Liberi-‘Divide Country into 3 Ebola Fighting Zones’

‘Divide Country into 3 Ebola Fighting Zones’

Thu, 09/04/2014 - 06:42 admin

-Senator Jallah Proposes in Legislative Resolution; Wants 2014/2015 Draft Budget Recast

By: 

J. Burgess Carter

The Chairman of Senate Committee on Internal Affairs and Governance, Armah Zulu Jallah of Gbarpolu County, has proposed several recommendations he believes will help the fight against the spread of the Ebola epidemic. He said the recommendations require a Legislative Resolution that the Government should be  encouraged to implement.
In a communication to the Senate plenary at its 56^th day sitting, Senator Jallah recommended that the country be divided into three zones of five counties each.
Zone 1, according to the Gbarpolu lawmaker, will comprise of Gbarpolu, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Montserrado and Grand Bassa Counties;
 Zone 2 includes Margibi, Lofa, Bong, Nimba and Rivercess Counties.
 Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee, Sinoe and Grand Gedeh will fall into Zone 3.
The technical management of the three zones should be undertaken by “our international partners such as World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), Samaritan Purse, or Medicins Sans Frontiers, while the Government of Liberia shall continue to provide security, political and financial resources to those managing each of these zones where necessary.”
......
In order to rebuild confidence in the country’s screening program at the international airports and seaports, “such screening should now be outsourced to organizations such as the CDC for proper control and management. The recommendation, if applied, shall restore confidence in airlines that cancelled flights, thus resuming flights to Liberia.”
Senator Jallah recognized what he described as tremendous efforts being made by the Government of Liberia, local and international partners, communities and their leaders in curtailing further spread of the Ebola virus.
“But the Government of Liberia’s effort seems not to be yielding much result, partly due to cultural, traditional beliefs and system weakness serving as barriers to effective eradication.”
The Senate plenary is expected to discuss Senator Jallah’s communication today.

Liberia-Japan donates 30m Ebola equipment

The Government of Japan has joint other country in the fight against the deadly Ebola Virus by donating an assortment of medical equipment valued at 30 million yen to the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.
The Government of Japan disclosed the immediate dispatch of an assortment of medical equipment valued at 30 million Yen to aid Liberia in its fight against the deadly Ebola virus. According to a Foreign Ministry release, the consignment of medical equipment and accessories will arrive in Liberia this Friday, September 5, 2014. 

The release named the items to be donated 100 pieces of tents, 500 pieces of sleeping pad, 500 blankets, and 25 generators. Other items expected to arrive include 25 cord reel, 30 pieces of water storage tanks, and 500 pieces of water containers among others.

liberia-UNMIL drawdown delayed #ebola

Thursday, 04 September 2014 00:00 Edwin G. Genoway, Jr.

TRANSLATE

Due to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa that has threatened the entire region, United Nations or UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the Security Council that he wants to delay the gradual drawdown of the U.N. Mission in Liberia  established in 2003 to help Liberia through a vexing transition from civil war to democracy.
According to the UN Radio in Liberia  UNMIL Radio, U.N. efforts to ship equipment, personnel and humanitarian and medical supplies into the region have been hampered by flight restrictions imposed by neighboring governments and large international carriers, including British Airways and Air France, which have suspended flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone, the hardest-hit countries.

According to the United Nations, Ebola has rapidly transformed from a major public health emergency to a threat to international peace and security- severely challenging U.N. efforts to support stability in the West African heart of the epidemic.

UNMIL Radio said the U.N. officials told Foreign Policy that several governments with police and troops serving in the U.N. mission were worried about the risk of infection to their nationals, informing U.N. Peacekeeping planners that they were weighing whether to pull out.

The radio also reported that the Philippine Government was withdrawing its peacekeeping forces from both Liberia and the Golan Heights, where anti-Syrian militants abducted 43 peacekeepers.

Documents released to this paper quoted a senior U.N.-based diplomat, who has been discussing the crisis with the U.N.'s top leadership, as saying "A lot of regional countries, in our view unwisely, have interrupted communications and flights, and were not allowing planes to land.".

"You can't get medical staff into the region to tackle the disease."

The document also revealed that the diplomat joined other top U.N. officials in warning that the humanitarian and peacekeeping operations could be disrupted. "There are deep concerns about the impact on the actual peacekeeping missions," said the diplomat.

"The troop-contributing countries are getting nervous;

Other countries participating in the Liberia mission also have signaled their intention to pull out of Liberia because of Ebola,” said a senior U.N. official, noting that the organization was trying to persuade them to stay.

"We have been talking to them; some are sending experts to assess the risks by themselves before taking a final decision," the official said.

According to the document, Ban wrote the  Security Council that Liberia, which  lost more than 150,000 lives to its civil war from 1989 to 1997 -- has struggled with the U.N.'s help to rebuild itself and establish democratic institutions.

The United Nations, which once had more than 15,000 troops deployed in the country, had hoped to turn over the task of securing the country to the Liberian security forces by the middle of 2016. But those plans are now on hold he wrote.

As Liberia emerged as the epicenter of the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, Ban made it clear that he was reconsidering plans to downsize the mission here.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. chief asked to put off the decision for at least three months, expressing concern that the "scale and scope of the epidemic exceeded the capacity of national institutions."

"Ebola is having a devastating impact on Liberia, with the Ministry of Health recording, as of 24 August 2014, a cumulative total of 1,378 cases, resulting in 743 deaths," Ban wrote.

"While the Ebola outbreak began primarily as a medical emergency, it has become more complex, with political, security and humanitarian implications that are significant and dynamic." While Ban highlighted the seriousness of the epidemic, he also sought to assure governments that fears of infection were overblown.

"All United Nations personnel in Liberia have been educated about the appropriate preventive measures that would minimize the risk of contracting Ebola, which is not airborne and requires direct contact with the bodily fluids of a symptomatic infected person or the deceased," he wrote.

"I am therefore confident that United Nations personnel may continue their important work in Liberia." The President of Liberia has imposed extraordinary measures, deploying Liberian soldiers and police to enforce quarantines in areas of the country affected by Ebola. On Aug. 20, she declared a nationwide curfew as an additional effort to contain the virus, leading to clashes with community groups.

In the short term, Ban said that he would temporarily send home a "small number" of U.N. election officials, saying it is unlikely that Senate elections will take place in October. But he said he would increase the number of medical personnel and other U.N. staff to address the Ebola crisis and deliver humanitarian assistance.

Patients will rather die” - ELWA warns

Wednesday, 03 September 2014 02:13 Winston W. Parley

Despite successfully discharging dozens of Ebola infected persons, including surviving doctors, the ELWA is warning that “patients would rather die” where required working materials are unavailable, than to endanger its staff.
Speaking to UNMIL Radio’s Coffe Break on Tuesday morning, September 2, ELWA Acting General Administrator Dr. Jerry Brown said he has encouraged his staff, but they are now becoming discouraged by the day due to the lack of material support.

Dr. Brown said health workers are relying on support from individual Liberians’ goodwill gestures to get protective gear. He said personal protective equipment at the hospital are in limited supplies at the unit.

He told UNMIL radio that due to the commitment of staff at the ELWA, the hospital has succeeded in discharging several persons that were earlier tested Ebola positive, after receiving treatment under local method.
But he warned that “Until I can ensure adequate protection for my nurses, I’m not going to expose them to danger, including myself.”

Excluding a Liberian Physician Assistant Kandy Kobah and a Congolese Doctor Sengo Omeoga that were discharged from the ELWA-1 on Saturday, August 30, Dr. Brown announced here Tuesday that on Monday, 1 September, 12 confirmed Ebola patients were discharged after being treated at the hospital.

He added that two other persons suspected of Ebola were also discharged after medical attention, making the number of patients that walked out of ELWA-1 to 14 on Monday, September 1.

But as at Tuesday, he said a total number of “50 plus” patients were at ELWA, while clarifying to the public that the Ebola unit at ELWA is absolutely separate from the main hospital where regular cases are being treated. “At ELWA, we don’t have Ebola patients in the hospital itself, the Ebola unit is separate from the ELWA,” he said.

It could be recalled that after being discharged on Saturday, August 30, the Liberian PA Madam Kandy Bobah pleaded with President Sirleaf for more support to be given to health workers and increase their supply, after citing the needs of health practitioners in the Ebola fight.

The National Port Authority or NPA has erased the fear of employees dispatched home for them in definite as a result of the deadly Ebola disease, causing many deaths in Liberia and other West African countries.

