IT'S SPREADING: Liberian dies in Morocco of Ebola

a reply to: Smidge

We're told that you can only catch Ebola from close contact with the victim's body fluids. Yet here we have proof of a killer virus that easily infects healthcare workers who are trying to help.

I think your image of an African hospital is a bit off.

I'm not going to post them here, but there are pictures out there that illustrate the scale of the problem. When someone with Ebola is dying, they are at the stage of internal and external hemorrhaging. And it's not a few drops. People literally bleed out from every hole in their body.

It's hard to get Ebola in a country like the US or most countries in Europe. The second blood is on the floor, someone comes to clean it, properly.

In Africa, it's hard to not get Ebola. You enter a hospital and you squash your feet in blood from Ebola patients.

a reply to: Smidge

There are various reports which state sawyer was a belligerent patient, refusing to admit any knowledge of ebola - even though his sister had died from it.

There are some reports which state he was throwing body fluids deliberately at his healthcare workers.

Now either the virus changes your personality making you belligerent and hostile...or he was a bit of a nasty piece of work.

The healthcare workers infection may be no fault of the system or their own.

I agree it's too early to worry about spread outside of west Africa... Although it must have rung a few alarm bells in government.

No doubt there will be a sudden spike in funding for vaccine research in western countries.

UPDATE: Nigeria's 2nd Case

So the Doctor who treated Sawyer in Nigeria in now infected.

Nigerian Doctor Who Treated Ebola Patient Tests Positive

Lagos recorded its second case of Ebola on Monday, in a doctor who treated U.S. victim Patrick Sawyer, Nigeria's health minister said.

...

"As of today, one of the doctors that treated the late Mr Sawyer has tested positive for the Ebola virus," Onyebuchi Chukwu told a news conference. Of 70 people who were under surveillance, eight had been "quarantined at an isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government," he added.

They are testing a man in New York City for Ebola right now.

The male patient came to the hospital’s emergency room early Monday morning with a high fever and gastrointestinal problems, the hospital said in a statement. The man had recently visited a West African country where Ebola has been reported, according to the hospital; he has “been placed in strict isolation” and is being screened for the virus.

Washington Post Article

originally posted by: DirtyD
A standrd trip to the emergency does not cost 2k. I sliced the tip of my thumb off and when it was all said and done it cost $700. Last time I was sick, I went to Urgent Care, had some tests run, it cost $125. My PCP was $75, now with insurance it costs $40 to see him.

If an Ebola epidemic hits the US, lack of available health care will not be the starting factor.

Ebola,,, You do realize that a 30-day supply of Atripla, a pill prescribed for HIV patients costs well over $2K? Without insurance, you have to find that money. How much would it cost a person to be tested, quarantined, and treated if necessary? (Keep in mind that a person wont be going home while the tests are still pending) Sorry to say it, but it will cost way more than it did to treat your snipped thumb.

a reply to: lance_covel
As for the potential cost, a non-sedating sublingual pill for a migraine headache costs nearly $100 each. If you haven't met your deductible, it's pain or pay up.

The lengthy in-hospital stays will be interesting. For the last few years, local hospital employ a team to comb over a patient's chart, looking for any legal way to discharge. They, in turn, are being leaned on by insurance companies. IMHO, neither the hatchet team nor insurance provider give a flip about a patient's condition.

a reply to: FearYourMind

More on your NY situation:

Report: 6 Tested in NYC Tested for Ebola; News Withheld from Public

“There have been about a half-a-dozen patients who have had their blood tested because of the concern. Those particular patients, their stories were not made public. This patient was. I'm not sure if that's because of heightened concern by the hospital or what that means exactly. But, again, we just can't say for sure until the final tests come back and you know, they want to be sure on this. It takes about a day or so.”

Liberia Clinics Close for Fear of Ebola.

A hospital in the Liberian capital is deserted. A lone security guard monitors an empty car park. Many health centres like this one are closed at a time when the country urgently needs medical help. The Ebola virus has killed nearly 900 people across four West African countries since February. Medical personnel here in Monrovia are too afraid of catching one of the world's deadliest diseases to come into work.

Well, the doctor in one of my previous posts predicted this would happen.

From today:

Sierra Leone Unable to Contain Ebola Outbreak


Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Doctors Without Borders coordinator Anja Wolz said the country needs international help if it is going to stop the situation from getting worse. Specifically, she called on the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to become involved.

"I think that the government and the ministry of health here in Sierra Leone is not able to deal with this outbreak. We need much more help from international organizations – as WHO, as CDC, as other organizations – to come to support the government,” she said.

