Ebola ‘Out Of Control’: Doctors Without Borders
Source: AP
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- A senior official for Doctors Without Borders says the Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is "totally out of control" and that the medical group is stretched to the limit in its capacity to respond.
Bart Janssens, the director of operations for the group in Brussels, said Friday that international organizations and the governments involved need to send in more health experts and increase public education messages about how to stop the spread of the disease.
Janssens said the outbreak is far from over and will probably end up as the most deadly on record.
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, Ebola has already been linked to more than 330 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_WEST_AFRICA_EBOLA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-06-20-08-53-41
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)being de-populated by war, famine and ebola. And who benefits?
valerief
(53,235 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)intaglio
(8,170 posts)catbyte
(34,169 posts)too fast for widespread contagiousness. And the fact that it's not an airborne virus.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)A person who has been exposed to the virus in Africa can board a plane full of passengers and fly just about anywhere in the world within 24 hours.
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)and I think a few west African nations are playing.
catbyte
(34,169 posts)other bodily fluids. It still scares the hell out of me, though.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)An infected person who has not yet shown symptoms could use the airplane bathroom before you do. Did they have sweaty hands that touched the door handle? Did they spray the toilet seat? Those are bodily fluids you do not wish to have contact with.
adigal
(7,581 posts)That was the fear with the monkeys in Reston, VA. That's when these diseases really get interesting. See Black Death, Middle Ages. The change from bubonic to pneumonic killed between 1/3 to 1/2 of Europe.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic 2012
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13637215-spillover
pitohui
(20,564 posts)and very well reasoned
still wouldn't read it before going to bed but it wasn't "hot zone" level of let's just all kill ourselves before we bleed out...
onecent
(6,096 posts)serious as the Ebola Zaire strain, which is a strain that is contagious via air. I ordered the book "The Hot Zone" a true story about the ebola virus back in the late 70's early 80's and the doctors that worked with the victims and scientists tested monkeys. it is a riveting book and it is scary to think how easily it could be transmitted to the united States.
In fact, I just received the book yesterday and CANNOT put it down. it is written by Richard Preston. Ebay has several available.
DesertDiamond
(1,616 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)pitohui
(20,564 posts)like it or not, the consumption of bush meat has been a very real part of the story of this disease (in fact, this was a big part of what's discussed in "spillover"
but i don't think it's useful to overplay the "handling" human aspect
it is not spread by simple touching, the person upthread who feared touching a lav door on a commercial jet flying thru africa should just stay home if they are that fearful, because that's howard hughes level of paranoia
yes some people have caught ebola by treating very sick people who were shedding a lot of blood -- they were dedicated medical workers and not casual contacts tho
i'm not a doctor but the decades since this disease was discovered its failure to spread in the age of jet flight suggests that it's very hard to catch
doctors w/out borders should be supported to help prevent the spread to more poor villages where people eat bush meat, not because of bogus fears that it's coming to a suburb near ours any time soon
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)Sentath
(2,243 posts)I strongly disagree with the phrasing of the conclusion of the book. It uses the phrase "Dodged a bullet". I disagree. We took that bullet to the chest. It just turned out to be rubber.
moriah
(8,311 posts)The VHF that fortunately only killed monkeys?
I agree with you there.
ms liberty
(8,478 posts)smallcat88
(426 posts)most Americans will pay little to no attention unless it comes to our shores. A big KUDOS to Doctors Without Borders. These are some of the most dedicated professionals on the planet willing to risk it all for the sake of helping total strangers. They don't come any more human than that.
groundloop
(11,486 posts)I've given to them in the past, and it's probably time to do so again.
pitohui
(20,564 posts)great folks who really put the $$$ to use
PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)From Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
The rise in cases may be due to a reluctance on the part of patients to go to hospital. The movement of infected people and cadavers is also a major issue. Families frequently transport dead bodies themselves in order to organise funerals other towns. The multiplication of affected areas makes it difficult to treat patients and control the epidemic. The main challenges we face on the ground are resistance within communities and follow-up with of people who have crossed borders and may be infected.
http://www.msf.org/article/resurgence-epidemic-ebola-west-africa
I greatly admire MSF - and I do support them. If ever anyone is wondering who to give money to this is a really excellent group who do so much for so many.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)I know that the virus was the centerpiece of the book "The Hot Zone", but if I recall correctly, those events were about an outbreak among test monkeys at a Reston, VA. facility...I can't recall ever reading about Ebola outbreaks of greater than 50 deaths in the past and this one is already 6 times greater?
As scary as Ebola is, its not the known viruses that worry me the most...its the potential for previously unknown tropical viruses to migrate into the temperate latitudes as climate change continues to stress animal populations and force new migratory patterns as well. People simply do not appreciate the fragility of civilization or life on this planet for that matter. We just keep on partying like its 1999 and burn through everything we want in the process...this place is already looking like a hotel room after Keith Moon stayed the night....I guess we won't be happy until we burn the building down as well...
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)"Janssens said this outbreak is particularly challenging because it began in an area where people are very mobile and has spread to even more densely populated areas, like the capitals of Guinea and Liberia. "
Moostache
(9,895 posts)Its definitely an eye opener to have this disease get out into such densely populated areas...god help us all if it mutates to a slower, more easily transmissible form or worse yet manages to mingle with the flu as a result of getting out of the jungles and into the cities...
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)I just read some NIH info on it, as well as wikis entry. It looks like the main reason for its transmission is because the early symptoms are very general; in impoverished areas people probably don't seek treatment until they are well into the infectious stage, which occurs after the fever. It's lack of resources in impoverished regions more than anything that is allowing it to spread. It takes direct contact (actually multiple contacts) with infected body fluids.
People being cared for at home, handling the corpses, etc, accounts for most of the spread.
Further, it looks as though researchers have identified the specific transport protein it binds to when entering cells, and have determined how to prevent it entering cells (at least in vitro). It's just a matter of time before there are drugs to successfully treat it by prevent cell entry. There has been successful treatment of animals.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)When Western trained nurses and doctors came in contact with Ebola, and tried to contained it using conventional methods, the disease tended to spread, when the local did what they local "Witch Doctor" told them to do, the spreading stopped. When Western nurses and doctors adopted those same methods the spread of Ebola tended to stop.
What was the method? The people of the village would tell the person who was infected to stay in his or her hit. No one was alone it the hut. Food was brought to the front door and left there to be picked up by the infected person. If the person lived a week or more, that person could leave the hut and rejoin the tribe, if the person died (indicated by seeing the food left at the door not being eaten). the hit, with the person in it, was burned to the ground. Fire purifies a lot of things.
Harsh, but effective. This policy seems to have kept Ebola a local disease. Remember it is a VIRAL infection, which means none of our antibiotics works on it at all. Where it comes from no one knows, they do not even know what it infects besides man (Thus the host that it belongs to is unknown, and thus it is unknown if the host is immune from Ebola or dies from Ebola).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease
Now, since I first read about Ebola, some addition facts have been found. Fruit bats are considered the host, through that is not completely accepted within the medical community. Fruits bats have been tested for Ebola, and the tests have come back positive, with the bats have no symptoms of the disease themselves.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
Side note: Most of the countries listed as where Ebola has been reported, has seen increase amount of fruits being planted to export to the US and Europe. Thus the increase in Ebola, may be do to an increase in Fruit bats do to the increase in their natural diet with this increase in fruit growing in West Africa.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)If you showed symptoms they'd lock you into your house, with your family. After a few months if anybody survived they were free to go.
adigal
(7,581 posts)We may not have to worry about overpopulation anymore. That is what made the Black Death so deadly - when it turned from bubonic to pneumonic. Then, a sneeze, cough, or lung droplet of any kind can spread it.
ms liberty
(8,478 posts)Far more important than the hair on fire crap that gets all the attention around here lately.