Ebola Update: Ten New Cases Confirmed & More Suspected - "The epidemic is out of control"

The Ebola outbreak which originated in Guinea then spread to Liberia, seems to be "out of control":

Ten new cases of the Ebola virus have been confirmed in Liberia, raising the total to 29, Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyensweah said Wednesday. Fourteen suspected cases have also been discovered, according to the government. In addition, three more people have died from the disease, which has so far claimed more than 30 lives in Liberia, according to the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO). Of the confirmed cases, 21 are in northern Lofa County, while eight are in the capital Monrovia, Nyensweah told dpa. The Health Ministry has asked the public to inform the authorities about any deaths occurring in homes or backyard clinics before burial. Ebola, which has a fatality rate of 90%, is one of the most contagious viral diseases known. In March, the virus spread from Guinea to neighbouring Liberia.

hisz.rsoe.hu...

It appears that the WHO is having a tough time containing this outbreak as it continues to spread.

There is also an out break in Sierra Leone and it appears that officials are trying to downplay it:

The World Health Organization on Wednesday announced it was changing the way it reports fatalities from the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone at the request of the government.

Previously, probable and suspected deaths from Ebola were included in the count but from now on, only laboratory confirmed cases will be reported, reducing the death toll in Sierra Leone from 58 to 34 as of Tuesday.

The way the deaths are reported in Guinea and Liberia, the other two countries hit by the outbreak, will remain unchanged, said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.

www.foxnews.com...

This part particularly caught my attention:

Doctors Without Borders has described the outbreak as "out of control" and said with cases in more than 60 sites, its resources are stretched to the limit.

I know that these outbreaks come and go and are usually contained in a timely manner, but experts seem to believe that this specific outbreak is worth keeping an eye on:

"The epidemic is out of control," said Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. "With the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas."

"Ebola is no longer a public health issue limited to Guinea: it is affecting the whole of West Africa," said Janssens, urging WHO, affected countries and their neighbours to deploy more resources especially trained medical staff.

af.reuters.com...

Hopefully for the well-being of everyone in that area it is contained soon because if this were to mutate and somehow find its way into the global travel grid the consequences could be drastic.

Here's an interesting theory/twist - could this be weaponized Ebola that people have warned us about?

Probably not but it's worth considering...at the very least it could be a test run.

Something on the news caught my attention and I would like to know more about is that the corps of someone who died with ebola is highly contagious and that local funeral practices must be altered for the disease to be further controlled.

I believe people in the rest of the world will only take this more seriously once it has crossed the ocean. It is a scary prospect.

a reply to: aboutface

This is the first that I hear about the incident which you mentioned but I would love to learn more so I will try and look it up. I also agree that if this does cross the ocean it will be taken more seriously. From what I have researched there has never been a confirmed case of Ebola outside of Continental Africa with the exception of the Reston ebolavirus which appears to be a far lesser threat - the East Coast of the USA (just found this out myself).

Reston virus

Reston virus (abbreviated RESTV) was first described in 1990 as a new "strain" of Ebola virus (EBOV), a result of mutation from Ebola virus.[1] It is the single member of the species Reston ebolavirus, which is included into the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales.[2] Reston virus is named after Reston, Virginia, US, where the virus was first discovered.

RESTV was discovered in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. This attracted significant media attention due to the proximity of Reston to the Washington, DC metro area, and the lethality of a closely related Ebola virus. Despite its status as a level-4 organism, Reston virus is non-pathogenic to humans, though hazardous to monkeys;[3][4] the perception of its lethality was confounded due to the monkey's coinfection with Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV).

en.wikipedia.org...

List of Ebola outbreaks

Ebola outbreaks have been restricted to Africa, with the exception of Reston ebolavirus.

en.wikipedia.org...

Cheers.

As long as no funeral homes have hearses with pro-Al Qaeda or ISIS bumper stickers....

That was a plot in a book and made a pretty good novel too. That was back before persistent Ebola outbreaks in absurdly accessible areas started becoming more common.

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

As long as no funeral homes have hearses with pro-Al Qaeda or ISIS bumper stickers....

Don't worry, I haven't seen Senator John McCain in that part of Africa recently so we should be safe in that regards - I hope!

That was a plot in a book and made a pretty good novel too. That was back before persistent Ebola outbreaks in absurdly accessible areas started becoming more common.

May I please ask which book?

Thanks!

a reply to: Corruption Exposed

Of course you may ask!

