The One Question About Ebola That Nobody Can Seem To Answer

The American Dream ^ | 08/13/2014 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

How in the world is it possible that more than 170 health workers have been infected by the Ebola virus? That is the one question about Ebola that nobody can seem to answer. The World Health Organization is reporting this as a fact, but no explanation is given as to why this is happening. We are just assured that Ebola “is not airborne” and that getting infected “requires close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person”. If this is true, then how have more than 170 health workers caught the disease? These workers are dressed head to toe in suits that are specifically designed to prevent the spread of the virus. So how is this happening? I could understand a handful of “mistakes” by health workers, but this is unlike anything that we have ever seen in the history of infectious diseases. These health workers take extraordinary precautions to keep from getting the virus. If it is spreading so easily to them, what chance is the general population going to have?

Overall, more than 1,700 people have been officially infected and more than 900 people have officially died so far. But an official from Samaritan’s Purse says that the real numbers are probably far, far higher…

Ken Isaacs, the vice president of Program and Government Relations for Samaritan’s Purse, painted an even bleaker picture. According to the World Health Organization, West Africa has counted 1,711 diagnoses and 932 deaths, already, which could represent only a small fraction of the true number. “We believe that these numbers represent just 25 to 50 percent of what is happening,” said Isaacs.

In a six-hour meeting with the president of Liberia last week, Isaacs said workers from Samaritan’s Purse and SIM watched as the “somber” officials explained the gravity of the situation in their countries, where hundreds lie dead in the streets. “It has an atmosphere of apocalypse,” Isaacs said of the Liberia Ministry of Health’s status updates. “Bodies lying in the street…gangs threatening to burn down hospitals. I believe this disease has the potential to be a national security risk for many nations. Our response has been a failure.” Isaacs says that the epidemic is inciting panic worldwide that, in his opinion, may soon be warranted. “We have to fight it now here or we’re going to have to fight it somewhere else.”

In an official statement released on Monday, the World Health Organization even admitted that some potential Ebola patients “are being turned away”…

The recent surge in the number of cases has stretched all capacities to the breaking point. Supplies of personal protective equipment and disinfectants are inadequate. The outbreak continues to outstrip diagnostic capacity, delaying the confirmation or exclusion of cases and impeding contact tracing.

Some treatment facilities are overflowing; all beds are occupied and patients are being turned away.

Like I have said before, this has the potential to become the greatest health crisis that any of us have ever seen.

Up until this point, the outbreak has been primarily limited to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

But now it is starting to pop up in more countries around Africa.

For example, the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria has reached ten…

Nigeria on Monday confirmed a new case of Ebola in the financial capital Lagos, bringing the total number of people in the country with the virus to 10.

Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the latest confirmed case was a female nurse who came into contact with a Liberian-American man, Patrick Sawyer, who died of Ebola in a Lagos hospital on July 25.

In addition to Sawyer, another nurse who had contact with him died last week, while seven other people have been confirmed to have the virus in the city, he added.

And it looks like we may now have our first case of Ebola in Rwanda…

Rwanda’s health officials have placed a man suspected of suffering from Ebola in isolation at King Faisal Hospital Kigali. A statement by the Ministry of Health released on Sunday indicates that the patient had been tested with results still expected. Samples from the suspected case have been sent for testing to an international accredited laboratory, and results will be available in 48 hours, the statement said. The suspected case is a European medical student, according to the statement. It is the first suspected Ebola case in Rwanda since the outbreak of the virus in West Africa. The government urged the public to remain calm and vigilant, as the ministry is closely monitoring the situation.

All the preventive measures needed in line with national standards are already in place, including surveillance systems and emergency management systems, it assured, adding “Health workers have been trained across the country and are vigilant.” This will enable timely detection, notification and appropriate management of any suspected cases to safeguard Rwandans, the statement concluded.

Over in Ghana, a man that just died is being tested for the Ebola virus…

Ghana may be recording its first case of Ebola if tests on the blood samples of a Burkinabe man suspected to have died of Ebola proves positive. The man who was rushed to the Bawku Presby Hospital in the Upper East Region from Burkina Faso, died on arrival. The Medical Director at the Hospital, Dr Joseph Yaw Manu, who confirmed the incident to Citi News, said they sent the blood samples for testing because the man was brought in showing symptoms of Ebola. In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Manu said the patient was bleeding from his nostrils which raised their suspicion he may have died of the Ebola disease. Dr. Manu said they are awaiting the results from the blood sample test to verify the cause of death. He gave the assurance that the hospital is prepared to battle the disease. This is the fourth suspected case of Ebola reported in Ghana; two in Kumasi, one in Accra and now the Upper East Region.

