Ebola outbreak in Africa, 2014

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 23, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28439941

Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, who is leading the work against ebola in Sierra Leone, has been stricken with the virus.

He has been admitted to the hospital in Kailahun for treatment.

In separate news, dozens of nurses at the government hospital in Kenema Town (which treats cases from the district which includes Freetown in Sierra Leone) went on a brief sit-down strike Monday after three of their colleagues died of ebola-like symptoms. They are asking that the ebola ward be moved and the operations taken over by Medecins Sans Frontières.

firedrake · Jul 23, 2014

Bloody hell. It's a bit worrying when the doctors and nurses get it.

I just noticed that this thread has been going since March. That seems like a very long outbreak to me.

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 23, 2014

firedrake said:
Bloody hell. It's a bit worrying when the doctors and nurses get it.
I just noticed that this thread has been going since March. That seems like a very long outbreak to me.

It is. I think it may be unprecedented.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/07/west-africa-ebola-outbreak-total-tops-1000

The number of people who have been identified as infected is now over a thousand, and there have been more than 600 fatalities.

cornflake · Jul 23, 2014

The location and number of casualties, both infected and who have died, is certainly unprecedented.

Medical personnel are, sadly, often susceptible - same as why they try to get the infected, and the bodies, away from the families, as those caring for them are at risk.

If there's any good news, it's that that fatality rate, while horrific, has been brought down considerably by good supportive care. Hopefully the dr. will make it.

Unimportant · Jul 23, 2014

Alessandra Kelley said:
It is. I think it may be unprecedented.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/07/west-africa-ebola-outbreak-total-tops-1000

The number of people who have been identified as infected is now over a thousand, and there have been more than 600 fatalities.

The mortality rate has been about 60%, whereas normally with Ebola it's more like 90%. I'm guessing this is a new strain, and because it's leaving more victims alive it's able to stick around longer and get passed to more people.

cornflake · Jul 23, 2014

Unimportant said:
The mortality rate has been about 60%, whereas normally with Ebola it's more like 90%. I'm guessing this is a new strain, and because it's leaving more victims alive it's able to stick around longer and get passed to more people.

From what I've read it's not - they've managed to bring the fatality rate down that much with good supportive care. The downside of the outbreak occurring outside a rural, isolated village is the length, persistence, spread, danger, etc. Apparently the upside is the better available medical facilities.

Albedo · Jul 25, 2014

Nigeria government confirms Ebola case in megacity of Lagos

(Reuters) - A Liberian man who died in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Friday tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.

Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on Sunday after flying into Lagos, a city of 21 million people, and was taken from the airport and put in isolation in a local hospital. Nigeria confirmed earlier on Friday that he had died in quarantine.

It's not in this article, but others have stated this guy left Liberia with no symptoms at all.

Right now, the only thing preventing this from turning into the worst pandemic since 1918 (at least) is the continued vigilance of your local public health workers.

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 26, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28505061

The first identified cases have shown up in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital city.

After a woman tested positive for ebola on Thursday, her family "forcibly" removed her from the hospital and she fled. She later turned herself in, but died afterwards.

Dozens of people in Sierra Leone have tested positive for the virus but are unaccounted for.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Kenema yesterday in protest of the government's handling of the crisis.

Nigerian health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu says that all passengers on the flight mentioned in Albedo's post above have been traced and are being monitored.

kaitie · Jul 26, 2014

I'm normally hugely in favor of large public protests, but I can't help but cringe at the idea of that during an ebola outbreak. My first thought is please don't let anyone in that crowd be sick.

ShaunHorton · Jul 26, 2014

Alessandra Kelley said:
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Kenema yesterday in protest of the government's handling of the crisis.

Yes. Because when you have a crisis of a virulent, deadly disease, the smart thing to do is gather in the thousands.

This is not looking good. Could this be the Plague or the 1918 Influenza of our time?

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 29, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28542577

Liberia has suspended all football activities to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Nigeria has limited the number of people who can be on an elevator to four.

Various sports stars and officials are helping with public awareness campaigns.

According to the WHO's data this is the worst outbreak ever, with twice as many infections as the previous worst outbreak, the first one in 1976 in Zaire along the Ebola River.

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 30, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28576010

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia has announced that the government will close all schools across the country, and some communities will be quarantined. Nonessential government workers will be sent home for 30 days and public facilities will be disinfected.

heza · Aug 1, 2014

How concerned should I be about this?

Two American patients stricken with Ebola will not be flown back from Africa to the U.S. until early next week, ABC News has learned.

The only reason I wasn't hyperventilating about this outbreak before is that it wasn't here... but now it's going to be. Should I fret? I feel like fretting.

Prozyan · Aug 1, 2014

heza said:
The only reason I wasn't hyperventilating about this outbreak before is that it wasn't here... but now it's going to be. Should I fret? I feel like fretting.

Its not like Ebola is the flu. Its really kind of hard to spread from average person to average person.

Until the virus decides it wants to mutate and become airborne, its going to be fairly easy to quarantine in the first world nations.

Disa · Aug 2, 2014

heza said:
How concerned should I be about this?

The only reason I wasn't hyperventilating about this outbreak before is that it wasn't here... but now it's going to be. Should I fret? I feel like fretting.

One patient has arrived already. The plane is prepping to go get the other one.

elinor · Aug 2, 2014

There are 2 BSL 4 labs in Atlanta and I feel pretty safe. The procedures the CDC has in place are VERY secure to the point where someone would pretty much have to intentionally fuck up.

The only quibble I've had has been their recent issue of some idiots not securing their anthrax - http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/health/cdc-lab-director-resigns/ - but because of what a serious incident that was I'm betting they don't want to embarrass the shit out of themselves so soon after being caught with their pants down, so they will be a little more alert. Plus honestly I am not that worried about Ebola considering its method of infection. For all the fuckups the BSL 4 and 3 labs have had here they are still top notch.

nighttimer · Aug 2, 2014

heza said:
How concerned should I be about this?

The only reason I wasn't hyperventilating about this outbreak before is that it wasn't here... but now it's going to be. Should I fret? I feel like fretting.

Prozyan said:
Its not like Ebola is the flu. Its really kind of hard to spread from average person to average person.

Until the virus decides it wants to mutate and become airborne, its going to be fairly easy to quarantine in the first world nations.

Well, if Donald Trump is freaking out about ebola in the U.S. I guess we should all be freaking out too.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump let loose on Twitter with a series of doomsday predictions following news that a pair of Americans who had contracted the Ebola virus would be brought to the U.S. for treatment.

Trump began his rant Thursday night and quickly ratcheted up the rhetoric, including condemning the two aid workers who contracted the virus while treating Ebola patients in Africa.

"People that go to far away places to help out are great," Trump wrote in one tweet, "but must suffer the consequences!"

"Suffer the consequences?" Get stuffed, you pompous jerkwad. Is one of the consequences for an American citizen who contracts ebola while in Africa is they have to be treated and possibly die in Africa with the Africans or can they be readmitted and treated back home in America?

Hopefully, other nations will prohibit Trump from coming to their country lest his rampant ego and stupidity infect their populace.

Prozyan · Aug 2, 2014

What an asshole.

Kweei · Aug 4, 2014

Apparently, Mount Sinai in New York is testing a man who returned from West Africa where ebola is present since he is running a high fever.

That's 4 hours away from me. I'm a bit nervous.

Zoombie · Aug 4, 2014

Man...

This was NOT a good week to buy and play the video game Plague Inc: Evolved.

ShaunHorton · Aug 4, 2014

Zoombie said:
Man...

This was NOT a good week to buy and play the video game Plague Inc: Evolved.

Ooooo....that looks neat.

Zoombie · Aug 4, 2014

It makes you really nervous about plagues, though.

clintl · Aug 4, 2014

nighttimer said:
Hopefully, other nations will prohibit Trump from coming to their country lest his rampant ego and stupidity infect their populace.

On the other hand, maybe we could give him to the Russians as an additional sanction, and let him do his pillaging there.

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 10, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28731633

Lewis Brown, Liberia's information minister, has announced that Liberia's health care system has been overwhelmed.

Earlier, the co-ordinator for Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in Liberia, Lindis Hurum, told the BBC: "Our capacity is stretched beyond anything that we ever done before in regards to Ebola response."

The Guinean government denied an earlier news report that said it had sealed its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A Roman Catholic priest in Madrid who contracted ebola in Liberia will be treated with Zmapp, the same experimental drug that was given to two US aid workers.

Kweei said:
Apparently, Mount Sinai in New York is testing a man who returned from West Africa where ebola is present since he is running a high fever.

That's 4 hours away from me. I'm a bit nervous.

It wasn't ebola. Friends of mine in NYC are annoyed that the story that it might be got big play, but the one that revealed it wasn't was obscure and hidden.

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 12, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28754899

The Spanish priest, Miguel Pajares, who had contracted ebola whilst doing mission work in Liberia and was given the experimental drug Zmapp, has died.

The hospital where he worked, in the Liberian capital of Monrovia, has been closed. Its director, Patrick Nshamdze, and a Congolese nun who worked there died last week.

Ebola outbreak in Africa, 2014

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