₦airaland Forum

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2711325/Weve-never-known-epidemic-Its-absolutely-control-Grave-fears-spread-Ebola-virus-Doctors-Without-Borders-admits-things-worse.html

Sierra Leone today declared a public health emergency to tackle the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola and will call in security forces to quarantine areas of the deadly virus.

President Ernest Bai Koroma said the measures resembled a tough anti-Ebola package announced by neighbouring Liberia last night.
Koroma also announced he was cancelling a visit to Washington for a U.S.-Africa summit next week because of the crisis.

The move came as world's premier health charity issued a grave warning about the likely spread of the deadly Ebola virus - an epidemic it fears 'can only get worse'.

Doctors Without Borders (aka Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF]) says the threat of the disease spreading beyond western Africa, where it was first detected in Guinea in February, is frighteningly real and said it was 'absolutely out of control'.

Mod, please why can't this make front page, is the news not important or as usual you are behaving like lapdogs for politicians/ government and vetting what is acceptable for the front page.

This is a transnational health emergency and I am seriously ashamed at this bias. Well you own the site so who can complain. However, you render a social service and you should be a bit responsible

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/ebola-panic-spreads/

LAGOS—Following the death in Nigeria of a Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, panic has gripped Nigerians especially all those who were in the same flight with him from Liberia.

Also in panic were airport staff, who assisted him when he collapsed before he was rushed to the hospital where he eventually died.

Those who had contact with the Ebola victim, most of whom have been quarantined were apprehensive that they may have contracted the deadly virus.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/10999981/Ebola-virus-outbreak-live.html


The leaders of Sierra Leone and Liberia, two of the worst affected countries, have cancelled plans to attend the summit.

It is unclear whether the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, still plans to travel to Washington.

"I have spoken to all three heads of state to get from them where they see things going and what we can do to better assist them and we will be discussing that during the summit," Ms Thomas-Greenfield told an audience at the Atlantic Council.

16.40 The world aviation authority said it held emergency talks with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to discuss the proposed changes, amid the worst ever outbreak of the highly contagious disease.
"The WHO, ICAO considered passenger screening revisions to the WHO document on travel and transport in light of recent events," said an ICAO statement.

"These are still being reviewed by the WHO, which was also intending to seek inputs from the World Tourism Organization and Airports Council International (ACI)," it said, AFP reports.

Nobody is spreading fear, you are the ostrich like the government digging your head in the sand instead of solving your problem.


(AFP) – Fifty-seven more deaths from the Ebola epidemic spreading alarm in west Africa have pushed the overall fatality toll from the outbreak to 729, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

The 57 deaths were recorded between Thursday and Sunday last week in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the UN health agency said in a statement.

It added that 122 new cases were detected over the four days, taking the total number of confirmed and likely infected cases to 1,323.

12.47 The boss of one of the charities pulling its non-essential staff out mentioned earlier believes "thousands" could die, he tells the WSJ.

"This is a growing crisis of proportions that will cost, we think, thousands of lives and maybe more," said Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA.

"The international community has the resources and people to respond, but they need to respond."

The newspaper reported "SIM will evacuate about 60 to 70 spouses, children and other nonmedical staff in the next few days, Mr. Johnson said".

12.57 Nigerian fraudsters are apparently claiming they can cure Ebola if it breaks out there, reports Mike Pflanz.

Lagos State Government has warned the public to be wary of some pastors who claim to have cure for the dreaded Ebola virus.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, specifically advised the citizenry to be wary of the activities of alleged fraudsters who were reportedly making spurious claims about their ability to provide cure for the deadly virus.

He called on those who wanted to rip off members of the public to desist from such claims of cure or risk arrest and prosecution.

“Only medical solutions are known to be appropriate for the disease,” said Mr Ibirogba.

Bart Janssens, MSF’s director of operations, warned that governments and global bodies had no “overarching view” of how to tackle the outbreak.

“This epidemic is unprecedented, absolutely out of control and the situation can only get worse, because it is still spreading, above all in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in some very important hotspots,” he said.

“If the situation does not improve fairly quickly, there is a real risk of new countries being affected,” he told La Libre Belgique newspaper.

A British doctor volunteering in Sierra Leone treating Ebola patients told Metro newspaper that medical staff were swamped.

“The main challenge here, though, is that the health authorities just don’t have the infrastructure to cope. They’re overwhelmed,” Benjamin Black said.

LONDON (AFP) – Fears that the west African Ebola outbreak could spread to other continents grew on Wednesday with European and Asian countries on alert and a leading medical charity warning the epidemic was out of control.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the crisis gripping Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone would only get worse and warned there was no overarching strategy to handle the world’s worst outbreak of the disease.

US Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse was temporarily withdrawing its non-essential staff from Liberia, it said, citing regional “instability and ongoing security issues”.

Hong Kong announced quarantine measures for suspected cases, although one woman arriving from Africa with possible symptoms tested negative, while the EU said it was ready to deal with the threat.

Picture of dead Ebola victim on street in Liberia being disinfected

British airports and airlines are on high alert to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from reaching this country.

Passengers thought to have the virus will be barred from boarding flights heading to the UK – and will be held at immigration if they appear ill on arrival.

They will then be quarantined in highly secure isolation units, such as those at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

But because it takes up to three weeks for symptoms to appear, there are fears some victims will slip through the net.

Doctors have been told to look out for symptoms of the disease and travellers returning from West Africa are urged to seek immediate medical help if they develop flu-like symptoms.

One of the deadliest diseases known to man, Ebola has already claimed more than 670 lives in its worst-ever outbreak.

For the first time, the virus, which kills up to 90 per cent of its victims, has spread out of the countryside to large towns and cities, raising fears it will arrive in Britain on an international flight.

It can be spread through sweat and saliva and there is no vaccine or cure.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2711438/Airports-alert-Ebola-Passengers-Africa-symptoms-sent-secure-isolation-units.html

Also, the Ogun State Governor; Senator Ibikunle Amosun has said that all health and other relevant officials in the border areas of the state have been put on red alert to forestall the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

He also appealed to doctors to end the lingering nationwide strike embarked upon by members of Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, barely a month ago.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the Nigerian Institute Medical Research, NIMR, Professor Innocent Ujah, has appealed to the federal and states governments as well as good spirited individuals to support the institute in its quest to upgrade its Human Virology Laboratory, HVL, to appropriately conduct research into the disease.

Lagos State government for PR PURPOSES denies it: I hope they will not help to aggravate the spread of this virus

He added that the latest victim was among those who were being quarantined for having first contact with the victim.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government in a swift reaction through a text message said that no one of the 59 contacts is sick for now.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina who responded through a text message said: “It is not true. We are doing routine surveillance, no one is sick.” - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/1-out-of-15-airport-contacts-down-with-ebola-virus-disease/#sthash.eelxtnMD.dpuf

INDICATIONS emerged, yesterday, that one of the 15 airport contacts that assisted the late Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, that died of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, may have contracted the deadly virus.

Unconfirmed reports revealed that already the contact has begun to manifest symptoms of Ebola Virus.
According to a member of the Joint Federal and State Team on Ebola outbreak who preferred anonymity; one of the persons who accompanied late Patrick Sawyer is already showing signs of Ebola.

The reliable source confirmed receipt of a short message service, SMS, text that the person who assisted late Patrick Sawyer to move out of the plane is presenting symptoms, identifiable with EVD. “In fact, I just got a text that the person who helped Sawyer, the Liberian, to get out of the air plane is down with a suspected case of Ebola. You can see we have to be very careful. I cannot say specifically whether he or she is a Nigerian or in Nigeria right now. He is still being monitored as we speak,” he said.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/1-out-of-15-airport-contacts-down-with-ebola-virus-disease/#sthash.eelxtnMD.dpuf

It may have mutated to an airborne strain

This is a chart of Ebola's spread so far

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond today declared the disease a 'very serious threat' to Britain as he prepares to chair an emergency meeting on how to bolster the country's defences against the vicious virus.

British airlines are on alert for cases of the deadly virus, after tests revealed a man died in Nigeria from the disease, having been allowed to board an international flight from Liberia.

A British man has also been tested for the Ebola virus, putting doctors on red alert that it could be on its way to the UK.

A spokesman for Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) will be notified if it is confirmed the patient is suffering from the Ebola virus.

In Nigeria health officials said today, they are in the process of tracing 30,000 people at risk of contracting the disease after coming into contact with a Liberian man who died on Friday.

Meanwhile, the British man was taken to hospital in Birmingham after complaining of feeling ‘feverish’ on a flight back to the Midlands from West Africa.

He had been travelling from Benin, Nigeria via Paris, France when he became unwell on Monday.

However, after undergoing a number of tests he was given the all-clear for the virus which has already killed 672 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and infected more than 1,200 since it was first diagnosed in February.

