Posted on 03/31/2014 5:17:12 PM PDT by dynachrome
Conakry (AFP) - Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders said Monday an Ebola outbreak suspected of killing dozens in Guinea was an "unprecedented epidemic" as Liberia confirmed its first cases of the deadly contagion.
Guinea's health ministry this year has reported 122 "suspicious cases" of viral haemorrhagic fever, including 78 deaths, with 22 of the samples taken from patients testing positive for the highly contagious tropical pathogen.
"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country: Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Nzerekore, and now Conakry," Mariano Lugli, the organisation's coordinator in the Guinean capital, said in a statement.
The group, known by its French initials MSF, said that by the end of the week it would have around 60 international field workers with experience in working on haemorrhagic fever divided between Conakry and the south-east of the country.
"MSF has intervened in almost all reported Ebola outbreaks in recent years, but they were much more geographically contained and involved more remote locations," Lugli said.
"This geographical spread is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic."
The World Health Organization (WHO) and local health authorities have announced two Ebola cases among seven samples tested from Liberia's northern Foya district, confirming for the first time the spread of the virus across international borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Captain Trips Holiday Ping
Or air travel.
With air travel, contagious diseases can travel around the planet in several hours.
Will the rest of the world take steps now to isolate this outbreak,or do we wait until cases develop in Europe or here?
How long before Liberian or other African Patient Zero gets off a plane in New York City, and we have an American Ebola epidemic?
Halt all travel to or from the place NOW
that would be a responsible action
Fortunately I’m pretty much a hermit.
This is Hugh and Series!!!!
Can pose one queue up the “Oh Nooooo” gif?
Be a shame if if it spread to the middle east.
“Roads aren’t always a good thing.”
If I remember right what keeps Ebola from becoming a real problem is that it kills people so quickly they don’t really have time to flee. This is a case, an odd one where if a disease became slightly less virulent and took a bit longer for those infected to show symptoms it would actually be worse.
If that has happened here look out!
dozens in Guinea was an "unprecedented epidemic"
.. just a tad prematurely hyperbolic ?
or perhaps, premature and/or hyperbolic .. whatevah
I’m sure restrictions are already in place for travelers from West Africa.
Airborne Ebola here would kill millions. Sounds like the uber nasty T virus out of “Resident Evil” that transformed the earth into a world of the walking dead.
Where’s Mila Jovovich’s Alice when you really need her? ;-)
I hear you.
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
Bats are believed to be the primary disease vector. Obviously they don't need roads.
Hasn’t the U.S. already succumbed to the ‘T’ virus ... the walking dead also known as Demonrats!
What are viral hemorrhagic fevers?
Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) refer to a group of illnesses that are caused by several distinct families of viruses.
In general, the term “viral hemorrhagic fever” is used to describe a severe multisystem syndrome (multisystem in that multiple organ systems in the body are affected).
Characteristically, the overall vascular system is damaged, and the body’s ability to regulate itself is impaired. These symptoms are often accompanied by hemorrhage (bleeding); however, the bleeding is itself rarely life-threatening.
Some types of hemorrhagic fever viruses can cause relatively mild illnesses, but many of these viruses cause severe, life-threatening disease.
While no country has yet experienced the effects of a severe Ebola outbreak, in some extreme instances, particularly in equatorial African nations, victims of VHF have risen from their graves and walked the earth, preying on the living and infecting anyone in their paths with the chasing and biting and hurting and weird squealing noises they make.
Yep, it’s the Dawn of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Sufferers. We’re doomed.
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