WHO Warns Ebola Outbreak Out Of Control, "High Risk Of Spread To Other Countries"

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Things just went to 11 on the Spinal-Tap amplifier of massive infectious disease outbreaks. As AP reports, the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in West Africa ismoving faster than the efforts to control the disease, the head of the World Health Organization warned. Dr. Margaret Chan pulled no punches in her direct statement, "If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries." Time to panic?

As AP reports,

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, saidthe meeting in Conakry "must be a turning point" in the battle against Ebola, which is now sickening people in three African capitals for the first time in history.

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At least 729 people in four countries — Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria — have died since cases first emerged back in March. Two American health workers in Liberia have been infected, and an American man of Liberian descent died in Nigeria from the disease, health authorities there say.

While health officials say the virus is transmitted only through direct contact with bodily fluids, many sick patients have refused to go to isolation centersand have infected family members and other caregivers.

The fatality rate has been about 60 percent, and the scenes of patients bleeding from the eyes, mouth and ears has led many relatives to keep their sick family members at home instead.

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"Constant mutation and adaptation are the survival mechanisms of viruses and other microbes," she said. "We must not give this virus opportunities to deliver more surprises."

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"I believe we're only seeing a small portion of the cases out there ... The virus is getting to large, dense, city areas. We're now getting samples (to test) from all over," he said Friday.

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Meanwhile, other countries are taking precautions to prevent the spread of Ebola.

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Interestingly, worries are spreading quickly as one Commonwealth Games competitor found:

a cyclist from Sierra Leone competed in the Commonwealth Games after being tested for Ebola. Moses Sesay, 32, was admitted to a Glasgow hospital last week after feeling unwell, and doctors tested him for various conditions including Ebola. Sesay was passed fit, and released from hospital in time to compete in the individual time trial on Thursday.

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Executive Order -- Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

REVISED LIST OF QUARANTINABLE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 264(b) of title 42, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Amendment to Executive Order 13295. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Acting Surgeon General, and for the purposes set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, as amended by Executive Order 13375 of April 1, 2005, section 1 of Executive Order 13295 shall be further amended by replacing subsection (b) with the following:

"(b) Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled. This subsection does not apply to influenza."

Sec. 2. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA
 

Honestly, sorry to say, NO ONE should be allowed to travel to a country that is free of the disease, quarantined, citizen or not. It's bigger than the person.

 

WHO Warns "No End In Sight" As 170 Ebola Healthcare Workers Now Infected

"The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in west Africa continues to evolve in alarming ways, with no immediate end in sight," is the ominous warning this morning from the World Health Organization. The WHO statement confirmed that a stunning 170 health-care workers (the ones covered from head to toe in protective garments) have been infected with Ebola and at least 81 have died. "Treatment facilities are oveflowing," they note as they prepare to hold an emergency meeting today on experimental therapies. But apart from that, as Western media says, it is contained and does not pose a risk to Americans...

Excerpted from WHO Statement:

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in west Africa continues to evolve in alarming ways, with no immediate end in sight. Many barriers stand in the way of rapid containment.

The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, have only recently returned to political stability following years of civil war and conflict, whichleft health systems largely destroyed or severely disabled.

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The recent surge in the number of cases has stretched all capacities to the breaking point. Supplies of personal protective equipment and disinfectants are inadequate. The outbreak continues to outstrip diagnostic capacity, delaying the confirmation or exclusion of cases and impeding contact tracing.

Some treatment facilities are overflowing; all beds are occupied and patients are being turned away.

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Six months into the outbreak, fear is proving to be the most difficult barrier to overcome. Fear causes contacts of cases to escape from the surveillance system, families to hide symptomatic loved ones or take them to traditional healers, and patients to flee treatment centres. Fear, and the hostility it can feed, have threatened the security of national and international response teams.

Health-care staff fear for their lives. To date, more than 170 health-care workers have been infected and at least 81 have died.

Outbreak control is further compromised when fear causes airlines to refuse to transport personal protective equipment and courier services to refuse to transport properly and securely packaged patient samples to a WHO-approved laboratory.

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On Monday 11 August, WHO will hold an emergency meeting with ethicists, drug regulators, scientific experts and lay people to assess the role of experimental therapies in the Ebola outbreak response. Issues to be considered include the extent of available scientific data on efficacy and safety, principles for guiding access to these therapies, principles for fair distribution, and possibilities for rapid augmentation of supplies and their distribution.

 

Wow, this could be a MAJOR MAJOR world crisis. Not that it isnt already but WOW

 

where did it come from

is it another virus that escaped? from a US lab

(The New world order springs to mind)

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