#Ebola The Dandelion Effect Part 2

Part 1 is here http://tinyurl.com/pklcmnv
While we watch the disaster unfold in West Africa, my attention is drawn to the homeland with increasing concern.
The continuous influx of travelers and the return of medical personnel from infected areas has led to some impromptu quarantines.
Sorry about that, but it is really just starting. With reports of people being tested all over the country, quarantines are about to be the norm.


To ms. Hickox, who recently claims to be a victim and says "My basic human rights' have been violated"..You for one should know how bad it is there in WA.
 Your whining and threats of lawsuits, show you are being controlled in the background, the nerve to say these things.
You or anyone else's travel to that area puts you at risk then, and the rest of us at risk with your return. 3 WEEKS WON'T KILL YOU..Ebola just might.

 As we have already seen, fellow drs and travelers cannot be trusted to self quarantine. Brave as you were to go, the mantle of hero requires you follow through with your slight
discomfort and inconvenience.
 When you get back to Maine, after a hi dollar flight in a special plane.. just for you.. I hope you have the sense to stay in your damn house.
New reports are of a 5 yr old, fresh from Guinea, has presented in NY. He has a fever of 103, vomiting and the rest of his family is in quarantine. This should warm your little heart.

It is painfully obvious, CDC and homeland security protocols are not and will not be sufficient as they now stand.


To Dr Fauci, I met you at a H1N1 pandemic conference in DC a few yrs ago. I thought at the time, you were the smartest man there. I understand your current posture and the need to quell panic.
 I disagree with your statements on the ability for ebola to turn airborne, or the constant speech about returning to a mandatory quarantine will discourage healthcare workers from going to  help in Africa.
 They will go anyway, a 3 week quarantine is nothing compared to the work that needs to be done or the protection it can bring to their own respective countries.. it is however, probably too late anyway.


The theory of stopping the outbreak in Africa will keep it from here, is a big dream.
 You know, as well as I and others, that ebola is spreading at a phenominal rate. I have been tracking ebola for 10 years and this is no jungle outbreak.
By December sometime there could be 10,000 cases a week. A WEEK! Do you really think quarantining the travelers or drs, would not be prudent protection for our own country?


The seeds of the dandelion are spreading rapidly

Thats right.. 10,000 NEW cases a week. What is going to keep the people calm then? Lollipops and free beer?
The Promise of a new vaccine..that will never filter down to the reg people? what..in 2016?
 Soldiers, govt, and drs will get anything that works first... the rest of the common men and woman will sweat it out.. Until you can actually test and mass produce an effective vaccine..which has nothing to do with present treatment now.
Plasma treatments and blood transfusions? Hospital beds? Where does the line start?..oh, back of the line?..here is some Gatoraide..mommy..I don't like that flavor.. You are about to have a huge mess on your public agenda

Flu season is here and there will be many patients and scares of ebola. Can you afford to test and quarantine every traveler or citizen that may have had contact with a suspected person?  Leave them borders open and you are just asking for a revolt.
Poo poo while you still can. Stall till the obvious is upon them. West Africa is out of control and it is time for the rest of America to wake up.You are supposed to be telling them this! Before the new year starts you will have many actions to answer for .


to the WHO and U.N
No words can express how badly you have failed these countries during this outbreak. Now you have to step up and do what needs to be done.
Travel bans are coming. You will never have enough beds or drs to stop it. It is endemic there and still spreading.
Mali now, Ivory coast is next if not already. Do you need me to name a few more suspect countries for you? Do you need a few news reports?
You certainly don't mind me getting them for you for free.
The people are fleeing these areas and all of West africa, by hook or by crook, and it needs to stopped.. now.
I am not suggesting complete abandonment, but soon MSF will be overrun with patients, hell, they already are. Ever increasing numbers of nurses and drs will be
infected from lack of materials or rushed protocols, lack of rest, attacks on workers and a myriad of other situations.
Your hard choice is not really a choice. You already have plans to quarantine the whole area and you know it will have to be done. For the sake of the rest of the world, it will have to be done soon.


To the president
Klaim as ebola czar? Way to inspire confidence in the Gov't handling of this worldwide problem.
Oh, and don't run around saying that "I" only watch Fox news.
Your Gov't visits to my blog over the years have proven otherwise.
 Good thing the army is building tents, but about that training of 500 volunteers a week? Better to bring more bulldozers and crematoriums.


part 3 soon..cold weather may ease airborne transmission, and other fun stuff!
All of You know how to reach me. Make it with a donation.

West Africa: 'Ebola Virus Epidemic in Africa Poised to Explode'

26 October 2014

By Chukwuma Muanya
SCIENTISTS predict that unless international commitments are significantly and immediately increased, the Ebola virus disease epidemic already devastating swaths of West Africa will likely get far worse in the coming weeks and months.
The warning came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported at the weekend that more than 10,000 people had been infected with the disease and nearly half of them had died.
The United Nations (UN) health agency said Sunday that the number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases had risen to 10,141. Of those cases, 4,922 people have died. WHO's figures show about 200 new cases since the last report, four days ago.
A team of seven United States scientists from Yale's Schools of Public Health and Medicine and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Liberia has developed a mathematical transmission model of the viral disease and applied it to Liberia's most populous county, Montserrado, an area already hard-hit.
The researchers determined that tens of thousands of new Ebola cases - and deaths - are likely by December 15 if the epidemic continues on its current course.
The new research was published in the October 24 issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The model developed by professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and the paper's senior author, Alison Galvani, and colleagues' projects as many as 170,996 total reported and unreported cases of the disease, representing 12 per cent of the overall population of some 1.38 million people, and 90,122 deaths in Montserrado alone by December 15. Of these, the authors estimate 42,669 cases and 27,175 deaths will have been reported by that time.

