Terrified Residents Flee as Dogs Eat Ebola Corpses

errified Residents Flee as Dogs Eat Ebola Corpses

Residents say dogs in the area were now eating some of the over 45 corpses that are yet to be removed to a crematorium or at a registered cemetery for proper burial

Wed, 08/27/2014 - 09:16 admin

45 Ebola Bodies Remain Dumped near River in Johnsonville

By: 

C.Y. Kwanue

The general Town Chief of Kissi Camp, Upper Johnsonville near Kpekpeh Town, over the weekend informed the Daily Observer that several dogs in the community have torn the plastic wrapped around corpses of Ebola victims and are now feeding on parts of the corpses exposed to them.
As such, Town Chief Tamba Tengbeh expressed fear of the subsequent outbreak of other diseases in the area since some of dogs are domesticated and could cause harm to the already frightened community dwellers.
Chief Tengbeh, in an exclusive interview with this newspaper on Sunday, also complained that the more than 2,000 residents of the area have been suffering an offensive odor of rotting corpses since the bodies were dumped in the nearby Kpanwein River by authorities from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) without proper burial.
To that effect, Internal Affairs Minister Morris Dukuly, told this  newspaper via mobile phone a week ago that there is no corpse exposed to create a health hazard or environmental concerns for the Johnsonville residents.
He maintained that the MIA bought the parcel of land on which the dead bodies were dumped, and with that, “nobody can tell  anybody that the bodies will be removed since they have been under the ground for several weeks.”
MIA has up to date not disclosed to this paper the name of the person who sold the parcel of land on which the bodies were dumped;  nor have they disclosed the amount on money that was involved in the deal since the land was indeed found to be private property, owned by one Joseph  F. Dolo and others.  Mr. Dolo’s ownership to the parcel of the land in question has been confirmed by his initials marked on his cornerstones. His father, Emmanuel T. Cole, has also denied any knowledge of the MIA ‘land transaction’.

Cognizant of the health hazard upon the community dwellers as dogs were now feeding on some of corpses, Chief Tengbeh has with great fear for the spread of the disease, instructed some of the ‘vulnerable’ youths to cover the exposed bodies with red dirt.
He has appealed for government intervention to resolve the impasse in the community.
Compounding the problems for the  residents and the entire community, Chief Tengbeh said they lack safe drinking water and have also not been provided any Ebola preventive and protective materials.
According to him, some of the dogs that fed on those bodies have died, although this paper is yet to confirm that part of the report.
Guarded by heavily armed platoons of officers from the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the Police Support Unit (PSU) several weeks ago, two mini trucks conveyed the corpses of Ebola victims to be buried in Johnsonville.
This dumping of about 45 bodies on the bank of the Kpan-wein River under the heavy guard of police and soldiers  immediately created a stampede, with people running in all directions, for fear of being contaminated or afflicted with the Ebola disease.
The plan had been to bury the bodies in mass graves dug by a hired yellow machine.  But the machine unfortunately got stuck in the mud, where the property meets the mangrove. The yellow machine is yet to be removed since its owner has since gone into hiding  for fear of being attacked by the Ebola virus.

The Kpanwein River connects the Kpeh-Kpeh Town Community to Whein Town in the east and Chicken Soup Factory on Somalia Drive in the west, as well as Upper and Lower Johnsonville, and many other communities in and around Monrovia.
Since the first truckload of corpses arrived Saturday, August 2, residents of the nearby communities vehemently rejected the use of their land to dispose of the bodies.
An aggrieved Kpeh-Kpeh Town resident, Carey Daniel, told the Daily Observer that the exact plot of land where the graves are dug is a wetland on the bank of a river that is a source of water for many communities around there. They fear that their wells ---from which they get water for drinking and domestic use – will definitely be contaminated, exposing them to the same deadly Ebola and other diseases.
  Meanwhile, for fear that those dogs might spread the disease among the residents, many inhabitants have reportedly fled to other parts of Monrovia.  http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/terrified-residents-flee-dogs-eat-ebola-corpses

Ebola: MSF sends a response team to urgent Lokolia

What to do to fight against cholera after the MSF. Radio Okapi / Ph. John Bompengo

The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is sending a team of emergency intervention to Lokolia, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak on August 27th. Nathalie Gielen, coordinator of MSF / Kinshasa, told Radio Okapi that the team will try to isolate the suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola. It states that MSF team is already there. It was she who had made the samples sent for analysis to Kinshasa and have confirmed the Ebola virus.
"This is a team that made the assessment of the situation for a week and that made samples that were then sent for analysis. This team is always on hand and expects the rest of the team leaving tomorrow, "says Nathalie Gielen.
Another team of 17 people will join the first group to Lokolia "to start the activities of management."
The coordinator of MSF / Kinshasa says that this team brings "everything needed for water equipment, hygiene and sanitation."
"We also send medicines to relieve patients and we send all necessary personnel, doctors, nurses, logisticians, to be able to help the population affected by this population," she added... https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://radiookapi.net/actualite/2014/08/27/ebola-msf-depeche-une-equipe-dintervention-urgente-lokolia/&usg=ALkJrhjY2A2fg8AIBQbEHoJOKIZ5FSIrxg

 

Liberia: 4 West Point 'Looters' Tested Positive of Ebola

27 August 2014

The Minister of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Lewis G. Brown, has disclosed that four of the protesters, who recently broke into and ransacked the Ebola Quarantine Center in the West Point Township, have been tested positive of the Ebola virus.
The protesters, who said there was no Ebola in Liberia, stormed and ransacked the Ebola Quarantine Center and made away with bloodstained mattresses and bed sheets after chasing away patients who were quarantined there.
Minister Brown, who did not give the identities of the protesters that he said got tested positive of Ebola, made the disclosure on Monday, 25 August when he spoke to UNMIL Radio.
Commenting on the government's efforts to sensitize residents about the Ebola disease, the MICAT boss said community residents are now actively involved in the dissemination of Ebola messages.
According to him, the government has conducted awareness workshops in various communities to determine the response of citizens, indicating that the people are now better situated in the fight against the spread of the virus.
He added that the government has set up a team to conduct investigation into the skirmishes in West Point after the area was placed in quarantine last week that led to the death of one person and wounding of several others."
In a related development, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Monday, August 25paid a visit to quarantined West Point community to further explain to the people the intent of the measures placed on their community.
In West Point, the Liberian President informed the residents that the measures placed on them were temporary and is only meant to stop the spread of the Ebola virus disease.
The President told the West Pointers that the government and its partners have arranged food supply and challenged the residents to remain calm as food and water distribution has already started.
President Sirleaf, as part of several measures already taken to stop transmission, last Tuesday, August 19, quarantined West Point and Dolo Town communities in Monrovia and lower Margibi County due to an outbreak in those communities. http://allafrica.com/stories/201408271539.html

Lufthansa Cargo is integrating Lagos into its network through twice-weekly freighter flights.