It was one of the only political thriller books it took days to listen to on unabridged audio. It's one of the best of the series though.

Executive Orders

a reply to: Corruption Exposed

Thanks for posting. I hadn't caught this. My comments are as follows: 1) from everything I've read, Ebola is NOT that easily transmitted. It isn't airborne; it's spread by contact with fluids, typically blood and diarrhea. So this arSticle is a bit misleading in that respect but that's to be expected because the Global Progressives want to make the biggest possible deal they can out of this; then 2) if its still only in NW Africa, its not out of control. Even if an infected person crawled upon an airplane and landed in Newark, by the time they showed symptoms, the US medical protocols would probably stop any spread from that individual.

Based upon my reading and research, they haven't militarized Ebola because it's not sufficiently contagious to do them any good. My research indicates they've weaponized Bird Flu, Spanish Flu, Small Pox and Bubonic Plague. They tested the weaponized version in Mexico in 2009 or 2010 I believe and it wasn't nearly as virulent as they'd hoped. Of course, as far as the establishment is concerned, the good news is the bird flu has made it into the US at San Antonio through their minor children alien invasion program: see:
www.breitbart.com...

So.....guess we'll be avoiding San Antonio for the rest of the summer.

a reply to: TonyS

So this arSticle is a bit misleading in that respect but that's to be expected because the Global Progressives want to make the biggest possible deal they can out of this;

I disagree that the article is misleading due to the nature of the outbreak, this is unlike anything they have ever seen before according to those dealing with it at least. Ebola is not that difficult to spread if you consider an outbreak in a major urban center...and that's with the known strains...if it were to mutate who knows what could happen...ebola mutations have been documented before. Even with the current way that it spreads, it is difficult to contain and very dangerous - let's hope this one doesn't become airborne.

I suggest taking a look at this outbreak since its beginning until now and some of the patterns seem to be rather irregular - it keeps popping up. Fruit bats and other similar animals are capable of spreading this disease so it's not only spread by humans.

Even if an infected person crawled upon an airplane and landed in Newark, by the time they showed symptoms, the US medical protocols would probably stop any spread from that individual.

Ebola can be slow acting, and difficult to diagnose, so screening procedures are not as air-tight as you have portrayed them to be. It would be simple for someone to walk off a plane and make their way to their intended destination to then swap bodily fluids with their loved ones.

We had a scare here in Canada, the passenger was screened but later became ill, thankfully it was not the ebola.

a reply to: TonyS

Thank you for info. Why so sure Ebola isn't weaponised? I doubt they would tell us if it were. I hope your right though, we don't need this right now.

This article explains that this is the largest outbreak ever but that the chances of it expanding beyond Africa are very low but they guess that Paris would be the first non-African city to get hit if it were to expand:

The outbreak in West Africa is the largest in history. Nearly 500 people have caught the hemorrhagic virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The death toll so far is 338, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

"The chance of Ebola spreading out of West Africa is very, very low," says infectious disease specialist Kamran Khan, with St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "But if it did spread, Paris is probably the first city on the list."

www.npr.org...

The source is a blog, but the author does a decent job of backing up their claims/opinions even if I disagree with some of their details - I would suggest to take it with a grain of salt but it's still a good read in my opinion.

a reply to: subliminal1x

Based upon everything I've read, they wouldn't want to weaponize Ebola for two primary reasons. First and foremost of course is that it's not readily transferable; it isn't airborne and is contracted only through physical contact with the bodily fluids of the infected person. So, (and this is a rather gross example), to use it as a weapon, a government would have to gather up the bodies of still living infected people, strap bombs on them and then place them in crowded venues and blow them up. The second reason is one of self-preservation. The Elites need ways to control populations and mass kill offs is a good way to do so, as long as there's a cure! There's no cure for Ebola, so God forbid it were to be successfully altered to be spread airborne, the Elites and their privileged offspring might accidentally be infected and there's no cure. They don't mind killing us, in fact that can be quite entertaining, but they don't want to suffer the same fate!

If the WHO says the outbreak is out of control I would tend to believe them over any government spokeman.A horrible disease.

a reply to: Corruption Exposed

All the more reason to quarantine any and all traffic coming from Africa until such time as the disease is better understood. But as far as the disease mutating into an airborne disease, its highly improbable. See:
www.columbia.edu...

a reply to: TonyS

Thanks for the link

I wouldn't go as far to say that it has been weaponized, but I'm fairly confident that they have at least tried, and if they were to succeed as an other member mentioned, they would probably not notify the general public.