In another scare, medical staff at Charing Cross Hospital in London became concerned a man in his twenties had caught the virus this week.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710416/A-new-emerging-threat-Government-convenes-Cobra-emergency-committee-respond-Ebola-outbreak.html

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is to chair the Cobra meeting today, in an escalation of the government's response to the crisis.

He said the UK government was examining the risks of the 'new and emerging threat'.

He told Sky News: 'As far as we are aware, there are no British nationals so far affected by this outbreak and certainly no cases in the UK.

'However the Prime Minister does regard it as a very serious threat and I will be chairing a Cobra meeting later today to assess the situation and look at any measures that we need to take either in the UK, or in our diplomatic posts abroad in order to manage the threat.

'We are very much focused on it as a new and emerging threat which we need to deal with.'

Hospitals and medical centres across the UK remain on red alert for the virus, with doctors being told to look out for symptoms of the disease which can go unnoticed for three weeks and kills 90 per cent of victims.

Mr Sawyer was put in isolation at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, one of the most crowded parts of the city, home to around 21 million people.

He took two flights to reach Lagos, from Monrovia to Lome and then onto the Nigerian capital.

So far 59 people who came into contact with Mr Sawyer have been identified by Nigerian health officials, and are under surveillance.

But health officials have said they are looking at contacting 30,000 people who could be at risk of contracting the disease.

Public health adviser, Yewande Adeshina, added: 'We're actually looking at contacting over 30,000 people in this very scenario.

'Because any and everybody that has contacted this person is going to be treated as a suspect.'

Picture of Jim Iyke at Airport running from EBOLA!!

Mr Sawyer, a consultant for Liberia's Finance Ministry, died on Friday after arriving at Lagos airport on June 20, having vomited and suffered diarrhoea on two flights.

The 40-year-old U.S. citizen had been to the funeral of his sister, who also died from the disease.

A woman quarantined at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong has tested negative for the disease, despite returning from a trip to Kenya with Ebola-like symptoms.

'Anyone on the same plane could have become infected because Ebola is easy to catch,' he said.

'It can be passed on through vomiting, diarrhoea or even from simply saliva or sweat - as well as being sexually transmitted.

'That is why there is such alarm over Mr Sawyer because he became ill on the flight so anyone else sharing the plane could have been infected by his vomit or other bodily fluids.'

It comes as health campaigners today called for U.S. authorities to speed up their approval of a new drug hoped to be the first cure for the deadly Ebola virus.

They are calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States to fast-track their authorisation of the TKM-Ebola drug.

The petition, created on change.org, states: 'One of the most promising is TKM-Ebola manufactured by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710285/Ebola-test-feverish-man-flew-Britain-West-Africa-doctors-red-alert-deadly-virus.html

Fears of a global Ebola pandemic are 'justified' an expert has said after a U.S. citizen boarded a flight in Liberia carrying the disease to Nigeria, potentially infecting 'anyone on the same plane'.

Nigerian health officials are in the process of trying to trace 30,000 people, believed to be at risk of contracting the highly-infectious virus, following the death of Patrick Sawyer in Lagos.

It comes as Nigerian actor Jim Iyke sparked outrage, posting a picture of himself wearing an Ebola mask while sitting in a first class airport lounge as he fled Liberia.

The 'Nollywood' star posted a message on his Instagram page saying he had cut short a business trip to Monrovia in Liberia - where at least 600 people have already died from the disease.

The death toll for this, the worst outbreak recorded since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, stands at 672, while more than 1,200 people have been infected.

They are not senators but house of reps, not of much consequence because they are Democrats and Republicans control the house

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/ebola-lagos-govt-identifies-59-contacts-dead-liberian-victim/

Ikeja - The Lagos State Government said on Monday that it had identified no fewer than 59 people who had contacts with Mr Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who died of Ebola Virus in the state.

Dr Jide Idris, the Commissioner for Health, said at a news conference in Ikeja that the contact tracing became imperative to ascertain any possible transmission of the virus by the victim.

Idris said the identified contacts comprised 44 hospital and 15 airport contacts, including the Nigerian Ambassador to Liberia.

He said 20 of the contacts had been screened and that none of them had so far been found to be infected with the virus.

the commissioner, however, said the contacts did not include those he might have been with on his flight to Nigeria on July 20, as the airline had yet to release the passenger manifest for investigation.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/ebola-lagos-govt-identifies-59-contacts-dead-liberian-victim/#sthash.d9RzzEPy.dpuf

http://tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/11847-ebola-us-doctor-contracts-disease-in-liberia-nigeria-steps-up-surveillance

American doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus.
According to VOAm, Dr Kent Brantly works for the United States-based Samaritan’s Purse aid agency, which says he is being treated at a Monrovia hospital.