The airline announced in a statement on Tuesday that as from September 15, 2014, a Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 freighter would take off from Frankfurt for Lagos every Monday and Wednesday.

Ebola: Sick Corps Member Abandoned By Colleague

As the federal and state governments battle hard to contain the spread of the dreaded Ebola disease, a sick corps member in Ekiti was abandoned by colleagues after he slumped at the orientation camp. The Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Olusola Fasuba however, allayed their fears when he said the corps member was only suffering from chronic fever.

“Although, information reaching my office from the ministry of youth and sports confirmed that a particular male corps member collapsed at the orientation camp.

“But, it was unfortunate that people around him ran away taking his sickness for the dreaded Ebola virus.

“Immediately I received the information, I swung into action by ensuring that the sick boy was immediately attended to by a team of health workers. They later discovered that he was suffering from chronic fever, the information they passed to me without wasting time. “But, I did not stop at that, at least to be sure of his correct state of health, his blood samples were taken and sent to Lagos. We received the results on Thursday indicating that he tested negative to the Ebola virus.

“The corps member has been taken away from the camp and is currently being kept at our isolated centre located within Oba Adejugbe General Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. “As I speak, I assure residents that the health of the boy in question is already improving, while he continues to show signs of good health far from Ebola,” he explained,” the commissioner explained.  http://ugokputu.blogspot.com/2014/08/ebola-sick-corps-member-abandoned-by.html

Sierra Leone News: Ebola is spreading – Dr. David Nabarro

United Nations Ebola Response Coordinator Dr. David Nabarro has said that the Ebola virus is spreading in many parts of the country.
He made this statement yesterday in a press briefing at the WHO country office, while addressing journalists.
He went further to say that the response is complicated and all need to do better to organize that response, so that it achieves the results quickly without causing more suffering,
Death and damage, therefore their focus is on organization, management and most importantly assuring that all the different efforts of Government and its partners are used as efficiently as it possibly can.
Dr. David Nabarro maintained that they have worked with the government at the highest level, including the President, in order to explore ways to continue to improve organization and that they worked with the partners as well while they are now going to upgrade all aspects of what the United Nations system is doing in a fully accountable manner, so that they get the scale up that is required.
He added that their visit to Sierra Leone has been short because they are trying to go to all four countries in the region and to report back quickly to the Director-General of the World Health Organization and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He pointed out that the Ebola outbreak is the largest and most complex that they have ever known and is also a disease outbreak that has impacted not just on people but on the country and the World and what is happening in Sierra Leone and other countries in the region is a global issue.

He made it clear that the purpose of their visit is to understand the nature of the outbreak, as it is now and to identify ways in which the response can be stepped up, so that the outbreak can be stopped as quickly as possible. “There is also an effort to understand what the outbreak is doing to people and the economy, so that when the outbreak is stopped, we can all work hard to get the country back to economic growth and development which was going so well before Ebola came along,” he said.
The UN Ebola Response coordinator said they are anticipating partnership from the UN family, Government and partners with the focus on organization and management to really make certain that they contain the disease and bring it under control quickly.
The understandable decision by some countries not to fly in Ebola countries has had a huge operational impact on what is happening here and has enormous impact on WHO in bringing in facilities and other logistics which is now stuff making their job a lot harder.
He said that they have held a series of meetings with International Aviation bodies and airlines to see reason why they should continue to fly to Sierra Leone and other countries but it has been hard convincing them that there is nothing to fear.
Dr. Keiji Fakundu who is the WHO Assistant Director- General for global health security, said that they are basically in Sierra Leone to see how the situation has been evolving, take stock, and see where they are, what needs to be done and what needs to be changed.
He emphasized that they have two main task which are to stop the outbreak and to get the country back to normal. In that light, they have met with so many people and they have also met with the president, meet with doctors, see the clinics and know some of their challenges and get a broader perspective on what needs to be done.
He added that the situation is becoming challenging and difficult and they continue to see cases in places all over the country and their job is to stop it. “Ebola is not a mysterious disease and it transfers from person to person,” he stated.
Dr. Keiji said that when people are brought in the clinic for treatment earlier, they have a much better chance of surviving as there are people who have survived it.
He also explained how the disease can be contacted by body contact and body fluids.
On the new drugs, he said they had not been tested on humans and it becomes a difficult decision to make on their use, as nothing should be taken for granted.
By  Jay Willie & Nancy Koroma
Tuesday August 26, 2014  http://awoko.org/2014/08/26/sierra-leone-news-ebola-is-spreading-dr-david-nabarro/

Sierra Leone News: WHO gets new Country Rep.

The World Health Organization Country Representative Dr. Jacob Mafunda has been replaced by Dr. Daniel Kertesz. This information was disclosed by Dr. Keiji Fukundu who is the Director-General for Global Health Security, WHO, while answering to questions at a press briefing held yesterday at the WHO Country office.

In answering to questions posed by the press, Dr. Keiji Fukundu who is the Director -General for Global Health Security in the WHO, said that in the WHO system, they have representatives in many countries and they rotate in and out and no one stays in one country for the duration of their career and particularly when they have a situation that is really intense, as it is very tiring to be at the front line as a commander when you are in the midst of a very difficult war, so they have made a rotation of Dr. Mufunda, as he needs a rest and relaxation in another country, as this is what they do on a normal basis.

