Ebola outbreak - general thread #1

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jjenny said:
With some of the patients running around so much (even after they know they got Ebola), how are they going to contain it? And so much for us being told that after people develop Ebola, they don't feel like traveling (obviously bogus claim).
A doctor agreed to treat Ebola patient (who got it from Patrick Sawyer) in a hotel. Patient recovered, but the doctor got infected and subsequently died. Before he died, he himself infected a number of people. What in the world could possess a doctor to agree to treat Ebola patient in a hotel?
"According to him, Doctor Iyke Sam Enemuo who died from Ebola virus treated a diplomat, a staff of Economic Community of West Africa, ECOWAS, who escaped from a quarantine centre in Lagos to Port Harcourt."

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=184260
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The answer to that is easy:

money.jpg
 
Lyra500 said:
Vaccine tested in monkeys gave immunity for several months.

Not the Holy Grail of lifetime or decades long immunity, but given the severity of the disease at least it is a start. It just seems a terrible shame things had to get so out of control before the pharmaceutical industry got serious about getting on with developing vaccines and treatments. I know the profits are probably paltry in comparison to a new block buster drug for a condition prevalent amongst rich people in the developed world, but just now and again it would be nice if common decency and humanity counted for something when making priorities.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29076371
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And who is going to pay for it?

Stuff like that is funded by large profits on other drugs, but if those profits are limited by regulation, then that funding will not happen. There are no free lunches.

In any case, why do private companies need to do the development? There is no reason why taxes can't be increased so the government can fund it. Oh wait....increasing taxes can't happen either....

So who is going to pay for it? The answer to that is always "someone else", and that is why it doesn't happen.
 
Thousands of people have already died in Africa. A frighteningly high percentage of them was made up of doctors and nurses who continued to try and care for the sick despite the awful risks.

Some of them are doing that right now, without suitable safety equipment, in some cases there is just one doctor for a population of 100,000, but they still turn up to work and do their best.

Those people pay the ultimate price not in dollars but with their lives.

If we in the richer world can really only make a meaningful contribution if we think we will make a profit on it, then perhaps we ought to be hanging our heads in shame.

In any case, if the stats are correct we can expect the arrival of Ebola in our countries in the next few weeks. Watch everything including the kitchen sink being thrown at the problem as soon as that happens.
 
I have to say the graphs were looking pretty exponential to me several days ago to be honest.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29115298

Still, this is very sobering stuff. Basically it appears that current facilities only cater for around 25% of actual need.

"As soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients, pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload," it added.

"When patients are turned away... they have no choice but to return to their communities and homes, where they inevitably infect others."

The Ebola disease spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.
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The BIB is really concerning - I am pretty sure they have only recently started referring to the fact that Ebola can be contracted through contact with 'contaminated environments'.

That is pretty scary - I read that Ebola could potentially survive for up to two weeks on infected bedding etc. The article mentions taxis as potential foci for spreading of the disease since patients are often taken to hospital in taxis.
 
Windsor hospital isolates patient with Ebola-like symptoms

WINDSOR, Ontario -
A patient has been isolated with Ebola-like symptoms at Windsor Regional Hospital in Windsor, Ontario.

The patient recently returned from one of the affected countries in west Africa, said Dr. Allen Heimann, who is medical officer of health for the Windsor-Essex County Health unit...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...ates-patient-with-ebolalike-symptoms/27938442
 
"To maintain patient confidentiality, WHO spokeswoman Nyka Alexander in Freetown said the agency won't provide details on nationality or where the person is going for treatment.
The doctor was working at the Ebola treatment centre in the Kenema Government Hospital, which is run by Sierra Leone's Health Ministry.
The physician had symptoms on Saturday that were confirmed yesterday as Ebola, and the evacuation is scheduled for today, Alexander said."
 
Imagine how long Ebola virus would be able to stay on something like an airplane tray table.... Things that make my mind go crazy!
 
Not that it is much consolation, but an article on the Canadian Public Health website seemed to suggest that soft furnishings like bedding were the worst for Ebola virus longevity rather than hard surfaces. Even so that would still mean cushions etc could harbour viable virus for some time.
 
WHO adjusts conditions of staffers
WHO spokeswoman Nyka Alexander said that staff living and working quarters in Sierra Leone have been exhttp://www.wistv.com/story/26482581/who-adjusts-conditions-as-staffers-get-ebolapanded and they no longer share living space with officials from other agencies. Changes were also made to working procedures, including more routine temperature checks for everyone coming to the WHO office and living quarters, Alexander said.


She said the investigation report was "pretty clear" about revealing how the Senegalese epidemiologist was infected but said the agency wouldn't be releasing details.
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http://www.wistv.com/story/26482581/who-adjusts-conditions-as-staffers-get-ebola
 
Ebola Spreading 'Exponentially' as Patients Seek Beds in Liberia

The Ebola virus is spreading exponentially across Liberia as patients fill taxis in a fruitless search for medical care, the World Health Organization said Monday.

In Sierra Leone, a doctor working for WHO tested positive and was preparing to be evacuated from the country. Meanwhile, the newest U.S. patient, a doctor infected in Liberia, was feeling a little better and could even eat a little, doctors treating him in Nebraska said.

The various reports illustrated in the clearest possible way the disparities driving the epidemic in West Africa, where there’s almost no medical system structure. The three patients evacuated to the United States have all begun to recover quickly once they get good supportive care, which includes around-the-clock nursing care and good nutrition.


read more ....... http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/eb...onentially-patients-seek-beds-liberia-n198516
 
An undisclosed number of people who’ve been exposed to the Ebola virus have been evacuated to the U.S. by an air ambulance company contracted by the State Department – not just the four patients publicly identified with diagnosed cases.“We moved a lot of other people who had an exposure event,” said Dent Thompson, vice president of Phoenix Air Group. “Many times these people are just fine, they just had an exposure. But you have to treat it as though the disease is present.”


How many exposed patients have been flown from West Africa to the U.S.? Thompson said medical privacy laws and his company’s contract with the State Department prevent him from revealing.
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Thompson declined to say where patients who have just been exposed to Ebola have been flown to in the U.S.

“They all go to a hospital and they monitor them,” he said. “If they do develop it, then they treat them. And, fingers crossed, they’re going to walk out the way Brantly and Nancy Writebol walked out.”
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http://news.yahoo.com/us-ebola-evac...s--air-ambulance-operator-says-160126831.html
 
Why am I not surprised our government is bringing in UNKNOWN #'s of Ebola exposed people and not telling us where they are.

:shakes head:
JMHO
fran
 
fran said:
Why am I not surprised our government is bringing in UNKNOWN #'s of Ebola exposed people and not telling us where they are.

:shakes head:
JMHO
fran
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Perhaps because they have been exposed, not yet determined to be a threat and not have the disease and not reportable? I personally don't think that the public is obligated to be informed, nor even should be informed. But that's my opinion. What is the need to know that others have been exposed and where they are?

I really don't understand. To create unwarranted panic, or to just ensure that all in a metro area are informed that there is someone in their city of 4 million (example) that is in their midst that has potentially been exposed.

I'm glad that they are repatriating folks that have been exposed and are helping to return them...as they often do when violence happens and they get folks out of harms way.

My biases due to my background in healthcare perhaps...as a virologist during the initial stages of the AIDS epidemic.... :moo:

... and also a shout out to mods here! :tyou: :gomods:
 
atthelake said:
Perhaps because they have been exposed, not yet determined to be a threat and not have the disease and not reportable? I personally don't think that the public is obligated to be informed, nor even should be informed. But that's my opinion. What is the need to know that others have been exposed and where they are?

I really don't understand. To create unwarranted panic, or to just ensure that all in a metro area are informed that there is someone in their city of 4 million (example) that is in their midst that has potentially been exposed.

I'm glad that they are repatriating folks that have been exposed and are helping to return them...as they often do when violence happens and they get folks out of harms way.

My biases due to my background in healthcare perhaps...as a virologist during the initial stages of the AIDS epidemic.... :moo:

... and also a shout out to mods here! :tyou: :gomods:
Click to expand...

I think public has a right to know if they are potentially being exposed to a deadly disease.
 
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