Lastly, the little nation of Benin is now reporting two potential cases of Ebola…

Benin has reported two cases of the deadly Ebola virus in the west African country. Health Ministry official Aboubacar Moufiliatou said that a man suspected to have contracted the virus had died. “Fortunately, blood samples have been taken from the deceased patient to examine if his death was linked with Ebola,” Moufililatou told the state television Thursday night. He said another man has been quarantined after showing symptoms of the deadly virus after returning from the Nigerian city of Lagos. “Blood tests from the suspected case will be conducted in laboratories approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) to confirm or deny the infection,” he said. The WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an “international public health emergency” as the virus reportedly continues to spread through the region in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. According to the latest WHO report, Ebola has killed 932 people in West Africa. The Ebola virus, a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals and also spreads through contact with the body fluids of an infected person or someone who has died of the disease. Medical doctors say common symptoms of Ebola include high fever and headaches, followed by bleeding from openings in the body. If the cases turn out to be Ebola, this would be the fifth country in Africa where the virus has spread.

We are quickly getting to the point where it will become impossible to contain this virus.

And if it spreads to the United States, we are going to be in a massive amount of trouble. The truth is that we are not prepared for an Ebola pandemic, and such a crisis would create a massive wave of panic and fear all over this country.

Unfortunately, despite the risks, we continue to bring people back to this country before we know that it is safe to do so…

Health officials in North Carolina said on Sunday they will require missionaries and others coming home after working with people infected with Ebola in Africa to be placed in quarantine.

The quarantine is set to last for three weeks from the last exposure to someone infected in the West African Ebola outbreak, which is centred in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the officials said.

Missionaries from the North Carolina-based Christian aid groups SIM USA and Samaritan’s Purse have been working to help combat the world’s worst outbreak of the disease. Two of the relief workers, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, contracted the disease and are being cared for at Emory University hospital in Georgia.

Why couldn’t those individuals just be quarantined over there an extra three weeks in a safe area and then come home?

All it takes is one sick person. Once the disease gets here and starts spreading, there isn’t much that we can do about it. There is no cure for Ebola, and according to the New York Times it is going to be quite a while before one is potentially available…

The drugs that could potentially treat those already infected and the vaccines to protect healthy people from infection are all in the earliest stages of testing. And even if they do pass muster in clinical trials, they cannot be produced in large quantities quickly enough to stem the widening epidemic anytime soon.

And the CDC agrees with this assessment…

“We do not know how to treat Ebola or vaccinate against it — and it will be a long time before we do.”

Those are very sobering words.

For now, our health officials are telling us that we have very little to be concerned about.

But they can’t even tell us why more than 170 health workers have caught the virus.

So let’s hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

[Resolute Conservative]

If you can get it from inhaling particle matter (sneezes etc...) it is airborne IMO.

[Happy_Regicide]

Perhaps because they don’t take the appropriate precautions?

When dealing with blood born pathogens, you have to use AAMI PB70 level 4 gowns (which have been tested to be both impermeable and to prevent the passage of virus particles). Even in the States, it is very common for health care personnel to use lower level gowns and barriers when facing possible exposure to blood born pathogens. It is a risk, but most of the time the health care workers win the bet.

The odds change dramatically when you are dealing with an exceptionally virulent blood borne pathogen like ebola.

My guess is that almost no-one in the affected area even has the more expensive AAMI PB70 level 4 gowns (they are comparatively much more expensive). I would also bet the WHO (which always stresses economics over safety) is not telling African’s to use the more expensive gowns. (I have always suspected their since with-drawn advice to the 3rd world that it was okay to reuse disposable syringes if you ran water with beach through them was responsible for Middle Class vector of the spread of AIDS in Africa, but that is just speculation on my part).

And then there is the whole airborne vector for spreading ebola as claimed in the Reston VA outbreak.

[The Great RJ]

ASSYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS and a possible airborne mutation. Simple answer is we don’t know a lot about Ebola other than it is highly contagious and has high mortality. If we look at historic pandemics like the Spanish influenza after WW-I and the Black Death we are only learning years later about how these diseases may have spread. During the time of the plague there was an apparent pneumonic disease with even higher mortality than the plague. The disease referred to as the English sweating sickness killed within hours of symptoms appearing..mainly high fever and profuse sweating. The cause of this pandemic is still unknown.

[drpix]

ASSYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS.

... and those carriers with symptoms have only symptoms like diarrhea & vomiting - which are found in many very common and non-serious health problems (and even in people with no health problem).

Therefore you can't quarantine everyone who has Ebola like symptoms and can't separate the symptomatic who have Ebola from those who don't until they already had the opportunity to spread the disease.

[IYAS9YAS]

I think a geneticist from eastern Europe spliced a human gene into the Ebola virus DNA...oops that was on the Last Ship

What is interesting is how two new shows (The Strain - a parasite/virus adaptation of vampirism, and The Last Ship) are dealing with an "outbreak" of some type just as the Ebola outbreak hits. Granted, given the vast amount of shows on the idiot box, getting two with similar issues at any given time to real life is more likely happenstance than enemy action, but it is interesting.

[I want the USA back]

So that we will be sympathetic and not complain when 0 lets thousands into the USA for “free” treatment on 0bamacare.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Easy answer. Third-world medical facility, equipment, and procedures.

[Cats Pajamas]

Would that do any good with a southern border that is basically a sieve?

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

I want the USA back:" So that we will be sympathetic and not complain when 0 lets thousands into the USA for “free” treatment on 0bamacare."

There is a movement for "Barry The Brave" to do something about the Bola crisis.
At: < /http://www.worldnewsbureau.com/2014/08/six-million-americans-sign-obama-ebola-petition.html >
The organization Americans For Obama Ebola (AFOE) demands the President visit hospitals in the West African country of Sierra Leone
to show his concern and investigate ways the U.S. might help.

AFOE announced a new Twitter campaign on Wednesday featuring celebrities holding signs that say '#Obama To Africa - Show You Care.'
Celebrities as well as everyday citizens are encouraged to add their voices to this cause by submitting their own photos to AFOE.
AFOE claims 6 million signatures so far .
Alledgedly , Biden also supports this effort, but will remain at home with his 12 gague shotgun.

[Sir Napsalot]

>>> ... on Sunday .....

A bit too late, isn’t it? And praying and hoping for the best?

Like a bandaid on an open artery wound.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“If this is true, then how have more than 170 health workers caught the disease? These workers are dressed head to toe in suits that are specifically designed to prevent the spread of the virus.”

Incorrect assumption. The vast majority of the health workers likely had minimal protection. This means ordinary surgical masks and rubber gloves.

“(ordinary) surgical masks are primarily designed to protect the environment from the wearer, whereas N95 respirators are supposed to protect the wearer from the environment.”

Infectious Ebola virions are usually 920nm (nanometers) in length, 80nm in diameter. N95 respirators are designed to filter out viruses from 10 to 80nm in size, and the larger they are, the more effectively they are filtered. Over 80nm they should be entirely filtered.

However, breathing is not the only way to get the virus. It can have ready access through the eyes, so surgical protective glasses are a must.

The third way the virus can infect is through physical contamination. This means that all clothing and equipment must be decontaminated either chemically, or in an autoclave. Shoes are second most contaminated after hands.

Importantly, since gloved hands get the most physical contamination, you cannot just peel the gloves off, or you might get contamination on your skin from the “peeling hand”. So you must first decontaminate your gloved hands, and then peel and discard your gloves.

Likewise, protective shoe coverings, if you have them, also need decontamination before removing for discard.

With garments, sleeves are the most contaminated part, so it is essential that you put on a different blouse in between patients. This is why plasticized paper surgical garments are popular these days.

Bottom line: these health care workers likely were unable to protect themselves, or did not properly decontaminate themselves.

[john316]

What about the movie Idiocracy

[arthurus]

I suspect that, while very dangerous, it is not so dangerous as its PR. I remember late in the SARS attempt to gin up Panic that SARS was claimed to have death rates that at first were 50% or more. That estimation declined over the course of the Official Panic. Then there was a doctor who was treating SARS in an Anatolian village. Instead of counting only the people who got sick and needed treatment, he tested the whole village and found that virtually everyone in the village had developed antibodies and there were only a couple of deaths. That showed that SARS was more like a widespread but mild Flu. That was all reported once and disappeared. The Hype went on but interest was waning as no one was dying in news consumers’ neighborhoods and it dropped off the charts.

[Mrs. Frogjerk]

Yup, that’s exactly what they are doing and that’s the problem. Hence the pictures of boots and gloves being aired out on sticks for reuse. That is not going to cut it! That is why we throw everything out that is used in our hospitals on patients. It’s not really much of a mystery.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!

[mgist]

ping