WHO: Ebola is a global health crisis

[Lite Beer]

WHO: Ebola is a global health crisis
Agencies, The Sunday Nation 

 

BANGKOK: -- Thais join worldwide move to declare disease out of control, spreading

 

Thai authorities are preparing to declare Ebola a dangerous contagion with worldwide implications, as the World Health Organisation has called the epidemic that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives a global health crisis.

Thai health officials are closely monitoring the virus outbreak in Africa and putting measures in place to detect its possible spread into Asia, Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr Narong Sahamethapat said yesterday.

The ministry is preparing to declare Ebola a dangerous contagion that requires expertise of the relevant state agencies in properly handling the patients. Ebola will be the sixth disease of this kind after cholera, yellow fever, plague, smallpox and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) reported yesterday.

The Public Health Ministry has started a surveillance programme at airports to monitor the arrivals of travellers from affected countries. Officials will apply the same standard of disease screening as those used with avian flu and Sars, and maintaining readiness at state hospitals across the country, the NNT reported.

In Geneva, the WHO stopped short of recommending a general travel and trade ban. It said only that infected people should not cross borders except as part of an official medical evacuation.

The Geneva-based United Nations health agency said affected countries should work with airlines to ensure proper care for crews based there and enable quick identification of passengers who may have had contact with infected people.

"The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus," the WHO said in a statement.

"A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola."

The WHO appealed for international aid to help afflicted countries after a rare meeting of the UN health body’s emergency committee, which urged screening of all people flying out of affected countries in west Africa.

And it called on countries around the globe to be prepared to "detect, investigate and manage" Ebola cases if they should arise.

WHO director-general Margaret Chan appealed for greater help for those worst hit by the "largest, most severe and most complex outbreak in the nearly four-decade history of this disease".

"I am declaring the current outbreak a public health emergency of international concern," Chan said, warning of the "serious and unusual nature of the outbreak and the potential for further international spread".

States of emergency had already been declared in the hardest hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria became the latest on Friday.

The Ivory Coast, which neighbours Guinea and Liberia, said it was declaring a "very high" level of alert, while Benin is also investigating a suspect patient.

In the first European case, Spain is treating an elderly priest who contracted the disease while helping patients in Liberia.

Defining the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern - a label only used twice before, during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009 and last May for the re-emergence of polio - "alerts the world to the need for high vigilance", Chan said.

Ebola had by Wednesday claimed at least 961 lives and infected nearly 1,800 people since breaking out in Guinea earlier this year, with 29 people dying in just two days, the WHO said.

"The likelihood is that it will get worse before it gets better," WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said, with the outbreak likely to last for months.

There is no proven treatment or cure for Ebola and use of experimental drug has sparked an ethical debate.
 
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/WHO-Ebola-is-a-global-health-crisis-30240642.html
 
[thenation]2014-08-10[/thenation]

[terryp]

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you  

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

[bkkjames]

terry the common argument is how many people get infected with the common flu vs deaths, now compare to ebola. 

[Credo]

I think that argument is a fallacy.   If the flu is bad, then we don't need to be concerned about Ebola?   If motorcycle accidents are bad, then we don't need to worry about car accidents?   Since heart attacks are deadly, then we don't need to worry about cancer?

 

There is a vaccine for influenza; there isn't for Ebola.   The flu is dangerous to certain groups of people, Ebola is pretty much dangerous to everyone who catches it.    If you think the mortality rate for flu is high, then the mortality rate for Ebola would be astronomical.   

 

If this disease manages to get a path of easy transmission, there will be major health issues facing the world.   

[rlopes]

For those who think it is too distant, there is daily flights from the Americas to SE Asia that make connection in Togo (west africa), and vice versa.

[kleelof]

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

You really should get a REAL education about communicable diseases and infections rates vs. mortality rates. For example the common flu - 8.6% of infected people die, 90% of those are people over 65 (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm). For Ebola, 50 - 90 % of those infected die(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease). 2 VERY different situations.

 

Things like swine and bird flu never spread to a world wide danger level BECAUSE WHO and other organizations took measures to alert the world.

[rethaier]

When the astronauts came back from the moon they were kept in isolation to ensure they had not returned with some new contagion.  It seems to me that a simple measure would be keeping people in isolation for a couple of days if they enter from a country that is affected by Ebola.  I realise there are logistical concerns but the logistics get far worse if they are allowed to walk around and possibly spread this horrible disease.

 

[Credo]

To put a few astronauts into isolation is one thing.   To put hundreds, if not thousands in isolation is a whole other matter.   It's a good idea, in theory, but in practicality it won't work.   People would be scared and you would find people lying about where they have been and also trying to escape.   

 

 

[rethaier]

I never said it would be easy.  But sometimes you must take drastic measures no matter how difficult that may be.  Allowing them to feely walk around has surely got to cause more panic and  problems than a simple quarantine.

[Loptr]

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

 

1978? Try 2012...

 

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

 

There is no vaccine, although there is a serum derived from the tobacco plant that is showing promise... Even if it does work, there is no mass-production mechanism to make it as it is experimental...

 

If you want to call BS, so be it, but the flu does not have a 90% mortality rate...

[BrewersDroop]

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

 

Very very dangerous attitude to adopt.

 

Ebola spreads much faster than it can be contained now that it has breeched the containment tipping point for the first time ever.

 

It is now officially 'out of control- in Africa, and this is just the start. With longer time, the spread rate is going to climb until infections are going to be in the thousands per day and all human control will be gone.

 

This is the new AIDS virus, not as in 'similarity' but in how it will spread across the planet, and we won't learn our lessons. AIDS was a lot harder to spread,but it DID spread didn't it?

 

Ebola also kills a lot quicker than AIDS.

 

We only currently know the cases of 'full blown' ebola infections, we don't have any data yet on the bigger picture of how many are actually carrying the virus globally. In a few months we will have a better handle on it.

 

It is in the countries that have crap health services that are going to let this get out of control, and there are a hell of a lot of those countries on the list. As a matter of fact, countries with good medical facilities able to contain this are only a handful. It is the majority that will let it spread out of control and they will in turn infect the other countries till even those with the finest medical facilities can not contain it.

 

Anyone thinking this is in control are just playing up to the BS being released by certain governments who by default ALWAYS pull the wool over the public's eyes to contain panic.

[BrewersDroop]

When the astronauts came back from the moon they were kept in isolation to ensure they had not returned with some new contagion.  It seems to me that a simple measure would be keeping people in isolation for a couple of days if they enter from a country that is affected by Ebola.  I realise there are logistical concerns but the logistics get far worse if they are allowed to walk around and possibly spread this horrible disease.

 

 

That is true, but how do you control those who travel via other countries?.. For example, backpackers that travel through a dozen countries spreading it everywhere they go.

 

The problem is, we don't even know which countries this has spread to yet,  and the authorities are not about tell us till the info is leaked out by a whistle blower.

 

The WHO and UN have already given this 'international threat' status, so this must be pretty bad and worrying for them (and us).

 

The only good thing is that the incubation period is relatively short, but still can take up to 21 days to show itself, and that is the concern.
 

[Acharn]

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

 

I agree with you completely except that no case of airborne ebola virus has ever been found. The only way the disease is transmitted is through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms, or the corpse of one. Mostly through washing the body for the funeral. As you point out tens of thousands die each year from common influenza. One story I have seen even pointed out that Lassa Fever, also from Africa, kills more Americans every year than people have been killed this year by ebola. This overly dramatic reporting is terrible, but we probably will never be rid of it because the owners of the media think it sells their product.

[Acharn]

 

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)

 

FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 

 

over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

 

Very very dangerous attitude to adopt.

 

Ebola spreads much faster than it can be contained now that it has breeched the containment tipping point for the first time ever.

 

It is now officially 'out of control- in Africa, and this is just the start. With longer time, the spread rate is going to climb until infections are going to be in the thousands per day and all human control will be gone.

 

This is the new AIDS virus, not as in 'similarity' but in how it will spread across the planet, and we won't learn our lessons. AIDS was a lot harder to spread,but it DID spread didn't it?

 

Ebola also kills a lot quicker than AIDS.

 

We only currently know the cases of 'full blown' ebola infections, we don't have any data yet on the bigger picture of how many are actually carrying the virus globally. In a few months we will have a better handle on it.

 

It is in the countries that have crap health services that are going to let this get out of control, and there are a hell of a lot of those countries on the list. As a matter of fact, countries with good medical facilities able to contain this are only a handful. It is the majority that will let it spread out of control and they will in turn infect the other countries till even those with the finest medical facilities can not contain it.

 

Anyone thinking this is in control are just playing up to the BS being released by certain governments who by default ALWAYS pull the wool over the public's eyes to contain panic.

