Ebola crisis: Vaccine 'too late' for outbreak

By Simon Cox BBC Radio 4's File on Four
  17 October 2014 Last updated at 00:00 ET

UK pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline says its Ebola vaccine will "come too late" for the current epidemic.

GSK is one of several companies trying to fast-track a vaccine to prevent the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
But Dr Ripley Ballou, head of GSK's Ebola vaccine research, said full data on its safety and efficacy would not be ready until late 2015.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 9,000 people have been infected and more than 4,500 have died.
Health workers are struggling to contain the spread of the virus, which is mostly affecting people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The WHO has warned there could soon be 10,000 new cases a week.
Leading experts who have previously tackled Ebola believe the only way to contain the outbreak is with a vaccine.
Several trials Prof Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, first discovered Ebola in 1976. He is worried that the outbreak could last well into next year.
"Then only a vaccine can stop it, but we still have to prove that this vaccine protects, we don't know that for sure," he said

There are several vaccine trials under way. The Public Health Agency in Canada has started human testing, and a Russian project is planning to do the same.
At GSK's vaccine research laboratories outside Brussels, they are trying to compress trials that would normally take up to 10 years into just 12 months.
They have already given the vaccine to volunteers taking part in the trial in Africa, the US - where they are working alongside the National Institute of Health - and the UK.
'Small sacrifice' Volunteer Nick Owen was injected two weeks ago at the centre for Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine in Oxford and will have regular check-ups for the next six months....
   http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29649572

Africans Worst Responders in Ebola Crisis

Fri, 10/31/2014 - 10:18am

Michelle Faul - Associated Press

In this Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 file photo, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chairperson of the African Union Commission, speaks at United Nations headquarters in New York. The head of Africa’s continental body did not get to an Ebola-hit country until last week - months after alarm bells first rang and nearly 5,000 deaths later. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)The head of Africa's continental body did not get to an Ebola-hit country until last week - months after alarm bells first rang and nearly 5,000 deaths later.

 

Pledges to deploy 2,000 African health workers have remained largely that - promises.

 

No African countries are on the United Nations list of contributors to fight the epidemic.

 

The E-word did not even figure on the agenda of a session on peace and security at the Pan-African Parliament in South Africa last week - more than a month after the U.N. Security Council declared the Ebola outbreak a "threat to international peace and security."

 

Angry legislators from Sierra Leone and Liberia got up to protest. "They said as far as they are concerned, nobody wants to talk about Ebola," said Jeggan Grey-Johnson, a governance expert who watched the session.

 

"They said countries like Liberia feel totally abandoned by the rest of Africa and shut off from the rest of the continent," he told The Associated Press.

 

With few exceptions, African governments and institutions are offering only marginal support as the continent faces its most deadly threat in years, once again depending on the international community to save them.

 

Ebola "caught us by surprise," the chairwoman of the 53-nation African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said this week at a meeting with the U.N. secretary-general and the World Bank president in Ethiopia.

 

"With the wisdom of hindsight, our responses at all levels - continental, global and national - were slow, and often knee-jerk reactions that did not always help," she said.

 

She is a medical doctor from South Africa, where mining magnate Patrice Motsepe Tuesday announced he has donated $1 million to the fight against Ebola in Guinea, where the outbreak started.

 

Motsepe's gift, the largest donation by far from any African individual, came after the World Food Program lashed out at China's billionaires, saying their contributions lagged behind their companies' huge economic interests in the mineral-rich region. Motsepe's office said his company has no interests in any of the countries where Ebola is raging out of control - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

 

"Ebola is first and foremost our problem," the president of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, told a business forum in Brussels this month. "Before relying on international aid, we must first encourage Africans to take action."

 

The African Development Bank is the second largest institutional contributor to the U.N. fund to fight Ebola, second only to the World Bank, having given $45.4 million and promised another $17.4 million.

 

By contrast, the African Union has made an "uncommitted pledge" of just $700,000. Africa's equivalent of the Organization of America States, it is the body many believe should have taken the lead from the start.

 

The WHO identified the first Ebola case in Guinea on March 21; on March 30 the virus crossed the border into Liberia; Sierra Leone reported its first two cases on May 30. On June 20, with some 330 recorded deaths, Doctors Without Borders warned that the outbreak was "totally out of control."

 

Yet it was only on Sept. 20 that the first team of 30 military and civilian volunteers were deployed by a newly designated African Union Support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. Most costs for that mission are being paid by the U.S. and other governments.

 

Jacob Enoh Eben, spokesman for the AU chairwoman, said more than 2,000 volunteers have been pledged to date: 1,000 from Congo, 600 from the East African Community, 500 from Ethiopia and 506 from Nigeria.

 

But he said they still need to know "when the first of these pledges will materialize."

 

Those promised volunteers are only a tiny fraction of the number needed to stem the outbreak. The European Union said this week it is looking to put 40,000 local and European workers into place in the affected countries.

 

Uganda and Congo, which both have experienced Ebola outbreaks in the past, already have medical teams deployed in Liberia, under contract to WHO and not funded by their governments.

 

It is difficult to say how many Africans are deployed on the front lines of the Ebola battle.

 

In Uganda, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, the commissioner for community health services at Uganda's Health Ministry, said he believes up to 40 Ugandan health workers are on the ground but that most traveled privately. He said the Ministry of Health had officially approved the deployment of about 10 doctors to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

 

South Africa has been the most responsive African country and has budgeted $3.2 million, according to the Department of Health. That includes funding for a mobile testing lab operating in Sierra Leone since August.

 

The continental body's lack of a robust response "showed the fragility of our African Union, so heavily dependent on the international community to rescue us from catastrophe," said Isata Kabia, a Sierra Leonean legislator at the Pan-African Parliament.

 

"We cannot blame the WHO for their lack of knowledge; we can't blame the EU for lack of interest," she told The Associated. "But I think the AU should not only have led the response but also the requests to the international community."  http://www.dddmag.com/news/2014/10/africans-worst-responders-ebola-crisis

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY
BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT
HDTRA1-15-EBOLA-BAA

CHEMICAL / BIOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES DEPARTMENT

FY2015 – FY2016 Program Build

24 OCTOBER 2014
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4644486179fe1388a4c395d0d0527b5e&tab=core&_cview=0


1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1.1. Introduction.

