First test was negative the patient; Government tightens security protocols
Brazil.- Brazil today confirmed a new blood test if the Guinean
Souleymane Bah, who is confined in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, is a
carrier of the Ebola virus, after a first test gave negative.
Health authorities reported that, as required by protocol, blood
samples were taken to Africa on Monday, 48 hours after the first
analysis, to check for traces of the virus that has killed more than
four thousand people and not yet reached South America.
Brazil is moderately positive about the possible infection Bah, because
the patient has no fever or symptoms since being admitted to the
National Institute of Infectious Diseases Friday.
Brazil admitted last week that while it is "very low" risk of a case of
Ebola occurs in Brazil is not "zero", so the Latin American country to
extremes surveillance recent days after cases of infection in United
States and Spain.
BelgiumFor the third time since the beginning of the epidemic Ebola, Belgium faces the possibility of Ebola case in its territory. The first two times eventually proved false alarms.
This time, according to our colleagues of the "Last Time", this is an
individual who has recently traveled to Guinea and returned to Belgium
in early October.
The man was admitted on Monday, 13 October, at the Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire Saint-Pierre in Brussels after being caught fever. After undergoing a series of tests, it is now in quarantine in a special unit of the hospital. The first results are expected Wednesday night.
"There actually has a probable case Ebola in Belgium even if there is
more likelihood that it will eventually malaria," confirmed on Monday
afternoon Vinciane Charlier, the spokesman for the Federal Public
Health.
"This person came back in early October in Belgium and developed a
fever this morning. There is a security procedure that exists for people
returning from countries where Ebola is present. Hence this patient was
followed and Monday was taken to St. Peter's. It is now in quarantine. "
For now little information is available on the "identity of the person
and Vinciane Charlier explained that the FPS Health is itself looking
information. At most, it can confirm that s' is not the same case that
the false warning Ebola declared Sunday in the same hospital in
Brussels. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lalibre.be%2Factu%2Fbelgique%2Fun-premier-cas-ebola-possible-a-bruxelles-543bf7d0357030e610466209&edit-text=
An email sent out to the Alcon staff by its CEO reportedly said that
the ebola nurse’s boyfriend was admitted into hospital with “Ebola-like
symptoms.”
Gotnews.com has received word from two different Alcon employees, both of whom asked not to be identified.
Alcon’s U.S. headquarters are in Fort Worth, Texas. It is an opthomological pharmaceutical company.
Requests for comment from Alcon were not returned.
New Orleans - A
Louisiana waste disposal facility says it will not accept the ashes
generated when a Texas Ebola victim's belongings were incinerated, at
least not until state officials agree that it would pose no threat to
the public.
Chemical Waste Management Lake Charles said in a news
release on Monday that it is permitted to accept such material and that
it poses no threat to the environment or human health.
But, the company says, "we do not want to make an already complicated situation more complicated".
Thomas
Eric Duncan became the first person to contract the disease within the
United States. Duncan had travelled from Liberia to visit family.
Louisiana
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell says he plans to go to court to block
the transport of the waste to the Calcasieu Parish facility. http://www.news24.com/World/News/Company-wont-take-ash-from-Ebola-victim-apartment-20141013
Warsaw: A man has been
hospitalised in Poland pending blood tests on whether he has the Ebola
virus, but he had not travelled to Africa and the tests were being
conducted as a precaution only, a health official said. The 31-year-old man called for an ambulance on Monday, saying he was
feeling unwell, and was taken to the Bieganski hospital in Lodz, about
130 km (80 miles) west of the Polish capital, according to Zbigniew
Solarz, a spokesman for the local epidemiological service.
The symptoms he was showing could also be caused by a number of other diseases, for example malaria, Solarz said.
The
man told medical staff that he had been in Germany where he had come
into contact with people from Guinea, in West Africa, said Jan Bondar, a
spokesman for Poland's sanitary inspectorate. Guinea, along with
neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia has seen the worst outbreaks of
the Ebola virus.
But Bondar also said it was unlikely the man
could have been infected that way. He said he had not heard of any Ebola
cases in Germany, and the man had not travelled to Africa himself.
"The
man's blood is being tested. I think the result should be known
tomorrow in the afternoon. I think this was an excess of caution."http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/polish-doctors-test-man-for-ebola-virus-606417?curl=1413255954
Updated: Oct 13, 2014 10:29 PM EST By WRIC NewsroomConnect
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - Virginia Department of Health
officials said that they are looking into if a patient who had recently
traveled to Africa should be evaluated for possible Ebola exposure.
The individual went to the CrossOver Ministry clinic on Cowardin Avenue in Richmond. In a conference call Monday evening, Dr. Don Stern, director of the
Richmond City Health Department, said that the individual had been to
Africa recently and displayed a low-grade fever.
The CDC requires certain criteria to be met before they allow the test to be administered.
This person met the criteria for having a travel history. Another
criteria is that the person is showing symptoms of Ebola. This person
has a low grade fever but as of now is not showing the other symptoms
required.
The third criteria is that the person has come in contact with someone who had been diagnosed with Ebola. This person does not know of anyone that they have come in contact with who had Ebola. That person is suppose to be heading to an area hospital to receive
further testing. Sources tell 8News that this person is a female,
though other details, such as age and name, remain unknown.