The NPA said, the mandate was instituted by the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for all non-essential public workers take a month’s break to reduce the over-crowdedness of government offices as a way of avoiding the spreading the virus.

Speaking yesterday at the Information Ministry during its regular press briefing, the Deputy Managing Director for Administration, Nyekeh Forkpa, said the management of the port had decided to reduce staff to avoid people coming in contact with the deadly Ebola disease.

About 50% of our administrative staff were dispatched home, not because they are not important, but just to have the entity secure from the spread of the deadly virus; while they are on break, they will continue to get all of their regular salaries. We cannot impose hardship on people; they are not responsible for their stay home,” he noted.

According to the NPA Deputy Managing Director, the NPA has put in place various measures to insure that there is a zero outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus at the port facility.

He said the port facility  is yet to record a single case of any  symptom of the virus at its facility, emphasizing that the NPA will not allow people in its premises and showing passes to vessel members, except  those who will be in emergency cases. Mr. Forkpa explained that the high measures put in place were intended to safeguard every employee of the entity and help the eradication of the dangerous virus.

He pointed out that other measures put in place by the port management, including wearing long sleeve shirts while coming to work, and washing hands with chlorine, bleach hand wash, alcohol, based hand sanitizer upon entering and leaving the compound and the testing of temperature to ensure that every employee of the facility is healthy to save them from coming in contact with the virus.

Liberia-Ebola kills several in Virginia as infected family flees

Thursday, 04 September 2014 

The YED community in Mango Town, Central Virginia on the Bushrod Island was a scene of weeping and sober reflection when an unidentified nurse became one of the latest victims of the deadly Ebola Virus.  According to community residents, the nurse began experiencing symptoms of the virus prior to her death on Tuesday, 2 September.
She had reportedly treated a female Ebola patient brought overnight into the YED Community by her children after being pressurized to report to the Ebola Taskforce.                                                     

The late nurse, who was well known in the YED community in Mango Town, Central Virginia, was contacted by children of the infected woman so that she (the nurse) could administer some medication to their sick mother. In first contact, the nurse was told by the children that their mother had suffered from sugar and so they wanted her to be treated, which the nurse is said to have immediately begun.

However, it soon became clear that the medical history provided by the children was far from reality as their Mom had been infected with the Ebola Virus. She died a few days after. Relatives allegedly forged Death certificate for the woman and subsequently took the body away for burial the same day to an unknown location.     

Subsequently, one of the deceased’s sons died of the virus followed by a second son, who became the third victim from the same family to have contracted the virus. He escaped the YED community to his former community overnight, but was rejected there since residents of the area already knew the mother’s health history.

However, on Tuesday this week,  a convoy led by Montserrado County District 17  Representative William V. Dakel and the Ebola Taskforce entered the community after tip-off through phone calls about  a man that had died of the Ebola Virus.

Tracing his family records, the dead man was one of the sons of the woman that died earlier of the virus. As the team reached the home of the dead victims’ the rest of the family members, including tenants fled, leaving the dead man at the front of the house. It was soon discovered that the fleeing family members were taken away by their church pastor to an unknown location.

Denial and refusal of some family members to report themselves after contracting the virus or call the taskforce to take them to the treatment centers are two key stumbling blocks to the ongoing Ebola fight across the country.  http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12562:ebola-kills-several-in-virginia-as-infected-family-flees&catid=25:politics&Itemid=59

Liberia-Ebola money: Who gets what?

Thursday, 04 September 2014 00:00 Othello B. Garblah

A leaked government list detailing how its initial US$5 million announced to fight the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, including its entire 90 days budget were distributed amount various ministries here has left many questions unanswered.
The list shows the security sector and other agencies being allotted chunk of the money, while the communication aspect, which unfortunately is being led by the Ministry of Information leaves much to be desired.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as part of her government's commitment to contain the tropical disease which has left nearly 700 Liberian's dead here and much still infected announced the first US5 million, with the Legislature upping the amount to US$20 million days later.

However, despite repeated pronouncements by various global institutions, including the World Health Organization or WHO and other international partners that one of the best ways to fight this deadly tropical virus which up to present has no known cure is through massive awareness detailing preventive measures seems to have fallen on deaf ears at least as the allotment shows.