The New Country Representative of WHO, Dr. Daniel Kertesz in his statement started by thanking all for coming and announced that he is the successor to Dr. Mafunda. He thanked the government for the strides that they have made so far in making sure that the disease is stopped and he said that this is not only Dr. Mufunda”s fight but also his fight, as he is the new country representative.
 He said that he is very much looking forward to working with the UN family, the Government and all, in making sure that the disease is stopped, as this is an outbreak that has been here for some months and they will continue to rotate people, as and when the need arises, because when people are tired, they continue to make mistakes.
In answering to questions, Dr. David Nabarro who is the UN Ebola Response Coordinator disclosed that the health system and all it entails, is all what they need in this fight, after the outbreak, the process of getting a stronger health system will be in progress, as the country needs to strengthen its health system. For the next six months, it will not be business as usual, it will be putting all resources in making sure the disease is stopped
The effort to defeat Ebola is not a battle but a war that requires everybody working together effectively and hoped that it will be done in six months until the job is complete, as this is not just an issue for Sierra Leone but an issue for the world, as Sierra Leone had the best record of Economic and social development.
By Nancy Koroma
Tuesday August 26, 2014...   http://awoko.org/2014/08/26/sierra-leone-news-who-gets-new-country-rep/

Sierra Leone News: New Ebola center under construction in Kenema

The Section Chief of Konakpindibu Section in Nongowa chiefdom, Kenema District, Amara Soko Musa in collaboration with the Nongowa chiefdom authorities have provided suitable land for the construction of the Ebola Case Management camp and cemetery for Kenema district.
The land is situated at Niahun junction near Gelehun in the Nongowa chiefdom in Kenema district on the Kenema-Kailahun highway about eight miles from Kenema city.
Speaking to the press at the working site chief Amara Musa Soko said the construction of the Ebola Case Management camp in their section is part of their own contribution in the eradication of Ebola virus in the eastern region and the country at large.
He added that they have not receive any money from either the government, or nongovernmental organization for the acquisition of the land for the purpose of the Ebola Case Management camp construction and the cemetery for Kenema. He encourage his people of Konakpindibu to continue to accept that Ebola is real and is a killer disease that has no relation and if not control can easily spread fast.

The section chief Soko Musa appeal to the management of Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) to first consider the youth and other key workers in KonaKpindibu section when employing workers for services on the land adding that more than 85% of his  people are unemployed.
Earlier the program administrator SLRCS Henry Mukeh requested for burial site and recommended the Resident minister east Hon. Maya Moiwo Kaikai for the great role he is playing towards the fight against Ebola virus in the region and the speedy construction of the Ebola Case Management camp in the district. Mr. Henry Mukeh cautioned everyone to respect the rule and regulation of the health workers in other to contain the Ebola virus in the country.
The work is expected to be completed very soon though weather is hampering it progress.
Tuesday August 26, 2014

Information Minister Lewis Brown

Minister Brown: Journalists Still Subject to Curfew

Tue, 08/26/2014 - 07:38 admin

By: 

Alvin Worzi

In the wake of the nationwide curfew imposed to curtail the deadly Ebola virus by the Government of Liberia, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lewis Z. Brown has warned journalists across Liberia to abide by the established curfew hours and avoid any problems with security personnel.
Speaking at the Information Ministry’s weekly press briefing on Thursday, August 21, Minister Brown said the curfew announced by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf includes all journalists across the country.
“We have received calls and complaints from the media in a request that journalists be permitted go about on their normal professional activities during the curfew hours and the curfew is advised by the national security council and imposed by the office by the President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and so, we all must work along with those hours.”
The Information Minister said, there are four exemptions from the curfew -- health workers across the country, concessionaires operating in their various localities, travelers going to the airport and returning to Monrovia, utility workers across the country (LEC, LWSC, etc.). What is not included is excluded, Brown said.
“The curfew by government is intended to help health workers with the best atmosphere to carry out their work and also be able to move in those communities and take away suspected cases, including bodies.  The carriers of the deadly Ebola virus are our loved ones, partners and friends, and so we must take some actions and decisions that will help contain the virus,” Brown noted.

The government’s spokesman said, “All journalists across the country should follow my footsteps in getting home early to avoid any encounter with security people,” adding that there is no greater way to fight the virus and so, the government is using the necessary means to contain the virus among the people of Liberia.”

According to the Minister, the government has taken some actions to help contain the Ebola virus, including the quarantining of two communitites, (West Point and Dolo’s Town in Margibi County) and the deployment of some officers in other parts of the country.
He disclosed that the President has instructed the Commerce Ministry authorities to work with businesses within the quarantined areas to ensure a 50% reduction of basic commodities to help supply various homes as well as the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) for constant supply of water for people in the areas.
“We are working in collaboration with the General Services Agency to ensure that those who are selling rice in the West Point get their supply at a very low rate, because we cannot feed everyone in the area but will provide free rice to hospital and clinics in these areas,” Minister Brown added.
The media had been informed that the security apparatus was considering whether or not to add pressmen to the list of exemptions; but to date, according to the Information Ministry, journalists are still subject to the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/minister-brown-journalists-still-subject-curfew

Red Cross duo tell of uphill Ebola war

Hilary Wong
Wednesday, August 27, 2014


The last two Red Cross volunteers to return from a monthlong stint in Ebola-ravaged Liberia said a broken health-care system and discrimination are making the battle against the killer virus more difficult in the West African nation.Public health specialist May Yeung Pui-shan and clinical psychologist Eliza Cheung Yee-lai, both from the Hong Kong Red Cross, were sent to Liberia on July 22 and arrived back on Friday. Three other volunteers sent in April returned the following month.
Yeung and Cheung were placed under medical surveillance for 21 days, the incubation period for the Ebola virus, after being checked by health workers at Chek Lap Kok airport.
The pair, who visited the capital Monrovia, and the counties of Bong and Monserrado, did not have any direct contact with patients but trained volunteers on the proper use of protective gear and in psychological counseling.
They said that in the country of more than 4 million people, fewer than 200 health workers were dealing with Ebola cases, and 60 of them have already succumbed to the deadly virus.
Cheung said the medical system in Liberia has broken down due to a lack of manpower, as well as protective gear and other equipment to deal with the outbreak, which started in March.
Even some doctors fled in fear. Many hospitals and clinics have also closed down.
"It was also very difficult for health workers to track down people who had close contact with Ebola patients because they are afraid of being discriminated against. They will hide instead of reporting they are family members or friends of patients," Yeung said. "On average we could just track two in each case."
Cheung also said superstitious locals think those infected by Ebola are possessed by "evil spirits." Others do not trust their own government and believe it made up the outbreak in order to receive foreign aid.
"We even saw Ebola patients dumped by their family, and corpses left on the street."
Cheung said she heard on the radio that even those pregnant were being turned away by hospitals since they would bleed. "They could therefore only give birth at home."
A shortage of food has made staples three times more expensive in places far from Monrovia. "Cargo ships transporting food do not dare berth in Liberia," Cheung said.
On the day the pair left Liberia, the government announced a nighttime curfew in Monrovia. This "heightened the horror in citizen's hearts because the last time such a curfew had been imposed was during the 1999 to 2003 civil war," Cheung said.
Of 1,082 people infected with Ebola in Liberia since March, 624 have died.
The total toll in West Africa stands at more than 1,400 with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria the other worst-hit nations.

