WHO declares Ebola epidemic a global emergency

[webfact]

WHO: Ebola 'an international emergency'

(BBC) The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency.

WHO officials said the possible consequences were "particularly serious" because of the virulence of the virus.

The announcement came after experts convened a two-day emergency meeting in Switzerland.

So far more than 930 people have died from Ebola in West Africa this year.

The United Nations health agency said the outbreak was an "extraordinary event".

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28702356

[bbc]2014-08-08[/bbc]
 

[webfact]

WHO declares Ebola epidemic a global emergency
Nina LARSON
Agence France-Presse
GENEVA 

 

GENEVA: -- The World Health Organisation on Friday declared the killer Ebola epidemic ravaging parts of west Africa an international health emergency and appealed for global aid to help afflicted countries.

The decision after a two-day emergency session behind closed doors in Geneva means global travel restrictions may be put in place to halt its spread as the overall death toll nears 1,000.

The WHO move comes as US health authorities admitted on Thursday that Ebola’s spread beyond west Africa was "inevitable", and after medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that the deadly virus was now "out of control" with more than 60 outbreak hotspots.

WHO director Dr Margaret Chan appealed for greater international aid for the countries worst hit by the outbreak, which she described as the most serious in four decades, echoing an earlier claim by MSF that the "epidemic is unprecedented in terms of geographical distribution, people infected and deaths".

States of emergency were in effect across overwhelmed west African nations, including Libera, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Soldiers in Liberia’s Grand Cape Mount province -- one of the worst-affected areas -- set up road blocks to limit travel to the capital Monrovia, as bodies reportedly lay unburied in the city’s streets.

Two towns in the east of Sierra Leone, Kailahun and Kenema, where put under quarantine on Thursday, as nightclubs and entertainment venues across the country were ordered shut.

Public sector doctors in Nigeria suspended a month-long strike with fears rising that the virus is taking hold in sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous country. The deadly tropical disease has already killed two and infected five others in Lagos.

Ebola has claimed at least 932 lives and infected more than 1,700 people since breaking out in Guinea earlier this year, according to the WHO.

- ’Africans should get new drug’ -

==================================

As African nations struggled with the scale of the epidemic, the scientists who discovered the virus in 1976 have called for an experimental drug being used on two infected Americans to also be made available for African victims.

One of the three, Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said "African countries should have the same opportunity" to use ZMapp, which is made by US company Mapp Pharmaceuticals.

Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.

Spain flew home a 75-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, the first European victim of the epidemic, on Thursday. Officials said his condition was stable.

- Families separated -

======================

In Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said people should expect certain rights to be suspended as the country imposes "extraordinary measures" necessary for "the very survival of our state".

In Sierra Leone, which has the most confirmed infections, 800 troops were sent to guard hospitals treating Ebola patients, an army spokesman said.

The outbreak in Nigeria has been minor compared to those in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The densely-packed city of more than 20 million people has a poor healthcare system and officials say that if Lagos sees a rise in infections, public hospitals will need to be operational in order to avert a catastrophe.

Benin said it had placed two patients with Ebola-like symptoms in isolation and was waiting for test results to establish if the pair were infected.

- Americans ’improving’ -

=========================

The two infected Americans, who worked for Christian aid agencies in Liberia, have shown signs of improvement since being flown to a specialist hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. They are being given ZMapp, according to reports.

There is no proven treatment or cure for Ebola and the use of the experimental drug has sparked an ethical debate.

US President Barack Obama said it was too soon to send the experimental drugs to west Africa.

"I think we have to let the science guide us. And I don’t think all the information is in on whether this drug is helpful," he said Wednesday.

Nigeria’s Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu has asked the US about getting the drug, but Spain has voiced caution about the serum.

US regulators meanwhile loosened restrictions on another experimental drug which may allow it to be tried on infected patients in west Africa.

Canada-based Tekmira said the US Food and Drug Administration changed the classification of its drug TKM-Ebola from full clinical hold to partial hold.

US health authorities also warned Ebola’s spread to the United States was "inevitable" due to the nature of global airline travel, but that any outbreak was not likely to be large.