The model predicts that much of this suffering - some 97,940 cases of the disease - could be averted if the international community steps up control measures immediately, starting October 31. This would require additional Ebola treatment centre beds, a fivefold increase in the speed with which cases are detected, and allocation of protective kits to households of patients awaiting treatment centre admission.
The study predicts that, at best, just over half as many cases (53,957) can be averted if the interventions are delayed till November 15. Had all of these measures been in place by October 15, the model calculates that 137,432 cases in Montserrado could have been avoided.
Besides, the WHO at the weekend convened a meeting with high-ranking government representatives from Ebola-affected countries and development partners, civil society, regulatory agencies, vaccine manufacturers and funding agencies to discuss and agree on how to fast-track testing and deployment of vaccines in sufficient numbers to check the Ebola epidemic.
The key consensus commitments achieved during the meeting include:
. Results from phase one clinical trials of most advanced vaccines are expected to be available in December 2014 and efficacy trials in affected countries also will begin in this timeframe, with protocols adapted to take into consideration safety and immunogenicity results as they become available.
. Pharmaceutical companies developing the vaccines committed to ramping up production capacity for millions of doses to be available in 2015, with several thousands ready before the end of the first half of the year. Regulatory authorities in countries where the vaccines are manufactured and in Africa committed to supporting this goal by working under extremely short deadlines.
. Community engagement is key and work should be scaled up urgently in partnership between local communities, national governments, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and international organisations.
. WHO was called upon by all parties to ensure coordination between the various actors.
Galvani said: "Our predictions highlight the rapidly closing window of opportunity for controlling the outbreak and averting a catastrophic toll of new Ebola cases and deaths in the coming months.
"Although we might still be within the midst of what will ultimately be viewed as the early phase of the current outbreak, the possibility of averting calamitous repercussions from an initially delayed and insufficient response is quickly eroding.
"The current global health strategy is woefully inadequate to stop the current volatile Ebola epidemic," co-author Dr. Frederick Altice, professor of internal medicine and public health added. "At a minimum, capable logisticians are needed to construct a sufficient number of Ebola treatment units in order to avoid the unnecessary deaths of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people."
Other authors include lead author Joseph Lewnard, Martial L. Ndeffo Mbah, Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo, Luke Bawo, and Tolbert G. Nyenswah.
According to a statement from the WHO meeting, "Vaccines may have a major impact on further evolution of the epidemic. All parties are working together to finalise the most rapid approach for developing and distributing vaccines, including direct engagement with affected communities, so that effective treatments and prevention methods are embraced and shared far and wide by the most effective ambassadors, the communities themselves.
"Trials of vaccines have already begun in the U.S., UK and Mali, and are beginning in Gabon, Germany, Kenya and Switzerland to determine safety and dose level."
WHO Assistant Director-General of Health Systems and Innovation, Marie-Paule Kieny, said: "As we accelerate in a matter of weeks a process that typically takes years, we are ensuring that safety remains the top priority, with production speed and capacity a close second."
As a further step, the WHO Director-General will be working with groups to advance vaccines' trials and deployment in the most expeditious manner possible.
Meeting participants included high-ranking officials from the ministries of health and of foreign affairs from Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Guinea, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
There were representatives from SAGE, the African Development Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries, the European Investment Bank, the European Medicines Agency, the GAVI Alliance, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, the Paul Erlich Institute, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Bank; and executives from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson, Merck Vaccines, and New Link Genetics.
Meanwhile, the WHO has warned that as many people in the hardest-hit countries have been unable or too frightened to seek medical care. A shortage of labs capable of handling potentially infected blood samples has also made it difficult to track the outbreak. For example, the latest numbers show no change in Liberia's case toll, suggesting the numbers may be lagging behind reality.
On Thursday, authorities confirmed that the disease had spread to Mali, the sixth West African country affected, and on the same day a new case was confirmed in New York, in a doctor who recently returned from Guinea.
Mali had long been considered highly vulnerable to the disease, since it shares a border with Guinea. The disease arrived there in a two-year-old, who traveled from Guinea with her grandmother by bus and died on Friday.
The toddler, who was bleeding from her nose during the journey, may have had high-risk contact with many people, the WHO warned. So far, 43 people are being monitored in isolation for signs of the disease, and WHO said on Saturday that authorities were continuing to look for more people at risk.
To help fight Ebola, the UN humanitarian flight service airlifted about one ton of medical supplies to Mali late Friday. The seats of the plane were removed to make room for the cargo, which included hazard suits for health workers, surgical gloves, face shields and buckets, according to the World Food Programme, which runs the flights.
The spread of Ebola to Mali has highlighted how easily the virus can jump borders, and Malian border police said that neighbouring Mauritania closed its border with Mali.
The health minister of Ivory Coast, which borders Guinea and Mali, said authorities there were looking for a nurse who may have Ebola and fled from Guinea, where he was being monitored by officials. But Raymonde Goudou stressed that it was still not clear whether the man had Ebola.
There was concern also in Ghana, where some worried a strike by health care workers could leave the country vulnerable to the disease. Ghana does not border any country with reported cases, but it is serving as the headquarters for the UN mission on Ebola.
In Liberia, the country hardest-hit by the epidemic, U.S. forces have been building desperately needed treatment centres and helping to bring in aid. On Saturday, Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, who was in charge of the troops assigned to the Ebola response, handed power to Maj. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, the 101st Airborne commander.
The U.S. states of New York and New Jersey ordered mandatory quarantine for medics who had treated victims of the disease in West Africa, after a doctor who had returned from the region became the first Ebola case in New York City.
President Barack Obama told Americans on Saturday that they must be "guided by the facts, not fear." He sought to calm a jittery public by hugging one of the two nurses who became the first to contract Ebola on American soil after treating a patient, but has now been declared free of the disease.
Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita aimed to ease fears after the death of a two-year-old girl, the first Ebola case in the landlocked country, who travelled from neighbouring Guinea.
"We are doing everything to prevent panic," he said in an interview with French radio.
"Since the start of this epidemic, we in Mali took all measures to be safe, but we can never hermetically seal ourselves from this," he said. "Guinea is a neighbouring country, we have a common border that we have not closed and that we will not close."
The WHO said it was treating the situation in Mali as an "emergency" because the toddler had travelled for hundreds of kilometres on public transport with her grandmother while showing symptoms of the disease - meaning that she was contagious.  http://allafrica.com/stories/201410271304.html

U.S. troops from Africa isolated in Italy

 

By PHILIP EWING | 10/27/14 1:01 PM EDT

A two-star Army general is among a dozen soldiers being isolated in Italy after returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa, although there are no signs of infection, the Pentagon said Monday.
They are the first troops to be placed into what’s effectively a 21-day quarantine under a new Army policy that calls for isolating and monitoring the health of all soldiers who have deployed to the Ebola zone.

Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the head of U.S. Army Africa, and 11 of his staff members were put under “enhanced monitoring” when they returned to their headquarters after traveling to Liberia to help kick off President Barack Obama’s military response to the Ebola outbreak.

Another group of soldiers also due back at U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza also is to be put into “enhanced monitoring,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters at the Pentagon. Soldiers based in the U.S. will also get the same kind of “enhanced” response when they return, he said.
It isn’t clear yet whether soldiers based in the U.S. will be isolated at a central facility or whether they can return to their various home stations.
The decision to isolate the soldiers follows reports about the Obama administration pressing state governors to check a trend toward the imposition of quarantines for people connected with Ebola.
“The Department of the Army” decided to isolate the troops, Warren said, but he did not know who — Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, Army Secretary John McHugh or some other leader — had ordered it.
The Army’s order does not affect the Marines, sailors, airmen or U.S. civilians who have been posted to West Africa in the Ebola campaign. The Pentagon’s other two military departments of the Navy and Air Force may decide on their own to isolate their troops, or Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel may decide to issue his own order.
Warren would not confirm reports Monday that the Joint Chiefs of Staff has recommended to Hagel that he order all troops, from every service, be placed into isolation when they return home from Africa.
There’s no sign that Williams or any of his team were exposed, Warren said, explaining the “enhanced monitoring” was ordered “out of an abundance of caution” and not as the result of any “triggering event.”
Williams recently handed over command of Operation United Assistance, the Ebola response, to Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which is sending soldiers, helicopters, equipment and other support. The American military presence in West Africa could grow to 4,000 troops or more and last for a year or beyond, defense officials say.
It wasn’t clear Monday what role the government of Italy might have had in the Army’s decision to isolate Williams and his team upon their return. Williams told reporters at the Pentagon by phone earlier this month that he knew there might be complexities involved with troops returning to their home stations in Europe as well as the U.S.
For example, commanders have also sent about 100 Marines from a base in Moron, Spain, and officials weren’t sure whether the Spanish government might insist they be isolated once they return.
“We are also starting to work with — not just Spain, Moron, but also Italy and the other places where my current forces are coming from,” Williams said. “We have folks that are here from Germany, from Italy, and all over. So, that’s being worked at higher levels to work those pieces.”  http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/us-troops-ebola-quarantine-112224.html

Mauritania has closed its border with Mali

• Friday, October 24, 2014
• Mauritania has closed this morning its border with Mali at the locality of Gogi Zemma after the announcement of the first case of Ebola in Mali. . The enrollment center at Vital Gogi Zemma had suspended operations Wednesday after it was said, of dysfunctions at its devices.
  The Mali known to date its first imported case of Ebola virus disease. This is a two year old girl from the Guinea.
  Senego.com https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.actu224.com%2F&edit-text=
   

WFP Notes for the Briefing on WFP Ebola response update 24/10/2014

GENEVA, 24 October 2014 / PRN Africa / --
1. WFP Ebola Response Update
· Preliminary results of a joint Rapid Food Security Assessment in Liberia by WFP, FAO and the Government highlight the probability of high pre- and post-harvest losses at the end of the farming season, market disruptions, price increases for basic commodities and challenges in reaching remote places due to poor road networks.
· Should the Ebola epidemic last another 4-5 months, when farmers begin to prepare their land, there is real concern that planting for the 2015 harvest could be affected. The impact of Ebola is likely to constrain food access in affected communities for months to come.
· The spread of Ebola is disrupting food trade and markets in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the region. So far impacts on food prices have been mixed. WFP is gearing up to prevent this health crisis from becoming a food and nutrition crisis.
· WFP is revising requirements to respond to the increased demand from governments and health partners to establish Ebola treatment and care facilities. WFP will procure and transport material to build additional facilities in the affected countries.
· So far, WFP has delivered more than 13.000mt of food to 776.000 people in the three countries.
· The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), managed by WFP, has transported 1.130 passengers and more than 11mt of light cargo for 40 organization (NGOs, UN agencies, donors, the diplomatic community and government partners).
· In October, WFP Guinea is targeting 186.000 people in areas of widespread and intense transmission across the country.
· Last week in Liberia, WFP distributed 2.430mt of food to about 144.600 people in eight counties. WFP has increased its October distribution target in the country by 35% and aims to reach 270.000 people this month.
· In Sierra Leone, WFP started constructing Forward Logistics Bases in Port Loko, Makeni and Kenema. The required equipment for the establishments of the bases has arrived in the country. They will be completed in approximately 3 weeks.
2. Funding
· WFP's current Emergency Operation has a total requirement of almost US$93 million with a funding shortfall of 48%.
· For its Special Logistics Operation, WFP still requires 87% of the US$87 million.
SOURCE World Food Programme (WFP) http://www.newstimeafrica.com/newswire?doc=201410241112PR_NEWS_AFPR____20141024017&showRelease=1&dir=5&areas=AFRICA&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

Yale Researchers Project Spiraling Ebola Numbers Without More International Aid

ICU trained nurses Kim Coplit, left, and Katie Ortiz wheel "patient" Stephen Donahue, program director of the Hartford Hospital Center of Education, Simulation and Innovation Center, onto an elevator during a practice Ebola drill Thursday morning at Hartford Hospital. The drill involved a... (John Woike / Hartford Courant)

By Kathleen Megan
 Ebola cases will spiral without stronger intervention, Yale researchers say

Stopping Ebola is “not only a humanitarian duty but also a matter of crude self-interest.”

Without an immediate and substantial increase of international aid, Yale researchers say that the Ebola virus will probably get far worse, resulting in tens of thousands of new cases and deaths by Dec. 15.
A mathematical transmission model of the viral disease developed by a team of seven scientists from Yale's School of Public Health and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Liberia was applied to Liberia's most populous county, Montserrado. The country's hard-hit capital, Monrovia, is in Montserrado.

State Orders 9 Quarantined Amid Ebola Concerns

JOSH KOVNER, NICHOLAS RONDINONE

The researchers projected as many as 170,996 cases of the disease with 90,122 deaths in Montserrado alone by Dec. 15. Those figures include cases that are reported and cases that are not. Of those figures, researchers expect that only 42,669 cases and 27,175 deaths will be officially reported by Dec. 15.

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"These figures are what we'd estimate if there were to be no improvements in public health responses," said Joseph Lewnard, the lead author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate at Yale's School of Public Health. "While new interventions have been underway … which may dampen the severity of the epidemic, our findings suggest that the scale must be increased greatly to maximally avert new cases and deaths." The researchers' article is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
On Sept. 16, the U.S. announced plans to construct 17 Ebola treatment centers to isolate and treat 1,700 patients. As of Sept. 23, there were 430 beds in Montserrado County and 625 beds in all of Liberia, Lewnard said.
"[T]he pace of epidemic growth brings into question whether the extent and timing of the commitments will be sufficient to curtail the epidemic," the researchers' article says.

Behind State's 'Stringent' Ebola Guidelines, Quarantine Not Automatic

JOSH KOVNER

Alison Galvani, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and the paper's senior author, said in a statement, "Our predictions highlight the rapidly closing window of opportunity for controlling the outbreak and averting a catastrophic toll of new Ebola cases and deaths in the coming months. Although we might still be within the midst of what will ultimately be viewed as the early phase of the current outbreak, the possibility of averting calamitous repercussions from an initially delayed and insufficient response is quickly eroding."

In an accompanying comment in the journal, David Fisman and Ashleigh R. Tuite of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto wrote, "The growth of this epidemic fits so well with mathematical epidemiological ideas that it seems torn from the pages of a textbook. And thus, even as the current Ebola epidemic wastes lives, devastates economies, and causes widespread fear, it follows a seemingly well behaved epidemiological process, readily understood through the use of mathematical modelling."
Fisman and Tuite added: "[W]e have no time to waste. The urgency of timely intervention in the Ebola epidemic cannot be overstated. ... Researchers have asserted that the epidemic is proceeding in virus time, with a response on bureaucratic time."

Controlling Ebola is "not only a humanitarian duty but also a matter of crude self-interest," Fisman and Tuite said. "The report by Lewnard and colleagues shows that intervention will only be meaningful if it is timely, and so far it has not been."
The researchers found that the spread of the disease could be substantially reduced — by about 97,940 cases — if the international community steps up control measures by Oct. 31.
The authors say that would require an additional 4,800 Ebola treatment beds in Montserrado County, a five-fold increase in the speed with which cases are detected, and the allocation of protective kits with sanitation supplies such as bleach, gowns and masks to the households of patients awaiting admission to a treatment center.
If that intervention is delayed until Nov. 15, the study projects that about half as many cases — 53,957 — would be averted.
"The current global health strategy is woefully inadequate to stop the current volatile Ebola epidemic," said co-author Dr. Frederick Altice, a Yale professor of internal medicine and public health. "At a minimum, capable logisticians are needed to construct a sufficient number of Ebola treatment units in order to avoid the unnecessary deaths of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people."
So far, there have been almost 10,000 reported cases and 4,555 deaths from the disease in the three affected West Africa countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since the outbreak began with a case of a toddler in rural Guinea in December 2013. http://www.courant.com/health/hc-yale-ebola-study-1024-20141023-story.html

Ebola crisis: subdue dozens of health surveillance make sure after the first injury in Mali

• October 24 / October 2014
  ....
  

  Stone and control

  The diagnosis of this case in Mali, the country has become the sixth country in West Africa where the epidemic is rampant, despite the declaration of the World Health Organization, Senegal and Nigeria free of the virus.

  The financial authorities are currently stone and monitoring 43 people who had contact with the girl infected, including 10 health workers.

  The financial authorities are currently monitoring a stone and 43 people.

  The health minister said the financial Ousmane Kone in a televised statement on Thursday that the infected child under treatment in the city of Kayes west of the country.

  The minister added that the child was transferred to a local hospital on Wednesday where the bird was confirmed by laboratory tests, stressing that it and all who were in contact with them have been placed under quarantine.

  Quoted by Reuters news agency official in the Health Ministry of Finance as saying that the child's mother had died in Guinea since a few weeks, and that her relatives took her back to Mali.

  In a separate development, the WHO said it was able to identify the two vaccines at least think they may be effective in vaccination against the disease.

  The organization said it wants to be the completion of the test vaccines before the end of December / December next.

  According to FAO estimates, 443 injured workers in the health field to the Ebola epidemic now 244 of them died.

   https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Farabic%2Fscienceandtech%2F2014%2F10%2F141023_ebola_mali&edit-text=

Travelers from Ebola-affected countries to be monitored for 3 weeks

Travelers from Ebola-affected countries to be monitored for 3 weeks
All travelers coming from Ebola-affected areas will be actively monitored for 21 days starting Monday, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden announced in a telebriefing on Wednesday. Contact information including email, two phone numbers and a physical U.S. address will be gathered from all people coming to the U.S. from Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone, Frieden said.  http://q13fox.com/2014/10/22/cdc-announces-21-day-monitoring-of-anyone-returning-to-us-from-ebola-stricken-nations/

Ebola Takes Young Doctor

Dr. Scotland had planned to specialize in Maxillofacial Surgery

Ebola Takes Young Doctor

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 00:26 admin

-4 More Orphans, 1 More Widow

By: 

Alaskai Moore Johnson, Observer Health Correspondent

The deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD) has again struck at the nation’s already staggering medical workforce. This time a young Liberian medical doctor, Thomas S. Scotland, fell prey to the virus on Saturday morning.
Dr. Scotland leaves behind his four very young children and a widow who is expecting their fifth child.
He died at the Government of Liberia-run Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) within the compound of the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia.
The late Dr. Scotland, who was a member of the University of Liberia's A.M. Dogliotti Medical College's 2013 graduates, was interning with the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Sinkor before Ebola crossed over from neighboring Guinea to Liberia.
As the virus raged on in the country, he decided to volunteer his service in the cause of humanity at the JFK ETU.
According to reports, he was one of six persons including health workers at the JFK ETU who contracted the disease nearly three weeks ago.
Four of the six, including Dr. Scotland, have now died. The last two are said to be "very critical," our Health Correspondent was informed.
One of Dr. Scotland's close friends, who asked that his name not be mentioned, said the late doctor was someone who was "down to earth and was close to the masses. Imagine he was a medical doctor with some privilages, yet he was always peddling his bike to work." Dr. Scotland did “security jobs just to pay his undergraduate fees,” Dr. Scotland’s friend revealed.
The deceased’s friend also told the Daily Observer that his (Dr. Scotland's) internship would have been over this December, unfortunately, his "candle light is now lost in the wind."
One of Liberia’s oldest Dentists, Dr. Ayele Ajavon Cox, disclosed to the Observer that Dr. Scotland had wanted to specialize in maxillofacial surgery. “We were in the process of scouting for a scholarship for him to go for further studies; this is so sad,” Dr. Ajavon-Cox lamented.
A Maxillofacial surgeon  treats many diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral (mouth) and Cranio-maxillofacial (jaws and face) region.
Dr. Vuyu Golakai, Dean of the A.M. Dogliotti, told our Health Correspondent that "five years of hard work is lost."
Dean Golakai also lamented that his former student was just in his prime to begin reaping the fruits of his labor of five years and now it has all been lost to Ebola.
He stated that he and others were shocked when they received the news of Scotland’s death, adding that from what he had heard, Scotland was not directly in harm’s way in the ETU.
“This brings to light some of the things I have been saying. We are managing Ebola in this country without a standard protocol,” Dr. Golakai contended. “Every treatment center is doing its own thing; it shouldn’t be that way. By now, we should have a standard procedure for all the treatment units to follow. This is how it is done everywhere around the world and those who know how to handle such viral diseases have been left out of the management process,” Dr. Golakai charged.
It is not yet crystal clear what the Government of Liberia will do for the survivors of Dr. Scotland. The GOL recently announced a US$5,000 flat death benefit to the survivors of each healthcare worker, who lost his/her life to Ebola.
At the meeting during which the death benefit was announced, Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh had said: “When Ebola struck our country, it was our healthcare workers that were hurt the most. These men and women are the soldiers on the frontline of this fight and so we must appreciate the sacrifices they are making.”
Meanwhile Dr. Scotland was yesterday buried in the Mount Barclay area, outside Monrovia. He is yet to be added to the record of 96 deaths of the 209 health workers who have so far contracted the virus, between March 22 and October 13 of this year.

Emergency Aswan International Airport after a suspected infection of pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia virus "Corona"

Aswan - Ahram Gate

20-10-2014 | 17:57

36

Aswan International Airport

Detained hospital admitted Aswan, on Monday, one of the persons returning from the holy land, after performing Hajj, on suspicion of being infected with "Corona."

Was (Abdel Fattah m.), From the village of Kalabsha, arrived today to Aswan Airport, returning from Saudi Arabia after performing Hajj, and detects attic quarantine at the airport, showing symptoms of infection with "Koruna" it.

A source at the airport, he was transferred to the suspect in his hospital diets, to pull the necessary samples to a statement from his injury or not.

Aswan Airport has been declared a state of emergency; against the background of the case on suspicion of "Alchorna", coming from Saudi Arabi

1 isolated in Ohio after nurse's Ebola diagnosis

4:32 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014

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AKRON, Ohio (AP) —

Health officials say one person in Ohio has been voluntarily quarantined after having household contact with the Texas nurse who recently visited Ohio and was later diagnosed with Ebola.
Summit County officials say the individual self-quarantined Tuesday after the family of 29-year-old nurse Amber Joy Vinson was notified that she had developed Ebola symptoms.
Vinson was visiting family in the Akron area and flew back to Dallas on Monday before being diagnosed with Ebola.
Summit County Medical Director Marguerite Erme said at a news conference Wednesday that the quarantined person hasn't left home since Tuesday and that health officials will be monitoring the person's condition. No name was released.
Erme says that the person is not showing symptoms and that there is no risk to the public.http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/1-isolated-ohio-after-nurses-ebola-diagnosis/nhj4g/

Report: Ebola nurses in Dallas wore no special protective gear for two days

 

By Elise Viebeck - 10/15/14 02:52 PM EDT

Medical workers in Dallas wore no special protective gear for two days while caring for the U.S.’s first Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, according to a report.

Healthcare personnel at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital started treating Duncan on Sept. 28 but did not start wearing hazmat suits until Sept. 30, when he was officially diagnosed with Ebola.Federal health officials believe that three-day window could be the key to understanding how two healthcare workers contracted Ebola, the Dallas Morning News reported. At least 50 hospital personnel are undergoing "intensive follow-up" for signs they might have the deadly virus.
Prior to Duncan's diagnosis, healthcare workers wore basic gowns and gloves, which are considered insufficient to protect someone treating Ebola.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has received criticism for a long series of missteps in caring for Duncan, who died Oct. 8.
A national nursing union said late Tuesday that the hospital initially resisted isolating Duncan when he returned for care for the second time.
Nurses were also insufficiently trained and given incomplete protective gear, the union claimed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also come under fire for its oversight of the hospital's response.
CDC officials said Wednesday that the second infected healthcare worker will be transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. The first worker will remain in Dallas for now.  http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/220849-ebola-nurses-wore-no-protective-gear-for-two-days

Second Ebola nurse traveled on plane with low-grade fever

Jordan Armstrong and Walt Zwirko, 

WFAA 12:51 p.m. CDT October 15, 2014

 

 DALLAS -- There are now two Dallas nurses being treated for the Ebola virus, and News 8 has learned that the second patient flew on an airplane Monday with a low-grade fever of 99.5 degrees.
Family members say 29-year-old nurse Amber Vinson has joined nurse Nina Pham, 26, in isolation at Texas Presbyterian Hospital. Martha Schuler, the mother of Vinson's former stepfather, confirmed her identity Wednesday morning.
The CDC announced during a teleconference Wednesday afternoon that Vinson is stable and will soon be moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The Centers for Disease Control says Vinson was a passenger on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143, which flew from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday -- the day before she was admitted into the hospital.
The center is now contacting all 132 passengers on that flight, which landed around 8:16 p.m., as a precaution and is asking them to call 1-800-CDC-INFO.
Frontier Airlines says the plane stayed at DFW International Airport overnight, and has since been cleaned. It traveled to Cleveland on Tuesday and was cleaned again. The airline says Vinson traveled to Ohio from Dallas-Fort Worth on Flight 1142 on Oct. 10.
"The safety and security of our customers and employees is our primary concern. Frontier will continue to work closely with CDC and other governmental agencies to ensure proper protocols and procedures are being followed," the airline said in a press release.
Wednesday morning, Mayor Mike Rawlings confirmed that Vinson lives alone without pets at The Green in the Village Apartments, in the 6000 block of Village Bend near Skillman, just north of Lovers Lane.

Police and Dallas Fire-Rescue teams were at the complex early Wednesday, cleaning common areas and knocking on doors, communicating with neighbors. Reverse 911 calls were sent out at 6:15 a.m. to people who live in the area.
"We rallied together and we decided that we needed to move quickly like we did Sunday morning," Mayor Rawlings said.
He added that the state has hired a company to come in Wednesday afternoon and clean Vinson's apartment and car.
Like Pham, Vinson had also been involved in caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola one week ago at Presbyterian. More than 70 hospital employees had been involved in that effort and are still being monitored.
Officials said Vinson reported a fever on Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital. The Ebola diagnosis was made late Tuesday by testing at a state laboratory in Austin. A separate test was being administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and was expected to confirm the Texas test.

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Presbyterian Hospital said Tuesday that Nina Pham's condition had improved to "good." Her dog, who had been moved to an undisclosed location, is also doing well.

Dallas nurse Nina Pham was diagnosed with Ebola on October 11, 2014.(Photo: TCU Yearbook)

Health care officials had signaled that additional cases of Ebola were to be expected in the wake of Thomas Duncan's death, and Dallas County Health and Human Services director Zachary Thompson reiterated that position in an interview on News 8 Daybreak Wednesday.
"I've got to remind Dallas County residents: Let's not get into the fear factor and panic," he said. "It should be contained within the health care workers, and hopefully we don't see any more cases, but don't be surprised."

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings speaks at a news conference.(Photo: WFAA)

Mayor Rawlings said during a press conference that he hopes to minimize rumors and maximize facts.
"The only way we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail," he said.
He added that city leaders are not fearful and that there is hope if we do what is right and take care.
"It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better," he said.

Ebola coverage on News 8 Daybreak WFAA

The CDC issued a reminder Wednesday that the Ebola virus is known only to spread via direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, or exposure to objects like needles that have been contaminated. The illness has an average 8-10 day incubation period, although it can range from 2 to 21 days.
People are not contagious during the incubation period before symptoms appear.

• LINK: Complete Ebola coverage

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Wednesday that the 48 people who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan outside the hospital are still healthy without symptoms of Ebola. Their incubation period for being monitored for symptoms ends on Sunday.
While Thompson said Wednesday that Dallas should consider isolating health care workers before symptoms of Ebola show up, Jenkins disagreed.
"This is not gonna be a situation where we're gonna put protective orders on 75 health care workers. The system right now is working," he said.
The workers are being provided another place to stay, away from their families, while they are in the incubation period.
Executive President of Texas Health Resources Dr. Daniel Varga said Wednesday that the hospital has an isolation unit set up which can handle up to three patients. A new area has also been opened to screen patients for Ebola.
"No one wants to get this right more than our hospital," Varga said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry released the following statement on Wednesday upon the news of Vinson's diagnosis.
"The diagnosis of a second health care worker in Dallas reaffirms what a formidable foe this virus is.
I am in daily contact with Dr. Brett Giroir and Dr. David Lakey and earlier today spoke with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to ensure state and federal management of this issue is tightly coordinated.
This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this. Everyone working on this challenge – from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection – is working to end the threat posed by this disease. These individuals are keeping the health and safety of Texans and the needs of the patients as their most critical tasks. Every relevant agency at the local, state and national levels is working to support these individuals.
I have great faith that we will succeed in this important mission; once we have put it behind us we will be the stronger for it and more prepared to meet the kinds of challenges that we as Americans are uniquely prepared to face."
Gov. Perry's Task Force on Infection Disease Preparedness and Response will meet on Wednesday to discuss improving Texas' response and treatment of Ebola.  http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/health/2014/10/15/second-dallas-hospital-worker-diagnosed-ebola/17290677/

More Empty Beds At Bong County ETU

Posted on October 13, 2014 by demo demo in Liberian News

By Janjay F. Campbell
As health workers at Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Monrovia complain about the unit being full and no bed available to accept patients that are showing symptoms of the Ebola virus, the Ebola Treatment Unit in Suakoko, Bong County have 70 beds and there are always beds available because once you are tested and you are negative; you will be treated quickly and released to avoid the patient coming in contact with the Ebola virus.
At the ETU that was built by Save the Children and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), both international and local journalists observed on Tuesday that the ETU is at an isolated area where one has to drive fifteen minutes from the main road before he/she could arrive there.
The ETU is being run by International Medical Corps, a non- governmental organization and the team’s director for Liberia Ebola Emergency Response, Sean Casey stressed that test results to come in after 3 or 5 days now takes 3 to 4 hours and patients are informed if they are positive or negative.
According to Mr. Casey, if a result of a patient shows that he/she does not have the Ebola virus, that patient is discharged the same day or the next morning. But if the result shows positive that patient starts treatment immediately and they are removed from the suspected ward to the Confirmed Ward.
He narrated that is why patients are being released every day because they show no sign of the Ebola virus. He mentioned that there are 20 beds in the suspected ward and 50 beds in the confirm ward and that the ETU is divided into two areas, the lower and higher risks area.
He stated that the ETU has two ambulances and that most of the patients come in ambulance and that they don’t usually have to walk. Mr. Casey said there is no need to expand the ETU for now but if the need arises they will expand the ETU.
Journalists were taken to the burial site which was ten minutes’ walk from the ETU. At the burial site reporters talked with one of the grave diggers, James Jensen, who said they are being stigmatized by neighbors because of the work they are doing.
He praised International Medical Corps and USAID for the work they are doing for the people of Liberia. He said Liberians are dying from the deadly disease every day, because there are people who are still denying the Ebola virus.
At the U.S. lab in Suakoko, Bong County at Cuttington campus, Col. Doctor Jim Czarnik who is the Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Military here in Liberia stated that the U.S. government is putting everything it has to fight the Ebola virus and that the Department of Defense of the United States is bringing in more labs in the country.
There is state of the art equipment being used in the lab to help fight the Ebola virus by sending results to the ETU within 3 to 4 hours. The equipment cost little under half million dollars and that they have also received blood samples from Lofa, Nimba, Grand Gedeh and Margibi.

Sierra Leone News: Ebola survivor infects wife to death

In Thoradu Village, Kissy Teng, Kailahun district an Ebola survivor, Siaka, is alleged to have infected his wife, Pewah, through sex.
This information was disclosed by a member of the Kailahun Women in Governance Network (KWiGN), Juliet Scott, in a telephone interview during the weekend.
According to Madam Scott, the Ebola survivor Siaka, after contacting the virus was taken to the Kailahun treatment centre, where he received proper medication from the Medical experts and after being discharged, he was given the necessary precautionary messages including some quantity of condoms to protect his partner, if he wants to have sex with her.
She maintained that according to the expert advice, the virus stays in the semen of men and in the breast milk of women, so if the men want to have sex with their partners, they should use condom to protect the women and that the women should not breast feed until after three months, explaining that Siaka refused to follow the instructions to protect his wife and she was left with no option but to obey her husband.
“Pewah only realised she had been infected, after two days when she started exhibiting some of the symptoms,” she recalled, adding that they took her to the treatment centre where she passed away, as it was too late for the medical expert to administer treatment to her, disclosing that the women are extremely vulnerable towards the Ebola virus.
According to the President of KWiGN, Madam Lucy Gondor, this situation is very unfortunate at this particular time, when the Government and other partners are doing all they could in sensitizing the people about the preventive measures about the disease, explaining that survivors should be role models in society, as they should be the ones telling people about the realities of the disease rather than infecting others.
She disclosed that on the area of new infection cases reported in the District, one was as a result of a young man who was tested positive and his wife went ahead and identified her husband’s girl-friend and the girl-friend also identified another girl friend as all their houses had been quarantined.
By Alhaji M. Kamara
Monday October 13, 2014

US Asks Spain to Allow US Soldiers From Ebola-Hit Africa to Stay in Its Military Bases

MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - US authorities have asked the government of Spain to allow over 3,000 American soldiers returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa to stay in the Spanish military bases, a spokesperson for the Spanish Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti.
According to the spokesperson, the motion has already been sent to the authorities of Spain, who have not yet confirmed whether or not the offer will be accepted.
Nonetheless, it has been reported that Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenes will announce Spain's decision on the matter in the next few days.
The American authorities, the spokesperson added, want their soldiers to rest in the Rota and Morón de la Frontera bases located in southern Spain.
Should Spain agree to the offer, it will have to initiate a special sanitary operation aimed at avoiding possible cases of the Ebola virus among the local population.
The United Nations is also reported to have turned to Spain for permission to use Gran Canaria airport for the purpose of transferring humanitarian aid to the worst hit areas of West Africa.
The worst Ebola epidemic in history began in southern Guinea at the end of 2013 and soon spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The death toll is estimated to be over 4,400. There is no officially approved medication for the Ebola virus, and experts claim prevention is the only cure. Several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on vaccines.  http://en.ria.ru/world/20141014/194080651/US-Asks-Spain-to-Allow-US-Soldiers-From-Ebola-Hit-Africa-to-Stay.html

Ebola scare in Manipur, high alert in the north-east

Tuesday, 14 October 2014 - 10:29pm IST
A Japanese tourist currently living in Manipur has been kept in isolation for showing symptoms akin to Ebola. Alerted by this development, all state governments of the North East have increased their screening procedures for immediate detection of cases of Ebola and have also started keeping a close watch on the entry of foreign nationals in the states.
According to a news report published in downtoearth.org.in, 27-year-old Kawakubo Yuko entered Manipur from Myanmar. She suddenly developed fever and was hospitalised. The doctors soon raised the red flag suspecting her symptoms were identical to that of Ebola and immediately admitted her to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal nearly a week ago. Her blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, and the results are yet to come in. 
A scientist at NIV (who does not wish to reveal his name) said, "There are samples of Ebola which come in like the sample from Manipur. Though no positive samples have been found as of now, the result for Manipur samples will also be coming in a few days". NIV has a team of 15 scientists working on the samples of Ebola coming from Pune, Mumbai and other parts of the country.
In the meanwhile, the Manipur government is taking no chance. It has set Ebola screening gates for passengers at the Imphal airport and at the international border with Myanmar As an additional layer of security, the state is also screening people at its borders with Nagaland and Assam.
The biggest worry at this moment is the state government may be extremely ill-prepared, infrastructure wise, in case of an outbreak. Thus the state is in overdrive to take all kinds of precautions.
Other states like Assam are also on alert. There is already a pre-existing method of screening foreign nationals for the last few months. Their travel details are also been looked into. Footballers from Africa have also been checked, according to the news report. Tripura has also implemented a search protocol. 
Though there have been earlier Ebola scares in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, so far, all the cases have turned out to be negative. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ebola-scare-in-manipur-high-alert-in-the-north-east-2026140

http://i.imgur.com/19857Nm.jpg

WHO: 10,000 new Ebola cases per week could be seen

Oct 14, 8:52 AM EDT

GENEVA (AP) -- A World Health Organization official says there could be up to 10,000 new cases of Ebola per week within two months.

WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward says if the response to the Ebola crisis isn't stepped up within 60 days, "a lot more people will die" and there will be a huge need on the ground to deal with the spiraling numbers of cases. He said WHO estimated there could up to 10,000 cases per week in two months.

Aylward said for the last four weeks, there have been about 1,000 new cases per week, though that figure includes suspected, confirmed and probable cases. He said WHO is aiming to have 70 percent of cases isolated within two months to reverse the outbreak.

WHO increased its Ebola death toll tally to 4,447, nearly all of them in West Africa, and the group said the number of probable and suspected cases was 8,914.

Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been hardest hit. Aylward said WHO was very concerned about the continued spread of Ebola in the three countries' capital cities -Freetown, Conakry and Monrovia. He noted that while certain areas were seeing cases decline, "that doesn't mean they will get to zero."

He said the agency was still focused on trying to treat Ebola patients, despite the huge demands on the broken health systems in West Africa.

"It would be horrifically unethical to say that we're just going to isolate people," he said, noting that new strategies like handing out protective equipment to families and setting up very basic clinics - without much treatment - was a priority.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WHO_EBOLA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

800 Sierra Leone Peacekeepers Bound For Somalia Quarantined Over Ebola

Sierra Leone Peacekeepers Bound For Somalia Quarantined Over Ebola

• Reuters

• Oct. 14, 2014, 6:30 AM
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FREETOWN (Reuters) - A battalion of 800 Sierra Leone soldiers awaiting deployment as peacekeepers in Somalia has been placed in quarantine after one of its members tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, military officials said on Tuesday.
The soldiers were due to relieve the West African nation's contingent already deployed with Somalia's African Union peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM. They are now expected to be subject to a 21-day isolation period.     http://www.businessinsider.com/r-sierra-leone-peacekeepers-bound-for-somalia-quarantined-over-ebola-2014-10

Experts warn Ebola scares will spike

Disease fears, flu season could fuel public alarm

101314emiratesms003.jpg

Photo by: 

Matt Stone

EMERGENCY RESPONSE: Boston EMS workers escort patients yesterday from an ambulance at Massachusetts General Hospital. The patients were taken off a Logan flight after becoming ill.

1

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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By:

Jack Encarnacao

The public should brace for a steady, terrifying stream of false alarms like the ones at Logan International Airport and a Braintree health clinic as the onset of flu season combined with ever-heightening Ebola vigilance will prompt dramatic medical responses involving quarantines and hazmat suits, local infectious disease experts warned yesterday.
“People are going to come back from West Africa, people are going to develop flu-like symptoms, and every single one of those is going to get treated like a potential Ebola,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “The greater part of valor here is you isolate them, you test them, and you make sure they are Ebola-negative before you let them back into the community. I think we’re going to end up doing that more and more. I think we’re in for a pretty tough time of managing this until the epidemic subsides in West Africa.”
For the second straight day yesterday, Boston-area residents were hit with foreboding images of medical teams in protective suits as first responders removed five passengers with “flu-like symptoms” from a flight from Dubai. Ebola was ruled out for all five last night.
Boston health officials yesterday sought to gird residents for such scenes.
“We recognize that over the ensuing weeks residents may observe infection control measures that are used to isolate potential suspect cases of Ebola out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Huy Nguyen, interim director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said at a press conference yesterday. “There are, however, no confirmed cases of Ebola in Boston.”
The record outbreak has claimed more than 4,000 lives in West Africa.
The commission said yesterday that three to four people in Boston have been screened for Ebola in recent weeks, but none had the disease. Officials repeatedly stressed Ebola can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids — most commonly vomit, blood or feces.
A man who recently visited Liberia and complained of muscle and headaches at a Braintree clinic Sunday was in good condition yesterday but in isolation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The hospital said its initial evaluation showed the likelihood of the man having Ebola is “extremely low.”
In Dallas, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for a rethinking of how hospitals treat suspected Ebola patients after a nurse — one of a team of 70 who cared for the only man to die of the virus in America — contracted it herself.
Every hospital must know how to diagnose Ebola in people who have been in West Africa and be ready to isolate a suspected case, CDC director Tom Frieden said: “Think Ebola.”
The CDC is working to improve protections for hospital workers, he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said federal health authorities should consider requiring that Ebola patients be sent only to highly specialized “containment” hospitals.
Local hospitals expressed confidence yesterday that safeguards and procedures are in place to protect health care workers. Paul Biddinger, director of the Emergency Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, said 10 simulation drills are scheduled this week for staff to review procedures, including the delicate removing of protective suits.
“There is no other daily provision of medical care in the United States for which we need to be as perfect,” Biddinger said. “I think we are all concerned with trying to make this process as seamless and as fail-proof as possible.”

A teenage girl bled to death over two days’: Ebola nurses describe life and death on the frontline

West Africa is battling the biggest known outbreak of Ebola, with experts predicting there could be 1.4 million cases by January. Three nurses who volunteered to help fight the virus in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the worst-affected countries, describe the daily horror

Bridget Mulrooney, 36
American nurse working for the International Medical Corps in Bong County, Liberia

I was working as a travel nurse at a children’s hospital in California when I got an email from International Medical Corps asking if I was interested in deploying to Liberia to help fight Ebola. I wanted to go immediately but I was locked into a contract at the time. The more I heard, the more excited I got. Within three days of finishing my contract, I was in Alabama being trained in how to treat Ebola patients safely and within a week I was in Liberia.
I have now been at the Ebola treatment unit (ETU) for two weeks and what an incredible experience it has been. This week, I am on the night shift so my working day starts at 7pm. Tonight, we have 12 patients in the unit who are confirmed as having the Ebola virus. One of the patients is a nine-year-old girl who came with her mother when they were both sick. Her mum tested negative for Ebola but unfortunately the girl tested positive. Her mother opted to go home, leaving her daughter behind. She is very weak and really scared now that she is here all alone, so I am going to spend some extra time with her tonight, feeding her to try to get her strength back up.
Our personal protective equipment (PPE) suits get really hot. We spend up to two hours at a time in the ETU with the patients, which is about the longest you can comfortably remain inside the suits without a break.
Everyone I know is very supportive of me being here. I have been doing this type of volunteering for organisations such as IMC for a while. My family are used to me announcing that I’m off to some place where there is a disease outbreak or some other risk to my safety. I guess they were more worried than usual about the risks associated with Ebola, but they are still totally supportive.
I am worried about the backlash against healthcare workers who are responding to the crisis in West Africa. I have heard media reports calling for people such as me who have been treating Ebola patients to be quarantined for 21 or even 42 days. These ideas are not based on the medical facts. People only need to be quarantined if they are showing symptoms and if you do not have a fever, there is no risk of you transmitting Ebola to someone. We work really hard here, the hours are long and the work is physically and emotionally tiring. When we get time off every six weeks, I would like to think I can travel anywhere I want to but I suspect we are reaching a situation where I am not going to be welcome in many places.
Four new patients arrived at around midnight in ambulances. Tonight we saw a father and two sons: the dad is really very sick, throwing up every few minutes. We gave him and the other patients plenty of fluids and medicine to help with the vomiting and then we took the blood test that would confirm whether or not they had the Ebola virus. After triaging the patients, we made our way to the confirmed ward to carry the body of a patient who had died earlier in the night to the morgue.
The sun comes up around 6am, and the team on the ni http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/13/ebola-nurses-describe-life-death-on-frontline-liberia-sierra-leone