Let us hope and pray it is wiped off from our earth!!!
Re: Ebola
No discussion about this…really?
Re: Ebola
Seems members have no fear/concern about Ebola.. 
Re: Ebola
TO ALL GUPSHUP MEMBERS-AS A GENERAL INFORMATION.
Taken form a U.S Government portal…
There is no FDA-approved vaccine available for Ebola.
If you travel to or are in an area affected by an Ebola outbreak, make sure to do the following:
-
**Practice careful hygiene. For example, wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer and avoid contact with blood and body fluids.
** -
Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids (such as clothes, bedding, needles, and medical equipment).
-
Avoid funeral or burial rituals that require handling the body of someone who has died from Ebola.
-
Avoid contact with bats and nonhuman primates or blood, fluids, and raw meat prepared from these animals.
-
Avoid hospitals in West Africa where Ebola patients are being treated. The U.S. embassy or consulate is often able to provide advice on facilities.
-
**After you return, monitor your health for 21 days and seek medical care immediately if you develop symptoms of Ebola. **
Healthcare workers who may be exposed to people with Ebola should follow these steps:
- Wear protective clothing, including masks, gloves, gowns, and eye protection.
- Practice proper infection control and sterilization measures. For more information, see “Infection Control for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers in the African Health Care Setting”.
- Isolate patients with Ebola from other patients.
- Avoid direct contact with the bodies of people who have died from Ebola.
- Notify health officials if you have had direct contact with the blood or body fluids, such as but not limited to, feces, saliva, urine, vomit, and semen of a person who is sick with Ebola. The virus can enter the body through broken skin or unprotected mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth
Re: Ebola
The first Ebola death in Germany has been reported .I watched a news report on Al-Jazeera channel.
All of you Take Care.
Re: Ebola
The Germans and Spain have cases from AFrica - people getting sick then being transported for care, and experimental treatments. I think in Spain they’ve now had their first healthworker case - a nurse that was changing a patient’s diapers. He was also wearing protective gear. US Press hasn’t even brought this up. They don’t think the world exists beyond US shores - there are no other countries with hospitals in the rest of the world 
Re: Ebola
The Spanish nurse who contracted the disease is recovering .Already a couple of people have tested Positive for Ebola in the U.S. It is astonishing to note that the U.S Pres has not highlighted the issue.
Re: Ebola
2nd nurse infected after Duncan case. Nurses are all up in arms now playing victim.
-
No nurse knows how to properly put on and take off protective gear. They don’t do it and if they do it’s not done right. That’s why we have infections in the hospitals - it’s not just a stethoscope or the doctors tie for God’s sake the nursing mafia has been getting away with infection control violations on a daily basis in every hospital.
-
Who told the woman in her infinite intelligence to get on a plane?
This is ridiculous.
Well, the woman didn’t know she had Ebola until she started having symptoms.
Secondly I think CDC should step up and take aggressive measurements in training nurses. Neither nurses nor doctors in the US are trained to handle Ebola like they should be. Only four health care facilities have bio contamintated units. I think more hospitals and health care workers need to be trained and provided equipment/protective clothing similar to the ones used at those four centers. Its unfortunate that those two nurses while taking care of Duncan, got the disease… So so sad. Hoping they get recovered soon.
Re: Ebola
We’ve had one here as well.. The person in question recovered and is totally ok now..
Lucky guy: https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/news-media/news/ebola-update-william-pooley-praises-care/
Re: Ebola
How can one catch this disease
Is it like Tuberclosis
Re: Ebola
^Yes and no. If Ebola could mutate to become airborne, it could be like Tuberculosis and Influenza. So far there has been no evident cases of Ebola spreading through air. What’s dangerous is that Ebola receptors are found in lungs and respiratory tract (like Tuberculosis). If Ebola goes airborne, it will be very very bad news for all of us.
Re: Ebola
Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals
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Standard, contact, and droplet precautions are recommended for management of hospitalized patients with known or suspected Ebola virus disease (EVD) (See Table below). Note that this guidance outlines only those measures that are specific for EVD; additional infection control measures might be warranted if an EVD patient has other conditions or illnesses for which other measures are indicated (e.g., tuberculosis, multi-drug resistant organisms, etc.).
Though these recommendations focus on the hospital setting, the recommendations for personal protective equipment (PPE) and environmental infection control measures are applicable to any healthcare setting. In this guidance healthcare personnel (HCP) refers all persons, paid and unpaid, working in healthcare settings who have the potential for exposure to patients and/or to infectious materials, including body substances, contaminated medical supplies and equipment, contaminated environmental surfaces, or aerosols generated during certain medical procedures. HCP include, but are not limited to, physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, therapists, technicians, emergency medical service personnel, dental personnel, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, autopsy personnel, students and trainees, contractual personnel, home healthcare personnel, and persons not directly involved in patient care (e.g., clerical, dietary, house-keeping, laundry, security, maintenance, billing, chaplains, and volunteers) but potentially exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted to and from HCP and patients. This guidance is not intended to apply to persons outside of healthcare settings.
As information becomes available, these recommendations will be re-evaluated and updated as needed. These recommendations are based upon available information (as of July 30, 2014) and the following considerations:
[ul]
[li]High rate of morbidity and mortality among infected patients[/li][li]Risk of human-to-human transmission[/li][li]Lack of FDA-approved vaccine and therapeutics[/li][/ul]
For full details of standard, contact, and droplet precautions see 2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Setting.
For information on symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease infection and modes of transmission, see the CDC Ebola Virus Disease Website.
Key Components of Standard, Contact, and Droplet Precautions Recommended for Prevention of EVD Transmission in U.S. Hospitals[TABLE=“class: table opt-in table-bordered”]
[TH]Component[/TH]
[TH]Recommendation[/TH]
[TH]Comments[/TH]
Patient Placement
[ul]
[li]Single patient room (containing a private bathroom) with the door closed[/li][li]Facilities should maintain a log of all persons entering the patient’s room[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Consider posting personnel at the patient’s door to ensure appropriate and consistent use of PPE by all persons entering the patient room[/li][/ul]
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
[ul]
[li]All persons entering the patient room should wear at least:[/li][LIST]
[li]Gloves[/li][li]Gown (fluid resistant or impermeable)[/li][li]Eye protection (goggles or face shield)[/li][li]Facemask[/li][/ul]
[li]Additional PPE might be required in certain situations (e.g., copious amounts of blood, other body fluids, vomit, or feces present in the environment), including but not limited to:[/li][ul]
[li]Double gloving[/li][li]Disposable shoe covers[/li][li]Leg coverings[/li][/ul]
[/LIST]
[ul]
[li]Recommended PPE should be worn by HCP upon entry into patient rooms or care areas. Upon exit from the patient room or care area, PPE should be carefully removed without contaminating one’s eyes, mucous membranes, or clothing with potentially infectious materials, and either[/li][LIST]
[li]Discarded, or[/li][li]For re-useable PPE, cleaned and disinfected according to the manufacturer’s reprocessing instructions and hospital policies.[/li][/ul]
[li]Instructions for donning and removing PPE have been published[/li][li]Hand hygiene should be performed immediately after removal of PPE[/li][/LIST]
Patient Care Equipment
[ul]
[li]Dedicated medical equipment (preferably disposable, when possible) should be used for the provision of patient care[/li][li]All non-dedicated, non-disposable medical equipment used for patient care should be cleaned and disinfected according to manufacturer’s instructions and hospital policies[/li][/ul]
Patient Care Considerations
[ul]
[li]Limit the use of needles and other sharps as much as possible[/li][li]Phlebotomy, procedures, and laboratory testing should be limited to the minimum necessary for essential diagnostic evaluation and medical care[/li][li]All needles and sharps should be handled with extreme care and disposed in puncture-proof, sealed containers[/li][/ul]
Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGPs)
[ul]
[li]Avoid AGPs for patients with EVD.[/li][li]If performing AGPs, use a combination of measures to reduce exposures from aerosol-generating procedures when performed on Ebola HF patients.[/li][li]Visitors should not be present during aerosol-generating procedures.[/li][li]Limiting the number of HCP present during the procedure to only those essential for patient-care and support.[/li][li]Conduct the procedures in a private room and ideally in an Airborne Infection Isolation Room (AIIR) when feasible. Room doors should be kept closed during the procedure except when entering or leaving the room, and entry and exit should be minimized during and shortly after the procedure.[/li][li]HCP should wear gloves, a gown, disposable shoe covers, and either a face shield that fully covers the front and sides of the face or goggles, and respiratory protection that is at least as protective as a NIOSH certified fit-tested N95 filtering facepiece respirator or higher (e.g., powered air purifying respiratory or elastomeric respirator) during aerosol generating procedures.[/li][li]Conduct environmental surface cleaning following procedures (see section below on environmental infection control).[/li][li]If re-usable equipment or PPE (e.g. Powered air purifying respirator, elastomeric respirator, etc.) are used, they should be cleaned and disinfected according to manufacturer instructions and hospital policies.[/li][li]Collection and handling of soiled re-usable respirators must be done by trained individuals using PPE as described above for routine patient care[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Although there are limited data available to definitively define a list of AGPs, procedures that are usually included are Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP), bronchoscopy, sputum induction, intubation and extubation, and open suctioning of airways.[/li][li]Because of the potential risk to individuals reprocessing reusable respirators, disposable filtering face piece respirators are preferred.[/li][/ul]
Hand Hygiene
[ul]
[li]HCP should perform hand hygiene frequently, including before and after all patient contact, contact with potentially infectious material, and before putting on and upon removal of PPE, including gloves.[/li][li]Healthcare facilities should ensure that supplies for performing hand hygiene are available.[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Hand hygiene in healthcare settings can be performed by washing with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rubs. If hands are visibly soiled, use soap and water, not alcohol-based hand rubs.[/li][/ul]
Environmental Infection Control
Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus
Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus
Safe Injection practices
[ul]
[li]Facilities should follow safe injection practices as specified under Standard Precautions.[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Any injection equipment or parenteral medication container that enters the patient treatment area should be dedicated to that patient and disposed of at the point of use.[/li][/ul]
Duration of Infection Control Precautions
[ul]
[li]Duration of precautions should be determined on a case-by-case basis, in conjunction with local, state, and federal health authorities.[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Factors that should be considered include, but are not limited to: presence of symptoms related to EVD, date symptoms resolved, other conditions that would require specific precautions (e.g., tuberculosis, Clostridium difficile) and available laboratory information[/li][/ul]
Monitoring and Management of Potentially Exposed Personnel
[ul]
[li]Facilities should develop policies for monitoring and management of potentially exposed HCP[/li][li]Facilities should develop sick leave policies for HCP that are non-punitive, flexible and consistent with public health guidance[/li][LIST]
[li]Ensure that all HCP, including staff who are not directly employed by the healthcare facility but provide essential daily services, are aware of the sick leave policies.[/li][/ul]
[li]Persons with percutaneous or mucocutaneous exposures to blood, body fluids, secretions, or excretions from a patient with suspected EVD should[/li][ul]
[li]Stop working and immediately wash the affected skin surfaces with soap and water. Mucous membranes (e.g., conjunctiva) should be irrigated with copious amounts of water or eyewash solution[/li][li]Immediately contact occupational health/supervisor for assessment and access to postexposure management services for all appropriate pathogens (e.g., Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis C, etc.)[/li][/ul]
[li]HCP who develop sudden onset of fever, intense weakness or muscle pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or any signs of hemorrhage after an unprotected exposure (i.e. not wearing recommended PPE at the time of patient contact or through direct contact to blood or body fluids) to a patient with EVD should[/li][ul]
[li]Not report to work or should immediately stop working[/li][li]Notify their supervisor[/li][li]Seek prompt medical evaluation and testing[/li][li]Notify local and state health departments[/li][li]Comply with work exclusion until they are deemed no longer infectious to others[/li][/ul]
[li]For asymptomatic HCP who had an unprotected exposure (i.e. not wearing recommended PPE at the time of patient contact or through direct contact to blood or body fluids) to a patient with Ebola HF[/li][ul]
[li]Should receive medical evaluation and follow-up care including fever monitoring twice daily for 21 days after the last known exposure.[/li][li]Hospitals should consider policies ensuring twice daily contact with exposed personnel to discuss potential symptoms and document fever checks[/li][li]May continue to work while receiving twice daily fever checks, based upon hospital policy and discussion with local, state, and federal public health authorities.[/li][/ul]
[/LIST]
Monitoring, Management, and Training of Visitors
[ul]
[li]Avoid entry of visitors into the patient’s room[/li][LIST]
[li]Exceptions may be considered on a case by case basis for those who are essential for the patient’s wellbeing.[/li][/ul]
[li]Establish procedures for monitoring managing and training visitors.[/li][li]Visits should be scheduled and controlled to allow for:[/li][ul]
[li]Screening for EVD (e.g., fever and other symptoms) before entering or upon arrival to the hospital[/li][li]Evaluating risk to the health of the visitor and ability to comply with precautions[/li][li]providing instruction, before entry into the patient care area on hand hygiene, limiting surfaces touched, and use of PPE according to the current facility policy while in the patient’s room[/li][li]Visitor movement within the facility should be restricted to the patient care area and an immediately adjacent waiting area.[/li][/ul]
[/LIST]
Re: Ebola
Waleed Bro and to all GS members…
Ebola virus disease
Fact sheet N°103
Updated September 2014
[HR][/HR] **Key facts**
- Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
- The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
- The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.
- The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests, but the most recent outbreak in west Africa has involved major urban as well as rural areas.
- Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilisation.
- Early supportive care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralise the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.
- There are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines but 2 potential candidates are undergoing evaluation.
[HR][/HR] Background
The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
The current outbreak in west Africa, (first cases notified in March 2014), is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air (1 traveller only) to Nigeria, and by land (1 traveller) to Senegal.
The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability. On August 8, the WHO Director-General declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
A separate, unrelated Ebola outbreak began in Boende, Equateur, an isolated part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The virus family Filoviridae includes 3 genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. There are 5 species that have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston and Taï Forest. The first 3, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus, and Sudan ebolavirus have been associated with large outbreaks in Africa. The virus causing the 2014 west African outbreak belongs to the Zaire species.
Transmission
It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts. Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.
Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola.
People remain infectious as long as their blood and body fluids, including semen and breast milk, contain the virus. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.
Symptoms of Ebola virus disease
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days. Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms. First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding (e.g. oozing from the gums, blood in the stools). Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.
Diagnosis
It can be difficult to distinguish EVD from other infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and meningitis. Confirmation that symptoms are caused by Ebola virus infection are made using the following investigations:
-
antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
-
antigen-capture detection tests
-
serum neutralization test
-
reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay
-
electron microscopy
-
virus isolation by cell culture.
Samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; laboratory testing on non-inactivated samples should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.
Treatment and vaccines
Supportive care-rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids- and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival. There is as yet no proven treatment available for EVD. However, a range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated. No licensed vaccines are available yet, but 2 potential vaccines are undergoing human safety testing.
Prevention and control
Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilisation. Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Raising awareness of risk factors for Ebola infection and protective measures that individuals can take is an effective way to reduce human transmission. Risk reduction messaging should focus on several factors:
- Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
- Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission from direct or close contact with people with Ebola symptoms, particularly with their bodily fluids. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home. Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.
- Outbreak containment measures including prompt and safe burial of the dead, identifying people who may have been in contact with someone infected with Ebola, monitoring the health of contacts for 21 days, the importance of separating the healthy from the sick to prevent further spread, the importance of good hygiene and maintaining a clean environment.
Controlling infection in health-care settings:
Health-care workers should always take standard precautions when caring for patients, regardless of their presumed diagnosis. These include basic hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (to block splashes or other contact with infected materials), safe injection practices and safe burial practices.
Health-care workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus should apply extra infection control measures to prevent contact with the patient’s blood and body fluids and contaminated surfaces or materials such as clothing and bedding. When in close contact (within 1 metre) of patients with EBV, health-care workers should wear face protection (a face shield or a medical mask and goggles), a clean, non-sterile long-sleeved gown, and gloves (sterile gloves for some procedures).
Laboratory workers are also at risk. Samples taken from humans and animals for investigation of Ebola infection should be handled by trained staff and processed in suitably equipped laboratories.
WHO response
WHO aims to prevent Ebola outbreaks by maintaining surveillance for Ebola virus disease and supporting at-risk countries to developed preparedness plans. The document provides overall guidance for control of Ebola and Marburg virus outbreaks:
-
[Ebola and Marburg virus disease epidemics: preparedness, alert, control, and evaluation](http://www.who.int/entity/csr/resources/publications/ebola/manual_EVD/en/index.html) When an outbreak is detected WHO responds by supporting surveillance, community engagement, case management, laboratory services, contact tracing, infection control, logistical support and training and assistance with safe burial practices. WHO has developed detailed advice on Ebola infection prevention and control: -
[Infection prevention and control guidance for care of patients with suspected or confirmed Filovirus haemorrhagic fever in health-care settings, with focus on Ebola](http://www.who.int/entity/csr/resources/publications/ebola/filovirus_infection_control/en/index.html)
Re: Ebola
You made a good point PCG.
Nurses call for more training in Ebola fight
**AUSTIN — Most health care workers here have long known about the Ebola virus, but never had to deal with it.
**
In that sense, “Ebola is new to us,” said Cindy Zolnierek, executive director of the Texas Nurses Association.
Now one of their own is sickened with Ebola. While Zolnierek said Nina Pham is “in our thoughts,” she added that many nurses also are thinking of their own health.
“They are concerned… and they should be,” said Stacey Cropley, director of Practice at the Texas Nurses Association.
That organization — which represents more than 7,000 Texas nurses — is calling for more training, and is urging health care workers to speak up to hospital management whenever they have questions or concerns about safety.
“The only way you do that is to get people comfortable with being transparent,” said Joyce Batcheller, nurse and president of CNO Solutions, a health care executive recruitment company.
She said fostering the kind of transparency that might help make the Ebola response better starts by investigating when things go wrong, but avoiding the blame game. Many health care workers weren’t happy with recent comments by Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection, that the Dallas nurse contracted Ebola after a “breach in protocol.”
“When you say there was a ‘breach,’ that sounds like the nurse thought, ‘Let me mess this up,’ and that’s not true,” Batcheller said.
Pham, 26, became infected while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient to die in the USA. Pham is the first person known to contract the disease in the USA.
She issued a brief statement through Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital saying she is “doing well” and thanking the medical team providing her care.
“I’m doing well and want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers,” the statement said. “I am blessed by the support of family and friends and am blessed to be cared for by the best team of doctors and nurses in the world here.”
Frieden said Tuesday that officials have thus far failed to determine how Pham contracted the virus during treatment of Duncan.
Officials with the Texas Nurses Association are speaking out, hoping to give voice to the professionals who work silently inside the hazmat suits doing the hard, stressful and often dirty work.
Those who have come into contact with Ebola patients at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas have been required to shower after each patient interaction. Their colleagues have been banding together to make that precautionary procedure a little less of a chore.
“The other nurses are buying them high-end bath products, so there is that kind of caretaking that is really wonderful to see,” Zolnierek said.
Contributing: John Bacon and Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
MORE FROM USA TODAY
Re: Ebola
I remember reading about this disease in a reader’s digest article as a kid and was thoroughly horrified. People in that article were dying because of animal droppings. At the end of the article they mentioned how rare it was. It’s like nightmare coming true. And so many people I know work in Africa. This could be a disaster for Pakistan.
Re: Ebola
Indeed,the entire world has to be cautious..
Ebola toll passes 4,000 as fears grow worldwide
Madrid (AFP) - The death toll from Ebola has passed 4,000, the World Health Organization said Friday, while a Madrid nurse was fighting for her life and authorities worldwide tried to prevent panic over the deadly disease.
Related Stories
[ol]
[li] Authorities try to prevent panic as Ebola toll passes 4,000 AFP[/li][li] Nations step up measures to stem worsening Ebola outbreak AFP[/li][li] U.S. to free up Ebola funds as fears of global spread rise Reuters[/li][li] Ebola death rate up to 70 percent: WHO AFP[/li][li] CDC director: Ebola at risk of becoming ‘the world’s next AIDS’ The Week (RSS)[/li][/ol]
The WHO said 4,033 people have died from Ebola as of October 8 out of a total of 8,399 registered cases in seven countries. The sharp rise in deaths came as the UN said aid pledges to fight the outbreak have fallen well short of the $1 billion (800 million euros) needed.
Beyond west Africa, where almost all the deaths have occurred, fears grew about the worst-ever Ebola epidemic.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, and Macedonia to Spain, people who showed signs of fever or had recent contact with Ebola victims were whisked into isolation units or ordered to stay in their homes.
Authorities warned that hoaxes could trigger panic as a man was taken off a US flight by a bio-hazard team after he sneezed and reportedly said, “I have Ebola. You are all screwed.”
Serious concerns remained in Spain over how the virus could have spread in the country’s main isolation hospital.
Healthcare workers told AFP the quarantine floor of Carlos III hospital in Madrid, where 44-year-old nurse Teresa Romero was infected, was shut last year as a result of spending cuts and only re-opened for two missionaries flown back from Africa with the disease in August.
[View photos
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/40.mjUs91yEIiscGltUP5A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-PAR-Par7996069-1-1-0.jpg](Ihre Datenschutzeinstellungen) A volunteer in protective suit sprays disinfectant outside a home in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, on Octo …
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visited the hospital, where Romero, who caught the haemorrhagic fever while caring for the missionaries, was said to be in a “stable but serious” condition on Friday.
Doctors there took in seven more patients for observation late Thursday. Romero’s husband and 12 other people, most of them medical staff, were also under observation, though a male nurse had been discharged, the hospital said.
- Ebola staff ‘stressed’ -
In a sign of the stress at the hospital, staff did not show up for work on Friday.
“There are fewer staff signing up to help,” said one nurse caring for Romero, Charly Manuel Torres, referring to voluntary extra cover at the hospital.
“We are very stressed. We are working under a lot of pressure.”
[View photos
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/AVrWvniOGSfVbLVXOwbQTw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyNDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-PAR-Par7998528-1-1-0.jpg](Ihre Datenschutzeinstellungen) Medical staff exit the Super 8 hotel after visiting quarantined guests and personnel following the d …
The United Nations and leaders of the Ebola-stricken nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone pleaded for greater help for the frontline of the disease in Africa.
UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson said only a quarter of “the one billion dollars sought” to combat the disease had been pledged. He appealed for doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel to come forward.
His comments echoed a plea on Thursday from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who said resources to support the fight must be increased 20-fold.
“Cases are growing exponentially,” Ban said. “Do not wait for consultation. Just take action.”
“We have to work now so that it is not the world’s next AIDS,” CDC Director Tom Frieden warned at the meeting.
“I would say that in the 30 years I’ve been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS,” he said, adding that there was a “long fight” ahead.
But in Liberia, where the official death toll was put at 2,316 by the WHO on Friday, the government said it had banned journalists from Ebola clinics, arguing it was to protect patients’ privacy.
The move came as nurses at the largest government Ebola clinic in the capital Monrovia staged a “go slow” to demand hazard pay, defying a request by UN health officials to avoid industrial action during the crisis.
- Alerts abound -
In France a public building was briefly evacuated in a Paris suburb on Thursday when an African man felt ill. Earlier, the arrival of a group of schoolchildren from Guinea had sparked panic at a French school. Ebola was ruled out in both cases.
Macedonia quarantined people who had come into contact with a Briton who died on Thursday after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms.
The US, Canada and Britain boosted screening at major airports.
The Moroccan government called for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations to be postponed due to the epidemic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted the number of cases could mount to 1.4 million by January unless strong measures are taken to contain the disease.
Re: Ebola
Reading about nurses has got me worried for my sister as she’s a doctor. May Allah cure those who have the disease and keep us all safe, Amin.
Re: Ebola
Amen.
Re: Ebola
apparently the second nurse that contracted Ebola in Texas DID consult with the CDC before she travelled to Chicago on the plane.
she told them that the had a low-grade fever (99 degrees) and was given the clearance to travel.
someone please explain how THAT happened.