Ebola Epidemic Could Become Global Crisis

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

The main quarantine area is about 20,000 square kilometers where the borders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia meet. A quarantine in the epicenter at Kenema might have been effective back in January. Now, no. It's a joke. Residents can choose to stay home and starve or walk freely into the jungle. ....What would you do, given the choices?

Struggling Liberia Creates "plague villages" in Ebola Epicentre

To try to control the Ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa, Liberia has quarantined remote villages at the epicentre of the virus, evoking the "plague villages" of medieval Europe that were shut off from the outside world.

With few food and medical supplies getting in, many abandoned villagers face a stark choice: stay where they are and risk death or skip quarantine, spreading the infection further in a country ill-equipped to cope.

….Aid workers say that if support does not arrive soon, locals in villages like Boya, where the undergrowth is already spreading among the houses, will simply disappear down jungle footpaths.

"If sufficient medication, food and water are not in place, the community will force their way out to fetch food and this could lead to further spread of the virus," said Tarnue Karbbar, a worker for charity Plan International based in Lofa County.

….The World Health Organization and Liberian officials have warned that, with little access by healthcare workers to the remote areas hidden deep in rugged jungle zones, the actual toll may be far higher.

….Neighbours Guinea and Sierra Leone have placed checkpoints in Gueckedou and Kenema, creating a cross-border quarantine zone of roughly 20,000 square km, about the size of Wales, called the "unified sector".

Within this massive area, Information Minister Lewis Brown described more intense quarantine measures in Lofa county, ring fencing areas where up to 70 percent of people are infected.

"Access to these hot spots is now cut off except for medical workers," he said in an interview this week.

….Yacouba Sylla, the driver of a motorbike taxi in the border area, also complained of a slump in his business.

"Ebola hasn't arrived here, but it is going to kill us anyway before it gets here, as we will die of hunger," he said.

I thought this article was telling of what is possibly in store. Obviously they think it's coming here or already is. We aren't just being proactive.

www.nytimes.com...

a reply to: quirkygirl

GREAT article. Thanks so much. ...So reported cases jumped again - up to 2240, with deaths now at 1229. But like the WHO says - reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. ...Wait til Nigeria owns up to what's really going on there. And Mali, and Ivory Coast [heads up: diseases do NOT respect political borders]. West Africa's in a world of hurt and it's getting worse. This one's a gamechanger, just like the so-called global financial crisis. All the lines will be re-drawn, all the wealth redistributed.

a reply to: soficrow

I'm so curious what the actual numbers are. The WHO (I believe, not entirely sure) quit reporting suspected cases and are now only reporting confirmed cases. When I went on their website and did some digging on other sites, it seems that the suspected cases is nearly equal, if not higher than the reported cases of deaths and illnesses.

Does anyone know or has anyone gathered data on suspected/confirmed to compare? It would be interesting to see what they aren't telling us.

And, you're welcome for the article Soficrow.

the un and foreign workers demand that dead should not be washed, so mostly muslims refuse that .

the solution that epicenter isolated, and all the foreign health workers should enter the isolation area if they really want to help with out leaving untill the epidemic is finished) and people inside the isolation area should get incentives to stay put and that incentive would be to give them all they need without them having to fetch for food and water and spread the disease.

when ever a person get sick he should stay put in his house (not a quarantine village or clinic. with nobody visiting him or her and not leaving his house.
it preserves the dignity of the patient not to die in hospital put in morgue, disecting him post mortum etc.
he should die in his home in dignity.

and not spread the disease.

a reply to: quirkygirl

It's not about suspected v/s confirmed - it's about isolated villages not "reporting in" and potentially HUGE numbers of people not getting to hospitals, clinics or treatment centers. As I recall, there are only about 5 public hospitals in all of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia (serving a total population of over 21 million: Sierra Leone, 5.979 million; Guinea, 11.45 million; Liberia, 4.19 million). Nigeria's healthcare system is the same or worse. AND 3 public hospitals in these areas are associated with US-based researchers working on "viral hemorrhagic fevers" like Ebola - [Kenema Hospital in Sierra Leone, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Nigeria and the University of Lagos] - including scientists from Fort Dettrick and 'health' corporations like Corgenix (who started Ebola test development back in March, well before the epidemic was acknowledged).