13 Probable Ebola Deaths & 565 Suspect In DR Congo

13 Probable Ebola Deaths & 565 Suspect In DR Congo
Recombinomics Commentary 18:15
August 26, 23:00

· Declaration of the epidemic by the Minister of Public Health August 24, 2014
· 13 people died of the disease (CFR 54%), including five health workers, about 24 cases suspects (16 women and 8 men)
· 11 people segregated
· 24 cases (16 women and 8 men) of Ebola virus disease outbreak in the area of health
Boende, from July 28 to August 18, 2014
· 80 contacts identified for monitoring
· 4 positive samples from eight after a second analysis INRB
· 565 suspected cases investigated with gastroenteritis, diarrhea and vomiting.
· Index case identified Ikanamongo (100 km Boende): a woman who died on August 11 after consuming bushmeat hunted by her husband and that has contaminated your doctor and husband.
· yet unidentified strain between Zaire and Sudan. Awaiting the results from the laboratory in Franceville (Gabon).

The above comments from the second report from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) cite four confirmed Ebola cases, which were also cited by the MSF.  The initial reported cited 2 confirmed cases.  This report cites 13 deaths, including 5 health care workers out of 24 suspect. 

Although the CFR is listed as 54%, the segregation of the 11 additional cases suggests that none of these 24 cases have been discharged, so the CFR for cases with outcomes is currently at 100%.

It is unclear how the 565 suspect cases are related to the 24 cases that are dead or isolated.

The confirmation of Ebola after 13 cases have died and a total case load approaching 600 raises concerns about the spread of the virus, as well as the relationship to Zaire, Sudan, and a recombinant strain.

WHO had indicated they would issue a report on Monday, but a delay in the shipment of samples to their lab in Gabon has led to a delay in an update / confirmation of data presented by the DRC.

MSF has pledged resources, but noted that the available resources are limited due to the record number of Ebola cases in western Africa (primarily Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea).

Sequence data, as well as a clarification of the Sudan / Zaire “cross” would be useful.

BA stops flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone until 2015 over Ebola

August 27, 2014, 6:11 am

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AFP BA stops flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone until 2015 over Ebola

London (AFP) - British Airways extended to 2015 its suspension of flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone due to concerns about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus it announced on Tuesday.

"British Airways has suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until 31 December 2014 due to concerns about the public health situation in both countries," the airline said in a statement.
"The safety of our customers, crew and ground teams is always our top priority and we will keep the routes under constant review in the coming weeks."
The airline had previously suspended its flights until September.
Normally, the carrier operates a route four times a week between London's Heathrow airport and Freetown in Sierra Leone, with a connection to the Liberian capital Monrovia.
The airline said customers with tickets booked on those routes could have a refund, rebook for a later date, or rearrange to fly out of Ghana, Kenya or Nigeria.
Over 1,400 people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the start of the year in the worst ever outbreak of the virus. https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/world/a/24823985/

The medical situation in Monrovia blemish "catastrophic" and fears the worst is yet to come

They get sick and die in taxi door center "

José Naranjo Dakar 26 AGO 2014 - 19:43 CEST1
Filed in:



Lindis Hurum with Brett Adamson, MSF. / John Moore (Getty Images)


"The situation in Monrovia is totally out of control, it is very serious, catastrophic," says Hurum Lindis, coordinator of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Liberia. "Every day gets worse every day the news is worse and sincerely believe that the worst is yet to come true," he adds. "We are facing an epidemic of a scale never seen before and in this city of one million people the disease is everywhere, in every neighborhood. This requires implementing a strategy that does not know, requires coordination and means that we have not seen anywhere. "
more

     "Do not give them food or clothing; leave them there to die "
     The quarantine Ebola Liberia plunges into chaos
     Fear of Ebola goes global

It takes two months to face the Ebola outbreak and has extensive emergency experience in the field, but what he saw excels all. "We have launched the largest center of isolation for sick Ebola that has ever been created, with capacity for one hundred patients, but we are overwhelmed. We see people get sick and die in a taxi at the door of our hospital, "says Hurum. "We need to address this problem like a tsunami or an earthquake, we only run after an epidemic that goes faster than us and do not see the resources anywhere. The government does what he can, he tries, but his health system is very fragile, unable to respond. "

Admits to feeling exhausted after 60 days fighting a giant and is waiting to return to his native Norway, but virtually all companies have canceled their flights. "We're seeing the reaction of the international community has been panic, trying to isolate this part of the world to prevent Ebola reach Europe or the USA. That is not the solution, we should use that energy to come here and help isolate completely because if this area is going to be even worse. At MSF we have crossed alarmist, but I'm being realistic. "

     We can not isolate these people and let die

A serious problem is that it is not by tracking cases and contacts. There is not even reliable figures. "We are absolutely certain that there are more cases and more deaths than the official figures say," he says. And we must add the problem of public safety: keep thousands of people in quarantine, and the neighborhood of West Point, where 70,000 people have been left within a cordon sanitaire. "This is not just a problem of Ebola is a real humanitarian crisis. We are in a big city where in normal times there is some crime, but now the risk of violence is high. Prices rise, schools are closed, there are areas where people can not move. We will see terrible things we've never seen before, "Hurum forward.

"There must be an answer and international agencies, are almost alone against this," he concludes. "We need doctors, nurses, skilled people, this is Ebola and there is a risk, but it is affordable, you can afford. We can not isolate these people and let die. It takes coordination that has not existed until now. I am very glad that David Nabarro [UN coordinator to the epidemic] is come this weekend, but we need all these resources are already talking implement now without further delay. "  http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/08/26/actualidad/1409074987_694884.html

Liberia: Quarantined & Homeless

By Samuel G. Dweh
Rampaging sea tide from the Atlantic Ocean evicted hundreds of residents of quarantined West Point Township from their homes from the early hours of yesterday, August 25.
On Tuesday, August 19, Liberia's President, Mrs. Ellen Sirleaf, gave order for barring of all residents of West Point to other parts of the Country.
The President's order came six days after some residents of the Town evaded a quarantine center in the community and escaped with mattresses, googles, nose-masks and other things in the Ebola quarantine center.
The order has is causing hunger in majority of the Township residents because the government has provided food only once (Thursday, August 21) and majority of outside relatives and friends unable to deliver food, water and money to the trapped persons. The visitation from the government is short (6am-3pm) and the bureaucracy to pass through the five check points is time-consuming. Some have spent days near the first check point, on Mechlin Street, to find a way. Perishable goods have got damaged.
By 7pm of Saturday, August 23, message of halt of food or money delivery came out from the leadership of the joint task force of the Police and Army. This message caused hopelessness in all with something to deliver to a hungry relative or a friend behind the barricades.