1.1.1. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) mission is to safeguard the United States and its allies from Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives) by providing capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat, and mitigate its effects.

1.1.2. The DTRA Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) was established by the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide state-of-the-art defense capabilities to allow military forces of the United States to operate and to successfully complete their missions in chemical and biological warfare environments. The scope of mission efforts and the priorities assigned to specific projects are influenced by changes in military and civilian Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) science and technology, advanced developments, operational requirements, military threat assessments, and national defense strategies. To keep pace with defense capability requirements, the CBDP as part of its mission, routinely promulgates chemical and biological research. The comprehensive research program encompasses both intramural and extramural sources, and the role of each is vital to the fulfillment of the Program objectives.

2. PURPOSE

2.1. The purpose of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to solicit research proposals for Chemical and Biological Defense Program, DTRA requirements for the CBDP Ebola BAA for the FY2015-2016 program.

DTRA, with industry and government partners, has been working aggressively for the past decade to understand and counter Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV). DTRA’s program is currently supporting the accelerated development of a therapeutic through preclinical Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling activities as well as the clinical evaluation for one EBOV vaccine. The program co-developed the rapid field deployable diagnostic systems currently in use in West Africa. The program has also been adapting and improving upon North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) approved and high performance computing methods of modeling EBOV to perform analysis of the current EBOV outbreak. Recognizing that industry may have solutions applicable to the current EBOV outbreak in West Africa, this BAA has been released to ensure that all potential near-term solutions are considered

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently reports an ongoing outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa. The West African countries currently affected include Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, with past cases occurring in Nigeria and Senegal. There are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medical countermeasures for EBOV, the causative strain of the ongoing EVD epidemic in West Africa. Although diagnostic capabilities are available and are being utilized in West Africa, limitations with these current capabilities must be addressed. Similarly, improved modeling data, methods, and/or tools are required to better understand and predict the course of the current outbreak.

The primary objective of this BAA is to support development of near-term solutions such as therapeutic and vaccine candidates; diagnostic capabilities; modeling capabilities; and data gaps. For Medical Countermeasures (MCMs), only late stage development products for EBOV that can be completed and implemented in the near-term; defined as in time to assist with the current EBOV outbreak will be considered under this solicitation.

[snip]

2.2.4. Ebola Characterization

The means by which Ebola virus is maintained in nature remains unclear. One reservoir of this zoonotic pathogen is believed to be in bats, but it is unknown what other natural reservoirs exist. Distinct Ebola viral sequences have been identified in infected but healthy mice and shrews. (Pourrut et al., 2005) indicating there may be other unknown reservoirs. A better understanding of Ebola persistence under a variety of environmental conditions may help us identify other possible reservoirs and hosts to research reservoirs and other modes of transmission. While current science indicates the disease can only be transmitted by contact with contaminated body fluids, it remains unclear if other transmission modes are feasible. Filoviruses are able to infect via the respiratory route and are lethal at very low doses in experimental animal models, however the infectious dose is unknown. There is minimal information on how well filoviruses survive within aerosolized particles, and in certain media like the biofilm of sewage systems. Preliminary studies indicate that Ebola is aerostable in an enclosed controlled system in the dark and can survive for long periods in different liquid media and can also be recovered from plastic and glass surfaces at low temperatures for over 3 weeks (Piercy, et al., 2010).

2.2.4.1. Topic: CBS-01, Determination and Understanding of Quantitative Infectious Dose

This topic explores the physical, biological and molecular interactions of Ebola and related filoviruses to determine which of these interactions play a key role in the determination and understanding of quantitative infectious dose. The focus is on proposed efforts that aid in determining how many viable virions are required to cause human illness. Efforts that combine both experimental and computational techniques to explore molecular and physiological interactions and biochemical pathways

2.2.4.2. Topic: CBS-02, Persistence and decay or survival rates in the Environment

The research should generate knowledge on Ebola persistence in the environment and knowledge to help predict potential mutations or changes to the viron. Studies should determine persistence and decay or survival rates of Ebola virus and other filoviruses in the environment. Research areas may include (but are not limited to):

 Assessment under a range of controlled environmental conditions, including, but not limited to the dark, simulated solar radiation, and ranges of temperature and humidity.

 Identification of environmental factors that contribute to persistence

 Assessing persistence of Ebola on fomites/ surfaces after aerosolization

 Assessing persistence in other media such as water, sewage biofilm, and other priority surfaces

2.2.4.3. Topic: CBS-03, Molecular Determinants for Persistence

This topic focuses on understanding the molecular determinants that govern the ecology and environmental persistence of filoviruses. The research should focus on the molecular identities and mechanisms that promote environmental persistence of filoviruses. Research areas may include (but are not limited to):

 Genomic and proteomic analyses to investigate the regulation of genes and proteins upon exposure to varying environmental conditions

 Use of phylogenetics to identify potential genes involved in environmental persistence

 Elucidation of mechanisms that contribute to environmental persistence

 Metagenomic analysis of potential reservoir environments

 Elucidation of mechanisms and environmental conditions that promote mutations in animal reservoirs

References:
Pourrut, X. et al. (2005). The natural history of Ebola virus in Africa. Microbes and Infection. (7: 7–8), 1005–1014. DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2005.04.006
Piercy, T., et al. (2010).The survival of filoviruses in liquids on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol. Journal of Applied Microbiology. (109), 1531–1539. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2672.2010.04778.x

2.2.5. Topic: CBT-01, Biohazard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

DTRA is seeking innovative technologies that protect warfighters who are engaged in bio-hazardous epidemic response operations. Technologies are being sought that extend wear-time in hot and humid environments by reducing thermal and cognitive burden and reduce hazards especially during the doffing process. Proposed solutions must be both innovative, technically mature, and provide a significant advantage over ensembles that are commercially available. Technical maturity must be demonstrated through statistically valid testing using applicable standard test methods. Material solutions must be cost-effective and logistically sustainable within the context of applicable military operations including security, construction, medical care, non-combatant or casualty evacuation and mortuary operations. Proposals must clearly show and justify a development and testing program to qualify the technology and validate the advantage claimed. The proposal must also consider scale-up and manufacturability as part of the overall life-cycle analysis.