The worsening outbreak prompted the United States to order the families of embassy staff in Liberia to return home, with the State Department also warning US citizens not to travel to Liberia.

First discovered in 1976 and named after a river in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola has killed around two-thirds of those infected, with two outbreaks registering fatality rates approaching 90 per cent. The latest outbreak has a fatality rate of around 55 per cent.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/WHO-declares-Ebola-epidemic-a-global-emergency-30240545.html

[thenation]2014-08-08[/thenation]

[Deacon Bell]

The United Nations health agency said the outbreak was an "extraordinary event".

 

 

Not half as 'extraordinary' should it get going at a major international airport.

[NCC1701A]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sYSyuuLk5g

[slipperylobster]

Not looking forward to anything like this in Thailand.  Hope it stays out.

[Deacon Bell]

Seems like a tinfoil hat might cure a lot of the things being said here.

[Pattszero]

I lived in West Africa - the traditional method of stopping outbreaks spreading worked.  The village head men would close off their villages, no one in - and no one out.  

 

They're should be a complete travel embargo - total.  And that includes no repatriation of the infected, such as that Spanish guy. 

 

Lunacy. 

[Chicog]

Time to give that "Outbreak" DVD a dust off....

[Chicog]

What's his latest theory? That it was invented by shapeshifting lizard globalists?

[bkkjames]

and this just in from the same people a week ago or so said - Highly Unlikely to see it in the USA.

 

Ebola's spread to US is 'inevitable' says CDC chief

 

http://news.yahoo.co...-205903838.html

[shirtless]

This will spread , the media is probably softening us up for the inevitable truth, i can just see the headlines. THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE EBOLA HAS ARRIVED

[NCC1701A]

I am going to Tesco Lotus right now and stocking up on extra food, water, condoms, Sidegra, whipped cream and that cute massage woman who always is winking at me when I drive past her shop. Makes me feel good knowing I will be practically saving her life. I wonder how long we can hold out in my condo?  

[bofhman]

Brilliant! That made my day :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[TheWizardofRnR]

While watching a few comedy shows from the USA , they were making a few Jokes about EBOLA. 

Let's hope we don't let this Virus get really out of control , because it really is a perfect killing machine.

How to joke about something that could possibly wipe-out large portions of  population is pretty sad comedy material.

Let's see how funny they think it is if it starts taking out some N.American cities.

The other item I'd like to address is , someone thought that it was strange that if the Virus wasn't Airborne,

why were people wearing Masks for protection? Simple answer to that is , so if you are taking care of infected people ,

sometimes body fluids can accidentally gain entry to people taking care of the infected . I mean w/o a mask you might 

touch your mouth or rub your eyes without even realizing you touched yourself ! The Mask also helps remind personnel , that they got to be aware not to accidentally do anything like that.

Also since what if the Virus mutates and becomes airborne.If that occurs the world will really be fracked !

[chiang mai]

Coming to a town near you, soon.

[NCC1701A]

The more you know about Ebola the less you will be worried about it. 

 

It kills too quickly and is not spread by airborne transmission.

 

If it were to mutate to airborne transmission like the common flu virus then I would worry.

 

I have property in the state of Montana, in the USA, just like that show "Preppers" for the day that news breaks.

 

Until then, party on in THAILAND! YEAH BABY YEAH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chiang mai]

The more you know about Ebola the less you will be worried about it. 

 

It kills too quickly and is not spread by airborne transmission.

 

If it were to mutate to airborne transmission like the common flu virus then I would worry.

 

I have property in the state of Montana, in the USA, just like that show "Preppers" for the day that news breaks.

 

Until then, party on in THAILAND! YEAH BABY YEAH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time that news breaks, it'll be game over and you wont be able to get there!

[NCC1701A]

I was sort of half joking about trying to get to Montana. Northern Thailand on a farm is way better than the USA if you can wait it out for about a month till all of the unprepared people die off and the virus can no longer spread. And then "burning season" takes on a whole new meaning.

[metisdead]

Posts containing dangerous and incorrect medical information have been removed as well as the replies.