"If I didn't deliver the food with me, how will my eleven children and my husband survive today?" cried Madam Mary Seon, who later told the New Republic's reporter beyond the first Check Point that she lives in West Point, but was away in Salala, Bong County, when the quarantine order was issued. "I left West Point Monday to this food and arrived in Monrovia in the afternoon of Thursday."
Madam Ethel Pleh, another resident of West Point, a travel companion of Madam Seon, told the New Republic Saturday she has seven children and a grandchild. "I, too, was away out of Town buying this food for my family," she directed this writer's attention to two full rice bags besides her on the Side Walk.
"My brother, please tell me how the government is doing with this Ebola business in West Point," a lady, who gave Saybah Kamara as her name, and said she lives in West Point identified herself with formation, some people who had brought food or money went back to come another day. But some stay on with a hope the task force's decision would be rescinded later.

The government has not provided food for three days in row (Friday, August 22-Monday, August 26). Representative Saah Joseph of District # 13 and few humanitarian organizations have been filling the hunger gap created by the government's failure to provide food for the quarantined people, but the foods often come late.

The sea kicked down all the homes along the shoreline and created a plain where some of the houses had been before it struck.
"I lost all my six bed-room house to the sea water," Madam Cynthia Wlue, a resident of the Township, explained to journalists at the beachside yesterday, August 24. "I and my children and grandchildren are just sitting with our neighbor, and waiting on God to provide a sleeping place through somebody."
Another resident, Mr. Mohammed Carew, told journalists at the beachside that his four-room apart was destroyed by the erosion. "This thing is coming upon us when we are already going through a heart-breaking situation--quarantine by the government," lamented to some of the journalists observing the sea erosion's damage along the shoreline. rent t
Yesterday's was the second in this year for this annual destructive climate condition to occur. Similar thing happened four months ago.
"From report received by my office, the number of homes destroyed is two hundred and fifty," the Township Commissioner, Madam Miatta Flowers, told journalists at the Township yesterday.
Madam Flowers, however, told the Press people she didn't know the actual number of persons in each of the homes.
Representatives of the World Food Program and the Liberian National Red Cross donated food ration to residents of the Township yesterday.
Later in the day, President Ellen Sirleaf visited the Township to acquaint herself with unfolding events. http://allafrica.com/stories/201408261589.html

The Struggle to Contain Sierra Leone's Ebola Epidemic

Liberia: Dogs Feed On Ebola Victims

By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
The residents of the Mount Barclay Community within the Johnsonville Township, outside of Monrovia woke up on last Friday morning in total dismay when the remains of dead Ebola victims were reportedly seen, eaten by dogs, something reminiscent of the brutal civil war here, when dogs ate dead bodies on the streets.
The Liberian Government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, buried some unaccounted-for corpses, suspected to have died from the Ebola Virus in that township few weeks ago.
The burial was done in a hurry at night following a standoff in the day between residence and the Ministry of Health burial team. The former had refused to grant the authority a piece of land to carry out the burial. The dogs, in their numbers, were seen pulling the bodies out of the shadowed grave and hastily eating them.

A resident, who spoke to the NewDawn, said that the action of the dogs has posed a serious health hazard to the entire Mount Barclay Community. Mr. Alfred Wiah noted that the dogs could easily spread the virus through further interactions with community dwellers.
According to Mr. Wiah, upon discovery of the dogs' behavior, some young men immediately contacted the Health Ministry, but to no avail. The young men also attempted to kill all of the dogs, but some escaped the scene, making the terrain very scaring for the residents.
He then expressed his disappointment in the manner and form the Liberian Government has treated the township. "We are very disappointed in the Health Ministry, especially the government that took an oath to defend and protect us; to see them act in such manner is unacceptable and we'll never allow the government come to bury any longer. They will be resisted by us because I think the government has failed to protect us- why bring Ebola bodies and mot bury them well,"? He explained in this paper.
According to him, some residents were deciding to leave the township in order to save their respective families, noting that since the incident occurred last Friday, the government has failed to clean the "mess" by reburying the dead properly. When the Commissioner of the Johnsonville Township, Mr. Melvin Bettie, was contacted yesterday, he confirmed the information, but added that his leadership was working with the community leadership to find a solution to the situation.
"I received the information already through the community chairman and I've sent a delegation there to see how we can revise the situation because it is embarrassing and it poses serious hazard to the community's dwellers," he said.  http://allafrica.com/stories/201408260125.html?viewall=1

WHO pulls staff from Sierra Leone Ebola lab after doctor infected

FREETOWN (Reuters) - The World Health Organization has withdrawn staff from a laboratory testing for Ebola at Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone after one of its medical workers there was infected during the worst ever outbreak of the disease, a WHO spokesperson said.

"It's a temporary measure to take care of the welfare of our remaining workers," WHO spokesperson Christy Feig told Reuters. "After our assessment, they will return."

The WHO has sent nearly 400 people from its own staff and partner organisations to fight the outbreak in West Africa. It said on Sunday that a foreign health worker it had deployed in Sierra Leone had been infected. http://news.yahoo.com/pulls-staff-sierra-leone-ebola-lab-doctor-infected-140605262.html

Zambia-State strengthens Ebola watch

By KABANDA CHULU
Government has strengthened surveillance and increased the level of alertness by installing fever-detecting equipment at all border entry points with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Ebola has reportedly broken out.

