Nabarro said. "The outbreak is advancing ahead of us, it's accelerating ahead, and we in our control efforts, collectively, are falling behind."
"Every country in the world needs to be thinking 'what can we do to help?' Because if we don't get on top of this outbreak as a global community then this could effect all of us in unexpected ways," he warned.
Governments and aid organizations are scrambling to contain the disease, which has killed more than 1,500 since early this year.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan said the outbreak was the largest, most severe and complex ever seen in the 40-year history of the disease.
"The outbreak will get worse before it gets better and it requires a well coordinated, big surge and huge scale up of outbreak response urgently," she told the U.N. briefing. "The whole world is responsible and accountable to bring the Ebola threat under control." http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/02/health-ebola-msf-idUSL5N0R34QR20140902?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssHealthcareNews&rpc=401