So what are the actual numbers? We can only guess. ...My guess is, it's at least a hundred times worse than reports indicate, maybe 1000 times worse [reported death toll is 1,229, total number of reported cases is 2,240]. So I'd say the real picture is somewhere between 22,000 and 220,000 cases - and spreading.

Press Release - Corgenix expands Lassa virus rapid test research to Ebola test development

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/28/2014

Check this link out:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Possible first case in Europe! Have to wait for tests to come back but it sounds very strange, she came back from Nigeria and died at her Apartment soon after with no signs of an actual murder taking place. So, she died suddenly from something... could be a number of things but her blood is being tested anyway.

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist
Virtually all of those tested out of Africa are coming back negative for ebola.

Sounds like a lot of scaremongering. I doubt whether the people who are sick in Africa are even receiving a specialised blood test for ebola, so who is to say what strain of haemorragic fever they may be dying of?

originally posted by: Elliot
a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist
Virtually all of those tested out of Africa are coming back negative for ebola.

Sounds like a lot of scaremongering. I doubt whether the people who are sick in Africa are even receiving a specialised blood test for ebola, so who is to say what strain of haemorragic fever they may be dying of?

Would you care to test your credentials against the JAMA?

Ebola virus disease (EVD) has 3 species of human significance: Zaire, Sudan, and Bundibugyo. The West Africa outbreak is from a new strain of the Zaire species,2 with a reported case-fatality rate of 55%. Infection can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and generalized bleeding as well as death.

Viewpoint | August 11, 2014
The Ebola Epidemic
A Global Health Emergency

Just read that there may be a potential Ebola case in Sacramento, CA. This is getting scary.. It may now have reached the West Coast

The quarantine area is like a concentration camp with night curfew. See www.telegraph.co.uk...

a reply to: ispyed

LOL.

I thought your comment read:

The quarantine area is like a Contraception camp with night curfew.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Are they actually, each and everyone, being tested for what is wrong with them........EACH and EVERY ONE?

a reply to: Elliot

Tested locally, then the samples go to the WHO for confirmation. The real problem is serious underreporting, NOT mistaken diagnoses.

I agree though - the constant reporting of "suspected" (and untested) cases offshore is scaremongering. But if that's what it takes......

Ebola: world 'failing to help' as Africa faces 'emergency'

The head of an international medical charity has accused world leaders of doing "almost zero" to help countries affected by the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history.

"Leaders in the West are talking about their own safety and doing things like closing airlines –and not helping anyone else," Brice de la Vigne, the operations director of Medecins Sans Frontieres told The Guardian.

He argues that containing Ebola is not a complicated task, but requires international intervention. He accused leaders of lacking the political will to take action. "Time is running against us", he warned.

Other healthcare workers have echoed De la Vigne's comments. "We are gone beyond the stage of a health crisis", said Sinead Walsh, head of Irish Aid working in Sierra Leonia's capital. "This is a humanitarian emergency now".

Ebola crisis: Trail of death suggests killer virus has spread to FIFTH Africa nation.

Democratic Republic of Congo sent its health minister and a team of experts to a remote northern province after several people were discovered dead there from a disease with Ebola-like symptoms.

The country is now awaiting confirmation as to whether the fatal disease has spread to a fifth nation in West Africa.

A government spokesperson for the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed: "An illness is spreading in Boende but we don't know the origin.

An Equateur resident, who asked not to be named, said that over ten people had died, including four health care workers suffering from fever, diarrhoea and bleeding from the ears and nostrils – all symptoms found in the final stages of the vicious Ebola virus.


Looks like it could be spreading. Either that or its another outbreak altogether in another part of Africa.

A couple things I found interesting:

There's no scientific way of knowing exactly how wrong the official numbers are, says Joseph Fair, an infectious disease doctor who has been acting as a special adviser to the health minister of Sierra Leone. "At a bare minimum, I would guess they're probably off by 20 percent," he says.

Source: nynow.org...

Scary how high the actual numbers could truly be!

In addition to the broad early symptoms that Ebola patients will often experience, the CDC notes that patients likely wouldn't qualify for testing unless they've been in recent contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of someone who has the virus.