Deputy Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said Zambia was taking precautionary measures following the confirmed outbreak of the epidemic in northern DRC with symptoms similar to that of Ebola.
“We have started raising the level of alertness in our systems and strengthening surveillance, especially at those entry points we share with the DRC where there is an outbreak of an epidemic similar to Ebola,” Dr Chilufya said yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, teams were dispatched to install equipment at these borders which include infra-red thermometers to detect fever and screen people entering the country.
Dr Chilufya said: “Health workers have also been equipped with protective clothing and we are going to install scanners with network systems that detect fever in a crowd of people and pick out infected people. This system is highly efficient and we shall put it at all airports and other points of entry.”
According to the Daily Mail of the UK, a medical team was earlier yesterday dispatched to DRC’s Equateur Province to investigate whether the Ebola virus has re-emerged in the area.
The latest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa - the worst ever - has already killed more than 1,200 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and experts warn it is not yet under control.
DRC does not share a border with any of the countries already known to be affected by the epidemic, but reports of a potential outbreak there are a serious cause for concern.
And JIMMY CHIBUYE in Chavuma reports that the district is vulnerable and can easily contract the deadly Ebola virus, which has claimed over 1,000 lives in West Africa, if it breaks out in Angola, district commissioner Laurence Kayumba has said.
Mr Kayumba said here yesterday that Chavuma is close to Angola and has only two officials manning the Chiingi border post and the district has no capacity to handle the Ebola virus if it breaks out.
The highly-contagious Ebola virus can kill up to 90 percent of its victims. There is no known vaccine for the disease.  http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/index.php/local-news/item/8256-state-strengthens-ebola-watch

112 Indians Arriving from Ebola-Hit Liberia; Mumbai, Delhi Airports Gear Up

Updated: August 26, 2014 01:35 IST

File Photo: Mumbai Airport (Press Trust of India)

Mumbai:  Elaborate precautionary arrangements have been put in place at the Delhi and Mumbai airports to screen 112 stranded Indians who will arrive today by various flights from and around Ebola-hit Liberia, authorities have said.

Some of these passengers, traveling by a South African Airways flight, arrived at the Mumbai Airport a few minutes after midnight.

"As part of the tentative plan, the aircraft will be first taken to a remote bay and all passengers will be screened at the step-ladder exit after the arrival of flights at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA)," the Mumbai International Airport Limited or MIAL earlier said in a statement.

While the passengers without any symptoms will be cleared and shifted to the terminal for immigration and customs clearance, those with symptoms suggestive of Ebola Virus Disease or EVD will be directly shifted to the designated hospital in ambulances from the bay, it said.

These passengers would have been screened in at least three countries - Liberia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates or Ethiopia, where the flights would have halted on their way - before they land in India, said sources.

They added that the screening was precautionary, as the passengers would have been stopped and quarantined in the other countries if they had exhibited any symptoms of the disease.

According to the MIAL, Ethiopian Airline, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Jet Airways and South African Airways are flying these passengers to Delhi and Mumbai.

MIAL also said the baggage of the flights need to be kept separate by the concerned airline in their custody, adding disinfection of the flight will be carried out after all the passengers alight from the plane.

Flights will be allowed to board the next passengers only after thirty minutes of disinfection, the statement added.

Story First Published: August 25, 2014 22:57 IST

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/112-indians-arriving-from-ebola-hit-liberia-mumbai-delhi-airports-gear-up-581624?curl=1409008359

Doctor: Ebola Fatality Rate Running At 70 Percent

August 23, 2014 7:32 AM ET

4 min 28 sec

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Dr. Gabriel Fitzpatrick has been treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders. He spoke with NPR's Scott Simon about what the news of two cured Americans means for his efforts. http://www.npr.org/2014/08/23/342652020/doctor-ebola-fatality-rate-running-at-70-percent?utm_content=buffer165fb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Bodies Of Ebola Victims Cremated In Lagos

Monday, 25 August 2014

Bodies Of Ebola Victims Cremated In Lagos

Bodies of the four Nigerians, who died of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, have been cremated in line with World Health Organisation, WHO, requirements for disposal of such corpses. The body of the index (first) case, Patrick Sawyer was the first to be cremated on July 25, 2014.

A health official at the Emergency Operation Centre, EOC, of the Mainland Hospital, Lagos, who confirmed the development, said

“All the bodies of those who died of Ebola from this centre have been cremated. None was allowed to undergo traditional burial because extreme care is being taken to prevent further infections,” the official noted.

The WHO in recommending that people who die from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried, notes that cremation, which is the application of high temperature to reduce bodies to basic chemical components (ashes), is ideal for safe disposal of bodies of such persons in order to minimise further transmission.

While the ECOWAS Commission stated that the remains of its Protocol Assistant at the Lagos Liaison Office, Mr. Salihu Abdulqudir Jatto, who succumbed to the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, on August 12, 2014, had been laid to rest in a private ceremony in Ikorodu, Lagos state.

The Commission had earlier paid a condolence visit to the deceased’s widow and other members of his family.

Jatto was among persons that assisted the American-Liberian Mr. Patrick Sawyer, and contracted the disease from the late Sawyer who took ill on arrival in Nigeria on July 20, 2014 on his way to a regional conference in Calabar, and later died in a Lagos hospital of the EVD. http://abdulkuku.blogspot.com/2014/08/bodies-of-ebola-victims-cremated-in.html

Rwanda bans travel from Ebola-hit countries

• August 26, 2014
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KIGALI: Rwanda has announced restrictions on travel from Ebola-hit West African countries, the ministry of health said in a statement on Monday.
The move follows confirmed cases of Ebola in the neighboring DR Congo, and the escalating spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa.
“The Ministry of Health strongly recommends that all passengers coming from the Republics of Guinea-Conakry, Liberia and Sierra Leone or anyone who has travelled to those countries within the last 22 days be stopped from boarding flights to Rwanda or to enter Rwanda by any means of transport. An exception is only provided for passengers with special authorization signed by the Minister of Health of the Republic of Rwanda,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Any passenger with a fever of 37.5 degrees Celsius and above will not be allowed to enter Rwanda. Rwanda returning passengers will be requested to stay at an isolation facility at the border posts for further medical checks and consistent follow up by health professionals accredited by the Ministry of Health, up to clearance as per the Ministry of Health Protocol,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Health reassured said surveillance has been strengthened within the community and at all points of entry including all border posts in the country as well as airports. “Referral hospitals, district hospitals and other health facilities are well equipped and staff have been trained to handle any cases,” it said.
Over the weekend, DR Congo government confirmed two Ebola cases, the first outside West Africa since the outbreak.
The UN condemns travel bans on affected areas, but several countries including the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Senegal, Cameroon and South Africa have ordered travel bans to the affected countries.  http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/26-Aug-2014/rwanda-bans-travel-from-ebola-hit-countries

Dr Adadevoh's Sister Tests Positive To Ebola

   http://www.news360ng.com/2014/08/dr-adadevohs-sister-tests-positive-to.html

Insiders at the Ministry of health report that Dr Stella Ameyo's sister whose tests was conducted last week has tested positive to the Ebola virus.
The sister was one of the people to have had contact with Dr Ameyo before she passed on via Ebola virus.
Dr Ameyo's sister is allegedly presently under quarantine at Lasuth.