This information comes on the heels of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan,
who died in a Texas hospital last week after being diagnosed with
Ebola. Just today, the Dallas nurse who was infected with Ebola while
treating a Liberian man has been identified as Nina Pham.
Pham tested positive for the disease this weekend, making her the first
person to contract Ebola within the United States. Pham was identified
by family members who confirmed her name to ABC News affiliate WFAA.
Crew are working to gather more information. Stay with 8news for the latest information on-air, online, and on social media.http://www.wric.com/story/26775995/v...rson-for-ebola
A
Liberian policeman watches as an Ebola burial team prepares to take
away the body of Mekie Nagbe, 28, for cremation on October 10, 2014 in
Monrovia, Liberia. Nagbe, a market vendor, collapsed and died outside
her home earlier in the morning while leaving to walk to a treatment
center, according to her relatives. The burial of loved ones is
important in Liberian culture, making the removal of infected bodies for
cremation all the more traumatic for surviving family members. (Getty
Images/John Moore)
Health workers
scrambling to contain the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia now have to
contend with an outbreak of corruption among those detailed to collect
the bodies of victims.
The Wall Street Journal reports that retrieval teams are accepting bribes
from families of Ebola victims to issue death certificates that say
their loved ones died of other causes, allowing them to keep their
bodies for a traditional burial.
“The
family says the person is not an Ebola patient, and [the retrieval
team] pull them away from the other people," Vincent Chounse, a
community outreach worker on the outskirts of Monrovia, told the paper.
"Then they say, ‘We can give you a certificate from the Ministry of
Health that it wasn’t Ebola.' Sometimes it is $40. Sometimes it is $50.
... Then they offer bags to them and [the family] carry on their own
thing.” A teenager in Montserrado told the Journal he saw the father of
his neighbor pay $150 for a certificate that said his son's corpse was
Ebola-free.
Government
Information Minister Lewis Brown told the paper his office has received
reports of health workers issuing fake death certificates, but he added
that no burial team has "a capacity to go and issue certificates."
According to the World Health Organization, more than 4,000 Ebola cases have been reported in Liberia, resulting in 2,316 deaths since the outbreak began.
But local health officials say the numbers are not adding up.
“We
are not receiving the amount of community calls that we should be,”
Agnes “Cokie” van der Velde, who oversees body collection teams for
Doctors Without Borders, told the paper.
The
grim task of removing bodies infected with Ebola is critical, health
officials say, because the dead are a major source of contagion.
Working
against them is the stigma associated with Ebola among West Africans,
and the desire for the family to have a traditional burial. Often,
communities will assume that one person infected with the disease means
his or her entire family is infected and therefore is discriminated against and shunned.
Van
der Velde said while she was not aware of body retrieval teams
accepting bribes, they are nonetheless in a tricky position. “We try to
be very respectful, but in the end what we’re doing is taking their
loved one, zipping them in a bag and taking them away." http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-families-bodies-bribes-153423993.html
An Ebola burial team carried the body of a woman through New Kru Town, a suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, on Oct. 10. Credit
John Moore/Getty Images
Recent
days have brought two alarming developments in the struggle to contain
Ebola. The campaign against the epidemic in West Africa, the only sure
way to eliminate the risks of transmitting the virus to the United
States and other countries, fell even further behind. And the discovery
that a nurse treating an Ebola patient in Dallas had herself become infected despite wearing protective gear raised questions about the readiness of American hospitals to deal with Ebola patients.
Reassuring
statements by health officials that virtually any hospital with an
isolation unit could treat such patients now look rashly optimistic.
That
said, the risk that the Ebola virus might cause outbreaks in this
country remains small. By far the greater danger lies in the very real
possibility that the virus will continue to spiral out of control in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and spread from there to other parts of
Africa or other continents, opening a wider range of pathways for
infected people to reach the United States.
Many
countries and international organizations, led by the United States,
have pledged money, equipment and manpower to fight the epidemic in West
Africa. But the aid has been slow to reach the front lines, leaving
health care workers with too few treatment beds to accommodate the sick.
In Sierra Leone, on Friday,
health officials — facing just such a shortage of beds — adopted a new
policy of having families treat patients in their homes by distributing
painkillers, rehydrating solutions and gloves to hundreds of
Ebola-afflicted households. But if a nurse in Dallas, clothed in
protective garments, could not escape infection, it is hard to believe
that less well-equipped households in Sierra Leone will be able to
escape contamination from an Ebola patient in their midst.
The
pace of international aid needs to be stepped up dramatically. This is
not a task that can be left to such nongovernmental organizations as
Doctors Without Borders, which has heroically provided much, if not
most, of the care in the stricken countries. The United States has taken
the lead in providing aid to Liberia, a country with long ties to the
United States.
The
Army has started deploying thousands of troops to the area to help
build new treatment centers, perform laboratory tests and train health
care workers in how to treat patients, but most of that help has yet to
arrive. It was thus disheartening to hear Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the
commander of the United States Army Africa, dismiss criticism that
American aid had been “too little, too late” with the excuse that the
Pentagon was simply filling a “small gap” left by other health
organizations.
The
United States’ obligation is greater than that; President Obama needs
personally to ramp up the urgency of the American response and the level
and speed of the resources provided.
Perhaps
the Dallas case will add urgency to those efforts to control the
epidemic abroad. The case is not cause for domestic panic, but it is
cause for greater vigilance among health care workers. Even without
knowing fully what happened with the nurse, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention is exploring ways to make it easier to don
protective gear, wear it while treating a patient and take it off
afterward without infecting oneself.
The
task of treating Ebola patients can clearly be carried out by
experienced personnel. Five Ebola patients were flown back to the United
States from West Africa and have been treated safely at specially
designated hospitals in Atlanta and Omaha.But the Dallas hospital made
mistakes in handling this case from the start, and the infected nurse
was reportedly a young graduate of a nursing program with little
experience in infectious diseases. It seems possible that additional
health care workers who cared for the patient will come down sick as
well.
The
C.D.C. is urging all hospitals, no matter how small, to take travel
histories to identify any patients who have been in West Africa within
the past 21 days, and immediately place those with Ebola-like symptoms
in isolation. The C.D.C. plans to increase its training efforts for
hospital personnel, a vital need given that a survey of nurses found a
vast majority had received no instructions from their hospitals on how
to deal with Ebola. Smaller hospitals will probably have to transfer any
Ebola patients to more specialized centers for treatment.
BREAKING
UPDATE ON EBOLA EVALUATION: I just spoke with the Director of the
Richmond City Health Department. He says the person who was at a clinic
being checked out to see if they should be evaluated for possible Ebola
exposure did not match ALL the criteria that would allow them to receive
the Ebola test. BUT they were also not able to say for certain this
person does not have Ebola. The person in question, who sources tell me
is a woman, was instructed to drive themself to a local hospital for
further tests and evaluation. THIS PERSON HAS NOT BEEN TESTED FOR EBOLA.
The CDC requires certain criteria's to be met before they allow the
test to be administered. This person met the criteria for having a
travel history. Another criteria is that the person is showing symptoms
of Ebola. This person has a low grade fever but as of now is not showing
the other symptoms required. The 3rd criteria is that the person has
come in contact with someone who had been diagnosed with Ebola. This
person does not know of anyone that they have come in contact with who
had Ebola.
SPREAD THIS NEWS https://www.facebook.com/ParkSlaybaugh/posts/527138497431177
Updated 6:37 pm ET President Obama is meeting this afternoon with both national security
and health care advisors to discuss the Ebola situation, the White
House said today. The meeting appears to have been called rather hastily. In on the gathering are National Security Advisor Susan Rice, HHS
Secretary Sylvia Burwell, White House Homeland Security Advisor Lisa
Monaco, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom
Frieden, who is participating by telephone.
The press corps will be invited in to take a picture, but no questions please.
UPDATE: Post-meeting from the White House:
The President was briefed
on the status of the investigation into the apparent breach in infection
control protocols at the Dallas hospital and remedial actions underway
to mitigate similar breaches in the future. Secretary Burwell and Dr.
Frieden described the surge in personnel and other resources to Dallas
to assist in the investigation as well as other measures to heighten
awareness and increase training for healthcare workers throughout the
country. The President reinforced that this
investigation should proceed as expeditiously as possible and that
lessons learned should be integrated into future response plans and
disseminated to hospitals and healthcare workers nationwide.
RICHMOND, Va. — A local clinic has isolated a patient who recently traveled to Africa and now has a low-grade fever.
CrossOver Health Ministry, located in the 100 block of Cowardin
Avenue, said they “don’t believe it’s Ebola,” but have isolated the
patient and are taking necessary precautions to evaluate any risk.
The patient traveled to Liberia, a country of concern in the rapid
transmission of Ebola, a couple of weeks ago. The facility has been in
touch with the Virginia Department of Health. The Richmond Health
Department is coordinating care for the patient. CBS 6 has an interview
with them at 8:30 p.m.
The sign outside the door warns of Ebola. A picture that was taken down, earlier read “Clinic Closed For Emergency.”
The Richmond Health Dept. is coordinating care for the CrossOver patient. We're supposed to get an update @ 8:30. @CBS6#RVA
— Melissa J. Hipolit (@MelissaCBS6) October 13, 2014
The ministry feels the isolated patient is a very low risk, and said
that the patient has other symptoms that aren’t typical with Ebola.
This facility serves a very large international population.
“We are as prepared as we can be,” said Julie Bilodeau, executive director at CrossOver Ministry.
A healthcare ministry in #RVA is considering testing a patient for #Ebola. Patient recently traveled to Liberia and has a fever. @CBS6
— Melissa J. Hipolit (@MelissaCBS6) October 13, 2014
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the
United States, died 10 days after he was admitted to Dallas’ Texas
Health Presbyterian Hospital.
His family wonders whether the outcome would have been different if
doctors had admitted Duncan to a hospital on September 25, the first
time he showed up with a fever and stomach pain. He was turned away.
Duncan’s family has criticized the care he received. The Dallas
hospital that treated him says staff members did everything they could.
The number of deaths attributed to the current Ebola outbreak, in
West Africa, has climbed to 4,033, the World Health Organization
reported Friday. The tally brings the total number of confirmed,
probable and suspected cases of Ebola to 8,399. The numbers were
reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain and
the United States.