2.2.6. Topic: CBT-02, Rapid Disinfection Processes

DTRA is seeking innovative technologies for rapid disinfection of interior surfaces with viral contamination. The technology must prove effective against viral contamination either deposited as an aerosol or heavy contaminated combined with body fluids (e.g. blood, vomit, feces). Responses must address the entire process, a response that only develops a disinfectant/sterilant is not sufficient. Disinfectants/sterilants must be compatible with sensitive equipment. Existing compatibility qualifications, such as registered compatibility with aircraft, is desired. The proposal must show data that demonstrates performance of the disinfectant/sterilant against pathogens similar to the Ebola virus or pathogens that are more difficult to disinfect. Material solutions must be cost-effective and logistically sustainable within the context of applicable military operations. Proposals must clearly show and justify a development and testing program to qualify the technology and validate the advantage claimed. The proposal must also consider scale-up and manufacturability as part of the overall life-cycle analysis.

[snip]

==============

Comment:by Pixie
So the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Defense Program is soliciting research/solutions for the following problems which it does not completely understand about Ebola Zaire including:

• how well do filoviruses survive within aerosolized particles?
• is an aerosol mode of transmission is feasible? (Filoviruses are able to infect via the respiratory tract)
• what is an effective infectious dose? how many viable virons are needed to cause human illness?
• what is the persistence of Ebola on fomites/ surfaces after aerosolization?
• what is the persistence of Ebola in water and sewage?
• is there a disinfecting technology that will prove effective against viral contamination either deposited as an aerosol or heavy contaminated combined with body fluids (e.g. blood, vomit, feces)?

So we don't know much about the virus' natural reservoirs, we don't know much about its aerosolization, we don't know much about how easily it infects or what level of infection causes illness in humans, we don't know how long its fomites or aerosolized particles persist, we don't know how long it survives in water and sewage, and we don't have complete knowledge of the best ways to disinfect either Ebola aerosols or areas heavily contaminated with bodily fluids.

We don't know much, and yet tomorrow President Obama, flanked by Frieden, Fauci, and Klain, will no doubt assure the country in dulcet tones that the Science is Sound and that anyone who does not believe that is a rube, purely a rube. If they as citizens do not have faith that Frieden and Fauci and the rest of the talking heads have it all in hand, have it ALL under control, through SCIENCE!!!, they are just unwashed ignoramuses. There will be a lot of noses in the air. (Wonder if nurse Kaci Hickox will make an appearance as Exhibit A?).

This will be unfurling even as DTRA, just days before, requested research and proposals meant to answer some pretty significant Ebola questions. And it wants those questions answered and those solutions found in time to be able to implement them during this unprecedented outbreak.



So DTRA says they don't know, but they're asking a lot of questions so that they will know, eventually.

The ideologues who are pushing social philosophy over science say they Know Science, they take its name in vain, and laugh at anyone who looks at them skeptically, like the bunch of medieval conjurers they are.

I'll throw in with DTRA. I prefer it when someone says they don't know if they don't know. That means they'll be careful and cautious. And I like careful and cautious when we're talking about Ebola.


CDC admits droplets from a sneeze could spread Ebola

By Bob FredericksOctober 29, 2014 | 4:48am
http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/cdc-admits-droplets-from-a-sneeze-could-spread-ebola/

Ebola is a lot easier to catch than health officials have admitted — and can be contracted by contact with a doorknob contaminated by a sneeze from an infected person an hour or more before, experts told The Post Tuesday.

“If you are sniffling and sneezing, you produce microorganisms that can get on stuff in a room. If people touch them, they could be” infected, said Dr. Meryl Nass, of the Institute for Public Accuracy in Washington, DC.

Nass pointed to a poster the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly released on its Web site saying the deadly virus can be spread through “droplets.”

“Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,” the poster states.

Nass slammed the contradiction.

“The CDC said it doesn’t spread at all by air, then Friday they came out with this poster,” she said. “They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way.”
Dr. Rossi Hassad, a professor of epidemiology at Mercy College, said droplets could remain active for up to a day.

“A shorter duration for dry surfaces like a table or doorknob, and longer durations in a moist, damp environment,” Hassad said.

5:20am November 1, 2014

US judge says nurse can leave home in Ebola row

Kaci Hickox. (AAP)

AFP

A US judge ruled today that a nurse quarantined by her home state after treating Ebola patients could leave home and frequent public places, saying she was not infectious.
The decision from a district judge in the northeastern state of Maine is the latest twist in a bitter row over enforced quarantine of American medics returning from relief work in West Africa.
It reversed a temporary order that prevented her from visiting cinemas and shopping centers, and demanded she keep three feet away from others while Judge Charles LaVadiere examined the case.
Kaci Hickox insists that she is perfectly healthy and has fought efforts of US authorities to keep her in quarantine for 21 days, the incubation period for the virus, since returning home.
Maine went to court to force her to stay at home in the town of Fort Kent. Yesterday, she went out for a bike ride with her boyfriend, tailed by TV cameras and the police.
"The state has not met its burden at this time to prove by clear and convincing evidence that limiting respondent's movements to the degree requested is 'necessary to protect other individuals,'" wrote LaVerdiere in the ruling.
He said that Hickox must continue with direct active monitoring, coordinate her travel with public health authorities and notify them immediately if any symptom for the killer virus appears.
But the judge also told Hickox to "demonstrate her full understanding of human nature and the real fear" that exists over the deadly virus, which has so far infected nine Americans.
"She should guide herself accordingly," he wrote.
The White House and public health officials have criticized measures taken by some US states that quarantine medics returning from treating Ebola-infected patients in west Africa.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie kept Hickox in an isolation tent for three days after she flew back from Sierra Leone, before letting her go after she tested negative for Ebola.
She was driven to Maine, which imposed its own quarantine. Her incubation period would formally end November 10.
"They will not allow me to leave my house and have any interaction with the public, even though I am completely healthy and symptom-free," Hickox said

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/health/2014/11/01/05/20/us-judge-says-nurse-can-leave-home-in-ebola-row#zXDZmj7esO58KgLh.99

US ambassador says she's monitoring for Ebola

UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador who just returned from the three West African countries worst hit by Ebola said Friday she's self-monitoring for the virus like anyone else.
Samantha Power, the envoy to the United Nations, has been openly critical of the quarantine restrictions that some U.S. states have struggled to put in place as fear spreads over the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
She described herself as "low-risk" and said she had not gone into Ebola treatment units while visiting Liberia, Sierra Leona and Guinea. Now, following federal guidelines, she checks her temperature and calls health authorities twice a day. She also didn't hesitate to shake hands Friday.
Power tweeted a photo of a mask-and-glove-wearing official checking her temperature after she arrived at a New York City airport late Thursday.
"We went through this with HIV /AIDS," Power said of the fears around Ebola. "We have to tell the story of where risk does and doesn't exist."
She said hundreds of health workers have returned from West Africa and that authorities need to show that cases like the recently infected New York doctor are rare.
Power's visit this week was meant to turn the spotlight from the few Ebola cases in the U.S. back to West Africa, where nearly 5,000 people have died.
She said that while the number of Ebola infections is rising, the rate of infections is now decreasing, a hopeful sign.
The U.N. envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, told reporters later Friday that the latest numbers indicating a slowing rate in Liberia are "exciting," but he was cautious. "We are checking to see whether the data are a reflection of what's actually happening," he said. "Even if we have reduction in the rate of increase, that doesn't mean the outbreak is under control."
Power praised the United States response to the outbreak and called on other countries to do more.
"I went on this trip because I and the president had the sense that other countries were not stepping up sufficiently," she said.
The ambassador expressed her hope that France and the European Union would work more to coordinate with officials in French-speaking Guinea.
She again praised Cuba, a country under a decades-long U.S. embargo, for sending hundreds of medical workers to West Africa to respond to the outbreak. "We are working side by side, as it were," she said.
Power noted that China's response is "steadily increasing." And she thanked Air France, Brussels Airlines and Royal Air Maroc for continuing to fly to the region at a time when many airlines and shipping companies have cut ties, harming the economies of the Ebola-hit countries and hurting efforts to deliver aid workers.
Sierra Leone's ambassador to the United Nations, Vandi Chidi Minah, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others have been invited to visit the region, but it was too early to announce anything.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/10/31/4433105_us-ambassador-says-shes-monitoring.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

October 26, 2014. The Ebola epidemic has killed 4,951 people in the 13,567 infected in eight countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, slightly revising downward its figures due mostly to "discard some cases suspects in Guinea." REUTERS / Michelle Nichols
1 1Full Size

GENEVA (Reuters) - The epidemic of Ebola has killed 4,951 people in the 13,567 infected in eight countries, reported Friday the World Health Organization (WHO), slightly revised downward its figures largely due to "discard some suspects in Guinea "cases.

The number reflects an increase of 31 people since the UN agency reported its latest figures on Wednesday, while the total number of cases fell to 136.

The 83 contacts from a health worker in Spain infected with Ebola have completed 21 days of incubation of the virus, but a second period of 21 days must be fulfilled before the country can be declared free of the disease, he said WHO.

Mali Ebola victim had contact with 141 people, 57 still sought

By Tom Miles

GENEVA Fri Oct 31, 2014 12:48pm EDT

A health worker checks the temperature of a baby entering Mali from Guinea at the border in Kouremale, October 2, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Joe Penney

(Reuters) - A 2-year-old girl who brought Ebola to Mali may have had contact with as many as 141 people, 57 of whom have yet to be traced, according to health experts concerned the disease could spread in Mali and beyond.
Two people known to have had contact with the girl were suspected of having the disease, according to a slide presentation by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control seen by Reuters on Friday.
One of the two had not been tested and the other had been tested but with no result yet known. Tests for three other suspected cases showed negative results, it said.
The seven-slide presentation breaks down the journey the girl took with her grandmother, uncle and five-year-old sister, and shows she may have had contact with 141 people, although it stresses there may be some double counting in the numbers.
Ebola is contagious when a patient has symptoms, meaning she may have been infectious throughout her long and broken journey from Guinea, where controls are supposed to be in place to screen people for Ebola symptoms before they cross the border.
If other travelers caught the disease, their onward journeys risk spreading it in the capital Bamako or deeper into Mali, which borders Niger, Algeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. None of them currently have Ebola cases.
The young girl's case made Mali the sixth country in West Africa hit by the worst Ebola outbreak on record, which has killed at least 4,920 people so far, according to the WHO.
CONTACT TRACING EFFORT
The first leg of the girl's journey took her from the border to Bamako by bus. Six of the 10 passengers remain unknown. She then went to and from the Bagadadji neighborhood in 5-seater taxis, with one person in each taxi ride still unknown. It was not clear from the presentation if those were the drivers.
She then sat by the window on a bus from Bamako to Kayes, and 34 contacts from that journey remain unaccounted for.
Nobody at WHO was immediately available to answer questions about the data contained in the presentation.
Contact tracing is seen as the key to stopping new outbreaks. Nigeria and Senegal have already beaten Ebola by meticulous contact-tracing and regular checks on all the contacts who were identified.
The risk of the disease spreading to new areas comes just as the first glimmer of hope appeared at the disease's epicenter, with some signs of a slowdown in its spread in Liberia, although the WHO has said Ebola remains "rampant" in Sierra Leone.
In Guinea, where the outbreak started, a U.N. study has shown the disease has slashed economic growth from 4.5 percent to 2.4 percent, with government expenditure up by $100 million and revenues down by $105 million.
That has prompted the government to revise its budget for the coming months, a U.N. daily update said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/us-health-ebola-mali-idUSKBN0IK14W20141031

Ebola: Three Million HazMat Suits on the Way

October 31, 2014

By Colin Flaherty

The liberal blogosphere is aflame with accusations that the Ebola outbreak is a fake crisis manufactured by right-wing media.
The World Health Organization has a different point of view: the group at the front lines of the Ebola epidemic is ordering 3 million hazardous material suits for health care workers and patients around the world to meet demand over the next 9 months.
More than 400 caretakers have contracted Ebola during the recent outbreak. The WHO estimates the outbreak could cause 10,000 new cases a week in Africa over the next two months. Officials say more than half of the cases of Ebola are fatal.