Ebola outbreak: Foreign Correspondent reports from behind the roadblocks on Sierra Leone's health crisis

Updated 26 August 2014, 7:12 AEST

By Suzanne Smith and Adam Bailes

ABC Foreign Correspondent reveals how its team covered the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone before a media lockout was enforced.

A health worker offers water to a woman with Ebola at Kenema Government Hospital. (Credit: Reuters) 

The reports indicated the Ebola outbreak was getting worse. Not only had it taken hold in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa, but it had started to spread to Nigeria and Kenya as well.
The World Health Organisation had declared it an international public health emergency. This was a big and important story. But dispatching a crew from Australia was risky and problematic.
We couldn't be sure borders would be shut down en route, but even if they did get into one of the hotspots, the safety and security of the crew was paramount.

Snapshot of life in the Ebola 'hot zone'

The victims of the Ebola outbreak are not just those who have died, but entire communities left behind to try and rebuild.

We undertake strict and sophisticated risk assessments before our assignments, but this was particularly challenging. It became clear that local knowledge and experience was needed. We needed someone on the ground, who knew the conditions, had been to the epicentre before, and would know in a detailed way how to conduct themselves to ensure no risk of infection.
It was a big ask but we found the right person.
Adam Bailes has been working in Sierra Leone for some time and had visited the key towns at the epicentre of the outbreak – Kailahun and Kenema.
He is a young video journalist originally from England. He also speaks the local lingo.
We had been in constant contact with key NGOs on the ground in Sierra Leone, and, with the expertise of the World Health Organisation, the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, had developed an assignment that would deliver this important story with minimal risk to our team.
Adam was comfortable with the plan and the precautions in place and he was also keen to participate in the effort to get this important story out to an international audience.
The journey begin in Freetown, as Adam set off in a Red Cross 4x4 with Patrick Massaquoi, the communications director of the agency in Sierra Leone. It was the wet season, so after many hours of rough slippery roads, Adam and his crew arrived at the journey's midway point, Kenema.

Video: Red Cross workers handle a dead body in the town of Dodo, Sierra Leone (ABC News)

Kenema is the site of a terrible tragedy. Twenty nursing staff have died of Ebola in the local government hospital. Now the International Red Cross (IRC) is there building a new field hospital and training the local health workers in how to protect themselves from infection.
"I have been to Kenema a number of times over the past few months and seen many very hard-hit families in many districts as well as the chaos of the Kenema Government Hospital at the worst time," Adam said.
He said it was around July when he realised many of the staff he had been interviewing over the past months were now sick or had died, including Sheik Umar Khan, the Kenema hospital's head matron, and a lab technician called Hassan.

The race to the Ebola outbreak epicentre

As Adam arrived with our team, the head of the IRC response, Australian Amanda McClelland, told our crew they would need to leave immediately if they were to get through the roadblocks.
The government had announced a media lockout and also a lockout for all non-essential personnel.
Adam and the team quickly ran to the car and continued their journey to the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak at Kailahun.

Compared to the last few months, this time, travelling to Kailahun did not feel very high risk. I felt very comfortable.

Adam Bailes

Our crew travelled for many hours, again on wet bumpy roads. Twelve hours later, they reached Kailahun.
This is the site of the crisis coordination centre set up by Médecins Sans Frontières with help from the IRC and the World Health Organisation.
"Walking through the gates to the compound of MSF and Red Cross headquarters and seeing maybe 60 white 4x4's with MSF or Red Cross on the side, flags flying and big radio transmitters on front, I remember thinking 'this is an army'," Adam said.
"Compared to the rest of the country, Kailahun has the most specialised and prepared team I have seen. This is the kind of response that is needed all over the country.
"Compared to the last few months, this time, travelling to Kailahun did not feel very high risk. I felt very comfortable."

'Ebola may just keep slowly burning through the country'

Adam and the team arrived back safely in the capital Freetown several days later, but some of the fear of working in an Ebola-affected area remained.

Photo: Adam Bailes, an English video journalist, joined the ABC's Foreign Correspondent team in Sierra Leone.

"There is definitely a whole mental process you go through covering an outbreak like this," Adam said.
"You become hyper-aware, thinking about every surface you touch or a tiny bit of sweat dripping on your lip. You become paranoid every time you feel a bit tired, or have a small temperature change. Straight away I would start counting backwards how many days it had been, to see if you fall in the contagion time of three to 21 days.
"It feels now like perceptions of people in Sierra Leone are beginning to change which will make a massive difference. If people accept Ebola is real, is it a lot easier to treat.
"I fear though Ebola may just keep slowly burning through the country. Now rainy season is really kicking in, traveling is becoming even harder and resources in the fight are already low."v   http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2014-08-26/ebola-outbreak-foreign-correspondent-reports-from-behind-the-roadblocks-on-sierra-leones-health-cris/1360786

The Federal Government’s Inconsistent Ebola Story

• By Jonathan Easley
• •   August 15, 2014

The federal government denies having any significant involvement in helping two sick American aid workers in West Africa obtain an unapproved Ebola drug from a U.S. company, but the stories coming from the relevant agencies are murky and inconsistent.
Experts say the non-transparent, strained telling of the government’s involvement, and the passive, anything-goes approach to treating the outbreak, is evidence the U.S. needs to review its experimental drug laws. They also say it’s evidence the country is unprepared to deal with potentially more dangerous contagions at home or abroad.

@jflier @JonEasley it’s clear now we don’t have any such emergency plan or point people in general whether CDC or FDA.
— Ford Vox, MD (@fordvox) August 7, 2014