Even media institutions that continue to disseminate some of these messages have been left in the cold as their bills remained unpaid, leaving many to wonder how this Ebola money is being spent. Some citizens argued that they are yet to see the impact.  The document titled the Government of Liberia National Task Force on Ebola Trust Fund Interim (Weekly) Financial Report, Week End August 22, 2014 shows the following allotments and disbursements up to date:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs with its Minister as the deputy chair of the Ebola Task Force is allotted US$1,114,211.00. (One million, one hundred and fourteen thousand, two hundred and eleven dollars) for the entire 90-day period for which the state of emergency has been imposed. Out of this amount a total of US484, 975.00 has been disbursed as at the period under review representing 43.5%.

The man who controls the ministry's allotment Mr. Varney Sirleaf told this paper Wednesday that the amount had been distributed amount the various counties to help support their Ebola fight initiatives. He has promised to make an available full expenditure to this paper. Second on the list of beneficiary institutions is the Ministry of Gender and Development with a total allotment of US33, 126.04 for the entire 90-days. Out of this amount, not a dime has been disbursed representing 0.0%

The Ministry of National Defense follows with US$1, 057,076.25, with its troops deployed around the country. Out of this amount US$352,358.75 has been disbursed representing 33.3%.  Defense Assistant Minister for Public Affairs, David Dan, initially declined to comment on the figure, saying that he needed to consult with his boss, called back later to confirm the allotment and the amount disbursed so far.

Next on the list of beneficiaries is the Program Management (call center, logistics, fuel) with a total allotment of US$300,000.00, a total of US100,000 has been disbursed representing 33.3%. Note here that most of the staff at this call center are volunteers who have all signed waivers.

The Ministry of State follows with the allotment of US$325,000.00. Out of this amount a total of US$160,000.00 has been disbursed representing 49.2%. This paper is yet to obtain documents relating to line items detailing how the Ministry of State uses this fund.
The Ministry of Health, the agency at the center of the outbreak management has a total 90 days budget of US$29,283,572.82. Of this amount 2,288,959.93 representing 9.8%.

Note that health workers from the state run John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital and the Christian run ELWA Hospital early this week staged a strike action for what they described as the non-payment of endangered benefits.
The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) is next with a total allotment of US$436,195.00 of which US$357,445.00, representing 81% disbursement. The Liberian National Police or LNP follows with US$1, 721,781.00, out of which 346, 320.00 representing 20.1% has been spent. The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism or MICAT is the last on the list with a total budget of US$550,000.00; out of this an amount of US$17,500 representing 3.2% has been disbursed so far.

Officials at the Ministry of Information when this paper called initially declined that they had received any payment despite the Ebola weekly financial update showing that they had received the amount as far back as August 22..

However, a few hours later, one of the ministry's officials dropped a payment document at the New Dawn's office showing a document which indicate that MICAT was only notified that the 17,500 has been transferred into its account on Wednesday September 3, 2014.
Critics say the blind eye being play to the massive public awareness campaign about Ebola by the government has actually rear its ugly head as evidence as to the priority given to other sectors than communications.

This also further exposed the government as to how it has valued communication which is an essential tool to its own disadvantage. On Tuesday the US Ambassador here Madam Deborah Malac criticized the use of the army to put down angry protesters who were protesting against their community being quarantined.  http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12558:-ebola-money-who-gets-what&catid=25:politics&Itemid=59

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

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

‘Liberians Can Do It, We Just Need Support’

By: 

William Q. Harmon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Ebola to Worsen in Next Two Weeks’

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

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

By: 

William Q. Harmon

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

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

Can Ebola Go Airborne?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liberia: Ebola Hits Police Barracks

3 SEPTEMBER 2014
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ebola situation in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Situation assessment - 3 September 2014

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

Background on the Port Harcourt index case

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

The response

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

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

September 4th, 2014 · 0 Comment

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

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

Outbreak of Ebola in Boende: 5 new cases reported

September 3rd, 2014 · 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, 3 September 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dispatches from Liberia

The fight against Ebola

Dispatches from Liberia

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

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

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

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

Published on Sep 4, 2014 8:30 PM

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

WHO identifies six countries at high risk for spread of Ebola

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

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

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

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

Liberia: Confirmed Ebola Cases Swell to 412

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

Virginians Respond to Ebola Crisis

September 04, 2014

 -- Catherine Komp

• 
  

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

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