In Sierra Leone, health officials said an Ebola patient, whose family sparked a nationwide hunt when they forcefully removed her from a treatment center and took her to a traditional healer, died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.


There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, which spreads via bodily fluids including sweat

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said that all other passengers on board the flight with the infected man had been traced and were being monitored.

The patient had “avoided contact with the general public” between the airport and the hospital, he said.

“All ports of entry to Nigeria, including airports, sea ports and land borders have been placed on red alert,” he added.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/notwithstanding-ebola-threat-doctors-insist-strike-continues/184689/

Hope that the threat of the contagious Ebola virus will compel the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to call off its prolonged nationwide strike was dashed weekend as the doctors insisted on continuing with the strike action.

There were indications weekend that the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NMA which took place in Abuja will culminate into an end to the strike.

The meeting which started on Saturday failed to call off the strike, as delegates to the NEC opined that there is no concrete proof that the Federal Government has made any efforts to resolve the crisis.

NMA Vice President, Dr Titus Ibekwe told THISDAY that the NMA executives could not push through with the idea to call off the strike given that delegates refused to back down.

Mod, front page please!!

"I dont work in the field anymore, but I have a microbiology degree. The entire global population should be looking at this. The chances of a global pandemic are still not high, but if it happens, we all go back to the 18th century for 40-50 years, and up to 90% of us are toast.

Ebola used to be well confined to sub-saharan jungle infections because it was very susceptible to UV light and low hunmidity. It needs a dark, hot, wet world to thrive in. It was also fluid to fluid contact. It appears the susceptibility to UV is gone now, and low humidity is not bothering it as much either.

Ebola is evolving like all life forms, and unfortunately for us, the path of this evolution does not bode well for us if left unchecked. Every government on this planet should be willingly reaching for their wallet and resources to address this."



"I read about Ebola back in the 90s. "Ebola: The Hot Zone," and "Ebola and the Marburg Viruses (Deadly Diseases and Epidemics." To think that after all this time, there still isn't a preventative or cure. Everything I read presents this as possibly the most horrifying disease known to man. The internal organs practically melt. You bleed from all orifices. Death happens quickly - which could be a blessing or a curse."

http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-screen-airline-travelers-ebola-165545938.html

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian health authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola on Saturday after a man sick with one of the world's deadliest diseases brought it by plane to Lagos, Africa's largest city with 21 million people.

The fact that the traveler from Liberia could board an international flight also raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa due to weak inspection of passengers and the fact Ebola's symptoms are similar to other diseases.

Officials in the country of Togo, where the sick man's flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola could possibly have spread to a fifth country.

Screening people as they enter the country may help slow the spread of the disease, but it is no guarantee Ebola won't travel by airplane, according to Dr. Lance Plyler, who heads Ebola medical efforts in Liberia for aid organization Samaritan's Purse.

"Unfortunately the initial signs of Ebola imitate other diseases, like malaria or typhoid," he said.

The aid organization on Saturday said a U.S. doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia had tested positive for the deadly virus. A Samaritan's Purse news release said Dr. Kent Brantly was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, the capital.

Picture of the American doctor who caught Ebola despite adequate full protective clothing.

There are fears that the virus might have mutated and can now be spread by airborne means and not just only through body secretions.

Two US Doctors have now contracted Ebola in Liberia despite adequate protection.

An outbreak of Ebola could spread worldwide after an infected plane passenger introduced the deadly virus to Nigeria, health experts warned last night.

Previous outbreaks were confined to forests and rural areas, but this one has already spread across four countries in West Africa, killing 672 – the disease’s biggest death toll.

The news came as it emerged that an American doctor working for a charity in Liberia had become infected.
Dr Kent Brantly, 33, from Texas, had moved to the country for the Samaritan’s Purse organisation with his children and wife, Amber, to help contain the disease.

More than 1,000 others have been infected by the virus, which can go unnoticed for three weeks and kills 90 per cent of victims.
The outbreak started in Guinea in February and spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone in weeks.

After an air traveller brought it to Nigeria, health experts now fear infected air passengers who do not realise they have the virus could spread it around the world.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707907/Ebola-virus-spread-globally-plane-brings-Nigeria.html#ixzz38izqW4ff
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