Latest Ebola news, and it ain’t pretty

An Ebola treatment clinic in Monrovia was attacked by a group of youngsters claiming that the disease was made up by the West.  In the process, many sick patients have just disappeared into thin air.  The marauders looted the clinic (how smart is that?) and made off with mattresses and other items that were soiled by the body fluids of the sick.  It’s worth mentioning that the virus is spread by contact with body fluids of those showing symptoms of being sick.  In other words, those idiots just screwed themselves and anyone else that came in contact with the items from the clinic.

At the same time, there are sick people crossing from Liberia into Guinea, even though the Guinea border was supposedly closed around two weeks ago.  It seems as though many people there don’t believe this stuff is real.  I can’t grasp that given that there are reports that the government is very slow about picking up the dead bodies.  It seems that leaving the bodies around will lead to the spread of this instead of trying to limit the exposure by picking up and placing the bodies in quarantine as quickly as possible.

There’s also the thinking that the current counts are underrepresented of the true number of cases.  That may have some validity since patient zero was determined to have gotten sick in December of 2013.  That’s eight months plus of this virus being spread around.  I’m amazed that it didn’t jump the borders of the three original countries until Patrick Sawyer landed in Nigeria.

Here’s the most recent update from the CDC dated August 13, 2014:

Guinea

• The Guinea Ministry of Health announced a total of 519 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), including 376 laboratory confirmed, and 380 deaths.
• Affected districts include Conakry, Guéckédou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Dabola, Djingaraye, Télimélé, Boffa, Kouroussa, Dubreka, Fria, Siguiri, Pita, Nzerekore, and Yamou; several are no longer active areas of EVD transmission (see map).
• In Guinea’s capital city, Conakry, 95 suspect cases have been reported to meet the clinical definition for EVD, including 42 fatal cases.

Liberia

• The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia and WHO have reported 786 suspect and confirmed EHF cases, including 190 laboratory confirmations, and 413 deaths.

Nigeria

• The Nigerian Ministry of Health and WHO reported 12 suspect and confirmed cases, including 11 laboratory confirmed, and 4 deaths.

Sierra Leone

• The Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone and WHO reported a cumulative total of 810 suspect and confirmed cases, including 733 laboratory confirmed cases, and 348 deaths.
• Cases have been reported from all 12 Sierra Leone districts.

People were quick to laugh at the CDC having plans to fight a “Zombie apocalypse”, but that might not be such a bad contingency to plan for.  Ebola isn’t going to create zombies as they are usually created in the movies.  The idea of how the contagion spreads by contact, however, isn’t too far off from reality.  Finding a way to contain this virus is the only way to ensure the safety of us all.  There’s already been isolated cases of people being quarantined under suspicion of being sick.  Thank goodness that this has only spread to one other country beyond the original three so far.  I hope it stays that way and we can quickly get it under control.

 

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“Unprecedented” Ebola outbreak in progress

From CNN:

Ebola outbreaks usually are confined to remote areas, making it easier to contain. But this outbreak is different; patients have been identified in 60 locations in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Officials believe the wide footprint of this outbreak is partly because of the close proximity between the jungle where the virus was first identified and cities such as Conakry. The capital in Guinea has a population of 2 million and an international airport.

People are traveling without realizing they’re carrying the deadly virus. It can take between two and 21 days after exposure for someone to feel sick.

Reading about this outbreak brought the opening scene from 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes to mind.  In that scene, you see a pilot walking through an airport with a nose bleed.  From that scene, you see a single flight path morph into a continuously expanding network of flight paths.  Given the length of time between exposure to this virus and when a person gets sick, it is somewhat possible that a person could unknowingly transport this virus from the continent of Africa and spread it around the world.  I don’t think it’s very possible given the precautions taken by medical workers who treat this virus, but I think there is a remote possibility given that time-lapse before a person gets sick.  The virus isn’t easily transmitted from person to person, and a person only becomes contagious once they’re already sick.

From the same CNN article above, Doctors Without Borders say they already have more than 300 staff members and 40 tons of equipment there, and that still isn’t enough to fight this outbreak.  This isn’t something that you hear much about on the news here as we’re constantly deluged with the soap opera antics of Congress investigating “scandal” after “scandal”.  Given the nature of international travel, I think that more people should be concerned with the nature of this outbreak.  When the doctors treating the people there say that it’s out of control, then that should cause people’s ears to perk up just a bit.

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone 2014 *From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Updated Statistics from the CDC as of today:

As of June 20, 2014, the total number of confirmed and suspect Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) cases as stated by the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Guinea was 390, including 270 fatal cases and 260 laboratory confirmed cases. Active surveillance continues in Conakry, Guéckédou, Macenta, Télimélé, Dubreka, and Boffa districts.

The World Health Organization has stated that as of June 20, 2014, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone reported a cumulative total of 158 clinical cases of EHF (including 147 laboratory confirmations, 34 of these being fatal cases). Districts reporting clinical EHF patients include Kailahun, Kenema, Kambia, Port Loko, and Western. Reports and investigations of suspect cases continue across the country. Laboratory testing is being conducted in Kenema city. The Government of Sierra Leone, WHO, and CDC have sent experts to aid in the response and investigation.

As of June 22, 2014, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia had reported 51 overall clinical cases of EHF, including 34 laboratory confirmations, and 34 fatal cases. All cases reported in June have been from Lofa and Montserado districts. Laboratory testing is being conducted in Monrovia.

I don’t know how many people are paying attention to this, but as someone who deals with international travelers, not a day goes by where I don’t look to see what the latest news is.  The last thing I want to do is to see people showing up at my job in those “Outbreak” suits followed by people packing flame throwers.  When you see that, you know it’s too late to run.

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