So, they aren't testing everyone, just people who they think were around possible Ebola patients? I know the symptoms mimic so many other things, but shouldn't everyone who presents with these symptoms be tested for Ebola? You never know who you've been around and where they have been. ugh

Source: www.govexec.com...

link

UPDATED
2 new Ebola cases in Nigeria called 1st to spread beyond traveller
'Frankly no one knows when this outbreak of Ebola will end,' says WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib
The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 6:38 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 9:19 AM ET

Elsewhere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it had drawn up a draft strategy plan to combat Ebola in West Africa over the next six to nine months, implying that it does not expect to halt the epidemic this year

The fact that Ebola was acknowledged in Lagos -an international hub- was always a huge red flag. I've always suspected there was more going on in Nigeria. Now they're admitting secondary cases - with reported cases up to 17 - and setting the stage for major disclosures.

Nigeria Confirms 2 New Ebola Cases
Aug 22, 2014

Two new cases of Ebola have emerged in Nigeria and, in an alarming development, they are outside the group of caregivers who treated an airline passenger who arrived with Ebola and died, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Friday.

The two are spouses of a man and woman who had direct contact with Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, who flew into Nigeria last month with the virus and infected 11 others before he died in July, including the male and female caregiver who both subsequently died of Ebola, Chukwu told reporters in Abuja, the capital.

Nigerian officials initially claimed the risk of exposure to others was minimal because Sawyer was whisked into isolation after arriving at the airport. But Lagos state health commissioner later Jide Idris acknowledged earlier this month that Sawyer was not immediately quarantined the first day.

NOTE: The WHO reported 15 cases in Nigeria on August 20, 2014, bringing the total of reported cases up to 17.

a reply to: soficrow

Wow, Chukwu is having to eat some major crow there if you look at what he said a couple of days ago:

However, the Minister of Health in a statement Wednesday night (local time) said, “This report should be disregarded” reiterating that “Nigeria has only two confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease.”

The Minister said the clarification was due to news reports of five new cases of Ebola in Lagos quoting the Commissioner as source.

“The Honourable Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu wishes to reiterate that at present, Nigeria has only two confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease. This clarification follows media reports of five new cases in Lagos State. This report should be disregarded.

source

Is it any wonder why they don't trust their political leaders? It's for the same reason we don't trust ours...they say things like this:

“The minister reiterates that any doubtful information on the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria should be verified from the Office of the Honourable Minister of Health who has the sole authority to announce confirmed cases as far as disease epidemics in Nigeria are concerned."

...

The Minister reaffirmed that “as at 7 pm today, there is no other confirmed Ebola Virus Disease case in Nigeria outside the two that are currently under treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos.”

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Chukwu is an idiot - but to be fair, negotiations are ongoing and the cover-up stories keep changing. Poor guy is caught in the middle between the US Military and the VHFC, the rest of the greedy buggers in his government and the WHO for starters.

The real story is hard to unravel but here's my current analysis. ....Nigeria is one of the wealthiest and most corrupt governments in Africa - there is little-to-no infrastructure, and nothing to benefit the general population like roads, hospitals and healthcare - gawdforbid accessible public washrooms in the cities, not even Lagos. Looks like the oil money goes straight into the leaders' pockets.

Then there's the Ebola issue - further 'complicated' by the fact that Nigerian officials signed off on Ebola research with a consortium (VHFC) that includes the US Military as well as pharmaceutical corporations - at least one that's now offering a "treatment" for testing on West African guinea pigs. NOTE: The original agreement stipulated no ethical oversight, a term usually reserved for outbreak situations.

Looks like two epidemics started back in December of 2013 - one out of Kenema Hospital in Sierra Leone and the other from University of Lagos/Irrua Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. Maybe the research teams jumped the gun, mistakenly considered something "safe," and accidentally started the epidemic in Nigeria as well as Kenema, Sierra Leone (where the VHFC had the same "no ethical oversight" agreement). Maybe the whole thing was purposeful.

....In any event, the leaders obviously are fighting over the "spoils" - while the US Military and corporate machines from the VHFC are tweaking the cover-ups - and using Twitter and other social media to do it.