[Mudcrab]

Spain flew home a 75-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, the first European victim of the epidemic, on Thursday. Officials said his condition was stable.

 

I wonder how he got infected? 

[metisdead]

A post commenting on moderation has been removed.

[chiang mai]

God but I'm dreading this: the more press exposure that Ebola gets. the more black magic practitioners will pop up with their various remedies, eat seaweed, inject tree bark, don;t eat for a month. And the more the chatter, the conspiracy theorists will tell us that Ebola is really,  A ) a US military project, B ) caused by global warming. C ) your answer here.

 

Please kill us all and let's be done, I can't handle the stories about to come.

[MJP]

I am going to Tesco Lotus right now and stocking up on extra food, water, condoms, Sidegra, whipped cream and that cute massage woman who always is winking at me when I drive past her shop. Makes me feel good knowing I will be practically saving her life. I wonder how long we can hold out in my condo?  

 

Cholesterol is the silent killer.

[arjunadawn]

The more you know about Ebola the less you will be worried about it. 

 

It kills too quickly and is not spread by airborne transmission.

 

If it were to mutate to airborne transmission like the common flu virus then I would worry.

 

I have property in the state of Montana, in the USA, just like that show "Preppers" for the day that news breaks.

 

Until then, party on in THAILAND! YEAH BABY YEAH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start worrying! Its nearly impossible to rationalize many of the currently infected unless one considers that this is now airborne. There are significant suggestions that this is now airborne. One example is the total failure of universal precautions, a previously effective strategy of preventing health care workers from getting sick. In a test facility all the monkeys had to be put down, and they were separated; only air exchange could have explained it, etc. There are a number of examples to suggest it is no longer fluid contact only.

 

In modern times I always ask "Cui Bono?" Invariably this question leads to the fingerprints. I am with some other posters; I am suspicious. But practically, I am concerned. There is nothing about the performance of the US Government in contemporary history to evoke warm feelings of confidence and security with their taking the Ebola ball and running with it. I pray other players do not leave this in the US hands solely.

[Credo]

Yes, it's pretty scary when that nasty ol' USA starts helping.   They must have an ulterior motive. No prior history of doing anything helpful.  Of course, perhaps the EU could step in, or the UN.   Maybe WHO?   Oh, wait, they already have.   

[Loptr]

Seems like a tinfoil hat might cure a lot of the things being said here.

 

US patent application for ebola... 

 

http://www.google.com/patents/US20120251502

 

Now would you like a link to 25 conspiracy theories than turned out to be conspiracy fact? 

 

http://list25.com/25-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/

 

If you are going to be ignorant, you really shouldn't let everyone know on a public forum... 

[Loptr]

What's his latest theory? That it was invented by shapeshifting lizard globalists?

 

I'm recognizing a pattern to your posts... Sad, but true... 

[Loptr]

The more you know about Ebola the less you will be worried about it. 

 

It kills too quickly and is not spread by airborne transmission.

 

If it were to mutate to airborne transmission like the common flu virus then I would worry.

 

I have property in the state of Montana, in the USA, just like that show "Preppers" for the day that news breaks.

 

Until then, party on in THAILAND! YEAH BABY YEAH!

 

 

Really?

 

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

[Loptr]

Yes, it's pretty scary when that nasty ol' USA starts helping.   They must have an ulterior motive. No prior history of doing anything helpful.  Of course, perhaps the EU could step in, or the UN.   Maybe WHO?   Oh, wait, they already have.   

 

If you hear the phrase, "I'm from the US and I'm here to help", then run the other way as fast as you can... 

[Deacon Bell]

I  enjoy a good conspiracy theory.

This one doesn't cut it imo.

 

Creating a global pandemic that could cull billions is a very dangerous plan.

Do you think Russia (or China) will sit around, after seeing tens or hundreds of millions of their citizens being decimated?

Hell no.

It will rain nukes on DC and in all the nuclear bunkers around the US.

 

Mutual assured destruction is a great deterrent.

 

 

 

I might finally get a quick shag off the the Uni girl down the road with 5 mins to go.

 

 

Every cloud, so to speak.