CBS 6 Reporter Melissa Hipolit will have a complete report on this
local breaking news, for the 11 p.m. broadcast. This is a developing
story. http://wtkr.com/2014/10/13/richmond-clinic-isolates-patient-to-evaluate-possible-ebola-risk/
Los Angeles County
Metro buses are sequestered in a yard near downtown Los Angeles after a
passenger said he had Ebola on Monday, Oct. 13, 2014.
Monday, Oct 13, 2014 • Updated at 4:52 PM PDT
Authorities said they'd open a terrorist threat investigation after a passenger on a bus said he had Ebola.
The
bus driver was examined by paramedics and taken to a hospital after the
incident reported at 1:45 p.m. The man did not have a fever and
appeared to be in good health, said Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales.
The man who said he had Ebola got on the bus at Venice Boulevard and Hoover Street.
He was wearing a surgical mask and was with another woman who did not have a surgical mask on.
He told the driver, "You better not mess with me because I have Ebola," according to Gonzales.
All
the passengers, including the man who said he had Ebola, got off the
bus at one point and the man disappeared, Gonzales said.
The man "sort of just disappeared into the world," Gonzales said.
— Oct 10, 2014 |
The Nigerian Army has revealed
that about 1332 of its peace keeping troops in Liberia have been placed
under surveillance following their contact with a Sudanese who later
died of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
The director of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, Major-General Obashina Ogunbiyi stated this in Abuja yesterday. According
to the Army medical officer, the incident followed the death of a
Sudanese Muslim man who had come to the camp of the soldiers to lead
them in prayer during the Eid-el Fitri celebration, but developed Ebola
symptoms the following day and later died.
Ogunbuyi noted that the
country remained at risk as any of the soldiers could choose to travel
home anytime, saying “that is why the military had to be totally
involved in the fight against the Ebola virus.”.. http://leadership.ng/news/386602/ebola-scare-1332-nigerian-soldiers-quarantined-liberia
UPA in Cascavel, Paraná, is interdicted after suspected ebola The Health Ministry confirmed to the Mail that "suspected virus in the country"
Published: 09/10/2014 22:56 Updated: 10/09/2014 23:47
An Emergency Unit (APU) in Cascavel, Paraná, was banned late on
Thursday (9/10) after a man being hospitalized with suspected Ebola.
The Ministry of Health sent a team to the city, through the Brazilian
Air Force (FAB), which coordinate in situ measures of care and to
identify possible contacts for guidance and control.
According to the Ministry of Health, it is a man, aged 47, from
Guinea (scale in Morocco), country of origin, who arrived in Brazil on
September 19. He reported that he had a fever for three days to decide
to seek care. Also according to the ministry, until the early evening,
the patient had no bleeding, vomiting or other symptoms.
The patient will be transferred as security protocol for the National
Institute of Infectious Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro, national
reference for cases of Ebola. The transfer will be made by aircraft
from the Federal Highway Police.
The MS reported that, by being in the twenty-first day, to the
maximum incubation period of the disease, cases were considered
suspect, following international protocols for the disease. "Guinea is
one of three countries that concentrate the outbreak of the disease in
Africa. Ebola is transmitted only through contact with blood, tissues
or bodily fluids of sick individuals, or by contact with contaminated
objects and surfaces. The virus is only transmitted when symptoms
arise, "he explained in a statement.https://translate.google.com/transla...tml&edit-text=
9/10/2014 23:35:13 The patient will be transferred to the National Institute of Infectious Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro
The Day
Paraná - The Ministry of Health and the Secretary of State of
Paraná Health show that the Emergency Unit Brasilia in Cascavel (PR)
received on Thursday, a patient classified as a suspected Ebola
infection. This is a man, aged 47, from Guinea (scale in
Morocco), country of origin, who arrived in Brazil on September 19. He
reported that yesterday (8) and this morning (9) had fever. By the
early evening, was subfebrile and had no bleeding, vomiting or other
symptoms. Is in good general condition and kept in total isolation.
By being on the twentieth day maximum incubation period for the
disease, cases were considered suspect, following international
protocols for the disease. Guinea is one of three countries that
concentrate the outbreak of the disease in Africa. Ebola is
transmitted only through contact with blood, tissues or bodily fluids
of sick individuals, or by contact with contaminated objects and
surfaces. The virus is only transmitted when symptoms arise.
The patient will be transferred as security protocol for the National
Institute of Infectious Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro (RJ),
national reference for cases of Ebola. The transfer will be made by
aircraft from the Federal Highway Police.https://translate.google.com/transla...tml&edit-text=
According to local authorities, the man who has any symptoms of Ebola
was isolated and transferred to Rio de Janeiro, reports O Globo. His identity has not been revealed yet.
Previously transcended in Brazil other possible cases of infection by Ebola, but were not confirmed. The new patient with symptoms is undergoing tests to confirm if you have the disease. The virus has not been detected so far in Latin America, while in the USA have registered at least 6 cases of infection.
The condition of a Spanish nurse who contracted the virus from a patient
has worsened as more of her contacts were quarantined. The US's top
public health official claims Ebola poses the greatest challenge since
AIDS.
The condition of auxiliary nurse Teresa Romero was said to have worsened
on Thursday, with the daily newspaper El Pais reporting on its website
that she had suffered a respiratory failure.
Spain quarantined seven more people, including two hairdressers who had
contact with the nurse who became infected with the deadly virus at
Madrid's Carlos III hospital.
Romero helped treat two Spanish priests who were flown home from West
Africa having been diagnosed. She is the first person believed to have
contracted the disease outside of Africa and has admitted that she may
have touched her face with protective gloves used for cleaning the room
of one of the patients.
In addition to the Spanish case, which has generated
concern over the alleged lack of training and equipping of staff, the alarm has been raised in two other parts of Europe.
The hotel where the British man stayed in Skopje is now under guard
A British man showing symptoms of the Ebola virus, but not
having tested positive for it, died in Macedonia on Thursday.
Authorities said they had sealed off a hotel where the man had stayed
and that fellow guests were being monitored.
A Prague hospital is also monitoring a 56-year-old Czech man who
exhibited symptoms of Ebola. The man, who recently traveled in Liberia,
was said to be in isolation at Bulovka hospital.
Health officials from the German state of Saxony confirmed on Thursday that a
third Ebola patient,
diagnosed while in Liberia where he worked for the UN, had arrived in
the country. The man, who originates from Sudan, was being treated at
Leipzig's St. Georg Clinic - one of seven health facilities in Germany
with the capability to treat highly infectious patients in isolation.
Two other Ebola patients have also been flown to Germany in recent
weeks. A World Health Organization (WHO) employee had fallen ill with
the hemorrhagic fever in Sierre Leone was brought to Hamburg, where
doctors were able to stabilize him and eventually release him last week.
Doctors in Frankfurt am Main continue to treat a second patient, a
Ugandan doctor and WHO worker, who had also contracted the virus in
Sierra Leone.
The threat posed by the most recent outbreak of Ebola was
reminiscent of that presented by the AIDS virus, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden said on Thursday.
"I would say that in the 30 years since I have been working in public
health, the only thing like this has been AIDS, and we have to work now
so that this is not the world's next AIDS," Frieden said.
rc/lw (AP, AFP, Reuters) http://www.dw.de/ebola-fears-widen-as-spanish-nurse-worsens/a-17985598
(Reuters) - A
British man suspected of contracting the Ebola virus has died in
Macedonia, a senior Macedonian government official said on Thursday, a
further sign that the disease is spreading in Europe. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters a second Briton had also shown symptoms of the virus.
He
said the two had been staying at a hotel in the capital Skopje and that
hotel staff and the ambulance crew that took them in for treatment had
been put into isolation.
The virus,
which is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an
infected person, has killed nearly 4,000 people in West Africa since
March, in the largest outbreak on record.
The
health of a Spanish nurse, the first person believed to have contracted
Ebola outside of Africa, worsened on Thursday in Madrid, where a total
of seven people are in isolation. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/09/us-health-ebola-macedonia-idUSKCN0HY1YE20141009
Those looking for good news on the fight against Ebola will not
find much encouragement from Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the
commander of the U.S. Southern Command. As Jim Garamone of Department of
Defense News reports,
Kelly told an audience at the National Defense University in
Washington, D.C. on Tuesday that, if the disease reaches Central
America, "it’s literally, ‘Katie bar the door,’ and there will be mass
migration into the United States." He also said with certainty that
"there is no way we can keep Ebola [contained] in West Africa."
“By the end of the year, there’s supposed to be 1.4
million people infected with Ebola and 62 percent of them dying,
according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]..."
“So, much like West Africa, it will rage for a period of time,” Kelly said.
This is particularly possible scenario if the disease
gets to Haiti or Central America, he said. If the disease gets to
countries like Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador, it will cause a panic
and people will flee the region, the general said.
“If it breaks out, it’s literally, ‘Katie bar the door,’
and there will be mass migration into the United States,” Kelly said.
“They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected,
they will try to get to the United States for treatment.”
Kelly said that human trafficking could be an additional wrinkle in
the battle to contain the disease. He related a disturbing anecdote from
a recent visit to Central America where some men from Liberia were
headed to the United States:
Also, transnational criminal networks smuggle people and
those people can be carrying Ebola, the general said. Kelly spoke of
visiting the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua with U.S. embassy
personnel. At that time, a group of men “were waiting in line to pass
into Nicaragua and then on their way north,” he recalled.
“The embassy person walked over and asked who they were
and they told him they were from Liberia and they had been on the road
about a week,” Kelly continued. “They met up with the network in
Trinidad and now they were on their way to the United States --
illegally, of course.”
Those men, he said, “could have made it to New York City and still be within the incubation period for Ebola.”
Earlier this year, General Kelly gave some chilling testimony about the limitations on the United States's ability to protect the southern border:
In spring hearings before the Senate and House Armed
Services Committees, Kelly said that budgets cuts are “severely
degrading” the military’s ability to defend southern approaches to the
U.S border. Last year, he said, his task force was unable to act on
nearly 75 percent of illicit trafficking events. “I simply sit and watch
it go by,” he said. But the potential threats are even greater. Kelly
warned that neglect has created vulnerabilities that can be exploited by
terrorist groups, describing a “crime-terror convergence” already seen
in Lebanese Hezbollah’s involvement in the region.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first known person to develop
Ebola in the United States, has died in Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital in Dallas, according to Texas Health Resources.
"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt
disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric
Duncan this morning at 7:51 am. Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious
disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle. Our
professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving
his passing. We have offered the family our support and condolences at
this difficult time," the Texas Health Resources statement said.http://www.cnbc.com/id/102070648
A Turkish worker employed in Nigeria was rushed to an Istanbul hospital
Oct. 8 on suspicion of Ebola, after showing signs of a high fever and
diarrhea. The incident comes amid concerns regarding the spread of the
pandemic in Europe, with a number of new cases detected in Spain.
The
46-year-old man, whose identity has not been disclosed, returned to
Turkey 10 days ago from Africa to see his family in the western province
of Sakarya during the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday.
Medical
sources said he went to a private hospital four days ago in Adapazarı,
but his fever did not drop despite medical treatment. Following medical
examinations, doctors informed the Health Ministry that he may be
showing symptoms of Ebola.
He was then transferred to Haseki Hospital in Istanbul using a specially equipped ambulance.
The incident is the second case of a suspected Ebola patient in Turkey, after a Nigerian woman who transited through Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport while traveling from Lagos to Barcelona was rushed to hospital in mid-August.
The
woman was later diagnosed with malaria and was allowed to leave Turkey.
The outbreak has killed over 3,300 people in West Africa and millions
have been taken under quarantine in affected countries such as Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned
that without drastic action, the epidemic might spread and triple the
cases in the African continent, increasing the risk of a global
pandemic.
A
British Ebola survivor says he is on his way to Sierra Leone to
continue his mission in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus – a
virus which continues to claim lives in the sub-region.
William Pooley, 29, said, “I cannot sit here in the UK and watch the
people of Sierra Leone die without doing nothing – I must go back to
Sierra Leone to continue my work in helping those people affected by
Ebola.”
In an interview at Lancaster House in London, outside the British
Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s “Defeat Ebola in Sierra Leone”
conference, Pooley said his mission in Sierra Leone would never be
complete until Ebola was contained and eradicated.
Inside the conference itself, Pooley was asked to give an account of his
experience in Sierra Leone as an Ebola survivor. The British nurse was
unable to control his emotions as he burst into tears during his speech.
Visibly upset and consumed by his emotions, Pooley retold the pathetic
case of a brother and sister, aged four and two, who he cared for in
Sierra Leone.
He said “at all costs” the international community must not allow what happened to them to be repeated one million times.
His emotional plea at the conference came as 34 NGOs joined forces to
warn the international community they have just four weeks to stop the
Ebola crisis from “spiralling completely out of control”.
“I am coming to your embassy to get my visa next week and by mid this
month I should be on my way to Sierra Leone,” Pooley said. He has been
widely considered not only as a hero but a saviour for the people of
Sierra Leone.
As a result of the Ebola scourge, parents including the President
of the Kailahun Women in Governance Network (KWiGN), Madam Lucy Foray
Gondor, have expressed concern over the increased number of teenage
pregnancy among pupils in Kailahun and beyond.
Kailahun Women in Governance Network (KWiGN) is a Community-based
Organisation (CBS) that operates in Kailahun District on governance and
other related issues, targeting poor and marginalised women in society,
with the aim of ensuring that women play vital roles in leadership and
governance matter. According to the President of KWiGN, Madam Lucy Foray Gondor, with the
out-break of the deadly Ebola disease in their District in May this
year, women are vulnerable and at a high risk of contracting the
disease, while looking after the sick at home and also engaged in
domestic activities, which is similar to the suffering they went through
during the 11 years civil war, explaining that their numbers have
reduced drastically, as many of them have lost their lives including
some children.
She disclosed that the lives of their children, especially the girls are
at stake, simply because education is presently going down the drain,
as most of their girl-child have been impregnated, which has led to the
high number of teenage pregnancy in the District and beyond- a situation
she described as a major challenge in the post-Ebola period, adding
that the children are not doing anything at the moment which exposed
them to all funny acts. The Women leader maintained that education at the part of the country is
very poor, especially among the women, as the poorly- educated women in
the district are the ones dying with the out-break including female
nurses, women leaders who take the Ebola campaign to the interior and
women advocators.
She said this is worrisome at the moment in the district, expressing
appreciation on the innovation of the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology, together with their partners in introducing the radio
educational system that will help build the capacity of their children,
who are presently losing a lot in their educational carrier.
Veronica Mansaray, a mother of three, with one who was preparing for the
Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), disclosed that her
child was assisting her in doing some petty trading due to the
indefinite closure of schools but is now three months pregnant, a
situation that have caused her to lose focus at the moment, adding that
she will make sure her child spends more time listening to the radio
education programme, so that she can be on track with her classmate, but
expressed doubt, if her child will be in a position to complete the
coming BECE exams after the out-break will have been settled, due to her
present condition.
By Alhaji M. Kamara
Wednesday October 08, 2014
By Kennedy L. Yangian
Sorpoparluken
District in the undeveloped Grand Kru County has become the latest area
in the Southeast to be hit by the deadly Ebola virus that had already
claimed several lives in other parts of the country. The death toll from the outbreak of the disease in this district
experiencing the bad road condition had reached up to 15 persons so far,
according to a civil society member who had been in the county for at
least two months, now back in Monrovia. Brima Lahai Sowa told
FrontPageAfrica Tuesday that the outbreak of the virus in this remote
district came about when a woman suspected of the virus came from
Monrovia and went to a nearby town of Kanwenkea for a visit but later
fell sick and died.