"Still we have unsafe burials; people who are doing the burial without disinfection of the body; still we have patients who are hiding themselves; still we have patients or contacts of patients who are running away because they are afraid."

Just saw that a total of 5 new cases are confirmed in Nigeria.

Nigeria confirms five more Ebola cases and second death.

Nigeria on Wednesday confirmed five new cases of Ebola in Lagos and a second death from the virus, bringing the total number of infections in sub-Saharan Africa's largest city to seven.

"Nigeria has now recorded 7 confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVB)" health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.

Sawyer did a real number there....so 7 total.

Suspected Ebola victim dies in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi man who was being treated for Ebola-like symptoms has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's health ministry says.

If confirmed, this would be the first Ebola-related death outside Africa in an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people this year.

World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.

The two-day meeting will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.

Not looking good!

At least the CDC has increased their alert, rather than continuing to minimize this thing.

CDC Issues Highest Emergency Alert Amid Ebola Outbreak

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday ramped up its response to the expanding Ebola outbreak, a move that frees up hundreds of employees and signals the agency sees the health emergency as a potentially long and serious one.

The CDC’s “level 1 activation” is reserved for the most serious public health emergencies, and the agency said the move was appropriate considering the outbreak’s “potential to affect many lives.” The CDC took a similar move in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and again in 2009 during the bird-flu threat.

Edited for accuracy

Some more insight into why patients run away from hospitals:

I just saw one report where a patient was diagnosed with Ebola like symptoms, but he chose not to go to the hospital and went home and isolated himself in a room. He believed he did not have Ebola and refused to check in with other patients suspected of having Ebola.

It turned out that he did not have Ebola and had Malaria instead. He acquired some medicine and treated himself. He said if he had checked into the hospital, he would have contracted Ebola from the other patients.

Saudi being tested for Ebola dies in Jeddah

A Saudi man suspected of having contracted the Ebola virus during a recent business trip to Sierra Leone has died in Jeddah.

"A Saudi man suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus passed away at 8:45am on Wednesday at a specialised hospital in Jeddah", the Ministry of Health said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

The statement added that the Ministry of Health had submitted samples from the man to a US laboratory recommended by the World Health Organisation, as well as an accredited laboratory in Germany, for testing.

The ministry said it was working to trace the man's route of travel and monitoring people he came in contact with.

Here is the youtube copy of today's congressional hearing:



Samaritan's epidemiologists are saying the current CDC numbers, both in terms of cases and deaths, is but 25%-50% of the actual numbers.

The Saudi case is confirmed.

More on Sawyer: It turns out that while in Liberia, he was traveling with one of the most prominent physicians in Liberia touring ebola patients, and that physician openly mocked the existence of ebola while visiting a Samaritan facility. Apparently they tried to breach Samaritan's isolation ward with no gloves or protective gear. Sawyer and that physician then left and visited a hospital in downtown Monrovia to examine other Ebola patients. The physician died four days later.

Sawyer died a day later in Nigeria.

So Sawyer was actively touring claimed ebola patients in addition to supposedly caring for his sister.

What a freakin moron.

These were supposed to be educated men.

Loam, thanks for keeping up with the info. Your threads are a godsend cause I work long hours and can't keep my eyes open listening to mainstream media BS!

Stumbled onto this site which is interesting; click on the dots on the map and it'll give you the latest headline and a link.
Just for Africa so far; no links to the cases in India; Saudi; or Spain.
Healthmap.org 2014 Ebola

a reply to: SCGrits

No problem.

If you are also interested, you can see my theory on who that doctor was that Sawyer was traveling with: Here.

Thanks for the link, btw.

a reply to: loam

I call bs on the whole "Blame Sawyer" strategy. The US consortium was experimenting with viral hemorrhagic fevers in Nigeria at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital and the University of Lagos - not just Kenema Hospital at the epicenter in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Really cool thing: no ethics review or oversight.

Molecular Diagnostics for Lassa Fever at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Nigeria: Lessons Learnt from Two Years of Laboratory Operation

…….Only the laboratory at the hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, which has become operational since 2004 (after civil war forced its closure in 1993), is able to perform Lassa fever testing for patients [30]. In Nigeria, the situation improved with the implementation of Lassa virus PCR testing at a research laboratory of the University of Lagos ….

…….The diagnostic and research laboratory was built in 2008 and started operation in September 2008.

……..The study was classified as a service evaluation and granted exemption from ethical review by the Research and Ethics Committee of ISTH. …….Service evaluation is exempt from ethical review according to the National Code of Health Research Ethics, National Health Research Ethics Committee, Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria.