Sign up with GoogleThe_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
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British stiff upper lip hard at work.
May he recover.
Situation seems to be nightmarish.
May he recover.
Situation seems to be nightmarish.
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West Africa Ebola Outbreak [11,313 dead]
- Thread starter LazyLion
- Start date
Sinbad
Honorary Master
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Not yet bleeding out of the penis...
KleinBoontjie
Honorary Master
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Wonder how many of this mob is infected by now
Eniigma
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/tinfoil hat
There's been like less then 3000 deaths due to it in the last 40 years, so
How is it that so many countries, well 3 (US, Canada, Japan) at least, have an experimental cure so fast when this is a relatively rare and minor threat in the grand scheme of things?
Why do places like London and other parts of the world have "specialist Ebola units" where there is no risk of it occurring naturally?
... something doesn't add up.
/end tinfoil hat
There's been like less then 3000 deaths due to it in the last 40 years, so
How is it that so many countries, well 3 (US, Canada, Japan) at least, have an experimental cure so fast when this is a relatively rare and minor threat in the grand scheme of things?
Why do places like London and other parts of the world have "specialist Ebola units" where there is no risk of it occurring naturally?
... something doesn't add up.
/end tinfoil hat
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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There is nothing sinister about it...
Research groups often need new viruses and pathogens to experiment on for training and development purposes, so they choose Ebola as a subject to advance their knowledge in the field of viral treatments. It is a prime subject due to it's current limitations in it's evolutionary phase.
And secondly it is Standard operating procedure for the disease control centres of many countries to be prepared for any eventuality in this day and age of global travel and global terrorism.
LazyLion
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MORE THAN 120 HEALTH WORKERS HAVE DIED OF EBOLA: WHO
More than 120 health workers have died of Ebola across west Africa, the World Health Organization said on Monday, claiming the epidemic had affected an "unprecedented number of medical staff".
In a statement, the WHO said more than 240 health care workers working in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone have developed the disease with "more than 120" succumbing to the epidemic.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 25 Aug 2014 23:30
More than 120 health workers have died of Ebola across west Africa, the World Health Organization said on Monday, claiming the epidemic had affected an "unprecedented number of medical staff".
In a statement, the WHO said more than 240 health care workers working in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone have developed the disease with "more than 120" succumbing to the epidemic.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 25 Aug 2014 23:30
The_Unbeliever
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Keep in mind Ebola are one of the most difficult pathogens to work with, as it need a BSL-4 laboratory.
Kornhub
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LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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I think that is part of the mystery and curiosity for some people.
They love the idea of working with one of the world's most dangerous viruses.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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'PERFECT STORM' FOR EBOLA TO SPREAD: VIRUS PIONEER
Peter Piot, the Belgian scientist who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, on Tuesday said a "perfect storm" in West Africa had given the disease a chance to spread unchecked.
"We have never seen an (Ebola) epidemic on this scale," Piot was quoted by the French daily Liberation as saying.
"In the last six months, we have been witnessing what can be described as a 'perfect storm' -- everything is there for it to snowball."
The epidemic "is exploding in countries where health services are not functioning, ravaged by decades of civil war," Piot said.
"In addition, the public is deeply suspicious of the authorities. Trust must be restored. Nothing can be done in an epidemic like Ebola if there is no trust."
Piot is former chief of the UN agency UNAIDS and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the world's foremost centres of expertise on tropical disease.
In the interview, he also castigated "the extraordinary slowness" of international organisations in responding to the outbreak.
"The World Health Organization (WHO) only woke up in July," whereas the epidemic began in December last year and health experts sounded the alarm in early March, said Piot.
"There is now leadership but it is late," he said.
The epidemic has killed 1,427 people out of more than 2,600 known cases of infection, with doctors and nurses paying a particularly heavy price.
The epidemic is focussed on Liberia and Sierra Leone, which were wracked by conflict in the 1990s and the early part of the last decade, and on neighbouring Guinea.
Other cases have been recorded in Nigeria, whose north is hit by unrest, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose east is in the grip of a decades-old conflict and where Ebola was first identified in 1976.
DRC Health Minister Felix Kabanga Numbi last Sunday said that the country's seventh recorded Ebola outbreak had "no link to (the epidemic) in west Africa".
Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 26 Aug 2014 12:19
Peter Piot, the Belgian scientist who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, on Tuesday said a "perfect storm" in West Africa had given the disease a chance to spread unchecked.
"We have never seen an (Ebola) epidemic on this scale," Piot was quoted by the French daily Liberation as saying.
"In the last six months, we have been witnessing what can be described as a 'perfect storm' -- everything is there for it to snowball."
The epidemic "is exploding in countries where health services are not functioning, ravaged by decades of civil war," Piot said.
"In addition, the public is deeply suspicious of the authorities. Trust must be restored. Nothing can be done in an epidemic like Ebola if there is no trust."
Piot is former chief of the UN agency UNAIDS and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the world's foremost centres of expertise on tropical disease.
In the interview, he also castigated "the extraordinary slowness" of international organisations in responding to the outbreak.
"The World Health Organization (WHO) only woke up in July," whereas the epidemic began in December last year and health experts sounded the alarm in early March, said Piot.
"There is now leadership but it is late," he said.
The epidemic has killed 1,427 people out of more than 2,600 known cases of infection, with doctors and nurses paying a particularly heavy price.
The epidemic is focussed on Liberia and Sierra Leone, which were wracked by conflict in the 1990s and the early part of the last decade, and on neighbouring Guinea.
Other cases have been recorded in Nigeria, whose north is hit by unrest, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose east is in the grip of a decades-old conflict and where Ebola was first identified in 1976.
DRC Health Minister Felix Kabanga Numbi last Sunday said that the country's seventh recorded Ebola outbreak had "no link to (the epidemic) in west Africa".
Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 26 Aug 2014 12:19
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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EBOLA 'EASIER TO AVOID THAN MALARIA': USAID
The head of the US Agency for International Development said Tuesday poor understanding of Ebola was undermining the fight against the epidemic, pointing out that the fever is harder to get than malaria.
USAID director Jeremy Konyndyk, in Liberia to support the fight against an epidemic which has claimed the lives of almost 1,500 west Africans, told AFP educating people on how to protect themselves was the best way to beat Ebola.
"Compared to something like malaria, it is much harder a disease to get. But obviously must worse when you do get it," he said.
"So helping people to better understand how they can protect themselves, how they can avoid Ebola, is a critical piece of controlling this outbreak."
The epidemic has sent shockwaves throughout the world since it emerged in southern Guinea at the start of the year, grounding flights to the afflicted countries and damaging African economies.
But the death toll since it was discovered in 1976 is under 3,000 while, at conservative estimates, malaria is estimated to kill that many people every two days, the vast majority of them African children aged under five.
Ebola transmission can be prevented by avoiding contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.
Malaria, spread through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito, often while the human host is asleep, is more difficult to avoid.
"One of the biggest challenges that we are faced with in this outbreak is misinformation or poor understanding. You know Ebola is not a hard disease to avoid, if you know how to avoid it," Konyndyk said.
Konyndyk is due to hold talks with the affected communities in Liberia, where 624 people have died, as well as health authorities in the field and the government.
USAID is a government agency working in more than 100 countries with a mission to end extreme global poverty.
Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 26 Aug 2014 12:17
The head of the US Agency for International Development said Tuesday poor understanding of Ebola was undermining the fight against the epidemic, pointing out that the fever is harder to get than malaria.
USAID director Jeremy Konyndyk, in Liberia to support the fight against an epidemic which has claimed the lives of almost 1,500 west Africans, told AFP educating people on how to protect themselves was the best way to beat Ebola.
"Compared to something like malaria, it is much harder a disease to get. But obviously must worse when you do get it," he said.
"So helping people to better understand how they can protect themselves, how they can avoid Ebola, is a critical piece of controlling this outbreak."
The epidemic has sent shockwaves throughout the world since it emerged in southern Guinea at the start of the year, grounding flights to the afflicted countries and damaging African economies.
But the death toll since it was discovered in 1976 is under 3,000 while, at conservative estimates, malaria is estimated to kill that many people every two days, the vast majority of them African children aged under five.
Ebola transmission can be prevented by avoiding contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.
Malaria, spread through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito, often while the human host is asleep, is more difficult to avoid.
"One of the biggest challenges that we are faced with in this outbreak is misinformation or poor understanding. You know Ebola is not a hard disease to avoid, if you know how to avoid it," Konyndyk said.
Konyndyk is due to hold talks with the affected communities in Liberia, where 624 people have died, as well as health authorities in the field and the government.
USAID is a government agency working in more than 100 countries with a mission to end extreme global poverty.
Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 26 Aug 2014 12:17
The_Assimilator
Executive Member
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Wrong, carpet bombing.
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
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Now, that is just nasty. You'll have collateral damage as well.
Besides, how long will the virus survive in ruins should you decide to bomb a city/ghetto/town? Too risky.
The_Assimilator
Executive Member
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If anything survives, you aren't doing carpet bombing right.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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- 105,605
NIGERIA HAS ONLY ONE EBOLA PATIENT: HEALTH MINISTER
Nigeria said Tuesday that two more people had been released from isolation after recovering from Ebola, leaving only one living patient with the disease in the country.
According to the health ministry, Nigeria has recorded 13 confirmed cases of Ebola, including the Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, who brought the virus to the economic capital Lagos on July 20 and died five days later.
In all five people have died of the disease in Nigeria.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu announced that an additional two patients had been discharged, bringing the number of those released to seven.
"Two of the treated patients, a male doctor and a female nurse were discharged yesterday evening, 25th August, 2014, having satisfied the criteria for discharge," he told reporters in Abuja.
The only patient in the country who currently has Ebola is the wife of a doctor who treated Sawyer, he added.
"She is stable but still on treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos," Chukwu said.
Dozens of people who were at risk of exposure are being monitored and the caseload could rise.
The World Health Organization said last week that it was encouraged by the situation in Nigeria, given that all of the confirmed cases came from a single chain of transmission.
The deadliest-ever outbreak of the virus has killed more than 1,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the start of the year.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:11
Nigeria said Tuesday that two more people had been released from isolation after recovering from Ebola, leaving only one living patient with the disease in the country.
According to the health ministry, Nigeria has recorded 13 confirmed cases of Ebola, including the Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, who brought the virus to the economic capital Lagos on July 20 and died five days later.
In all five people have died of the disease in Nigeria.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu announced that an additional two patients had been discharged, bringing the number of those released to seven.
"Two of the treated patients, a male doctor and a female nurse were discharged yesterday evening, 25th August, 2014, having satisfied the criteria for discharge," he told reporters in Abuja.
The only patient in the country who currently has Ebola is the wife of a doctor who treated Sawyer, he added.
"She is stable but still on treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos," Chukwu said.
Dozens of people who were at risk of exposure are being monitored and the caseload could rise.
The World Health Organization said last week that it was encouraged by the situation in Nigeria, given that all of the confirmed cases came from a single chain of transmission.
The deadliest-ever outbreak of the virus has killed more than 1,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the start of the year.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:11
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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EBOLA-HIT LIBERIA FIRES ABSENTEE MINISTERS: PRESIDENCY
Liberia's leader has sacked ministers and senior government officials who defied an order to return to the west African nation to lead the fight against the deadly Ebola outbreak, her office said on Tuesday.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had told overseas ministers to return within a week as part of a state-of-emergency announcement on August 6, warning that the extraordinary measures were needed "for the very survival of our state".
Her office said in a statement that she had "directed that all officials occupying ministerial level positions or equivalent -- senior and junior -- managing directors, deputy/assistant directors or equivalent, commissioners et cetera who violated the orders are hereby relieved of their positions."
The statement did not say how many ministers were affected or which ones had been fired.
But a government insider clarified that only deputy ministers and senior officials were involved in the cull, and not cabinet-level ministers.
Those not occupying ministerial level positions but "holding important public offices" would have their pay docked until their return, the statement added.
"(Sirleaf) commends and appreciates all government officials and senior level public servants who observed the orders and returned to join the fight against deadly Ebola virus disease," it said.
United Nations officials have pledged to step up efforts against the lethal tropical virus, which has infected more than 2,600 and killed 1,427 since the start of the year.
Liberia has suffered most since the outbreak of the deadly virus erupted earlier this year, with 624 deaths.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:29
Liberia's leader has sacked ministers and senior government officials who defied an order to return to the west African nation to lead the fight against the deadly Ebola outbreak, her office said on Tuesday.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had told overseas ministers to return within a week as part of a state-of-emergency announcement on August 6, warning that the extraordinary measures were needed "for the very survival of our state".
Her office said in a statement that she had "directed that all officials occupying ministerial level positions or equivalent -- senior and junior -- managing directors, deputy/assistant directors or equivalent, commissioners et cetera who violated the orders are hereby relieved of their positions."
The statement did not say how many ministers were affected or which ones had been fired.
But a government insider clarified that only deputy ministers and senior officials were involved in the cull, and not cabinet-level ministers.
Those not occupying ministerial level positions but "holding important public offices" would have their pay docked until their return, the statement added.
"(Sirleaf) commends and appreciates all government officials and senior level public servants who observed the orders and returned to join the fight against deadly Ebola virus disease," it said.
United Nations officials have pledged to step up efforts against the lethal tropical virus, which has infected more than 2,600 and killed 1,427 since the start of the year.
Liberia has suffered most since the outbreak of the deadly virus erupted earlier this year, with 624 deaths.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:29
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
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BRITISH EBOLA SUFFERER 'RECEIVING EXPERIMENTAL DRUG'
A British nurse infected with Ebola while working in Sierra Leone is being given the same experimental drug used on two US missionaries who have recovered for the disease, doctors in London said Tuesday.
William Pooley, 29, is being treated with ZMapp after being flown out of Sierra Leone on a specially-equipped British military plane on Sunday.
Others who have received ZMapp include two US missionaries, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were treated in the US city of Atlanta before leaving hospital last week.
Liberian doctor Abraham Borbor died Sunday despite receiving the serum.
"We have had the opportunity to give him the ZMapp treatment," said Michael Jacobs of London's Royal Free Hospital, where Pooley is being treated in a special isolation unit.
"What has become apparent to us is that he is clearly a rather resilient and remarkable young man," he said.
Pooley was working as a volunteer nurse in Kenema in Sierra Leone's east, one of the areas worst hit by Ebola, when he was infected.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper days before he contracted Ebola, he spoke of his pride at being able to help people with the virus.
"It's great seeing them walking away after some of them have been in a terrible state and me seeing them on the ward," he said.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, a violent haemorrhagic transmitted through bodily fluids.
ZMapp is grown in tobacco leaves and contains a cocktail of antibodies.
Doctors have stressed that without rigorous clinical trials, they cannot tell for sure if it helps patients recover or not.
Ebola has killed 1,427 people since the start of the year. The countries worst hit include the west African states of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The UN's Ebola envoy, David Nabarro, said Monday it could take six months to stop the current outbreak.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:47
A British nurse infected with Ebola while working in Sierra Leone is being given the same experimental drug used on two US missionaries who have recovered for the disease, doctors in London said Tuesday.
William Pooley, 29, is being treated with ZMapp after being flown out of Sierra Leone on a specially-equipped British military plane on Sunday.
Others who have received ZMapp include two US missionaries, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were treated in the US city of Atlanta before leaving hospital last week.
Liberian doctor Abraham Borbor died Sunday despite receiving the serum.
"We have had the opportunity to give him the ZMapp treatment," said Michael Jacobs of London's Royal Free Hospital, where Pooley is being treated in a special isolation unit.
"What has become apparent to us is that he is clearly a rather resilient and remarkable young man," he said.
Pooley was working as a volunteer nurse in Kenema in Sierra Leone's east, one of the areas worst hit by Ebola, when he was infected.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper days before he contracted Ebola, he spoke of his pride at being able to help people with the virus.
"It's great seeing them walking away after some of them have been in a terrible state and me seeing them on the ward," he said.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, a violent haemorrhagic transmitted through bodily fluids.
ZMapp is grown in tobacco leaves and contains a cocktail of antibodies.
Doctors have stressed that without rigorous clinical trials, they cannot tell for sure if it helps patients recover or not.
Ebola has killed 1,427 people since the start of the year. The countries worst hit include the west African states of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The UN's Ebola envoy, David Nabarro, said Monday it could take six months to stop the current outbreak.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 26 Aug 2014 18:47
R13...
Honorary Master
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Shouldn't the toll be removed from the title already. I understand the figures are hardly believable from what the WHO say - and do they include all those people who died in the DRC, who it looks to me like the government was very keen to say they died of some other hemorrhagic fever. DRC say only two of them tested +ve for ebola