In late July, two Americans in Liberia – Kent Brantley, a doctor with Samaritan’s Purse, and Nancy Writebol, a missionary for another charitable organization, SIM – were diagnosed with Ebola and received treatments of ZMapp, a highly experimental medication made by tiny San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc. The drug was designed with the support of the U.S. military. It’s expensive, difficult to transport, exists only in a limited supply, and before it’s arrival in Liberia, had only been tested on a handful of monkeys.
Brantley and Writebol arrived back in the U.S. in early August. Their return and steady improvement attracted a media frenzy, which in part forced the federal government to detail how the patients obtained the rare, early-stage drug while overseas.
But the government’s explanation has at every point been murky, and at times, conflicted with the stories coming from the private companies involved. All three federal agencies —the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) —say they played little or no role in the decision-making or drug procurement process.
This seems unlikely, according to Ford Vox, a physician at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center hospital who has written critically about the government’s Ebola response “If [Mapp] did this on their own, they must have had unbelievable confidence in the product and lawyers who know this up and down,” Vox said. “If they went this alone, their investors should be worried, because that’s reckless. A team of scientists could get in a lot of trouble doing that, and I can’t imagine they run their company that way, especially considering they have support from the Department of Defense.”
According to the CDC, it was Samaritan’s Purse, the private humanitarian organization that employs Dr. Brantley, who reached out to them in an attempt to find an experimental Ebola drug. The CDC says it passed Samaritan’s Purse along to NIH, who referred them to contacts within Mapp.
“This experimental treatment was arranged privately by Samaritan’s Purse,” the CDC said. “Samaritan’s Purse contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who referred them to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH was able to provide the organization with the appropriate contacts at the private company developing this treatment. The NIH was not involved with procuring, transporting, approving, or administering the experimental treatments.”
The New York Times first reported this version of events on Aug. 6, and the statement was posted on the CDC’s website a few days later, where it remains.
But the NIH told Morning Consult one of its scientists on the ground in West Africa approached the charity before the group had even decided to pursue an experimental alternative.
“The NIH scientist who was in West Africa referred Samaritan’s Purse to company contacts because they were best equipped to answer questions about the status of their experimental treatment,” the agency said in an email to Morning Consult. “This occurred before Samaritan’s Purse decided to pursue an experimental therapy.”
A statement from Samaritan’s Purse also conflicts with the CDC’s telling of events, and indicates the NIH and other government agencies may have played an active role in procuring the drugs.
“The experimental medication given to Dr. Brantley was recommended to us,” the group said. “We didn’t seek it out, but worked with the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies to obtain this medication.”

In emergency use of Ebola sero- therapy, still unclear from news reports who approved use? FDA or not? Unprecedented. http://t.co/0DSBAhmtmu — Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) August 7, 2014

NIH did not answer repeated questions on how the agency decides it is appropriate to refer sick patients directly to a private company, how often it does so, and what criteria is considered. In an interview, Dr. Arthur Caplan, the head of bioethics division at New York University, said such referrals are an “ethical call” that he deals with frequently and occasionally struggles with.
The CDC also did not respond to multiple requests for clarification, and when presented with this confusing string of events, the NIH merely reiterated the CDC statement.
The Food and Drug Administration has also sought to diminish its involvement in the transaction.
“In some cases, when a U.S.-based drug company may be pursuing approval of a drug and that drug will be shipped from the United States for investigational use prior to its approval, that shipment will be covered by an Investigational New Drug (IND) [approval pathway],” the agency said in an email. “FDA has procedures in place to permit, in appropriate circumstances, emergency use in individual patients under an emergency IND. In other cases, exports of investigational drugs may be permitted without an IND as long as they meet the export requirements under the law.”
“However, FDA was not involved in the shipment of this experimental treatment to West Africa or the administration of the experimental treatment there,” they added.
But a statement from drugmaker Mapp implies that the process followed FDA guidelines.
“Any decision to use an experimental drug in a patient would be a decision made by the treating physician under the regulatory guidelines of the FDA,” the company says in a statement posted on its website.
The FDA’s jurisdiction here is difficult to decipher. The agency doesn’t govern non-commercial transactions and has limited international influence. And while the IND approval process is one way a patient could obtain an experimental drug, private individuals and companies sometimes operate outside of the regulatory process – and it’s not necessarily illegal to do so. But in these cases, drugmakers usually have little reason to comply with patient’s request. That’s because they take on enormous liability in giving out an unapproved drug, and most patients can’t pay for those drugs out of pocket anyway. In general, it’s safer for the drugmaker to go through the clinical trials process, rather than to openly test its product on a random patient.
In this case, it seems the stars aligned in favor of the American aid workers.

@JonEasley @fordvox Likely because it was administered outside USA. Right or wrong, FDA would never have approved under these circumstances.
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) August 7, 2014

The FDA did not respond to a follow-up question from Morning Consult requesting clarification about how the transaction could be described as having taken place in accordance with their guidelines, and Mapp did not return a phone call or email requesting comment.
In addition to these inconsistencies, many questions remain unanswered because the events transpired hidden from public view. For instance, it’s unclear how the ZMapp, which requires delicate handling in a cold environment, was delivered to Africa.
While nobody is arguing the sick Americans should have been denied the treatment they received, and indeed, everyone Morning Consult spoke with agreed that getting the aid workers ZMapp was the right thing to do, experts say that by claiming to have not been involved, the government set a real-world precedent that raises questions about how the U.S. might handle another, more serious threat.
They also say the disorganized and secretive nature of the endeavor, in which no federal agency has stepped forward to claim responsibility, is a concern.
“An ethical case can surely be made for an organization that puts health-care workers in harm’s way to acquire access to experimental drugs and bring staff home to get the best possible care,” Caplan wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed. “But that is neither a fair nor just policy for deciding what to do when an emergency arises and rationing is the only option.”
It also raises questions about U.S. compassionate use laws. In June, Morning Consult reported on so-called ‘right-to-try’ laws, which a number of states have passed in an effort to make it easier for dying patients to obtain experimental early-stage medications. The idea is that the federal government shouldn’t tell a dying patient what to do. Despite the inherent conflicts with federal law, the state laws have gained traction on the strength of this emotionally compelling argument.
At the time of that story, medical experts and the federal government stood in almost unanimous opposition to the laws, arguing, among other things, that they’d turn the U.S. drug market into the Wild West. However, it’s difficult now to distinguish between the way in which the American aid workers obtained the drug, and how a private citizen or group in the U.S. might obtain an unapproved medication under right-to-try laws.
“It looks like we haven’t done any planning whatsoever,” Vox said. “There’s no consistency here – it’s left to the market, what connections you have, whether you have money and the media behind you, whether you know who to call…there’s been no planning, despite the fact we’ve been working with these outbreaks for decades…there’s apparently no process and no person tasked with making these decisions.”
Caplan is a fierce critic of right-to-try laws – like many, he believes the laws are thinly written to appeal to emotional, not scientific reasoning, and he argues they do nothing to help patients connect with private companies or pay for the drugs that may be able to help them. But he also acknowledges that the Ebola outbreak exposed the present system as inadequate.
“I think it alerts us to the need for a transparent public policy debate about compassionate use that goes beyond the window dressing of right-to-try laws,” he said. “It would be good if that debate were convened by the FDA, because this comes up in all sorts of situations.”
Vox noted that ZMapp was developed with the military, making it taxpayer property. He left the conversation with a simple matter of concern.
“Who are we going to leave these questions up to?” he asked. http://themorningconsult.com/2014/08/federal-governments-ebola-story-rife-inconsistencies/?utm_content=buffer230ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer