Malaria Cases Mix With Ebola Amid ‘Slow Motion Disaster’

Just saw this on Google News via Bloomberg.com...

As the death toll rises in West Africa amid the worst Ebola outbreak on record, a separate threat is compounding the problem: the rainy season and the malaria cases that come with it.

In Sierra Leone, with the most Ebola cases in the epidemic, a fearful population is failing to seek medical attention for any diseases, health officials say. If they have malaria, the feeling is they don’t want to go near a hospital with Ebola cases. If it’s Ebola, they don’t believe the hospitals can help them anyway.

It’s a widening problem complicated by the fact that Ebola, malaria and cholera share common symptoms early on, including fever and vomiting, which can cause confusion among patients, said Cyprien Fabre, head of the West Africa office of the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department.

“We now have increased mortality for these other diseases” as well, Fabre said by telephone from Freetown, the country’s capital, after visiting Ebola treatment centers in Kenema and Kailahun near the eastern border. “This is a slow-motion disaster.”

If the Ebola outbreak wasn't bad enough, here comes the rainy season in Africa and with it, Malaria. While there are anti-Malarial drugs, no vaccine currently exists to prevent it. In theory, some poor soul could come down with both Ebola and Malaria!

The CDC provides recommendations for travelers visiting countries where Malaria could pose an actual threat. However, no antimalarial drug is 100 percent effective and must be combined with the use of protective measures such as insect repellants, long sleeves and pants and using mosquito netting over your sleeping area. They do provide a "list" of drugs to take depending on what part of the world one may be traveling/living in.

According to the article, the people in this part of the world are fearful of going to the hospital for treatment if they come down with Malaria symptoms:

“I’m afraid of going to the hospital because if they don’t tell you about having Ebola, it will be something else that will break your heart,” said Ibrahim Kalokoh, a 34-year-old disc jockey, in an interview in Freetown. “If I am experiencing malaria symptoms, I would rather rush to a pharmacy and buy drugs than go to the hospital.”

“Right now,” he added, “‘going to the hospital is the worst you can suggest to me, with all the Ebola noise around.’’

I truly hope that TPTB get a hold on the Ebola outbreak and provide education, supplies, and medications in order to prevent the spread of these other ailments, like Malaria. Instead of spending billions of dollars on those BS wars, money and resources should be used to get a handle on the outbreak, where it lives. I also hope that both the US and/or Germany are close to either some sort of cure or vaccine and that is why they transferred those patients suffering with Ebola out of Africa.

This part of the world is hard enough to live in as it is. Limited resources, constant threat of warfare and raids, and poverty are challenging enough. Add the Ebola outbreak AND diseases like Cholera and Malaria? This combo could ultimately cause catastrophic casualties and loss of life in this part of the world, and possibly beyond.

Link to the Bloomberg article: LINK

Link to the CDC info page about Malaria: CDC LINK

a reply to: lovebeck

Just wait until Flu season hits!

If they don't have this under control by then, my prediction will be mass chaos and possibly martial law and massive quarantines of large numbers of people.......

I hope I'm very wrong, but I'm saying now.......

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: lovebeck

Just wait until Flu season hits!

If they don't have this under control by then, my prediction will be mass chaos and possibly martial law and massive quarantines of large numbers of people.......

I hope I'm very wrong, but I'm saying now.......

Are you talking about here in the U.S. or Africa...just sayin'

Des

a reply to: seeker1963

I hope you're referring to Africa, and not the US. If there was just an outbreak of Ebola here, in the US, I believe they would impose Martial Law and mandatory quarantines immediately. As a nurse, I believe I would REALLY have to possibly consider another line of work at that point, too. At what point does a doctor, nurse, or other health care worker put themselves and their families at serious risk? That is a hard thing to think about, and in the end I would probably keep doing what I love and do best as I honestly cannot fathom having to find a different profession!

This is all very scary, and serious, stuff. While I don't think there is a big conspiracy regarding the two doctors currently being treated in Atlanta, the thought of an Ebola outbreak here scares me silly! Not so much because of the disease, but because of the way people would react. I have always been interested in epidemiology, viruses and pandemics and, until now, Ebola was always an "Africa" problem. Not so sure about that now though!

a reply to: Destinyone

The US or anywhere Destiny.

Look at the fear now.

Like I said, I hope I am very wrong....

Just found this article. Seems our friends at the CFR is calling the Ebola problem "out of control."

LA Times article: Council on Foriegn Relations opinion on the Ebola Outbreak

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: lovebeck

Just wait until Flu season hits!

If they don't have this under control by then, my prediction will be mass chaos and possibly martial law and massive quarantines of large numbers of people.......

I hope I'm very wrong, but I'm saying now.......

There a big diffrence between flu and ebola.

For any US wide epidemic it has to establish itself in the US first. Beyond healthcare and airport staff its unlikely it will.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: lovebeck

Just wait until Flu season hits!

If they don't have this under control by then, my prediction will be mass chaos and possibly martial law and massive quarantines of large numbers of people.......

I hope I'm very wrong, but I'm saying now.......

There a big diffrence between flu and ebola.

For any US wide epidemic it has to establish itself in the US first. Beyond healthcare and airport staff its unlikely it will.

Yes there is!

However, at least on the MSM in the states, they keep saying that two symptoms are gastrointestinal and fever. Sound like another illness?

That's why I specified that if they don't have this underwraps by flu season.

How will they quickly be able to tell one from the other? We have already seen that it is taking a few days for results.....

Of course its unlikely given the circumstances....but imagine an overwhelmed security staff.....hordes of panicked people and fear you can actually taste its so palpable......
This is the kind of stuff that can be a world changer....get my drift....

originally posted by: stirling
Of course its unlikely given the circumstances....but imagine an overwhelmed security staff.....hordes of panicked people and fear you can actually taste its so palpable......
This is the kind of stuff that can be a world changer....get my drift....

It's absolutely the kind of stuff that can change the world. I just hope that if things pop off, it changes for the better. Hopefully this is just an attempt by the media to stir up anxiety in the name of ratings and things don't pop off!
I truly believe there is a terrible crisis, in Africa. Whether that crisis spreads to the rest of the world remains to be seen.