“Several U.S. companies are ramping up production to meet the exploding demand,” said Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital. “Lakeland is gearing up to provide the hazmat suits. In a recent earnings report the company said the “aggregate of orders won by Lakeland that are believed to have resulted from the Ebola crisis amount to approximately 1 million suits with additional orders for other products, such as hoods, foot coverings and gloves.”

WHO estimates it will need 300,000 suits a month.
“That is a lot of suits,” Gunderson said. “A lot of sick people.”
News of the massive increase in orders sent Lakeland’s stock soaring 37 percent on Thursday. That is up 202 percent for year to date.
The U.S. Department of State is receiving bids to supply 160,000 hazmat suits.
"Monthly production capacity for sealed seam ChemMAX and MicroMAX protective suit lines has increased by nearly 50% from August 2014, prior to Ebola-related product demand, to October 2014, and is on track for a 100% increase from that level by January 2015, with the ability for additional increases as needed,” said Lakeland in a release.
DuPont is another American player in the hazmat suit market. DuPont manufactures its suits out of Tyvek, a product familiar to many in the construction industry as a sheet wrapped around buildings for insulation. DuPont’s hometown paper the News Journal recently reported the “garments are for limited use. If they have not been damaged, altered, or contaminated, and pass user inspection, they can be worn multiple times. But once a suit is exposed to a hazardous contaminant, it must be disposed of according to local regulations.”
On the industry web site, ChemSuits.com, four suits sell for about $137.00.
“It is good that American companies are gearing up for the Ebola crisis,” Gunderson said. “But no amount of sales from an American company can change this: investors are spooked by the Ebola crisis, not necessarily because of the disease. But because of lack of faith in people responding to the disease. Investors know this administration is just not that skilled in these kind of large scale operations. They remember the ObamaCare rollout, not just the web site, but the subsequent mishaps. And they do not see any reason why this is going to be different as long as the same people are in charge.”
“It’s pretty simple,” Gunderson said. “Every new case of Ebola in the U.S. scares the market. And when the Ebola simmers down, so does the market. That is a compelling case for travel bans and quarantines to keep the disease out of the U.S.”  http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/10/ebola_three_million_hazmat_suits_on_the_way.html

Ebola epidemic gains ground, says WHO

 Geneva, Oct 31 - The Ebola epidemic continues to gain ground. The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) bulletin, dated Oct. 29 and released on Friday, put the figures at 4,951 victims and 14,567 cases. (AGI) . .

 

NewsAlert:No visas for Ebola countries: Canada

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Pressat

 14:56 on October 31, 2014, EDT.

TORONTO - Canada is following in Australia's footsteps and is suspending visa applications for residents and nationals of the West African countries battling Ebola.
The federal government signalled it would stop issuing visas in the worker, student or visitor class and won't issue any pending permanent residency visas for people from those countries either.
Any applications already in the system will also not be processed at this time.
The change, which goes into effect immediately, was announced today in the Canada Gazette.
A spokesperson for the minister of Citizenship and Immigration says the move is similar to but a bit less restrictive than the one the Australian government announced this week.
That move was slammed Thursday by Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, who said closing borders will not stop spread of the Ebola virus.  http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/national/details.asp?c=68571

Mali: Ebola in Mali, Senegal does not intend to border closure

The World Health Organization has supervised 82 people who had contact with the girl died Friday in the city of Kayes, after contracting Ebola after a move with his grandmother in Guinea.
Kayes is located not far from Senegal, which closed its land border with Guinea, but no plans for the moment at least, to close its borders with Mali.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Carine Frenk
Kayes is located less than 100 km from Senegal. Kidira border post, the parade of trucks is incessant. This is a pass point for Guineans who want to enter Senegal. In these circumstances, the announcement of the death of the little girl in Kayes caused some concern in Senegal.
Monday, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Senegal's Minister of Health was clear: "In Mali, there is no epidemic out of control, the closure of the land borders is not considered. "However, vigilance is required. Controls at border crossings already exist, they will be strengthened: hand washing, taking temperatures with heat flashes, etc. It is also required travelers to fill in forms to be able to trace their route if the disease occurs after their arrival in the country.

Ebola: 10 people in Michigan being monitored for symptoms

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Registered nurse Keene Roadman, stands fully dressed in personal protective equipment during a training class at the Rush University Medical Center, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, in Chicago. With hospital workers increasingly in the spotlight of concern over the spread of the Ebola virus, the hospital held a training session for a team of medical professionals with expertise in intensive care and infection control. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

By Emily Lawler | elawler@mlive.com
on October 29, 2014 at 12:57 PM

LANSING, MI – There are 10 individuals in Michigan who are being monitored for potential Ebola exposure, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH).
“We’re working with the local health departments to monitor, it’s actually 10 individuals now who are at low risk of Ebola right now,” said MDCH spokesperson Jennifer Smith.
Low risk means that these people have no known exposure to Ebola, no symptoms and are in generally good health. What makes them a risk at all is they have traveled to regions of Africa where the virus exists.
Ebola is a virus that presents with flu-like symptoms, is spread through contact with body fluids and has affected the African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 94 percent of passengers from those countries come into five airports: Washington-Dulles, Newark, JFK international Airport in New York, Chicago-O’Hare and Atlanta.

While none of those airports are located in Michigan, some people who have come from the West African region on flights through those airports are now in Michigan.
“These are individuals that we became aware of through the screening process at the airports,” Smith said.
Under recently updated CDC guidelines released Monday, state and local health departments are advised to actively or directly monitor potential Ebola exposure, rather than having people monitor themselves.
Smith said the 10 individuals are contacted twice daily to monitor for symptoms, but their movement is not restricted. They are monitored for 21 days past their potential for exposure. Ebola’s incubation period is between two and 21 days.
The MDCH is not releasing information on where in Michigan the monitoring is occurring.
“There isn’t a new or increased risk to the general public at this time, and for privacy reasons we are not disclosing the specific locations,” Smith said.
Kent County officials on Oct. 24 disclosed the monitoring of one person. In Ingham County, Health Officer Linda Vail said there are no people being monitored. Oakland County on Oct. 17 said one individual was self-monitoring.
The state and local health departments are following CDC standards in this monitoring, Smith said.  http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/10/ebola_10_people_in_michigan_be.html

Ebola doctor ‘lied’ about NYC travels

By Jamie Schram and Bruce Golding

October 29, 2014 | 3:21am

New York City police officers enter the building where Dr. Craig Spencer (inset with fiancée Morgan Dixon) lives in New York on Oct. 24. Photo: Reuters/Mike Segar

The city’s first Ebola patient initially lied to authorities about his travels around the city following his return from treating disease victims in Africa, law-enforcement sources said.
Dr. Craig Spencer at first told officials that he isolated himself in his Harlem apartment — and didn’t admit he rode the subways, dined out and went bowling until cops looked at his MetroCard the sources said.
“He told the authorities that he self-quarantined. Detectives then reviewed his credit-card statement and MetroCard and found that he went over here, over there, up and down and all around,” a source said.
Spencer finally ’fessed up when a cop “got on the phone and had to relay questions to him through the Health Department,” a source said.
Officials then retraced Spencer’s steps, which included dining at The Meatball Shop in Greenwich Village and bowling at The Gutter in Brooklyn. http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/ebola-doctor-lied-about-his-nyc-travels-police/

AP IMPACT: Even small clusters of Ebola cases could overwhelm parts of US medical care system

AP IMPACT: Even small clusters of Ebola cases could overwhelm parts of US medical care system

• Article by: JEFF DONN , Associated Press
• Updated: October 29, 2014 - 11:30 AM
• The U.S. health care apparatus is so unprepared and short on resources to deal with the deadly Ebola virus that even small clusters of cases could overwhelm parts of the system, according to an Associated Press review of readiness at hospitals and other components of the emergency medical network.
  Experts broadly agree that a widespread outbreak across the country is extremely unlikely, but they also concur that it is impossible to predict with certainty, since previous Ebola epidemics have been confined to remote areas of Africa. And Ebola is not the only possible danger that causes concern; experts say other deadly infectious diseases — ranging from airborne viruses such as SARS, to an unforeseen new strain of the flu, to more exotic plagues like Lassa fever — could crash the health care system.
  To assess America's ability to deal with a major outbreak, the AP examined multiple indicators of readiness: training, manpower, funding, emergency room shortcomings, supplies, infection control and protection for health care workers. AP reporters also interviewed dozens of top experts in those fields.
  The results were worrisome. Supplies, training and funds are all limited. And there are concerns about whether health care workers would refuse to treat Ebola victims.
  Following the death of a patient with Ebola in a Texas hospital and the subsequent infection of two of his nurses, medical officials and politicians are scurrying to fix preparedness shortcomings. But remedies cannot be implemented overnight. And fixes will be very expensive.
  Dr. Jeffrey S. Duchin, chairman of the Public Health Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, said it will take time to ramp up readiness, including ordering the right protective equipment and training workers to use it. "Not every facility is going to be able to obtain the same level of readiness," he said.
  AP reporters frequently heard assessments that generally, the smaller the facility, the less prepared, less funded, less staffed and less trained it is to fight Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases.
  "The place I worry is: Are most small hospitals adequately prepared?" said Dr. Ashish Jha, a Harvard University specialist in health care quality and safety. "It clearly depends on the hospital."
  He said better staff training is the most important element of preparation for any U.S. Ebola outbreak. He believes a small group of personnel at each hospital needs to know the best procedures, because sick people are likely to appear first at medium-size or small medical centers, which are much more common than big ones.
  Jha pointed to stepped-up training in recent weeks but wondered, "Will it be enough? We'll find out."
  ___
  AN OVERTAXED EMERGENCY CARE SYSTEM
  Without any stress caused by Ebola cases, the emergency care system in the U.S. is already overextended. In its 2014 national report card, the American College of Emergency Physicians gives the country a D-plus grade in emergency care, asserting the system is in "near-crisis," overwhelmed even by the usual demands of care.
  According to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, patients spend an average of 4 1/2 hours in emergency rooms of U.S. hospitals before being admitted. The data also show that 2 percent of patients leave before even being seen.
  In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on hospital preparedness for emergency response in 2008, the latest data available, at least a third of hospitals had to divert ambulances because their emergency rooms were at capacity.
  Add an influx of people with Ebola, along with those who fear they might have the disease, and the most vulnerable segments of the health care system could wobble.
  "Even though there have been only a couple cases, many health systems are already overwhelmed," said Dr. Kenrad Nelson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and former president of the American Epidemiological Society, referring to new federal procedures for screening, tracking and treating the disease and people who are exposed. He added that if a major flu outbreak also occurred, "it would be really tough."
  "We're really going to have to step up our game if we are going to deal with hemorrhagic fevers in this country," said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert and professor at Georgetown University....
  
    http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/280789472.html

Hagel OKs three-week quarantine for troops in Ebola fight

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/29/hagel-oks-three-week-quarantine-troops-ebola-fight/

Mandatory detention goes beyond White House stance

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the sixth annual “Washington Ideas Forum” in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. Hagel has approved a recommendation by military leaders that all U.S. troops returning from Ebola response missions in West Africa be kept ... more >

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times - Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Going beyond the White House’s recommendations, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Wednesday approved a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all military members who return to U.S. military bases after participating in an anti-Ebola operation in West Africa.
Mr. Hagel and the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed Wednesday morning that all military personnel participating in Operation United Assistance must enter the three-week controlled monitoring program, according to Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby.