My opinion is that they would keep this type of experimentation on a top-secret need to know basis...just a hunch, I have no way to back up my claim.

As you stated, as of now all known strains are not airborne (thank goodness) but virus mutations are quite common whether the mutation is naturally occurring or developed in a lab. Of course this is all speculation in regards to the mutation but even its current form, saliva, blood and other bodily fluids such as fecal matter are more prevalent than we imagine.

I wonder how long the virus could survive on a surface such as a door nob or toilet seat?

I'm guessing not for too long but I haven't had the chance to research that yet.

The virus in its present form could spread quite quickly in the proper environment.

Cheers.

a reply to: Corruption Exposed

From my understanding, the reason that they are freaking out so much about this is that the ability of the virus to mutate into something more easily transmitted grows with every new human case that occurs. There was a case of it going airborne in a test lab between monkeys, if I remember correctly.

That is why they so readily move to contain it. Every new infection is one step closer to this thing getting airborne, and if that happens, with such a long incubation period, we're talking about the potential for a Black Plague type pandemic.

a reply to: aboutface

Yes, any body fluids are highly infectious and the corpse will be leaking lots of them for quite a while.

Funeral practices in parts of Africa involve weeping, wailing and all kinds of falling across the body of the deceased. Lots of physical contact with the body.

Those two things above are bad news.

a reply to: AnIntellectualRedneck

I've never thought of it like that but since you put it that way it certainly seems to make sense. That's normally how most viruses mutate - going from one victim to the next.

I also believe to recall the airborne lab case among monkeys that you mentioned, regrettably I cannot find anything in regards to that incident.

I did find claims of pig to monkey transmission in a lab environment though:

When news broke that the Ebola virus had resurfaced in Uganda, investigators in Canada were making headlines of their own with research indicating the deadly virus may spread between species, through the air.

The team, comprised of researchers from the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, the University of Manitoba, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, observed transmission of Ebola from pigs to monkeys. They first inoculated a number of piglets with the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus. Ebola-Zaire is the deadliest strain, with mortality rates up to 90 percent. The piglets were then placed in a room with four cynomolgus macaques, a species of monkey commonly used in laboratories. The animals were separated by wire cages to prevent direct contact between the species.

healthmap.org...

I can't vouch for the authenticity of the claims in this article but it sure is interesting.

a reply to: ketsuko

From what I can tell, many people seem to dismiss Ebola since it's currently not known to be airborne but the fluids in whichever form that contain the virus are abundant and don't just disappear as you and another member have pointed out in regards to funeral practices.

I hate to sound insensitive, but in my opinion it would be a good idea to incinerate the bodies of the victims (once they are dead of course - sorry for stating the obvious). If the common cold can be spread through fluids on surfaces to other humans, I'm confident Ebola can too which brings me back to my previous question - how long does this virus stay contagious on a contaminated surface?

I'm going to try and find some info on this...

Cheers.

a reply to: TonyS

I didn't know the bird flu had made it to the States so thanks for that info. I wouldn't say that the bird flu is hard to spread though. They say mono only spreads through bodily fluids yet I got it. I've not shared a cup or utensil with anyone. I've not kissed anyone. I have no clue how I got this. If Ebola can live on a surface where someone sneezes even for a minute someone can catch it. Im not sure if diseases can mutate with regard to finding a way in, so maybe you or someone else knows the answer to this. What a painful miserable way to die.

a reply to: Corruption Exposed

I asked my husband (microbiologist), and I think he said it's not too durable once the fluids dry out. So the viability won't last for very long on a dry surface or the open environment ... I'd ask him again, but he's not home at the moment. Cold and flu viruses are lots more durable by comparison.

And the experiments where they proved airborne transmissibility were also in very carefully setup and controlled lab conditions, too. They pretty much set up specific environmental conditions that facilitated airborne transmissibility - proximity, humidity, temperature, etc. That doesn't mean there wasn't airborne transmission and that it wasn't aided by a mutation. Also, I think the virus wound up sacrificing some of its pathogenicity in order to make that mutation.

So, things were more or less weighted to ease the result they were looking for. I may also be mixing up things my husband has told me about different diseases, too. It's always hard to relate things like this second-hand when it's really his area of expertise and not mine. I might be mixing up things he knows about one of flu strains and ebola, for example.