 

 

Very interesting. I presume you are a trained epidemiologist? Where do you work? Are you with the American CDC? Or are you a physician specializing in tropical diseases? Or do you perhaps work in the marketing department at Glaxo-Kline-Smith?

[catweazle]

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC owns a patent for a particular Ebola strain known as »EboBun« patent no. CA2741523A1

 

You can check it yourself here: http://www.google.com/patents/CA2741523A1?cl=en

 

Queston: Why would anyone need to have a patent on a virus unless it has been created in a lab?

[F430murci]

 

and the manipulation continues ...bird , swine and now ebola .........get your ready made vaccine now (how is it possible to have millions of shots just sitting waiting for US use of such a rare virus ?)
 
FACT ....AIRBORN Ebola has not been detected since ...........................1978, this is all hype and sinister but the pharmaceutical company's are just there to protect you 
 
over 25,000 people die each year from common flu ..ebola has 900 deaths this year almost all in Africa...but worldwide insanity is leading the way yet again

You really should get a REAL education about communicable diseases and infections rates vs. mortality rates. For example the common flu - 8.6% of infected people die, 90% of those are people over 65 (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm). For Ebola, 50 - 90 % of those infected die(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease). 2 VERY different situations.
 
Things like swine and bird flu never spread to a world wide danger level BECAUSE WHO and other organizations took measures to alert the world.

While we are at educating ourselves as you suggested, lets use real numbers.

Flu causes about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year worldwide. Yearly flu deaths in the US is 35,000 to 40,000. Obviously, the numbers vary due to strain each year.

There are also more than 80,000 cases of MRSA detected each year in the U.S., with a reported 11,285 deaths.

CA- and HA-, particularly the HA-, MRSA is a much more dangerous problem at the present time than Ebola, but the looney times types love stuff like Ebola because it feeds their insatiable appetite for government conspiracies.

[Loptr]

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/case-definition.html

 

http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/2014/08/10/cdc-changes-risk-criteria-for-ebola-transmission-to-being-in-the-same-room-or-within-3-feet-of-infected-individual/

 

 

CDC Changes Risk Criteria for Ebola Transmission to “Being in the Same Room” or Within 3 Feet of Infected Individual

On Thursday August 7, the CDC quietly revised the transmission risks while maintaining there was little chance of airborne transmission of Ebola via their minions and bureaucrats speaking out in the mainstream media. The shocking part of the revision is within the footnotes which few civilians bother to read and put their trust in government officials to protect their families and their livelihoods.

 

Low risk exposures

A low risk exposure includes any of the following

• Household member or other casual contact¹ with an EVD patient

  The footnote (1) which is highlighted in the section above says the following:

  ¹ Casual contact is defined as a) being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) or within the room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., healthcare personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., droplet and contact precautions–see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations); or having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD case while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., droplet and contact precautions–see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations). At this time, brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute casual contact.

   

[MJP]

This is clever . . .

 

An Algorithm Spotted the Ebola Outbreak Nine Days Before WHO Announced It

 

http://www.newsweek.com/algorithm-spotted-ebola-outbreak-9-days-who-announced-it-263875

 

[F430murci]

[quote name="Loptr" post="8226587" timestamp="1407710922"]<p>http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/case-definition.html
 
http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/2014/08/10/cdc-changes-risk-criteria-for-ebola-transmission-to-being-in-the-same-room-or-within-3-feet-of-infected-individual/
 
 [quote]

CDC Changes Risk Criteria for Ebola Transmission to Being in the Same Room or Within 3 Feet of Infected Individual

On Thursday August 7, the CDC quietly revised the transmission risks while maintaining there was little chance of airborne transmission of Ebola via their minions and bureaucrats speaking out in the mainstream media. The shocking part of the revision is within the footnotes which few civilians bother to read and put their trust in government officials to protect their families and their livelihoods.
 [quote]
Low risk exposures
A low risk exposure includes any of the following[/quote]

• Household member or other casual contact¹ with an EVD patient
  The footnote (1) which is highlighted in the section above says the following:

  ¹ Casual contact is defined as a) being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) or within the room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., healthcare personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., droplet and contact precautionssee Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations); or having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD case while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., droplet and contact precautionssee Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations). At this time, brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute casual contact.

  
   

[/quote][/quote]

Oh no, we're all going to die!!! . . . sooner or later . . .