Blackmailers Are Threatening the Czech Republic with Ebola for Bitcoin Payment

Olivia Crellin  
October 28, 2014 | 12:45 pm
Anonymous blackmailers are threatening to spread Ebola in the Czech Republic if the country's government does not pay them a million euros, in Bitcoin.
An email allegedly from the blackmailers, published on Monday by the country's top commercial TV station TV Nova, claimed they had "biological material" from an infected patient in Liberia.
"An unknown perpetrator or perpetrators are blackmailing this state, threatening to spread the Ebola virus," Zdenek Laube, the country's deputy police chief, told reporters, according to AFP.
Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech Republic's prime minister, called the blackmailers "hyenas" for taking advantage of the fear caused by the recent Ebola threat.
Blackmailers reportedly demanded the one million euros of the virtual currency be payable in three installments.
The Czech Republic's interior ministry issued a public statement saying that "the culprit or culprits are using very sophisticated communication methods," but did not elaborate on what those methods might be.
The Czech Republic currently has no confirmed cases of Ebola, although has had several scares this month.
The first was a businessman who returned from Liberia in early October and was taken to a hospital in Prague before ultimately testing negative to the virus. After a woman was also admitted to a hospital in the capital, the country started to screen passengers coming through Prague's international airport who had visited the affected areas of Africa in the past 42 days, despite the fact that no flights go directly from West Africa to Prague's airport.
It is this panic blackmailers are hoping to exploit, said Zdenek Laube, the country's deputy police chief.
"From the very beginning these culprits have been seeking to spread panic, which is their primary goal," said Laube..  https://news.vice.com/article/blackmailers-are-threatening-the-czech-republic-with-ebola-for-bitcoin-payment

The Ramos Mejia hospital ward was closed for possible case of Ebola

The Ramos Mejia hospital ward was closed for possible case of Ebola
28/10/2014 17:00
A young man has symptoms of the virus and was admitted to the hospital emergency.
The Ramos Mejia hospital ward was closed for possible case of Ebola
Tweet

A young man who showed symptoms of Ebola was admitted this afternoon at the Ramos Mejia hospital. He had been traveling in Europe and some African countries.

The young man entered the hospital ward accompanied by two friends, who were taken after the patient had diarrhea and high fever, according to Chronicle TV.

For now, the hospital ward was closed as a precaution and the young is accompanied by two doctors and two friends.  http://www.diarioveloz.com/notas/133959-la-guardia-del-hospital-ramos-mejia-fue-cerrada-posible-caso-ebola

#Ebola: 82 people under surveillance in Mali

Ebola: 82 people under surveillance in Mali
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 / by Assanatou Balde



The World Health Organization has supervised 82 people who had contact with the two year old girl died Friday in Mali, after contracting Ebola.

The Mali is not yet out of the woods about Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) decided to put under surveillance 82 people who had contact with the two year old girl died Friday after contracting Ebola, although no new cases of the disease have been identified in this country.

According to Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman of the World Organization SantéTrois WRs are already in Mali, where they arrived, there was one week to assess the ability of local authorities to deal with any cases Ebola, and five others are expected to join. Mali became the sixth country in West Africa to report a case of Ebola in its territory. This is a two year old girl who died four days after his arrival in Mali from Guinea, where the outbreak began in January 2014 and has spread in West Africa.

According to WHO, the girl carried with her ​​grandmother, hundreds of miles by bus, including a step in Bamako before being hospitalized on October 20 at Kayes in western Mali, already showing symptoms of the disease and therefore was contagious when she began this journey. According to diplomatic sources, who are assigned to the AFP, Mali is ill-prepared for a potential increase in cases of Ebola in its territory, which hosts a large Stabilization Mission United Nations and a French military contingent due to the presence of radicals in the Islamic north.

WHO is looking into the idea of ​​creating a treatment center in Kayes, noting that 40 volunteers were trained to search for contacts of infected persons, an element considered crucial to control the spread of the disease. Ebola has so far killed nearly 5,000 people, and has not said its last word in spite of the means used to contain the epidemic.  http://www.afrik.com/ebola-82-personnes-sous-surveillance-au-mali

Liberia tightens anti-Ebola rules at seaports

WASHINGTON — The Liberian Maritime Authority updated Tuesday its advisory on required measures to keep the nation’s seaports free from the deadly Ebola virus.
Liberia occupies a unique place in global shipping, with almost 4,000 vessels globally flying the Liberian flag, the world’s second largest registry by tonnage. Global ship owners and operators register vessels in Liberia for tax breaks, and the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry is actually run out of the United States in Vienna, Virginia.
Most of the Liberian-flagged vessels don’t actually call Liberia. But many of the world’s largest shipping lines do as part of their West African service. Despite the Ebola outbreak, they continue calling these ports, seeing reported steep drops or 30 percent or more in cargo shipment to and from nations struggling to contain the virus.
To keep ship lines calling, Liberian authorities said Tuesday that they have put in place additional emergency measures at four ports: Monrovia, Greenville, Buchanan and Harper.
“An Emergency Response Team has been established to assist with implementation and enforcement,” said Tuesday’s advisory from the Liberian Maritime Authority and the National Port Authority. The advisory was sent to ship owners, operators and masters around the world.
Among the anti-Ebola measures now in place at the four Liberian ports include requirements for advance reporting of vessel crew illnesses, restrictions on shore passes and crew changes and mandatory temperature checks for persons entering all entry points at the four ports.
“Restrictions on visitation at the ports are also being observed and only those having important business engagements or official arrangements will be allowed access to the ports after he or she has gone through the routine preventive procedures that have been established,” the two maritime authorities said.
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are the African nations hit hardest by the spread of the Ebola virus. Liberia has suffered the most, with more than 2,700 deaths already reported and almost twice as many infected with the virus.
“The Liberian Registry is deeply saddened at this tragic loss of life, although its ships and crews, and its operations, are not directly affected by the virus in any way,” the registry said in a statement Monday in support of the International Maritime Organization’s warning against travel or trade bans.
Prior maritime advisories in Liberia had required stevedores and others working in Liberian ports to wash their hands and be screened for fever, and wear both long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Health workers who have had contact with anyone infected with the Ebola virus are required to have their own personal protective biohazard suits before setting foot on port property.
The port of Monrovia now has a designated temporary care center where persons suspected to being ill with the Ebola virus can be held until health officials can transport them to isolation areas.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/28/244920_liberia-tightens-anti-ebola-rules.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Exclusive: Obama Plans to Import Ebola-infected Foreigners from Other Countries

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by Tom Fitton 27 Oct 2014 post a comment

The news out of New York, contrary to what President Obama and other top government officials have said, is that the Ebola crisis appears to be getting worse in the U.S. Judicial Watch is striving to pry loose the truth from reticent federal agencies that have a responsibility for public safety and our national security.

We have filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In light of the potential danger from this deadly disease, the administration’s long history of delaying and obstructing information requests could have severe consequences for members of the public who have been told that they are safe.
We are prepared to go to court to force the release of critical pieces of information. Our Ebola FOIA requests ask for an immediate clarification of the DOD’s plans for the evacuation of U.S. personnel from Africa if an Ebola outbreak occurs. We are also looking for information from OSHA regarding any plans the agency has for responding to the current Ebola outbreak and any expressions of concern by OHSA personnel.
Another key player here is a cryptic carrier known as Phoenix Air. We know this air carrier has been responsible for transporting Ebola victims, but that’s all the American people are being told. How safe is Phoenix Air, and what kind of relationship does it have with the U.S. government? This much seems clear: Phoenix Air is more than just a medical transport unit. It appears to have significant DOD contracts.
One definitive move the administration made that is worth noting is the recent appointment of Ronald Klain as the Ebola czar. JW has carefully documented the constitutional problems with the appointment of congressionally unaccountable czars throughout various executive agencies. But there’s an additional problem with Klain’s appointment. His appears to be motivated more by politics and less by qualifications. 
Klain is not an expert in infectious diseases. He is a long-time Democratic operative who gained notoriety for his role in the legal challenges surrounding the 2000 presidential election. Klain also previously served as the chief of staff to Vice-Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden. He’s what you call well-connected in Washington. For the rest of America, “well-connected” can be translated as “corrupt,” in this case. 
Klain’s involvement in Solyndra and the Clinton-era fundraising scams shows just how well-credentialed and well-suited he is to represent President Obama. True to form, Klain’s appointment shows that the Obama White House views the Ebola issue as more of a political crisis than a stark public safety issue.
And, as we note in this important Investigative Bulletin piece, Czar Klain: No Way to Run a Republic, this is another czar who will undermine transparency and is another Obama end-run around the U.S. Constitution.
The Washington Post reports that Klain is “tasked with coordinating domestic preparedness efforts and the U.S. military operation to help control the virus’s spread in West Africa.” He’ll report to Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, the Post says.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is also a player. And the Defense Department has a major role. And because it is Africa, so does the State Department. And so does the Department of Homeland Security. Power in Washington is in direct relation to proximity to the president. So a “czar” operating from the White House exercises powerful influence over these departments, which have a measure of transparency and accountability under the law that the czars do not have.
As Judicial Watch has reported, the Obama administration has named dozens of them across the executive branch. Many, like Czar Klain, are unconfirmed by the Senate, largely unaccountable to Congress, and often outside the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. That’s a troubling consolidation of power, and no way to run a republic.
If there was any doubt the administration is not setting the right priorities, this can be erased by a source who has informed JW of a secret plan to bring Ebola-infected non-citizens into the U.S. The plan is both illegal and dangerous, the source says. Even so, the administration is pressing ahead with plans to admit Ebola-infected non-citizens into the U.S. for treatment. The general idea is bring these Ebola victims into the U.S. within the first few days of diagnosis. As is so often the case, President Obama has decided not to inform Congress, the source has told us. The plan includes special waivers of existing laws and regulations. We do not know how much the transportation for this dangerous maneuver will cost. (Will Phoenix Air be involved?)
Congress followed our lead again. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA.), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter addressed to the secretary of state and the secretary of Homeland Security asking for details about this plan.
“Please provide me any and all written memos or other documentation written by employees of your Departments regarding the formulation of a plan to allow non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to enter the U.S. to receive medical treatment,” the letter says.
There is one way President Obama can carry out this initiative. He can do this by offering foreign nationals a special parole. Under federal regulations, a parolee could be defined as an alien who is inadmissible to an inspection officer, but permitted into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons. Obama has already used this exemption for the illegal alien “minors” who illegally crossed our border. He could do this again, without notice or announcement, to open the door to foreign nationals carrying the deadly Ebola infection.
So, as some argue about whether to restrict flights and visitors from Ebola-afflicted countries in West Africa, Obama allegedly plans to allow non-citizens infected with the virus into the United States. All the flight and travel bans in the world won’t address this president’s abusive use of power to allow aliens with Ebola into the country. 
I see nothing under discussion in Congress yet that addresses this clear and present danger. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and some members of the Senate are on the alert and ready for action after Judicial Watch’s disclosure, but the rest of Washington is asleep at the switch. Check in with your elected officials, wake them up, and tell them to pay attention – and act.

State of Baltimore is suspected Ebola alert Maryland Hospital

Last updated on October 28, 2014

The Hospital of the University of Maryland in Baltimore said Monday that a prospective patient admitted Ebola for more tests done.

The medical center said in a Twitter message that the patient was transferred there by order of the Department of Health in Maryland, without identifying that person.

He also said it was "properly isolated and is undergoing further evaluation and care."

Currently, the site did not elaborate on the case.

This adds to what happened to a child of 5 who came from Guinea and was observed in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in New York for possible symptoms of Ebola.

However, lower virus was negative in the analysis performed on Monday.

So far, four people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. The first was a visiting Liberian Texas who died in September, in a case full of errors.