He claimed that during the course of her illness another family
member of hers called Comfort Duyan came from the Sorpoparluken District
to take care of her, but upon her return, she too contracted the virus
and died along with 15 other members of her household. Sowa claimed that the County Health Team of Grand Kru headed by one
Dr. Keita is unable to contain the current outbreak of the disease in
the district due to the lack of an isolation center coupled with the
lack of good road to connect the health team to the area as all the
roads and bridges connecting the towns have been damaged due to the
rainy season.
He said at the time of the virus outbreak citizens of the county
first denied the existence of the virus and considered it to be that of
witchcraft activities making the virus to increase because not many
people believe in it. According to Sowa the citizens of the county had
told him that they cannot cooperate with local leaders in the fight
against this deadly Ebola virus because the government had been very
insensitive to the plight of the citizens since the outbreak.
The civil society member stated that in order for the government to
fight to eradicate the virus from the country, it had to be serious to
enforce the law that will cause the people to abandon some of their
traditional practices in the wake of the outbreak of this virus. "Do you imagine that when one of the traditional leaders of Grand Kru
County, died recently the people had to dance for two weeks as a sign
of respect shown to their traditional leader while they ate and drink in
one cup do you imagine" said Brima. When FrontPageAfrica contacted a
local journalist of the community radio the Voice of Grand Kru Eric
Gbasue, he confirmed exactly what the civil society member Brima Sowa
confirmed adding that the situation remains the same and no improvement
yet.
Journalist Gbasue stated that because of the alarming rate of the
situation the Superintendant of the County Elizabeth Dempster has
contacted the UNMIL to transport the affected persons to health centers
in the county, but to no avail because the UNMIL officials had told her
that they have never flown to the area before to know the terrain
therefore cannot take such a risk. He told FrontPageAfrica that health workers traveling to Kanwekan on
Tuesday vehicle was seized by the citizens who claimed that the health
workers only go in for dead body and don't care to take away the sick
where there is no isolation center in the area. "As I speak to you now the death toll in the area has reached to 23
persons while health workers traveling to Kanweken vehicle was seized as
a protest by the citizens that they are only concerned about dead
bodies and not to treat the sick" said Journalist Gbasue. http://allafrica.com/stories/201410081180.html
After being threatened by Ebola suspects, Margibi County
Superintendent, John Zubah Buway, has reopened his offices in the
county. Superintendent Buway was constrained to close his offices on
September 24, 2014 after he and his officials, including county
inspector, assistant superintendent for development and other staffers
were threatened with Ebola infection by Ebola suspects in Kakata,
leading to the escape of the county inspector.
Recently, some Ebola suspects barricaded the offices of Superintendent Buway, demanding to be taken to holding centers in the county
and better support for their lives. The suspects said their relatives
died showing symptoms of the virus, admitting that they came in contact
with them.
The Ebola suspects said they were tired of calling on the Margibi
County Health Team to go to their aid in taking them to the treatment
center for care. The suspects threatened that any time they were denied
access to Superintendent Buway’s
offices without being attended to, they (suspects) would rush in and
touch anyone found in the premises. The situation had scared the
superintendent and his co-workers to abandon office for fear of
contracting the disease. http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12915:-supt-buway-and-staff-survive-ebola-suspects-threat&catid=3:general&Itemid=68
MADRID
— A third nurse’s aide who treated an Ebola patient in Madrid checked
into a hospital Tuesday night and was under observation, the government
said on Wednesday. A spokesman for Spain’s regional health
department said the hospital worker, whose name wasn’t disclosed, had a
slight fever, one possible early symptom of Ebola. The aide was part of
the medical team that treated Manuel García Viejo, a 69-year-old Spanish
missionary who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and was evacuated to
Madrid. He died in late September.
On Monday, Spain’s government
said a 44-year-old nurse’s aide who also treated the missionary, had
contracted Ebola and was under quarantine. By Tuesday, the
government also quarantined her husband, a second nurse’s aide and a man
who had recently traveled to Spain from Nigeria. On Tuesday evening,
the government said the second nurse’s aide had tested negative twice
for Ebola, but she remained under hospital supervision.
The first
transmission of Ebola outside West Africa is a concern for European
governments who have been relying on standardized Ebola protocols to
avoid spreading the disease as they care for repatriated patients who
contracted it in Africa. European authorities called for an
investigation to determine whether any treatment protocols had been
breached. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ebola-outbreak-third-spanish-health-worker-put-in-hospital-2014-10-08?link=MW_home_latest_news
A soldier who slept with a Liberian sex worker apparently
contracted the Ebola disease and spread it to seven other soldiers whom
he shared the same barracks with.
According to the Liberian Observer, a sex worker visited soldier Floson Louise at his army barracks in Liberia.
“When
she slept at the EBK (barracks), it was thereafter the soldiers
contracted the disease, and could not survive despite “intensive
treatment” at the various Ebola Treatment Units in Monrovia,” a source
told the Observer.
The sex worker was suffering from Ebola and
passed the deadly disease to the soldier who unknowingly spread it to
seven other soldiers. The Observer further reports that the army barracks are being decongested to ease the spread of the disease. http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2014/10/08/liberian-prostitute-kills-eight-soldiers-via-ebola-transmission
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Defense Department Admits US Troops In Liberia Will "Come In Contact" With Ebola-Infected Individuals
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/07/2014 13:24 -0400
With boots-on-the-ground heading to Liberia to
help 'manage' the anarchic dystopia that a frightened nation has
become, General David Rodriguez (Commander, US Africa Command) held a
briefing today to explain US troops' role:
QUESTION: Will they be in contact with individuals or just specimens?
RODRIGUEZ: They come in contact with the individuals.
Of course this was followed by a stream of qualifiers that all
protection possible will be taken (just like the nurses in Madrid?) Via Bloomberg Transcript,
KIRBY: Afternoon, everybody. I'm proud to welcome into the briefing room
General David Rodriguez, commander of Africa Command. He's here to give
you an update on U.S. contributions to the effort against Ebola -- U.S. military contributions to the effort against Ebola in West Africa. And with that, sir, I'll turn it over to you.
QUESTION: Just a clarification on that, please. Will they be in contact with individuals or just specimens?
GENERAL DAVID M. RODRIGUEZ (USA), COMMANDER, U.S. AFRICA COMMAND: They come in contact with the individuals
and they do that. And they're -- like I said, it's a -- it's a very,
very high standard that these people have operated in all their lives,
and this is their primary skill. This is not a -- you know, just medical
guys trained to do this. This is what they do for a living.
A new and remarkably candid on-the-ground audit from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention of the Ebola crisis in Liberia said
that doctors and nurses have fled hospitals in the infection zone and
that obstacles to killing the virus remain.
The analysis of four remote Liberian counties
conducted by local and CDC officials that were Ebola-free in August
revealed that massive amounts of aid are still needed in the areas to
fight the spread of the virus, which can be as simple as burying a dead
victim.
While the CDC said locals are getting a handle on the crisis, it
warned, “obstacles to preventing spread of Ebola remain, and personal
protective equipment, sufficient personnel for effective contact tracing
and case management, efficient patient transport and regional
diagnostic laboratory capabilities are urgently needed.” RELATED: House panel will hold Ebola hearing in Dallas The review of the southeastern Liberian counties in August found
utter chaos and a full breakdown in the medical system, which has
contributed to the spread of Ebola. It also found that locals didn’t
know how to identify Ebola, even though the virus was dominating other
areas of the country.“No Ebola surveillance systems were in place,” the
doctors found in the report issued Tuesday.
And the lack of medical staff seemed to surprise the report authors.
“Before the epidemic, six physicians served all four counties. At the
time of the evaluation, only three physicians remained; the others had
left Liberia because of the epidemic. In two of four hospitals assessed,
nursing staff members were not coming to work or had abandoned
facilities; in another hospital, health care providers had not been paid
for three months but were still providing basic care,” said the
analysis. RELATED: Obama calls for more Ebola screening at airports
Once locals were explained about the symptoms of Ebola, they realized that the virus had already hit.
“After basic training on case definitions and surveillance was
provided to local officials, River Gee County health officials reviewed
recent deaths and identified a patient with suspected Ebola. On Aug. 3, a
pregnant woman (patient 1) died during a spontaneous abortion after
leaving Monrovia where she had contact with an infected person at a
funeral; she was buried by the community in the week after her death. RELATED: Superbugs spread across U.S.
“On Aug. 24, 2014, Maryland County authorities identified a man
hiding in a rice truck who had signs and symptoms of Ebola (patient 2).
The truck had departed from Fish Town, River Gee County, and was
destined for Pleebo, Maryland County. The man, who was reported to have
participated in the burial of patient 1, was sent back to Fish Town,
where he later was reported to have died of laboratory-confirmed Ebola.
This was the first evidence of secondary transmission of Ebola in
southeast Liberia.”
"The girl has also started with diarrhea. Girls confirmed, I shit on the bitch, to the Carlos III. I have the knuckle. It's positive. "
So the hospital nurses Alcorcon found out, a group of whatssap, that
the case of the nurse's aide admitted to your hospital was positive for
Ebola.
Until then, I had only been isolated with a screen and a couple of
tapes and the staff has been caring without any protection, as has been
confirmed in conversations with DAILY NURSE nurses Hospital Alcorcón.
"Before joining Hospital Alcorcón, this auxiliary went straight to the
hospital Carlos III, but there's attended, told him to go to his local
hospital and if tested positive again. They were here and there. At first the patient was at Carlos III but referred to his hospital. That was Sunday. A few days before he had gone to the health center. " It is the information that the hospital staff has earned the environment nursing assistant.
And yet, when they enter the hospital only Alcorcón was isolated through a screen. "No, we are not prepared." "It was like that for hours," claiming nurses, until the case is confirmed. Neither the medical personnel who treated her at the Madrid hospital has employed any individual biosecurity suit. Only one nurse used a mask to enter your room.
The only precaution that has been taken has been to call the guards who
have been in contact with her for the morning transfer to the hospital
Carlos III. Staff that is not having any type of protocol or monitoring. "They have gone home no more. They only told that the temperature was taken. We are crazy. " It is the reaction of fellow Alcorcón not explained what's going on. In fact they have already called the concentration at the hospital doors for accountability.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/polish-doctors-test-man-for-ebola-virus-606417?curl=1413255954
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